“The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.” ― Oscar Wilde
We are a curious people. We desire to know ourselves, to understand the world, to relate to those around us, and to learn new skills. This is good curiosity. We ought to encourage it in our children and in ourselves. After all, when we lose our curiosity about life, we take our first step away from influencing it.
I am certainly not against curiosity.
But I am against being curious about everything. And I am all for a limited approach. I am a supporter of intentionally discerning what is appropriate to be curious about. Because you can not grow in one area of life if you are curious about all.
There is freedom to be found in limited curiosity. And there is actually greater opportunity to be found in limiting it than can be found in letting it run unchecked.
Our world has become a constant feed of information and entertainment. And without an intentional, limited approach to curiosity, our minds are left to wander into all areas of society that do not directly concern us. These wanderings keep us from effectiveness. Consider for just a moment some of the things we may concern ourselves with during any given day:
- Celebrity gossip.
- Intimate life details of old friends/neighbors.
- Accomplishments/failures of others.
- Entertainment television/news.
- Political affairs.
- Technological rumors.
- Scandals.
Our information age has made unbridled curiosity a constantly available distraction. With a simple click of the mouse or swipe of the thumb, we are instantly transported into a world that will gladly meet our every questioning. They will encourage us to seek them out. When we do, they will encourage us to concern our minds with more affairs outside our control. And in so doing, we lose all track of the immediate, beautiful world right in front of us.
We would be wise to limit our curiosity. We simply don’t need to know all that we want to know. Instead, we ought to concern ourselves with the potential and the relationships that have been entrusted to us. We would live lives of far greater significance if we did.
Image: Bailey Rae Weaver
Abigail says
I have a coffee table book of quotes and reflections. One of them refers to only partaking in “gourmet media” and limiting what you allow in. That expression has always stayed with me and when I feel like I get away from that way of being and start taking in the junk food of information overload, I scale back and evaluate the quality of what I’m reading, watching, listening to, etc. I agree with Angelique’s earlier comment. The productivity/how-to stuff is my muse. Obviously, not a bad thing to learn new things but keeping it in perspective and balance is key. Really enjoyed this post!! Thank you.
Aiko says
soooo true! :0 and when you said celebrity gossip, i stepped back for a sec. because celeb gossip is everywhere and you don’t have to search it on google, it comes to you. through people and on the sidelines of web pages. And IT’S SO USELESS. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read such USELESSNESS IN MY LIFE!! :) Even Dr. Seuss is more relevant than this.
-p.s, I’m 15…
Dan says
I was literally just thinking about how setting boundaries on what we let into our lives is absolutely necessary, when I clicked on this post in my Reader.
Austin Kleon said in his book Steal Like an Artist, “You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life” and it got me thinking about all the things that I was choosing to let into my life.
A lot like our unbridled curiosity, if we don’t put some reigns on it, it will drive us mad.
Great stuff, Josh!
Marcie Lovett says
Thank you for putting my thoughts into writing! I encourage clients to limit their areas of interest in the spirit of reducing clutter. When you want to know about everything, you amass lots of information that has to be stored somewhere. I remind clients that there is always new information coming out and that no one has the time to spend trying to keep up with it all.
To paraphrase your post: Iinstead of spending time with information, spend it with people.
Karen T. says
Joshua, perfect post, you are absolutely right! That’s how I try to live as well, and it’s good to have a succinct reminder of WHY. Also, to everyone who responded, your additional comments were also very inspiring!
Pam says
When was the last time it was a popular thing to be curious about the lives and works of great thinkers, artists, composers, scientists, humanitarians, spiritual masters, etc.? The investigation of these avenues of exploration are what I consider appropriate curiousity. How many of us check out the websites for the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Smithsonian Museum for regular edification? How many of us follow up on quotes that resonate with us by learning more about the people who have had such inspiring thoughts and beliefs? How many of us have looked up a topic in the Encyclopedia Britannica since our grade school years when we had to write term papers?
Angelique says
Great post! This resonates highly with me. The ones you listed aren’t my problem though; rather, I’m a “how-to” junkie; I want to know how-to-do-lots-of-stuff and nearly all of my “liked” Facebook pages reflect that – almost 100 of them (and that doesn’t even count bookmarked websites)! The real challenge for me is that I’m so busy reading all these great how-to blogs, articles, sites, books, etc….that I rarely actually get around to DOING any of those projects and even more rarely finish the ones that I start. I don’t need to “like” 30 pages on a particular topic when 1 or 2 quality ones will do. Thanks you for this post, it’s exactly what I needed to hear today.
Neil says
“I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.”
– Thomas Jefferson
Karin-Marijke Vis says
Curiosity is a beautiful trait, one I cherish. You just don’t have to know everything! Thanks for sharing this Joshua. Great pointers. I find that living unplugged (no TV nor cellphone) greatly helps. If I want to know about the latest news, I’ll have to buy a newspaper, or find an internet connection somewhere.
Chirstina says
Very great post….this really resonates with me. It’s something I’m often concerned about in others and actively note in myself. I always fight with myself about checking my facebook ‘just in case’ someone’s trying to reach me… endless internet browsing…I’ve even gotten to the point of checking the craigslist ‘wanted’ section, which, granted is somewhat useful since I’m simplifying my possessions and if someone happens to list an item I have that I’m already tossing, why not? But, all told, the amount of time I spend ‘checking’ could have been spent out on a jog, or meditating in a forest or hell, even on my back porch at sunset! Unbridled anything tends to be bad and this is something our society has completely lost conception of. We’re told everyday (I think intentionally) to be ‘free, open to everything, curious about everything, in the know about everything.’ Well, if we’re pursuing this much ‘openness’ to life, how are we afforded any time to actually DO anything? Good points to ponder. Thanks for this post!