Great read. Points 2 and 3 really stuck out to me. I have an odd passion for collecting resources and find myself curious to various degrees on a wide range of topics. This can get overwhelming sometimes to where the forest gets lost for the trees. There is only so much we can dedicate in a single lifetime.
Research is a task that springs from natural born curiosity, it is not a chore in order to complete an intellectual quota. Reminding ourselves of this truism helps to recalibrate our intention towards it's proper focus and avoid forsaking the entire endeavor due to burnout or choice paralysis. It is a divine command that correlates with the our innate desire to know the world, and by extension, its Creator.
The stack of books on your desk should invoke excitement for what's in store for your curiosity. If not, you're doing it wrong.
Amazing post! Thanks for articulating so well this ideal of curiosity that I follow in my better moments. I will come back to this piece, as an oasis to renew myself at when lost in the haste and urgency of practical life.
I also appreciate the integration of the muslim perspective. My dad is a practicing muslim, and despite being an atheist myself, the respect I have for him has led me over the years to pay more attention to islamic wisdom. For example, it took me years of stoic practice and reflection to stop seeing Inch'Allah as a frustrating saying, and instead as the mark of humility it is, the acceptance of what you control and what you do not. This analysis of reading through the revelation of the Quran will provide food for thoughts and discussion between us.
A very enlightening read on how to cultivate curiosity and develop it further. Thank you for writing this beautiful piece, Mariam. These steps will help us become well-read on various topics.
Another good item to add to that list is "The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods", by Fr. A.G. Sertillanges.
Having "the Library of Alexandria at our fingertips", in my own case I find tends to overwhelm me, make me more scattered and dilettantish, and result in my starting more things while finishing fewer of them.
Thank you for the great essay on this topic: A lot of good food for thought and advice!
Great article! I wrote about the lifelong learning culture of Baghdad and Cordoba a while back, they had this curiosity in spades! Thanks for your leisurely research in this piece! :)
Interesting read, thanks. I liked the unexpected swerve to a different "civilization." (Given the vexed and overdetermined nature of that word, I would have preferred "culture" instead.) My question comes from my profession: I teach world art history to undergraduates from many nations. We begin before Homo sapiens, with prehuman artifacts, and we move, in a year, through almost a hundred cultures to the present. This long view has alerted me to certain preferences held by historians in several cultures, including Islam, the West, India, and China, for past cultures that achieved particular things, especially large-scale architecture, arts, and literacy. In the last few centuries there has also been a tendency to value cultures that had the idea of reason, research, or rational inquiry. As you can imagine, I hear those preferences in your essay, and I wonder what sort of interest you might have in cultures that did not have traditions of rational inquiry, or writing, or libraries, or literacy.
I was an early blogger and RSS advocate. My PageRank was high. It was my way of sharing my thoughts, getting feedback, and mulling things over in my mind. Often, my best posts came from reading a few unrelated books at once, "remixing" them in my mind, and releasing it via my fingers. Whenever I was curious about something I bought at least one book on the topic. In 2004, facebook came along, and a bit of my writing and mental focus became dedicated to it. Two years later in 2006, twitter debuted. I didn't really "get it", but it sure was fun, and tweeting was much easier than blogging. It gave me that feeling of releasing ideas through my fingers, but without the need to construct a large story supporting my perspective. 140 characters was all that was required. Then I spent more and more time reading Facebook posts and twitter tweets, and less and less time reading books and blogs. By the time TikTok came along, I was still buying books to answer questions I had in my mind, but while they lined my bookcases, they were never removed to be read. Swipe up, swipe up. Now I have the very definite feeling that I'm dumb, and don't produce anything of value. I still have aspirations, but I make no progress towards them. The death of inwardness is accurate. Everything has been reduced to "scroll and lol". I must make an effort. I must delete the apps. I must quit cold turkey. I'm an addict, and "everything in moderation" won't help me. Without nibbles of Tok, I'll be Ticked, and that cannot stand. Where shall I begin? Back cover. Then inside jacket. Then Foreword. One step at a time.
Wonderful read on how to ignite inquisitiveness and nurture it!
Good essay and wonderful further reading list
Great read. Points 2 and 3 really stuck out to me. I have an odd passion for collecting resources and find myself curious to various degrees on a wide range of topics. This can get overwhelming sometimes to where the forest gets lost for the trees. There is only so much we can dedicate in a single lifetime.
Research is a task that springs from natural born curiosity, it is not a chore in order to complete an intellectual quota. Reminding ourselves of this truism helps to recalibrate our intention towards it's proper focus and avoid forsaking the entire endeavor due to burnout or choice paralysis. It is a divine command that correlates with the our innate desire to know the world, and by extension, its Creator.
The stack of books on your desk should invoke excitement for what's in store for your curiosity. If not, you're doing it wrong.
A wonderful read - thank you so much for sharing it!
Amazing post! Thanks for articulating so well this ideal of curiosity that I follow in my better moments. I will come back to this piece, as an oasis to renew myself at when lost in the haste and urgency of practical life.
I also appreciate the integration of the muslim perspective. My dad is a practicing muslim, and despite being an atheist myself, the respect I have for him has led me over the years to pay more attention to islamic wisdom. For example, it took me years of stoic practice and reflection to stop seeing Inch'Allah as a frustrating saying, and instead as the mark of humility it is, the acceptance of what you control and what you do not. This analysis of reading through the revelation of the Quran will provide food for thoughts and discussion between us.
Such a wonderful read! Thank you for writing this!
A very enlightening read on how to cultivate curiosity and develop it further. Thank you for writing this beautiful piece, Mariam. These steps will help us become well-read on various topics.
Another good item to add to that list is "The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods", by Fr. A.G. Sertillanges.
Having "the Library of Alexandria at our fingertips", in my own case I find tends to overwhelm me, make me more scattered and dilettantish, and result in my starting more things while finishing fewer of them.
Thank you for the great essay on this topic: A lot of good food for thought and advice!
Brillant.
I really needed this articulated in this way. Thank you so much. I will start a research project and share it. I will Read.
Amazing!
Great article! I wrote about the lifelong learning culture of Baghdad and Cordoba a while back, they had this curiosity in spades! Thanks for your leisurely research in this piece! :)
Interesting read, thanks. I liked the unexpected swerve to a different "civilization." (Given the vexed and overdetermined nature of that word, I would have preferred "culture" instead.) My question comes from my profession: I teach world art history to undergraduates from many nations. We begin before Homo sapiens, with prehuman artifacts, and we move, in a year, through almost a hundred cultures to the present. This long view has alerted me to certain preferences held by historians in several cultures, including Islam, the West, India, and China, for past cultures that achieved particular things, especially large-scale architecture, arts, and literacy. In the last few centuries there has also been a tendency to value cultures that had the idea of reason, research, or rational inquiry. As you can imagine, I hear those preferences in your essay, and I wonder what sort of interest you might have in cultures that did not have traditions of rational inquiry, or writing, or libraries, or literacy.
I was an early blogger and RSS advocate. My PageRank was high. It was my way of sharing my thoughts, getting feedback, and mulling things over in my mind. Often, my best posts came from reading a few unrelated books at once, "remixing" them in my mind, and releasing it via my fingers. Whenever I was curious about something I bought at least one book on the topic. In 2004, facebook came along, and a bit of my writing and mental focus became dedicated to it. Two years later in 2006, twitter debuted. I didn't really "get it", but it sure was fun, and tweeting was much easier than blogging. It gave me that feeling of releasing ideas through my fingers, but without the need to construct a large story supporting my perspective. 140 characters was all that was required. Then I spent more and more time reading Facebook posts and twitter tweets, and less and less time reading books and blogs. By the time TikTok came along, I was still buying books to answer questions I had in my mind, but while they lined my bookcases, they were never removed to be read. Swipe up, swipe up. Now I have the very definite feeling that I'm dumb, and don't produce anything of value. I still have aspirations, but I make no progress towards them. The death of inwardness is accurate. Everything has been reduced to "scroll and lol". I must make an effort. I must delete the apps. I must quit cold turkey. I'm an addict, and "everything in moderation" won't help me. Without nibbles of Tok, I'll be Ticked, and that cannot stand. Where shall I begin? Back cover. Then inside jacket. Then Foreword. One step at a time.