Strategy Update: Curiosity

“I seek our situations where I gain new experiences without getting in my own or other people’s way” (VIA Institute on Character).

According to the VIA Institute on Character has identified character strengths under six headings – Wisdom, Courage, Humanity, Justice, Temperance and Transcendence.

Curiosity is a subset of the Wisdom Characteristic and is summed up as being interested, explorative, and open to new ideas.

So why is curiosity so important. Humans display curiosity and it is something that helps our development and learning, a desire to acquire knowledge and skill.   

In other animals such as the Crow family of birds, octopuses, dolphins, elephants and rats (not a full list) will display their curiosity to pursue information in order to adapt to their surrounding and learn new things. This behaviour is termed neophilia, the love of new things. For animals a fear of the unknown or the new – neophobia, is much more common especially later in life.

Other animals such as apes, cats and rodents display curiosity, and it is common in human beings at all ages from infancy through adulthood. Research shows that curiosity is not a fixed attribute among humans but rather needs to be nurtured and developed.

Why is curiosity important. Imagine never questioning anything you hear or see and just assuming that it must be right because you have read it or heard it spoken of. Even those things that we have grown up believing because of what we were told as children, often passed down through generations. I was always of the belief that I had a great grandmother who was Spanish. My father believed this to be true as it had been told to him.  DNA now proves that there is absolutely no Spanish in my blood – so that was myth, finally busted and I used DNA to find that out. 

That particular story then led me to explore a lot more information about my ancestry, an ongoing process which can become overwhelming and take you down a number of rabbit holes, but the final outcome is interesting and has explained a lot to me about why I am who I am.

Had Kupe not been curious, would Aotearoa New Zealand ever be inhabited, or would it have been inhabited by someone in the twentieth century after a satellite image of this country is picked up. Had none of the great explorers throughout the centuries been curious, what would our world have looked like now?

Being curious does not mean that you are being nosey. It means that you are interested, wanting to learn and then being able to use that knowledge to help. 

As a social worker, my role is always to be curious, to pick up on what someone has said and explore it further with them.  This can be difficult for the person you are talking to, so you need to take care to ensure they are comfortable.

Using the wisdom you have received from being curious could lead to great outcomes for people you are working with, to get a complete understanding of what their situation is and assist you in problem solving.

I often reflect on times when I have not used curiosity enough and jumped to a conclusion which is incorrect, or which I discovered later left me devoid of important information. 

How do we use curiosity in the church? God anticipated curiosity and instructed the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:20-21 - In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” 21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand”.

Instead of placidly accepting situations, or scripture at face value, try asking the Holy Spirit to reveal new truths or change your perspective. Always discuss and question what you are not sure about.

If we go through life without curiosity, consider what wonderful ideas, books, discussions and places we may never know about.