Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Endless Curiosity



Further into the Waking Life commenting session:

"What we don't take into account when we're young is that endless curiosity. That's what's so great about being human."

Endless curiosity. This quotation makes me think of childhood and our endless imagination and creativity that I long for today. But, then I'm thinking, perhaps "young" is also meant for how old I am currently, because 21 is really not all that old. That's youth. So, at 21, the age of a lot of my friends, we still are pretty young, huh? We're still in this endless phase of curiosity? Do you think that you still are? Do you think that some people at this age lose that curiosity and settle?

I chose to talk about this one today because, last night, Jess and I were talking about a similar concept. We were talking about childhood pasttimes and what games we would imagine up and play. We had invisible friends that we could talk to for hours. I commented that I really miss the imagination I used to have. I wish I could regain all that imagination I lost as I grew up. Jess opposed, saying that I probably still do have a lot of that imagination. All is not lost. We still do have a lot left, just maybe not to the extreme of concocting battles with fairies and made-up treasure hunts in the back yard.

What do you think about the declination of our imagination from youth to adulthood?

I think authority, schooling, etc. really pound it out of us, but we really need it as a society. Creativity is everything. I wish more people would not be so afraid of being creative. I love seeing people who really do maximize their potential and creativity. At these craft fairs I've been going to, I love seeing the wood-workers, potters, jewlers, tie dyers, bakers, etc. who really put time into their craft and seem to really enjoy it in the process.

Back to the quotation though: how much, then, do we give up on curiosity once we get older? What is being lost? What exactly were we curious about before and now have no more desire to continue searching? Is it that we've learned so much (perhaps tired and bogged down by life) and no longer feel it necessary to discover and seek out more and new information? Comments?

Help me on this one.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Only a partial answer to just one of your questions, but i think that we don't necessarily lose our curiosity, rather as we grow up we learn more and more about the world around us, so there is inevitably less and less to be curious about. At the start everything is new/unknown/amazing, so youngsters appear more curious when in actuality they aren't.

Anonymous said...

i think the fort in the suite you had was a good thing for your creativity. how many sophomores build forts in their room for a whole semester? think of everything u did that wouldn't have happened without that fort.
~E

Anonymous said...

the fort... i miss it sometimes

Anonymous said...

or should i say "tent-o"

Mike said...

ahhh the tent, and the blue