Why?
Why am I always asking why?
Why?
Three sentences. Eight words written in my late teens. My entire contribution to the literary world during the brief time I thought I may want to be a poet when I grew up. It didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
I was reminded of that poem (if I can even call it that) when I learned that the Centers for Spiritual Living Global theme in February was “Curiosity as a Superpower”. As a child I wanted superpowers, like the ability to fly and x-ray vision, just like my hero Superman. Little did I know I already had a superpower!
I was a very curious child, and apparently, I never grew out of it. Recently I was enthralled as I stood at my living room window watching a crew prepare a tugboat for what was likely a routine excursion. Seeing my child-like excitement, and probably wishing I didn’t need to explain every detail to her, Amanda lovingly suggested that I need a four-year old friend to share in my curiosity.
You don’t have to look very far to find examples of how curiosity has shaped the world. Albert Einstein once said “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” Our lives would be considerably different if Einstein had stifled his curiosity. Consider the Wright brothers who invented, designed and flew the first successful motor operated airplane. Their first flight only lasted 12 seconds, but 120 years later we are flying to other planets and have placed a telescope in space that can see to the edges of the universe. All because two brothers followed their curiosity.
Had we not been given a sense of curiosity we may still be living in caves. It was curiosity that led our ancestors to wonder what was on the other side of that hill, or what lay beyond the bend in the stream.
Are there times in your life when you shy away from allowing your curiosity to lead you to explore something new? What’s holding you back? In most cases I think the honest answer would be fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of looking foolish, fear of trying something and failing at it.
As Rev. Beverly Strutt writes; “We live in a limitless universe and our experience of it is only limited by our beliefs and perceptions. Allowing fear to prevent us from following our curiosity into the unknown, feeds the belief that the world is a scary place, and we are walking our path alone. Leaning into our faith and the knowingness that the Divine is supporting and supplying us in all that we do, we are free to seek out the beauty that lies beneath the surface.”
Every single one of us was put on this earth for a unique purpose. I believe that Life/The Universe/Spirit (whatever you want to call that Divine Intelligence that created everything, including us) can only experience Itself through us. When I play small, when I am too full of fear to follow my curiosity, I am preventing Life from having that experience. I am also robbing myself and the world of whatever discoveries that may have been uncovered. We are called to live life to its fullest, and when we dive in, filled with curiosity and imagination, we are answering this call.
This idea of following our curiosity is not new. The 13th century Persian poet Rumi wrote:
“We've been walking in the surf holding our robes up, when we should be naked, diving under, deeper under.”
When I first embarked on this journey of self-discovery 30 years ago, I bought a card for myself. On the front it has a drawing of a young child riding on the back of a sea turtle. On the inside it says, “When I grow up, I want to be a little boy”.
I guess when you are curious, your dreams really do come true!
Stay curious!
Derek Hinchliffe
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