Cultivating Creativity
Have you ever heard a child ask 153 questions in a row? Curiosity seems natural to children. They want to know how things work. They want to know why things are the way they are. They want to know why the neighbors let their cat roam around the neighborhood, but theirs has to stay inside. So, they ask questions. When you were a child, did you ever ask so many questions that your parents and teachers got frustrated with your insatiable curiosity? Some people unlearn that natural inclination to be curious.
But curiosity is not just for children. Curiosity is for everyone. Many of us continue to exhibit curiosity in different ways. We see a show with an actor that looks somewhat familiar, but we can’t quite place them, so we rush to IMDB to see what else they’ve been in. We see a new flavor of Oreo for sale, and we decide to try it. We download apps to help us identify plants or birds.
I believe curiosity is among the most important qualities and characteristics we can possess and cultivate. Curiosity helps strengthen our creative work, our relationships, and our faith.
The word curiosity has its roots in the Latin word cura meaning “care.” To be curious is to care. When we are curious, when we care, we ask questions. We ask these questions because we care about the world, our neighbors, our work, and our God.
I believe curiosity is fertile ground for artists, writers, and all sorts of creative folks. Artists create from a place of care, a place of love, a place of wonder. Curiosity rooted in care is often what drives creative projects forward.
“I believe curiosity is among the most important qualities and characteristics we can possess and cultivate. Curiosity helps strengthen our creative work, our relationships, and our faith.”
Whether you realize it or not, as you write, draw, paint, sculpt, or compose, you almost certainly ask lots of questions:
How would this character react to this situation?
How does the shape of the architecture reflect the culture of this kingdom?
What shade of green best juxtaposes this shade of red?
What brush will best depict these stratus clouds?
Where is the light coming from?
What key will be most calming for this lullaby?
What would it sound like if I harmonized to the minor third instead of the major third?
Each of these questions comes from a place of care, care for the project and care for the quality of your craft. Curiosity and care often lead us through the steps of creation.
But curiosity is not just for creativity. It is also fertile ground for relationships to blossom and faith to grow.
Think about your relationship with your best friend or spouse or family member you get along with most easily. When you spend time with them, how many questions do you ask each other back and forth? How beautiful are relationships where there is mutual curiosity? Such curiosity shows you care for that person and they care for you.
“The antidote to frustration and bitterness in relationships is often curiosity.”
Now consider a person you struggle to get along with, a person you always seem to be at odds with. How much mutual curiosity is there between you and that person? Relationships that are struggling are often lacking in such curiosity on one side or both.
Whenever I am frustrated with someone, my wife, Stephanie, often reminds me of what we’ve come to call our family motto: “Curiosity is an act of love.”
It’s easy to be curious about people you love and get along with. It’s more difficult to be curious about those you don’t get along with. Jesus calls on us to love our neighbors, even to love our enemies. The antidote to frustration and bitterness in relationships is often curiosity. It is perhaps the simplest way for us to love our enemies, to genuinely ask them about their opinions. To reserve judgment long enough to ask them questions like:
Can you help me understand where you’re coming from?
Why is this important to you?
What have you experienced that has persuaded you of this?
Such curiosity shows we care. And such curiosity reflects Jesus. Jesus showed extreme curiosity with people. The Gospel accounts record Him asking over 300 questions. He asks these questions of His disciples, of His family, His enemies, even His heavenly Father. He cares about all of them.
But perhaps the most curious thing about Jesus is that when He is asked questions (nearly 200 of them), He almost never answers directly. He usually uses the question and the curiosity to invite further curiosity, further searching and investigation.
A lot of people I know were/are discouraged from asking faith-related questions. Certain traditions and leaders value certainty and authority to a degree that they dissuade questions and curiosity in matters of faith. But if curiosity is an act of love, a revelation of care, then asking questions of God shows that we love Him. Curiosity towards God’s Word shows that we care about it, that we love it, that we want to know more about who our God is.
Curiosity should never be discouraged. Rather, we should cultivate it, practice it, encourage it in one another. My encouragement to you in your creative work, in your relationships, and in matters of faith is simple: Be curious. Ask questions.
You can read more from Andrew R. Jones at his substack: biblecurious.substack.com