Curiosity and Imagination

Curiosity and Imagination. Two invaluable gifts given to mankind that make us human. Some of us have more of one or the other while some are gifted with both in abundance. But regardless it is what separates us from the other species that inhabit this planet. That and the idea to not decline money when offered to us.

Two separate events led me to pen this. First was a movie I watched called 'The Magic of Belle Isle'. The protagonist is a handicapped drunk played by Morgan Freeman. One time award winning author turns to the bottle after his life is completely shattered by an accident.

He meets a young girl full of curiosity and chutzpah on a retreat by the lake. While helping her understand the meaning of the word 'imagination' and write her own stories he turns a corner and finds new meaning to his life.

The other thought was really a combination of two books I read. One was a while ago written by a Hollywood film producer called Brian Grazer and if I remember correct was titled 'Curiosity'. The other is a newish title I picked up and am in the process of finishing, written by Mario Livio, an astrophysicist and author. This book is titled 'Why'.

The author has spent a goodish bit of time researching the subject as a scientists is wont to do. He describes that curiosity can be defined on two major axes - one that extends from perceptual to epistemic and the other that describes specific and diversive.

Epistemic is an insatiable kind of curiosity - the desire to know why things are the way they are. Einstein was said to tell his biographer - "I have no special talents, just insatiable curiosity."

I do appreciate this type of 'But Why?' fact finding myself and spend endless hours reading the most arcane of subjects on occasion. Simply because it feels good to have learned something. Hard to quantify or explain to someone else perhaps.

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