Curiosity: Sustained Inspiration to Effect Change
Metanoia!
A Greek word which translates broadly as: Meta = transform, Noia = of the mind
Transform the mind.
Believe it or not, these is the first word spoken by Jesus in the gospels of Matthew and Mark in the original language of the Second Testament, Greek.
Bizarrely, perhaps even blasphemously if you thought a certain way translated, it was translated into Latin, then English, as “repent”. Repent comes from the old French, “repentir” – to regret very much.
This is where the narrative is turned upside down. Rather than invite transformation from a place of inspiration, we are commanded to do so from a place of desperation. Instead of focusing our attention on what makes our lives’ more complete, we focus our attention on what we don’t want and try to drive it out. This violates the law of attraction and is doomed to failure as we seek penance for the same repeating “sins” over and again.
The notion of repentance creates a preoccupation with the persona of a sinner as we are asked to draw attention to our mistakes, focusing on the negative, but it offers no practical pathways to correct the habits that led to the ill behavior of whatever kind in the first place. From the deep regret of repentance we propagate feelings of fear, guilt, or shame. In turn, we are expected to provide compelling reason for us to wish to change our behaviour.
“Repent” achieves the very opposite of the original intent to transform the mind. In many ways, this reflects the lowest form of a game of Chinese Whispers, where we get a total upending of the original message through a solitary “whisper” or change in language used.
It is a classic case of deficit thinking.
Embodied within the call, “Metanoia!” is the understanding that all physical form commences at the level of thought. This is a case of E = mc2 again. Energy transformed into matter through the expression of light.
The first principle upon which life is constructed, “let there be light”, from a very big bang.
The Big Bang = an explosion or blast of light derived from some impulse causing a detonation for an activation of energy.
“Transform the mind” simply means seek flexibility of the mind and welcome any potential deepening of understanding.
It is the secret source behind every successful entrepreneur and the businesses they lead. Individuals like Steve Jobs, whose thinking often veered toward the philosophical, one of the great minds of his time.
“I prayed for change, so I changed my mind.”
Rumi
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words;
Watch your words, they become your actions;
Watch your actions, they become your habits;
Watch your habits, they become your character;
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
Lao Tzu
This begs the question: if all change, all transformation is brought about through a change or transformation of the mind, what are the cognitive habits of mind that we can develop to bring forth change?
HOW do we bring about change? What is the process of mind that effects change in the outer circumstances of our lives?
Welcome in CURIOSITY!
Positive change occurs when we attain higher order understanding that allows one to perceive the world more clearly. And higher order understanding is only attainable through deepening curiosity. It is a question (no pun intended) of call and response. A case of seek and ye shall find!
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”
Albert Einstein
Curiosity is…
Playful
Inquisitive
Adventurous
Fascinated
Inventive
Reverential
Wondrous
Open to possibilities
Open minded!
It embraces the inherent uncertainty of life. Einstein’s general theory of relativity makes clear that there is no such thing as cause and effect, only probabilistic outcome.
What we are curious about is revealed in the contents of our most prevalent thoughts, irrespective of whether they are consciously or unconsciously manifested.
Where do any of these fit into your educational experience?
Einstein once quipped, “It is a miracle that curiosity survives education.” And, by and large, it doesn’t. Curiosity requires agency to follow our own source of inspiration and what looms largest in our imagination.
Learning is experiential. Learning new things entails novel experiences. No new experiences, no new thoughts. No change of mind, no change of outcomes. For you cannot solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created it. The only way to achieve a different level of thinking is to engage our original thought network with a belief that change is possible. This leads our thread of inquiry – our curiosity – which, in turn, feeds information requests into the reticular activating system of our brains. Through empathy, we prime our network of feeling opening our channels to multi-sensory perception and reception. Empathic conenction is strengthened through expressions of gratitude. They tune the network’s frequency to an optimal setting as the Pituitary Gland secretes oxytocin each time we say “thank you” and mean it.
Curiosity, consciously directed, is revealed by the threads of inquiry we pursue which are governed by our prevailing set of inspirations – whatever it is we currently wish to know, do or achieve. Curiosity is both quantitative – how deep are we prepared to dive, how much enthusiasm can we maintain to know, do, achieve all that we can – and qualitative – reflected in the calibre of the questions we pose, the grandeur of the vision we hold for ourselves as to what can be learned, done or achieved. A hierarchy of questions exists through which the quality of curiosity may be assessed:
The more we find ourselves asking “how” and “why” we develop an increasing sense of reverence, awe and wonder for that which piques our curiosity. Curiosity evolves higher as we become interested in these very questions that sit at the apex of curiosity’s finest expression.
Ironically, they are seldom asked in our public halls of education. And certainly not by the students who have that beaten out of them fairly early on. More likely, you’ll find, “What do we do next, teacher?”
Public education works to a model of certitude where outcomes are prescribed before the practice of learning has even commenced.
“Why learn this?”
“Because you’re 7 and you’re supposed to know it. Just like every other good little 7 year old!”
Public education reeks of military command to the most creatively-spirited children in the classroom, especially the poor old dyslexic minds who crave creative expression. Their rebellion against the militant, mechanistic system that they are forced into then gets them labeled ADD or ADHD, most likely with dyslexia too, and medicated for the sin of being determined to express their own creative potential or frustrated that they cannot. To make matters worse, they are told they are wrong for trying to do so. Or, that there is something wrong with them, diminishing their esteem, depleting them of energy.
When understood this way, the relationship between the dyslexic mind and public education actually starts to appear like an abusive relationship. Dyslexia is not a learning disability. The challenges the innately curious dyslexic mind – which is inherently intellectually playful – faces in the classroom reflect the limitations of the system itself and the flawed models of learning that we adopted 200 years ago and remain in place today. The system itself is flawed but as it protects and sustains itself, it projects the false perception of flaws in its students, implicitly invoking feelings of fear, guilt and shame leading to the diminishment of esteem. Any person or entity that diminishes the esteem of another is abusive.
And that is the higher order understanding!
Our 200 year old public education system prefers to command rather than inspire learning. As such, there has been no significant evolution in improving the creative potential of its students (as testified by the Land/Jarman creativity study).
Public education expects / commands performance from its students through a combination of fear, guilt and shame:
Fear – that we will fail life without the certificates that public education offers.
Guilt – that you are obliged to learn what some external force says you should know based on your batch date of manufacture – i.e. it is what a 7-year-old or 8-year-old or 9-year-old is supposed to know or be doing.
Shame – of being exposed through your grades as the weakest among your tribe.
Top stuff really!
Part of the challenge is that education is forever seeking change from the position of desperation rather than inspiration. It is virtually impossible to want to sustain curiosity, to continue to hold a set of thoughts in your mind that make you feel diminished or lesser in some way.
And yet, a curiosity curriculum is the foundation for igniting creativity in the classroom. It’s the students’ curiosity that is supposed to be developed.
Just as learning is experiential, all creative acts and all growth is experiential. You have to let them follow their own reasonable curiosities for them to experience its expression.
The Questions Are The Answers
In much the same way that curiosity can be viewed as sustained inspiration – how we hold the objects of our affection / that which we wish to bring forth for ourselves through the dreams we dream and the intentions we set – intuition, the process by which we receive insight/intelligence from a source beyond ourselves, can be viewed as sustained curiosity.
Curiosity = sustained inspiration
Intuition = sustained curiosity
Curiosity feeds into the reticular activating system (RAS) of our brain which is located at the core of our brain. This network of neurons connect the brain stem with the hypothalamus and thalamus. When you decide to get a particular breed of pet dog or a specific new vehicle and then start noticing them wherever you go, it is this network that is doing the work. This makes the RAS fundamental to goal setting and the realisation of intentions and aspirations. For the same reason, the RAS is strongly associated with how we form our habits. And the habits maketh the (wo)man!
In the words of Epictetus:
“Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is coloured by such impressions.”
The hypothalamus secretes dopamine and the “hits” we receive as our curiosities are “rewarded” encourage us to seek more. This is sustained until the new insight, new skill, etc – is no longer novel but becomes “old hat” – it is then available to us at a more autonomic level that no longer requires conscious intent. It is simply “part of our being”. Actions performed automatically…habitually!
It is the dopamine hits that we receive that governs the process of habitation.
It is also the essence of 21 day programs and the like. Sticking with something, holding a sustained attention, which is the essence of curiosity. Programmes like these, and the value of coaches, are that they help us stay the course; they are like “curiosity guardrails”.
What we remain curious about is what we become at the level of the habits we maintain, which others then observe and evaluate as they form a perspective as to the content of our character. For we become what we hold most regularly in our minds.
Reasons Reap Rewards
Once you’ve decided you want to bring about change in some fashion, invite something new into your life whether that be new understanding, a new skill, a new job, a life partner, whatever it may be, this forms the basis of our inspiration. It is the thing we are motivated or enthusiastic to make real for ourselves – to turn the dream or idea into a reality.
The more reasons we have to want to bring forth something and the greater the emotional attachment we feel for that thing, the more likely it is that we will realise our ambition. The reasons create an energetic force that underpins the creative process and the emotional tone creates the magnetic effect that is powerful in attracting the new.
The inspiration is sustained through curiosity, which maintains the interest and supports the mind to maintain our focus / direct our attention on that which we wish to bring forth for ourselves as we explore and determine the best means by which we can turn our dream into reality. Curiosity provides the “how” – the means by which we receive that which we seek.
“Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”
By sustained curiosity.
“You’re welcome!”
Intention leads Attention leads Retention, just as Inspiration leads Curiosity leads Intuition.
To the extent that we are inspired to transform our mind then it is higher order understanding that we seek.
Be Careful What You Wish For
It is a truism in life that we get what we expect. To that end, Curiosity has a couple of important bed partners that guide the process of original thought production – the means by which we bring the new into our life given thought always leads form (you cannot build a house without first having the idea to do so).
Curiosity aligned with Gratitude and Empathy make for a powerful combination in inviting the new through the power of intuition. Taken together, we can think of them as the Holy Trinity to the Sacred Gift.
The Holy Trinity of the Sacred Gift
“Intuition is a sacred gift and reason is its loyal servant. We have created a society that has forgotten the gift and honours the servant.” Albert Einstein
Education is a foundational building block upon which society and culture is shaped for the simple reason that education is the mechanism by which we develop the mind and all physical form commences at the level of thought.
As the methods of learning that inform our public education systems specific exclude any development of the Original Thought Network of the middle brain, we have thus created a society that has forgotten the gift.
And because it prioritises the prefrontal cortex and the role of executive function, we honour the servant – be reasoned with logic and critical thinking.
The Holy Trinity of Creativity
Curiosity
Curiosity sets the terms for what we draw forth in terms of intuitive insight.
“What you seek, ye shall find” – engaging the reticular activating system, the questions are the answers.
“For you will become whatever you hold most regularly in your mind.” Epictetus
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” Albert Einstein
Gratitude
To receive a gift, sacred or otherwise, the decent thing to do is to give thanks.
In everything, we give thanks.
Determines what we are thankful for, what we invite into our world. Intuition is the work of our magnetic world (when you love the world, the world loves you.)
It also invokes the law of reciprocity – to give, to receive. Generosity is the reciprocal action of gratitude.
Gratitude is also potentially the single most powerful tool in the development of esteem. When we see and acknowledge the good in others, we increasingly see the good in ourselves, and vice versa. We are but mirrors unto the world that we inhabit.
Gratitude elevates our frequency as it causes the pituitary gland to secrete oxytocin – the real “Oxy”! The so-called love hormone, creating feelings of positive emotion, lifting the frequency of our electromagnetic field, which is our mind. Gratitude keeps the original thought network primed and energized and sustained.
Empathy
Empathy is like nature’s WiFi network. It determines “whom” you can connect with at the level of an energetic exchange.
It’s where synchronicity and serendipity derive. Snap! Same idea…wow, we’re so in sync!
The efficiency and effectiveness is decided by the frequency of our electromagnetic field.
7.83Hz is the most optimised frequency to obtain – the Schumann Resonance, the “earth’s heartbeat” – a universal frequency.
Empathy is really just our natural, primal, emotional intelligence network…human or nature’s WiFi.
Whoever and whatever you believe you can co-create with will also determine how wideband the transmission will be, for one must believe to receive!
Our powers of intuition are developed to their fullest potential through the cultivation of this Holy Trinity and the 12 Divine Qualities of the Heart (which include empathy).
Curiosity: The Final Word
Changing our thinking requires new ideas. We must generate original thought, but how?
That is the process of creativity. It’s part one of a two part process that comprises the creative act – the process by which ether is turned to matter.
The Creative Act = Creativity + Productivity
Part 1: Creativity: the formation of an original idea that has value
Part 2: Productivity: the means by which the idea – the product of creativity – is turned into appropriate action.
Creativity is broadly absent from school curricula. Original ideas derived by students is not the focus of an education system that assigns to agency to the student for the cognitive expression of individual inspiration or curiosity. And intuition is horrifically misunderstood, if it is even given any consideration whatsoever. Schools like the idea of imagination but have no idea how to cultivate it because the process of creativity is not understood or known.
Lying at the heart of creativity is curiosity.
Here lies our quandary. The very ingredient, most needed to bring forth change in our education systems, to turn a dream or an intention into reality, is the very thing that is totally absent from the prevailing models of learning applied.
“It is a miracle that curiosity survives education.”
Albert Einstein
The absence of curiosity in our education systems leads to an absence of curiosity societally, where education is a foundational pillar upon which society is formed. Again, as all physical form commences at the level of thought, how we train our young to think directly affects the collective lens through which our external environment is fashioned.
Where reason is paraded and intuition neglected, our world is shaped by linearity of thought, a prioritisation of logic and critical thought and a unreasonable quest for certitude. This is entirely unsurprising for certitude – in the manner we encounter it today – is a product of the Enlightenment, aka “The Age of Reason” which, just happens to be the time when our public education systems were formed.
Consequently, we live in a world where most people tend to major in minor things and we are persuaded into this chronically myopic specialist culture where we tend to know a lot about a little, reflecting the very narrow range of thought we permit through the RAS. Unfortunately for our species, specialisation is the enemy of evolution, with every cade that veers significantly in this direction ultimately becoming extinct. It is a simple case of becoming bogged down by the minutiae of life, finding the “devil in the detail”.
In a world of certainty, there is no requirement for curiosity. What would there be to be curious about if everything can be known in advance? A quest for certitude denies all forms of reverence, awe and wonder. Curiosity kicked to touch!
So here we have a system and its employees, who are products of the same system, valuing certitude and clueless to the value and art of curiosity. This is most clearly expressed in the “single right answer” approach to learning and predefined expectations of ALL students whatever the topic of study.
Given curiosity is essential to the means by which we bring about change at the level of thought and, consequently manifested form, anyone absent the capacity for curiosity will inherently find the idea of change overwhelming and will lack the cognitive capacity to see the process of evolutionary change through.
So for as much as teachers and the education system claim to seeks transformation, it is a sad truth that the lack the curiosity necessary to bring sustained energy to the process of evolutionary change, means that it continues to make the choice not to change. More specifically, they choose to do stick with their prevailing methods, even when they recognise the inherent flaws.
This is perhaps the greatest tragedy of life and it is utterly devastating to our esteem, our inner spark: To seek transformation and yet not be prepared to take the steps required to create the change.
It’s a case of failing to turn your dreams into reality. It is energetically deflating.
For public education to make the changes, we must address the following question:
How do you make the incurious curious about curiosity?