Claiming Curiosity to Build Power
Curiosity is about questioning, knowing what to ask, when to ask. Being able to stay with the uncertainty of exploration– open to an answer you may not expect.
Curiosity is a generative way of relating to the unknown. Curiosity empowers us to question ourselves, our surroundings, and seemingly solid aspects of life that some would say do not need to be questioned. Curiosity opens us to change, to taking a path without knowing its destination, to building a new future.
Curiosity is extremely powerful, which is exactly why it is held as a privilege.
While curiosity may be the engine of innovation, our existing societal structures do not want everyone to innovate. A curious person is much more difficult to control, and might even change the world order. No wonder we have sayings about cats dying due to their curiosity. Unless you are a white, hetero, cis-male billionaire, your curiosity threatens existing power structures.
Curiosity is our natural human state when we are at ease. If you’ve ever been around a happy baby, you have witnessed this pure wonder. Everything is new and full of possibilities– even that empty cardboard box.
Because curiosity is so naturally human, undermining it requires going deep. The most effective way to disrupt curiosity is to dehumanize– to treat that person as less than, to harass, abuse and neglect. In this way, trauma becomes a tool of social control.
In the US we are experiencing rampant systemic dehumanization. Dismantling abortion rights told everyone with a uterus that in the eyes of the state their body is less human, they are less deserving of emotional, financial and bodily autonomy. Currently the ACLU is tracking a whopping 420 anti-LBGTQ bills across state legislatures. In 2022 more people were killed by police than in any previous year, majority people of color and disproportionately Black.
The list goes on.
Dehumanization impacts the body and the brain, and the brain gives more of your attention and energy to self-protection. In this space, curiosity is less available. It’s natural to be hesitant about the unknown when experiencing overwhelming fear, grief, shame, and other intense emotions.
When I am overcome by shame, I freeze. I don’t know how to move forward. I’m afraid to do anything, because it will probably be wrong. I am disconnected from my body, my deep knowing, and when I’m in this state I can’t connect with others. In this space I am anything but curious.
However, if I can call in even just a touch of curiosity, I begin to shift.
Recall something you feel ashamed about. Start with something simple, less heavy– for example, a tv binge. Shame would say things like “What are you doing? You are gross and useless and lazy! Your brain is rotting. If you can’t get yourself to stop watching tv, how can you do anything??” Ouch. Curiosity, on the other hand…”hmmm, what’s going on here? Interesting, you’re binging a show about a spy and she almost always wins, and is gorgeous and fierce– I wonder what that’s about? What’s going on in your body right now?”
Cultivate your curiosity so that it is strong, ready and available to you when you need. Curiosity is a lovely companion for so many of the emotions that shut us down. An expansive relationship to curiosity helps us hold space for the complexity of life, continuing to move and grow despite all of the forces that wish you would not.
You are powerful beyond your imagination. Don’t let anyone make you doubt this, and if they try to, wonder why. Give your body all of the love and attention it deserves, because you are a whole human–complex and flawed and beautiful.