It Was Worry, Not Curiosity, That Did the Poor Cat In
Last week I wrote about the why question and it not being asked enough. It seems to me, that as a society we’ve quit asking why. To much of the time we just drift through life accepting things at face value.
What happened to our curiosity?
Could it be that the phrase ‘Curiosity Killed the Cat’ is partly responsible for this loss? This saying makes curiosity sound pretty scary. Like, being curious could be life threating. Not asking questions leads to our blindly following along like a herd of sheep.
This zombie like meandering through life may seem easier, but it leads to nowhere in particular. If we’re not careful we might blindly walk off the edge of a cliff.
After a little research I found out that the saying ‘Curiosity Killed the Cat’ started out with a completely different meaning. It started out ‘care killed the cat’ in the late 1500’s in a Ben Jonson play. In this case ‘care’ means ‘worry’ or ‘sorrow’. Now were getting somewhere. Worrying rather than curiosity is certainly something that doesn’t add anything to life. The Bible is full of scriptures showing us to not worrying.
Learning leads to less worry.
Early in life I had big plans, when they didn’t work out…I became zombie like…just drifting through life. I gave up and gave in. That’s when God got my attention with a board upside the head. I woke up and realized it was up to me and I could do something about it.
I have control over my choices and decisions.
Since then, I’ve been reinvigorated in my curiosity. I ask why, I read, I learn, I think, I’ve surrounded myself with other curious people wanting more out of life than just floating along.
One of the ways that I’m learning is going through the Enneagram course of Donald Miller’s, Business Made Simple online learning. The Enneagram is an in-depth personality typing system. There are nine basic personality types.
- Perfectionist
- Helper
- Performer
- Romantic
- Investigator
- Loyalist
- Enthusiast
- Challenger
- Peacemaker
This system helps us to become more aware of who we are and why we naturally do things the way we do. Like the BMSU Mission Statement course my friend Shep and I are going through the Enneagram course together. We’re a few weeks in and I’m curious about what personality type I am. (I think I already know)
Remember it wasn’t curiosity that killed the cat…it was worry
