Intellectual curiosity

I have mentioned this phrase a couple of times recently and it has really been on my mind. It seems like a good time to define it.
Sometimes it is easy to float through life assuming. You assume how a car is put together...or at least that it is. Perhaps you never ponder how the engine interacts with the wheels, or why so much mass is needed...you never question the body structure and where you can apply pressure without bending or breaking something key...and so forth.
You see a pinball machine and never think about how the ball will react, you just flip the flippers at a good time.
When you watch a movie or read a book, you seldom or never anticipate what the characters will do next, nor do you wonder at their motivations. It is sufficient that the story amuses you.
You never question the functionality of medications or food interactions or...well, you get the point. You never question WHY things work, it is enough that they do. That satisfies you.
The brain is a wondrous thing. It is a tool that can unlock doors, make your life easier or better. It can help you understand things you did not even realize you did not comprehend. But it needs to be exercised just as much as the body does.
And that is where intellectual curiosity comes in. Take me, for example. I recently purchased a cd by a group named AKWED. They rap in Spanish, and the title of the cd is Aguacates, a word with which I was unfamiliar.
The person who is not intellectually curious might simply listen to the cd without looking it up or asking someone. It is enough for him that the music is pleasant, the beats nice, and he can make out a word or three.
The intellectually curious person, however, will search dictionaries, ask people, etc...he will learn what that word means. He will then have added to his knowledge and possibly enhanced his understanding of and learning potential from the cd. It is a benefit.
The intellectually curious person will invesitigate other things too. Which "news" stories are reported on and why. Which ones are ignored...and why. He will get his news and views from more than one viewpoint.
A book I am currently reading about stereotpes of Native Americans in Science Fiction movies shows an example. It talks about how a Native American will look back when he is walking so he can see the country he passes through from more than one direction...just as he will walk behind a person (figuratively) he is debating so that he can see things from their point of view.
Note this does not mean he will agree with that view....but it will at least help understand why a person might believe a different way.
This, I believe, is an important thing for each of us to attempt. To look at the world we live in, examine it from multiple points of view, and then to make sound decisions.
This is a much more complicated thing than it sounds like. It might be something as simple as juxtaposing familiar buildings with familiar landscape to see how it fits together...do the colors make sense? Is something out of place?
Or it might be something much more difficult, such as interpreting social actions, re-reading history with an eye for the underreported story...I am willing to bet that a couple months ago when I was writing about Standing Bear that it was the first time most of even my loyal readers had heard of him...yet he was the first indigenous person in the Americas to be recognized as a human in U.S. courts. I encourage you to be intellectually curious...do not just ask why it was so then, ask what is the status of Native Americans today? Why? What can be done to change it? What should be done?
And don't stop there.
Develop your intellectual curiosity. And the best way to develop it is to use it.