Curiosity did not Kill the Cat
Questions I've carried since childhood and the ones that have replaced them. On what happens to curiosity as we grow — and why the hard questions are worth holding.
Read the full essay at Songs of the Lotus.
Curiosity evolves. The innocent questions of childhood give way to more complicated ones — not because the world gets simpler, but because we start to understand how much it doesn't.
Some of the questions I've been carrying:
Why does learning language and art become harder with age, when it was so effortless at the beginning? What happens to a child's imagination in adulthood — where does it go? How do we reduce inequality between the developed and developing worlds without flattening what makes each place distinct? What bridges the gap between awareness and action? When will we hold accountable the companies profiting from the planet's destruction?
What is authentic love? Do we truly know who we are?
I have more questions than I can articulate. I think that's the point. The questions are a kind of practice — evidence that something in me is still alive and still paying attention.
D.