@Carl – I totally agree with your definition, and that few have true curiousity. I have always been intense curious One of my housemates said about me ” Jeremy could find the inside of a wet paper bag interesting…” my response: “well, there is the fiber length…” ( I was being serious.. if you’re curious, look at the stages of paper recycling) ;) – and good catch about the “I wonder what the future holds” – I was wondering who’d catch it – you can read it both ways, with the energy of “wonder” or “curiousity” in which i wrote it:

This is what @Tomas Stonkus is talking about, the “feeling” or “energy” of a word, and he’s right on ;)

@DiscoveredJoys, great obervations! esp:
“It may work well for Jeremy, good for him, but I notice that he didn’t point out the equally destructive dangers of too much wonderment and awe in a life.”
- That’s a whole ‘nother article(s) – It all comes down to informed, inspired action, that causes the changes that you want to see on Earth ;)

@Gianpaolo Pietri | The Optimalists Great observations! I really appreciate bringing the body (sometimes I forget) into the equation. While I still sense that curiousity is in the mind
(show me someone catatonic that’s curious) you highlight well the role that the body has in the feedback loop of perception -> curiousity -> action -> perception. – That’s one of the things that our bodies do so well: give us feedback to work with, whether that is from our “outer environment” in the world, or our “inner environment” of what we are thinking and feeling within us.

@Cath Duncan: Thank you so much for your well considered and thought-out comment: Perhaps to clarify, curiousity is the seeking more information. If that’s in the case of the child, that can help them build a framework of understanding so they can understand the natural world. I was writing this from the perpective of the adult, where curiousity (having to do with information) is something that comes/arises from the rational mind (as opposed to being emotional, or from higher-level intuition) This of course doesn’t mean that someone may not be inspired to _be_ curious in a particular area with their mind. but that the mind (for an adult) is the thing that is “doing” the curiousity.

This brings us to curiousity for an infant. a number of sources I’ve read state that the full rational /mental/reasoning aspect of ourself (aka the mind) doesn’t come in until about 6-7.

My sense is that they have some mental aspect that they are using, to input information that they can use..
If they’re being in the present moment (which I could totally agree with) re: object permanence and not getting caught up in stories) then who knows;

Just because someone is using their mind or mental faculties doesn’t mean they’re _not_ in the present moment. As children I could definitely see this being the case. Many people, however, have trained (mostly unconsciousely) their mind to take them into either the past or the future, instead of being fully in the present. We all do it!

Re your definition of curiousity being like “curiosity is like the fully-present learning state of a 9-month old baby,” even as I read your words, It seems like the energetic feel of what i’ve described as “wonderment” this state of yin receptivity, rather than a more yang, outward sense of searching “curiousity” (mind you, I didn’t say that learning doesn’t take place during being in a state of wonder, it definitely can, and quite profoundly)

That being said, I don’t feel the need to “fit” your observations into a “mental taxonomy” that I’ve created – I myself am not wedded to my definitions; just as they are helpful to illuminate the truth behind the words ;)

“What prevents you from experiencing “wonderment” over a tea set or a new uniform” – Nothing! – my idea there was to recognize my interest/curiousity about something, while (perhaps) to set aside sometime where I could fully enjoy the thing that was distracting me) _and_be able to focus on the task at hand. – (I didnt’ mention it in the article, but seems to be good to do so here)

Lastly, I totally resonate with your two reasons about distraction; those can (and have for me) been huge reasons for distraction. the “dangers” of being _too_ focussed on something you’re passionate about – well, that’d be another good article ;)

@Nate @ @curiousjessica @duff @j-e
awesome comments and thoughts – thank you so much for your feedback.

TY again Jonathan ; )
Albeit a long comment, I would love to hear all your thoughts on the above; this is hugely helpful for me to get feedback and dialog from some amazing, thoughtful,creative people!!!

Jeremy

I actually get where you’re coming from….I think. I’m interpreting it like this:

Curiosity in and of itself is not a bad thing and I don’t think you’re stating that at all. I’m not even sure if being overly curious is a bad thing. What you might be getting at in an indirect way is that more and more we are getting distracted. In my opinion, this is largely a result of the increased amount of information that is pushed at us on a daily basis (e-mails, Twitter, blogs, etc.). It’s this certain level of information overload that can get us off track. Also, it’s the constant search for answers outside of ourselves that can cause problems.

What we need, and what you’re suggesting, is to get back to being in touch with who we are. We need to re-learn how to live in the present moment. To listen to our body and our intuition. The answer is already within us if we’re ready to listen.

Interesting take on curiosity. I don’t particularly find anything wrong with unfocused curiosity. It can lead to great discoveries, especially if leads to something that benefits you personally.

Curiosity spurs ideas (like making a hammer out of a piece of stone). Ideas become innovation (the hammer helps build a shelter), and innovation leads to development of those ideas. This is what has lead to thousands of years of progress through technological advances over time.

But back to the post. I disagree that curiosity exists only in the mind. Curiosity has a great deal to do with perception. And our perception involves engagement of all the senses, not just sight.

We taste things, we listen to sounds, we smell aromas, and we touch our surroundings. When you come across a beautiful flower in a garden, you don’t just look at it and think about it. You approach it. You want to know what it smells like. You run fingers along one of its petals. You want to know what it feels like. These are all actions of the body, which affect your ability to perceive things. So am inclined to agree with Carl, when he says the following:

“And perhaps miss the point that wonder and curiosity are just as much, if not more so, states of being (physical, mental, spiritual and emotional) than only states of mind.”

That being said, I do think a ‘false’ sense of curiosity can be distracting and I have fallen victim to it myself, letting myself spend hours following links on sites that many times lead nowhere. Like you say, curiosity is great, when it is focused on the right things that take you where you want to go. But then that analysis contradicts what it is to be curious in the first place.

I like yourdescription of wonderment and its potential to unravel mysteries, and unlock universes. It is very exciting.

Basically what you are saying is live in the moment, don’t let the noise distract you and remember that … gratitude is key. In the end, curiosity, or wonderment … to me they are twins – to try and separate them leaves you missing more than just the other half.

Many people have a key passion. A single fundamental driver. For some people this may be ‘intimacy’ (moments of deep connection with others). (see http://goodlifezen.com/2009/01/26/what-is-the-one-thing-in-your-life/) For others this may be ‘service’. And for some it is ‘curiosity’.

Now if you are not driven by curiosity you may well value other passions more highly – but to those (like me) who must find out stuff to satisfy our yearnings, the idea of wonderment and awe being sufficient as a ‘multidimensional experience’ fails to convince.

It may work well for Jeremy, good for him, but I notice that he didn’t point out the equally destructive dangers of too much wonderment and awe in a life.

In the beginning you say that curiosity is: “… like a child learning about the basics of life in the physical world. For example how gravity works, the fact that even if someone’s face disappears behind their hands (in the case of peekaboo) they will look to see if they’re still there …”

and then you complain that curiosity is distracting us from being present: “…Another interesting aspect of curiosity; is that it usually pulls the attention of our mind out of the present, and into the future, or the past…”

When children are learning object permanence (when they’re figuring out whether an object still exists when it’s out of sight), at about 9 months of age, as far as I’m understand, they’re a perfect example of being fully present and experiencing reality rather than getting caught up in stories about the past and future. And they’re certainly not coming from a fear-based desire to collect more information for the sake of collecting more information (which is what I’m guessing might be one of the things you’re cautioning us about). They’re just fully present, taking in as much as they can, responding to what’s in front of them right now.

It’s much easier for us to experience reality as it actually is before we become verbal. Once we’re verbal, we do the story-fondling that gets us stuck in the past of the future. Pre-verbal babies don’t need therapy because they’ve not done any story-fondling and they haven’t yet learned what reality “should” be, so they’re much more about just responding to what reality is. Either curiosity is like the fully-present learning state of a 9-month old baby, or it gets in the way of us being present. I don’t see how it can be both. My definition of curiosity is the former – that’s it’s like that child-like open-minded, non-judgmental state. And I think this is a very useful state for learning new things – especially for learning experientially.

Personally, I don’t see how curiosity gets in the way of me being present and enjoying what’s here right now. For me, an attitude of curiosity is one of the gateways to being present to reality, rather than an obstruction to it.

What’s more likely to get in the way of me being present and experiencing reality as it is is when I tell myself stories and make judgments about what I “should” be spending my time doing, what is relevant and “irrelevant” information, and how I “should” be focusing on a “task at hand” instead. (You say, “Where curiosity can be not-so-helpful, is that of being curious… about irrelevant information, that can serve as more of a distraction to your task at hand… perhaps it’s not the most appropriate time to view (and think about) a certain topic, item or information… it’s not the most useful use of my time to pore over the latest model of this uniform, or that tea set…”)

I don’t see how curiosity causes us to focus on “irrelevant” information and get distracted from the “task at hand.” Reading this, I get the sense that there are things you’re naturally curious about and have a natural sense of wonderment when you pursue them (like the uniforms, tea sets, etc) but you’ve made some decisions that these aren’t worthy of your attention because they “distract you from the task at hand” (obviously something you have less natural curiosity/ motivation/ wonderment for, or else you’d naturally be drawn to that task). And that certain things (like moonlight and buttercups) are worthy of attention, exploration, curiosity and wonderment. Why is gazing at the moonlight or buttercups not irrelevant and “distracting from the task at hand” but you think that poring over a tea set is “not the most useful use of your time.” What prevents you from experiencing “wonderment” over a tea set or a new uniform when you can experience wonderment over the buttercups and moonlight?

I’m totally up with having projects you want to complete/ something you want to create in the world, so understand the concern you express about getting “distracted from the task at hand.” But my sense is that curiosity isn’t the baddie. When we’re lacking focus and struggling to remain “with the task at hand,” it’s usually one of two reasons:

1.) either the task at hand isn’t *really* important to us – it’s something we think we “should” do because it’s considered a more worthy cause in our tribe than the thing we’d *really* love to do. Getting a sense of wonderment out of pursuing something that isn’t a natural curiosity is hard work. On the other hand, when you’re doing something you love doing, the wonderment feeling tends to visit often.
2.) fear/ internal resistance is getting in the way. By being distracted by other stuff you can protect yourself from all the potential excitement and disappointments that come with doing and being what’s really important to you. This is a normal part of the creation process. Love the fear and keeping doing what you feel naturally curious about anyway.

All the best, and feel free to respond and tell me where I’m wrong :)
Cath