In the process of growing up, one feature of an individual’s personality that is on wane is his/her sense of curiosity. Worse, it is focussed on inane things that would make no qualitative difference in his/her life. We see how children ask so many questions - Why the sky is blue? Why can’t we see the Sun? Why cant the fish fly? Their questions do not cease and so the process of learning also goes on. But as we grow up, this curiosity begins to fade and one of the reasons for it is how people respond to your questions. As a child, you buy the explanations given by the elders, but as an adult, you question and your contest. You want a real answer and not some folklore. When met with unsatisfactory answers again and again, the person finally stops asking questions. Also, people also feel that asking too many questions would annoy others and that people would judge them.

 

So instead of asking, they just accept things as they are. They move on without understanding. And this is where curiosity starts dying. While the adage states that ignorance is bliss, in the practical world, it can be a big impediment in one’s progress. If you don’t know anything, you can be easily misled or make the wrong choices. So both sides have their own place. Being curious is a good thing as it helps you learn and move ahead. But sometimes, knowing too much just feels tiring in your head. Though not knowing can feel easy and light for a while, but then it also kind of stops you from really understanding what’s going on. The real problem is not curiosity itself. The problem is that we have slowly stopped encouraging it. We don’t answer properly, we don’t ask freely, and we don’t take time to understand things. Maybe the solution is not to know everything, but to stay curious in a simple way, ask questions when we really want to know and to answer others in a way that actually helps them understand. Because once curiosity is gone, learning becomes a task.