21: CURIOSITY — Part Three
This is the second post of highlights from Hollywood producer Brian Grazer, whose movies include Splash, Apollo 13, and A Beautiful Mind. As mentioned in Clue #20, Grazer wrote A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. I think that curiosity is an important clue to finding liberating truth and being a new creation that we are ordained to be. Listen to Grazer.
“Curiosity motivates us to explore and discover.” Grazer shares our quantum worldview. “I enjoy trying to wrap my brain around particle physics. I like it the same way some people like to understand the complexities of geology or currency trading or poker. It’s an arcane world all its own, with a distinct language and cast of characters — particle physics can literally seem like a different universe. And yet, it’s the universe we live in. We’re all made up of quarks and hadrons and electroweak forces.”
For many decades, Grazer has made appointments with important people for an hour of curious exploration. In one case, the interview ended in ten minutes. However, for most of the interviews, there were discoveries and emerging relationships that reinforced the value Grazer places on curiosity. For example, he felt something special in his interview with Condoleezza Rice.
“I MET CONDOLEEZZA RICE at a dinner party in Hollywood. I’d always been intrigued by her. She’s a classical pianist. She was a professor of political science at Stanford University, and then the university’s provost — the chief academic officer. And, of course, she was President George W. Bush’s national security advisor for four years and secretary of state for four years. She has remarkable presence — given her level of responsibility, she always appears composed, even calm. She also conveys a sense of being in the know. To me, she almost seemed to have superpowers.”
“Human connection is the most important part of being alive. It’s the key to sustained happiness and to a sense of satisfaction with how you’re living. And curiosity is the key to connecting and staying connected.”
“Curiosity is what creates empathy. To care about someone, you have to wonder about them. Curiosity creates interest. It can also create excitement.”
“Curiosity isn’t necessarily about achieving something — about driving toward some goal. Sometimes, it’s just about connecting with people. Which is to say, curiosity can be about sustaining intimacy. It’s not about a goal, it’s about happiness.”
“CURIOSITY EQUIPS US WITH the skills for openhearted, open-minded exploration. That’s the quality of my curiosity conversations.”
“I have found that using curiosity to get around the ‘no,’ whether ‘no’ is coming from someone else or from my own brain, has taught me some other valuable ways of confronting resistance, of getting things done.”
“Curiosity helps you dispel ignorance and confusion, curiosity evaporates fogginess and uncertainty, it clears up disagreement. Curiosity gives you power. It’s not the kind of power that comes from yelling and being aggressive. It’s a quiet kind of power. It’s a cumulative power. … Curiosity can help spark a great idea, and help you refine it.”
“Curiosity requires a certain amount of bravery — the courage to reveal you don’t know something, the courage to ask a question of someone. But curiosity can also give you courage. It requires confidence — just a little bit — but it repays you by building up your confidence.”
Q: When has your curiosity paid big dividends for you?
