There has been a lot written recently about curiosity and using it to fuel creativity. Over the past few weeks I have been in a creative slump, unable to focus on meaningful ideas. The blog has suffered, the muse-letter is in recess for the summer and I hadn't made any music.
I wondered if it was the upheaval of a new puppy in the house 1 or the stresses and worries around work and finance. I also asked if I was losing my curiosity.
In his post Surprise is an enabler of seeing Austin Kleon quotes Alan Jacobs, in turn, quoting Walker Percy on the Grand Canyon:
"the thing as it is, has been appropriated by the symbolic complex which has already been formed in the sightseer's mind"
We go with ready-made expectations. We base our interpretations and experiences on what has gone before, the descriptions by others already implanted in our brains. Finding something new and different – stumbing upon it, as Jacobs writes – is far more rewarding, the experience of seeing something for the first time, or as though for the first time, allows us to see it as it truly is.
The novelty factor.
The surprise.
This is why my wife and I love exploring, finding new roads to drive down and everything that entails. It's why I love going down the same roads in different seasons or in the opposite direction to normal – it provides different points of view, different light in which to observe, different animals or trees without leaves allowing a glimpse of what's behind that you couldn't see before.
Taking that into account, I can't have lost my curiosity – it just has to be buried beneath everything else, waiting for an opportunity to rise to the fore and be exercised.
I can't remember where I read it (it may have been a blog post or email) but I recently read something saying "labels make you stupid." Labels are limiting. Labels define and don't allow for flexibility – this is what it is. That fit perfectly with the ideas in Austin's post. Labels can be useful, they can greatly reduce cognitive load and help us to process things when required, but they don't let you truly discover for yourself.
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it really is like having a baby except he runs around and bites everything and everyone ↩
