Curiosity and Interest

So the first step toward a more creative life is the cultivation of curiosity and interest, that is, the allocation of attention to things for their own sake. On this score, children tend to have the advantage over adults; their curiosity is like a constant beam that highlights and invests with interest anything within range. The object need not be useful, attractive, or precious, as long as it is mysterious it is worthy of attention. With age most of us lose the sense of wonder, the feeling of awe in confronting the majesty and variety of the world. Yet without awe life becomes routine. Creative individuals are childlike in that their curiosity remains fresh even at ninety years of age; they delight in the strange and the unknown. And because there is no end to the unknown, their delight also is endless.

At first, curiosity is diffuse and generic. The child's attention is attracted to any novelty - cloud or bug, grandfather's beard or a rusted nail. With time, interest usually becomes channeled into a specific domain. A ninety-year-old physicist may retain childhood curiosity in the realm of subatomic particles but is unlikely to have enough free attention left over to marvel at much else. Therefore, creativity within a domain often goes hand in hand with conformity in the rest of life. Einstein at the peak of his breakthroughs in physics played traditional music on his violin. But narrowing attention to a single domain does not mean limiting the novelty one is able to process; on the contrary, complex domains like poetry, history, physics, or politics reveal constantly expanding perspectives to those who venture to explore them.

So how can interest and curiosity be cultivated, assuming that you feel the desire to do so? Some specific advice may help:

Try to be surprised by something every day. It could be something you see, hear, or read about. Stop to look at the unusual car parked at the curb, taste the new item on the cafeteria menu, actually listen to your colleague at the office. How is this different from other similar cars, dishes, or conversations? What is its essence? Don't assume that you already know what these things are all about, or that even if you knew them, they wouldn't matter anyway. Experience this one thing for what it is, not what you think it is. Be open to what the world is telling you. Life in nothing more than a stream of experiences - the more widely and deeply you swim in it, the richer your life will be.

If something sparks an interest, follow it. Usually, when something captures our attention - an idea, a song, a flower - the impression is brief. We are too busy to explore the idea, song, or flower further. Or we feel that it is none of our business. After all, we are not thinkers, singers, or botanists, so these things lie outside our grasp. Of course, that's nonsense. The world is our business, and we can't know which part of it is best suited to our selves, to our potentialities, unless we make a serious effort to learn about as many aspects of it as possible.

Try to surprise at least one person every day. Instead of being your predictable self, say something unexpected, express an opinion that you have not previously revealed, ask a question you wouldn't ordinarily ask. Or break the routine of your activities: Invite a person to go with you to a show, a restaurant, or a museum that you never visited before. Experiment with your appearance. Comfortable routines are great when they save energy for doing what you really care about; but if you are still searching, the restrict and limit the future.

Write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others. Most creative people keep a diary, or notes, or lab records to make their experiences more concrete and enduring. If you don't do so already, it might help to start with a very specific task: to record each evening the most surprising event that happened that day and your most surprising action. This is a simple enough assignment and one you will find is fun to do. After a few days, you can reread what you have written and reflect on those past experiences. One of the surest ways to enrich life is to make experiences less fleeting, so that the most memorable, interesting, and important events are not lost forever a few hours after they occurred. Writing them down so that you can relive them in recollection is one way to keep them from disappearing. And after a few weeks, you may begin to see a pattern of interest emerging in the notes, one that may indicate some domain that would repay exploring in depth.

If you take time to reflect on how best to implement these four suggestions, and then actually start putting them into effect, you should feel a stirring of possibilities under the accustomed surface of daily experiences. It is the gathering of creative energy, the rebirth of curiosity that has been atrophied since childhood.

Vocabulary 

• allocation - to set apart for a special purpose
• awe - mixed emotions of respect, fear, and wonder
• diffuse - to pour out and spread freely
• potentialities - that which you are capable of
• implement - to put into effect
• atrophied - to waste away
• predictable - known in advanced

Questions

1. How does Mihaly describe creative individuals? Explain.

2. Why does it matter that there is no end to the unknown?

3. What metaphor does Mihaly use to describe life? Explain.

4. What are FOUR ways curiosity can be cultivated?

5. Assignment: For two weeks, write down each evening one thing you did to surprise someone and one thing that someone did to surprise you.