Nov 29, 2022

"Be Curious, Not Judgmental"-(not) Walt Whitman

"Be curious, not judgmental" is a quote that is often misattributed to the famous poet Walt Whitman; more recently cause of the show Ted Lasso. Misquoted but not misplaced this is an important lesson which I must confess, I require learning. Today, we will talk about that-

It may be quite easy to be animated by relentless curiosity about words and ideas; things like the history of a social movement or the beauty of our favorite author’s prose; what meets our eyes when we gaze at the vastness of the heavens or the intricacies of a cell. It’s quite another to remain curious about the person right in front of us, especially when what we know (perceive) may make us stay away.

I suspect that it is an engrained trait of varying degrees in everyone, that we assume/judge one another cause it's reassuring to stay ignorant of one another. This is because of fear, fear of the unknown. This fear if given into long enough will turn into a habit of being blissfully ignorant; masquerading as self-assured. We are so afraid of being proven wrong that it is discomfortable to engage in the endeavour for truth.

In a world ever more divided by strong opinions, mistruth and twisted facts it is imperative to "be curious, not judgmental". We need to embrace the process of truth and unlearn our engrained information processing systems. It is the age of snark and quick wit where it is easy to be swept away by delivery not substance because we don't process correctly, because we are not curious enough.

Result: we are divided. We are misinformed. We are less aware.

In a tribute to the actual words of Walt Whitman, "O Captain, My Captain" I will be more curious.

Thank you,
Love,
Vatsav

Vatsav Beerapalli

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