Why Curiosity is More Important than Knowledge
Reflections on how and why our awareness of our infinite ignorance and the desire to learn is more important than our finite knowledge
Hello Dear,
In case you noticed, I happen to be in the Indian Civil Service, in a service called the Indian Information Service (IIS). I hope to speak more on our service soon, in other posts.
For now, I would just like to say that for many years now, I have been reflecting on the name of the service and thinking of various other alternatives.
The Concept of Non-Names
I hope to dedicate at least one full post for these alternative names; for now, I would like to share with you that during the course of this reflection, I have come up with a certain set of names which I would like to refer to as non-names.
Pray tell me, you may perhaps ask…what are non-names? These could be regarded as names which merit consideration, but which should however not be adopted.
So, if they are not to be adopted, of what use is it to think them up? Well, I think it is and could be eminently useful, since good non-names encapsulate some vital elements of the identity of the service, of what it is and can and should be. It is just that the name is imperfect in some sense, due to which we pass the final judgment that it is better not adopted as the name of the service. In other words, this per se does not make it useless; on the other hand, a non-name could give us a lot of valuable insights and founts of inspiration. Well, that is what I would like to believe.
Indian Ignorance Service
So, it turns out that one such non-name I have thought of for IIS is Indian Ignorance Service. I thought of this name, inspired by my belief in the immense power of ignorance, rather than in information or knowledge. I have much more to share on this, but for now, let me share below two articles which I hope would provide you a glimpse of what I mean…
…it is more important for organizations to manage their ignorance….Ignorance management, on the other hand, recognizes that it is never possible to know everything, or even a lot of things, well. Acting from an assumption that the organization knows enough may represent hubris at best and bad management at worst…today’s approaches to knowledge management…do not address how to manage knowledge when the firm doesn't understand its problems, know what questions to ask, or even agree on what it knows. Organizations need knowledge management guidelines that help them recognize and respond to a variety of "knowledge problems" that have to do with what they don’t know or don’t understand.
Our stock of knowledge is dwarfed by the vast expanse of our ignorance. It is easy to forget this truth when our focus is on managing existing knowledge. But to constrain our horizons to the current state of awareness is to destroy the possibility of unexpected novelty. The foremost quality of the nescience manager is a determined humility. It requires a certain kind of wisdom and courage to say, “I don’t know” and to see this void as an asset and an opportunity rather than as a deficiency. Paying attention to nescience can remind us that if we want knowledge that is worth managing, we have to create it first.
However, on hearing the full form or non-name “Indian Ignorance Service”, some officers who were not fully aware of the spirit in which the non-name was proposed, told me that this is a very negative and demeaning description of our service.
Well, I should clarify, as I hope it is clear already, that I do not at all mean this when I use the above full form. Hence, though I had referred to this theme often in my messages to fellow officers, in light of the above misunderstanding, I shared a message with them, in order to clarify my thinking and inspiration behind the term Indian Ignorance Service.
And it is through this post that I hope to address the question in the title, namely, why curiosity trumps knowledge.
[Given below is a piece of reflection I wrote on May 22, 2022]
Why Curiosity Trumps Knowledge
1) Yesterday, a relative asked me to recommend some books for her daughter-in-law, so that she can buy them and gift them (she is going to US to meet her). Interestingly and rather unsurprisingly, she was asking for books from the same field in which her daughter-in-law works - IT sector, roughly speaking.
2) Rewind two days, and a dear friend was worried about an upcoming interview for a post graduate course she has to attend. The reason for her worry? That she has little idea of the field of study she has applied for.
3) I believe a common, fundamental and a very dangerous misconception underlies both the above scenarios. That one has to have good knowledge of a field in order to be able to contribute something meaningful to it. That one needs to be an expert in order to do so. That one hence needs experts to teach and guide us and show the way. I can go on. I believe all of this mostly does not make sense.
4) Before I explain why, I should clarify that I don't mean to say that knowledge is not important. Or that it is not valuable. Or that one should not crave for it. I am not saying any of this.
5) What I am saying is that it is untrampled curiosity and unfettered imagination which are much more important and fundamental. To not just knowledge and expertise, but even to who we are. It is awareness of ignorance, of the limits of our knowledge, which is far far more important than knowledge itself. In fact, this awareness can even be thought of as a superior form of knowledge. Since it entails awareness and knowledge of our self.
6) So, we would do well to take our knowledge less seriously, and give more attention and importance to our ignorance. We should also realize how our ignorance and our awareness of it can be our greatest asset in some or rather many situations.
7) Why? Because we are all prisoners of our knowledge. We fail to question received wisdom or even acquired wisdom which has now become foolishness. This way, knowledge can actively stand in the way of our vision, it can make and keep us blind. Unless we have the courage, humility and discipline to question even our deeply held beliefs.
8) To relate with point 1, it is a gross mistake to think that one can learn about a topic X only from something about X. Yes, one needs to read on X but in this process, we often tend to overlook how principles and ideas from one field can have huge transformative value in fields which appear to be way too remote from it. So, an idea from quantum mechanics may be the killer idea to transform and reinvent the official communications of an organization which may perhaps be used to issuing dull-as-ditchwater communications. Or the principles for community living in some prehistoric tribe could help reconfigure the legacy issues of troubled relations among organizations of the same government which however do not even see eye to eye and are out to annihilate each other.
9) Of course, my relative may not necessarily have had made the above mistake. Nevertheless, the point is that sources of inspiration are limited only by the artificial constraints we impose on them and by the natural constraints of time and space and hence of what we can absorb. Anything and anyone can inspire anything and anyone else. If only we are open to embrace what the universe is ready to offer us. The key is to stay curious, humble and to become curiouser and curiouser.
10) On point 2, the predicament of my friend awaiting her interview, what she needs to realize is that what matters most and should matter most for excellence in any field is our inspiration, not prior knowledge or experience. If we are inspired, all of these will follow. If we are not inspired, even if we have or acquire knowledge or experience, they would be of little use and can very well be harmful. So, the same holds for qualifying an interview. The key is to be clear about our why, to have a purpose which is true to our self, which is guided by our spiritual energies and calling, and not by some material considerations. At least it should not be only due to material considerations. The spiritual yearning of realizing our calling in the world should be paramount. Because that is who we are. Methinks so.
11) I close this brief reflection with the thought: expertise is vastly overrated, anyone can be an expert in anything under and over the sun, all that is needed is for us to put our mind, body, heart and soul into it. That simple (not that it is easy, embracing the difficult being the key). [Reading this bit now in 2023, I find that it was too much of a stretch for me to claim that anyone can be an expert in anything!, given the finite constraints of time, energy and opportunity we face.]
[End of the piece of reflection I wrote on May 22, 2022]
So there goes. Hope the point is clear. Does it make sense, I wonder? How much? Feel free to share!
Postscript: In fact, when I shared the non-name Indian Ignorance Service with a dear friend and fellow IIS officer around 3-4 years ago, she told me “Bas yahi baaki tha sunne ke liye (only this was remaining to be heard)!”😊
Thank you for your attention! - Dheep.