Taming our curiosities

A PASSAGE from the gospel of St. John happily reminds us

that we have to be careful with our curiosities which can be

impertinent. We need to tame and direct them properly so that we can

be led to what is truly proper to us and not get entangled with

useless and even harmful things.

             It is that passage where Peter asked Christ about John,

“Lord, what about this man?” And Christ answered Peter: “If it is my

will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” (Jn

21,21-22)

  

            More or less, the same idea is expressed in Acts of the

Apostles when the disciples asked Christ when he at that time was

going to restore the Kingdom to Israel. Christ answered:

             “It is not for you to know the times or dates the father

has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy

Spirit comes on you. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all

Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (1,7-8)

  

            With these words of Christ, we are told that there are

things that we do not need to know because they are not necessary or

even useful to us. We are also told about what is truly important to

us, and that is that we follow Christ and give witness to him.

  

            Nowadays, there actually are many of this kind of useless

things that we don’t need to know. We are bombarded with them

unremittingly everyday. If we do not know how to handle our

curiosities, there is no way but to succumb to them and to get

distracted from what is objectively good for us.

  

            To have curiosities is a normal thing to have. But we just

have to see to it that our curiosities are purified and properly

directed. That way we would know whether to pursue them or not. And if

we have to pursue them, we also would know how to do it. We just

cannot allow our curiosities to lead us by merely spontaneous and

mindless reactions.

  

            Let’s always keep in mind that our curiosities usually

start at the sensual level. What we see, hear or feel would provoke us

to be curious about a certain thing. Or they can start also at the

intellectual level. What we already know and understand can trigger

further curiosities.

             It’s good to be continually curious, since that is how we

grow in the different aspects of our life. We just have to make sure

that they are properly managed. And even before managing them, that

they are properly motivated and derived.

             Yes, there are curiosities that just break into our

consciousness by accident. These happen more often among the young.

But as we grow older and accumulate more knowledge and experience, we

will realize that our curiosities become more intentional than

accidental.

  

            What we need to do is to see to it that our curiosities

are always referred to God. They should not be allowed to follow a

Godless path. That would be inviting danger.

  

            With God, we would know if our curiosities have a valid

reason to be pursued. We would know where these curiosities

originated, whether from him, or from our flesh, the world, or the

devil.

  

            With God, we would know what proper resources we can use

to pursue these curiosities, as well as how to handle the other

weaknesses that may be triggered and stirred because of them. These

can be our weaknesses of pride, vanity, lust, greed, etc.

            In other words, we would be exercising the virtue of

prudence in dealing with our curiosities. We would tame them,

purifying and directing them to our proper end.