Curiosity is a Superpower

But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises, and precious metal in the dirt.
_{- Fyodor Dostoyevsky}

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The reason why time flies faster as we grow older lies in a fact that we stop looking at the world as an adventure and a playground waiting to be explored and understood. We grow accustomed to familiar situations and experiences and notice less and less about the world.

Leonardo Da Vinci lived in a time when many groundbreaking discoveries have been made. One of his strongest qualities was the passion for observation, enthusiasm for leaning how our natural world works. He would draw movements of flowing water, faces of pretty and ugly people he encountered in Florence, Rome and other Italian cities. These drawings became foundation for his work in hydraulics or his understanding of human body.

He used to wander around countryside nature, trying to figure out it's laws that puzzled him. How does the bird keeps itself in the air? Why does water makes circles after a rock hits it? Why do we see lightning immediately after it's created and hear thunderstorms after a while?

These and similar thoughts challenged his mind. Always present desire to find out and understand and to think about a world as a puzzle waiting to be solved.

Peter Higgs, Nobel price winning physicist came up with the idea of a new massive spin-zero boson over 50 years ago. "Yeah, we're gonna need to dig this huge, 27 km tunnel under Switzerland and France. Then we'll have to build machines that right now are beyond our imagination, throw some particles in it and start sending them around at near-the-light speed". "You better be right", they probably responded.

Are todays discoveries aimed in the right direction? Information revolution is growing. but it comes down to smaller screens, better internet speeds, sharper picture or more effective communication. Yes, we have 100.000 times stronger computers than ones that controlled telemetry on the Apollo, but where are those space shuttles capable of warp (traveling the speed of light), except in the sci-fi movies? Even hover cars were considered in 1960s to become a transporting standard by 2001. Why aren't we sending a lander on Jupiter's moon Europa and drilling under the kilometers of ice to get to the warm liquid ocean underneath? Ocean in which extra-terrestrial life might exist.

This is a great time to be curious - you can go online, find lectures, get video courses instantly. Youtube channels like SciShow or TodayIFoundOut can teach you about any topic you're interested in. Same with Wikipedia's rabbit hole.

Curious people possess never-ending thirst for knowledge. They live in constant state of wanting to learn more and they always ask why. On the other hand, life becomes routine for so many people they don't mind living in a rut, doing the same thing every day.

Here are few things to consider to cultivate your curiosity:

• Give yourself permission to be curious. Start believing that you can learn and grow.
• Have an attitude of a beginner which motivates you to always ask questions and wonder why. Behave like a child. It's always better to wonder than consider yourself a know-it-all. You stop growing once you start giving more answers than asking questions.
• Spend time with other curious people. In today's formal education students are much more encouraged to give answers than to ask questions. Same situation is in the corporate world. To cultivate curiosity, you must find other curious people and interact with them. Film producer Brian Grazer meets a new person from any field but entertainment every two weeks. History, medicine, any form of art... Try it, curiosity is contagious.
• Keep an open mind and don't take everything for granted. Dig deeper beneath the surface and prepare yourself for possibilities that things might not be what you thought they were.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
_{- Albert Einstein}

Is curiosity one of the finest human qualities? It makes your mind active instead of passive, observant of new ideas. It opens up new worlds and possibilities and brings excitement into our lives. It's the greatest act of rebellion.

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Images: 1, 2

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