Do you get bored? Do you find yourself with ‘nothing to do’!? Perhaps I should say – nothing you want to do. Quite honestly, I’m not certain I’ve ever been bored but if I were, knowing that a cure was at hand would be wonderfully comforting. But, what would you do if you found yourself bored? There’s a wonderful quote attributed to Dorothy Parker, “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” And, if you noticed, there is no focus for ‘curious’ – it can be related to anything!
Curiosity. It’s ‘interesting’ that the two words Webster uses to define curious is inquisitive and nosiness. While ‘nosiness’ may be a legitimate definition, I prefer the, ‘interest leading to inquiry’ approach. It’s the qualities of curiosity – who, what, where, when, why, how – that infuse the discovery process. I think we are born with curiosity – just watch babies explore their worlds if you doubt my assertion. I’d go as far as to state that curiosity is the foundation for all discoveries. Somehow, though, many people seem to lose this quality from their life. But it can be rediscovered.
Curiosity is the twinkle in the eye of progress. Curiosity is the spur to ‘what if’. If it wasn’t obvious, I am a great proponent of the wondrous qualities of curiosity. Is there a ‘down side’? I don’t think there is unless you try and live in the world of curiosity without any involvement with ‘real world’. One lives in the ‘real world’ (open to definition) and you can’t ignore this, but it is the world of ‘…I wonder…’ that is the creative component.
There is absolutely no way you can be bored when engaged in the act of discovering (which, to me, is the tangible aspect of curiosity). Curiosity really is all it’s cracked up to be. It can be a ‘cure’ for a number of malaise (don’t think there’s a plural for this word… it’s like sheep and deer, solitary). Curiosity adds flavor, adds spice to our days. Soooo…. why would you ever want a cure for curiosity?
…but, what do you think?
