Curiosity is the foundation of enquiry

After a week of curious developments I think it is important we consider more this most intriguing element of human thinking.

Curiouser and Curiouser is a famous phrase exclaimed by Alice after she disappeared down the rabbit hole.  She ate some delectable cake and grew and grew and grew.   The next spoken words uttered are “Now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!”

Alice goes on to consider the  growing problem: the nonsense of losing one’s feet.  And it all ends in tears.  Alice fears for her future but pulls herself together, chastising herself as a silly girl.

Curiosity is also the name of a manmade robotic rover, now exploring Mars after a successful landing via new innovation: a fundamental element of enquiry.  A sky crane stretched the imagination of inventors and successfully telescoped down Curiosity onto the planet safely after “seven minutes of terror”.

Curiosity seems linked to fear – the fear of failure.

I find it curious the reaction we are experiencing in Australia regarding our Olympic gold medal count.  We now have a call for more PE, more sport, at school.  Schools are the vehicle that will carry our hopes… yet again!

There are no certainties in life and our curiosity is the foundation of daring to contemplate.  No champion is ‘guaranteed’ a win – but every Olympian states the same thing: they thank the support of parents and others, for it was this trust and support that telescoped their hopes into an opportunity that could reward them.  The hope of being the best.

What keeps us going as learners is the belief in our own ability even when the gravity of a situation (the Martian atmosphere) or the nonsense of strange circumstances flood in (Alice’s tears become a flood in which she nearly drowns), or the bounds of ridicule are focused on momentary poor performance.

We persevere with confidence and support.

We endeavour to give of our best to minimise risk.  But there are always elements we must overcome.  When one compares the achievement of NASA compared to the Olympics, one cannot be but curious about what we hold to be important. 

Source: http://luminousenchiladas.com/post/28842758335/olympics-vs-mars accessed 8 August

The red is the budget outlay of the Curiosity program compared to the blue of the cost of the Olympics.

Believing makes us trust the future will be one to celebrate. 

For NASA the jubilation of success was broadcast around the world and has been recorded for ever.  This is an historic moment and humans archive and remember such dramatic events.

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