The value of being curious in the modern

world

Dionne Kasian-Lew @dionnelew

If I had only a few seconds to share what I believed could add the most to a person’s life I’d say

-

“be curious.”

When you’re curious every day is rich.

What about?

Everything & Everyone.

That doesn’t mean every day is great -

(No, no.)

That’s impossible & undesirable.

But you can be up or down - relaxed, AnXioUs,

ANGRY, sad & you’re learning – adding colour & texture, cracking

open walls.

But you’ve got to

pay attention.

You’ve got to be AWAKE so that you take in what you’re experiencing & make it into something, rather than

being asleep and letting it pass you by.

Curiosity is intrinsic -

- although the instinct can if it’s not encouraged or used.

BUT

It can be rekindled.

Curiosity leads to unexpected synergies,

it reveals new patte rns & generates startling serendipity -

I love this.

I see it most online where algorithms work out who you are fasterthanyou

& connect you with people who have shared interests

you’d never have met otherwise…

“Ohhhh so you’re interested in X” (the connection says) “go here,

do that.”

-  exploring something you’ve never heard of by someone you’ve never met

& the SpArKs start going off

“Ohhhhh now I see –”

“Now I see how this leads to that or I could combine this research here on

neurology with these observations here by the long dead poet & …”

Before you know it you’ve turned that cheap cut of meat into Beef Cheeks Mole Poblano

in the ideas sense -

It happens constantly.

And it’s not just you who benefits because thing get

passed along -

The other day I was watching a video on dysfluency on Edge (sort of a bootcamp for TED) and I knew it would resonate with a writer I’ve connected with in

the US so I sent it her.

Countless examples.

If you love learning you’re never bored -

- or it’s the kind of ennui that needs to come over you to –

Slow. You. Down.

So that the information can break down, gestate, start recombining itself into

something else.

That’s one thing we have to

BUILD into our practice -

boredom

(otherwise we are constantly distracted & entertained)

And in the modern world, the only thing you need is an internet

connection.

You can head to Open Culture (or a MOOC) and study any one of 700 degrees from Ivy League Universities around the world for free.

Learn any language – Mandarin - French – Arabic – no cost but

your time.

(the most precious thing of all.)

Watch thousands of movies. Download books.

Hear rare recordings of Florence Nightingale or Virginia Woolf, Tennessee Williams reading Hart

Crane’s poems -

Or gasp at Neruda’s Me Bird translated into a stunning paper cut animation -

Beckett fan?

Here’s a genius production of Come & Go.

If you’ve always wanted to learn calculus head to Khan Academy -

Where the way video lessons are structured means you can go through the basics again and again until you GeT IT – no person left behind -

- not possible in our current education system (no fault of teachers who have curricula and time constrains) but where

fast learners are privileged over those who are by no means less

intelligent but who have different or slower learning processes

endless

Of course that makes access the new gold.

I’m fortunate because I was born with an insatiable curiosity & a

love of the arts.

If you have that, very rich.

You can spend hours in a gallery or reading a book that cost you $1 or

scratching around on a canvas.

Just about anything fascinates me. I could sit down with someone who was passionate about dying wool or building cars and spend hours listening to what they

do and why.

(The exception is using spread sheets. I’ve tried!)

There are always multiple stories behind people too,

some real, some not.

This makes everyone interesting in their own way.

If you get underneath and listen then it’s

possible to understand why people are as they are

or do as they do.

Sometimes you want to spend a lot of time with those reasons &

- sometimes not.

And for me personally, the counterpart to all this curiosity -

SOLITUDE.

I think we go mad without it.

This interview first appeared on A City With Quirk.

You reach me on the blog at

BeYourWholeSelf.com @dionnelew

@beyourwholeself