Someone once said “curiosity killed the cat.” That may be true, but another someone once countered with, “It also cured polio.”
There is great value in the possession of a curious mind. In fact, humans are hard wired to be curious. We are meant to “know as we are known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). In this temporary state of physical separation from our Creator, we can not achieve that bar. But there are myriad things in this world that are knowable and which point directly to him. Curiosity is the key to unlocking the many great wonders of our world. Curiosity brings knowledge. A lack of it brings stagnation.
An Antidote to Cynicism
Elanor Roosevelt said, “I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.” Indeed, there is no need to invoke a fairy godmother in order to endow children with curiosity. Children are naturally and audaciously curious. Somewhere along the line, though, through jaded expectations or the necessity of responsibilities or simply through a life of hard knocks, many lose that innate sense of wonder and inquiry.
Pastor and author Carey Nieuwhof, in his book, Didn’t See it Coming, contends that the opposite of curiosity is cynicism. A cynical person is a misanthrope, a naysayer who spurns curiosity, swapping inquiry for cantankerous pessimism. According to Nieuwhof, the antidote to cynicism is curiosity. “Cynical people are rarely curious. On the other hand, curious people are almost never cynical.”
Nieuwhof says folks who are curious “never stop learning, ask great questions, are interested in others and in new experiences, smile when no one else does, and widen their universe when everyone else is narrowing theirs.” He says cultivating curiosity breeds hope, and “when hope flourishes, cynicism doesn’t stand a chance.”
Without Excuse
Romans 1:20 tells us that God is knowable through what he has created, so we have no excuse for saying he is not. If we are told we can know more about the character of God through his creation, then we have a moral obligation toward curiosity. C.S. Lewis said, “Nothing can seem extraordinary until you have discovered what is ordinary.” Albert Einstein posited, “He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” The discovery of the ordinary evokes great wonder because marvels in our world are pervasive. The things we take for granted should leave us endlessly slack jawed. The metamorphosis of a butterfly. The migration of birds. The varying modi operandi of the proliferation of life. Even the mere pondering of existence itself. In light of all God has lavished upon humans in the vast spectrum of all he created, failing to be curious is a scandal and cynicism an affront to our Great Creator and King.
When Curiosity and Love Meet
Being human can be a lonely business. Many pursue an elusive desire to be seen. Social media seeks to satisfy that desire, but social media only scratches a surface that is layered with veneer. The heart is hidden behind filters and snippets. The more we post, the lonelier we become. It’s a strange dynamic.
Enter curiosity. Author Kij Johnson wrote, “Love is curiosity sometimes. Concentrated wondering about the other one.” We all know people like this. They start asking questions about you. They make solid eye contact and nod and smile. Your answers lead them to delve further. They lean in, posturing themselves in such a way that you feel seen and valued. They genuinely want to know who you are because they possess a canny combination of a love for people and a curious mind. Encountering a person like that leaves you feeling better for having met them.
Curiosity’s End Goal
Like anything that God has made good, curiosity can be twisted into something sinister. It wasn’t pure curiosity that killed the cat. It was its evil cousin, nosiness. Herod was a curious cat. He had a desire to see Jesus, but his motives were not pure. Luke 23:8 records, “When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.” Jesus was a spectacle to Herod, an oddity or gossip-fed phenomenon. The end goal of Herod’s curiosity was to mock Christ, not to revere him.
On the other hand, Paul encountered a group of endlessly curious thinkers who “would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:19-21). He used their relentless curiosity to lead them to inquire, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Paul’s leaning into the natural inquisitiveness of the Greek “epicureans and philosophers” resulted in some believing in Christ. The genuine curiosity of the Athenians opened the door for Paul to share the gospel.
To be curious is to pursue love, for others and for Christ. It is fulfilling Philippians 2:4, “ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Until the day comes when all is revealed, may those of us who follow Jesus seek to know and to make him known through the power of a relentlessly curious mind.