The best learning proceeds from genuine curiosity. Here I am examining a trout just caught by my father on our camping trip. I will soon learn what the insides of a fish look like and how it turns into something we will eat. My curiosity continues to guide my life, from the books I read to the friends I make. I genuinely want to know and understand things, and I have been able to keep this trait alive.
When I taught literature to college students, I made it a point to always reread each poem, play or short story we were to discuss before the class met. I did this even if I had read it fifty times before and could have easily “coasted” through the class. When I was encountering a piece “again for the first time” I could more easily appreciate students’ struggles with the readings and could engage their curiosity. I might ask “why do you think this poem is so confusing?” Or “where were you in the story when your mind drifted off?”
Sadly I frequently had to confront the effects of earlier teachers. Questions that I was sincerely asking were sometimes received as one more “guess how the teacher is going to answer her own question.” Needless to say that kind of teaching to the teacher doesn’t engage anyone’s curiosity. But after a while they realized that I didn’t have an answer to the question I had just posed. I really wanted to know what they thought.
I hope that all of us can keep our minds open to new possibilities and continue to find the world as Alice in Wonderland found it “curiouser and curiouser.”
Saved By Words 
It’s hard to accept that there aren’t definitive answers to many questions in life. It would be wonderful if everyone were taught to accept that ‘answers’ that might be different for other people or different in other circumstances are no less valid than the one we hold now. Answers are something to be constantly explored, not to bolt onto ourselves for life
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I keep having to revise my understanding of many things the more I read now.
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I try to remind myself that there often no right answers – only different ones.
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Good point especially in these times.
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I once complained to a guitar teacher that I had thought I was starting to be a quite reasonable player, but was now beginning to doubt it. “Oh yes,” he said, “it takes you ten years to realise how crap you are.” So true, of so many things.
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I also remember thinking I knew it all. Ha!
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Your reason for rereading “each poem, play or short story” also applies to watching a great movie again and again after the first time you see it. You appreciate it anew every time, and perhaps even observe details you missed before.
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Absolutely.
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I love your outlook. Curiosity is such a wonderful way to discover more about our world.
My Dad was a fisherman, too. I remember well watching him ‘clean’ fish and discover what food they were eating so he knew what bait to use next.
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My dad was a fly fisherman and would study the insects at each lake for the same reason.
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Curiosity has driven additional self-education throughout my life. It even led me to blogging, after I retired.
It is just a shame that I was not more curious about plumbing, woodwork, and electrics. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Oh well. Thank goodness for those boys who took up trades.
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Like Pete I wish sometimes I’d had more useful curiosities in my life but I’ll struggle on being ineptly interested in a lot of things
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I think that utility and curiosity have very little in common.
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I love exploring the world around us it is so fascinating!
Bless you,
Jennifer
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Thanks. I love how you have continued to grow and engage in life despite your health struggles.
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Thank you Elizabeth 😀
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Love your featured old photos Elizabeth!
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Thanks. It is a lot of fun to match them to posts.
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Stay curious, keep learning….all your life, keeps the mind alive, eh?
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Absolutely.
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