282. The Symbolism Of Pandora’s Box & Curiosity
“Curiosity killed the cat” and the story of Pandora’s box. Why is it that we have so many stories about the dangers of curiosity?
I like to think that now as a culture we straddle a fine line between dangerous curiosity, risky curiosity and “safe” curiosity. I do feel that being established as a society and culture has done this for us. On top of that, we have a reasonably well-working society. For the most part, we either have our basic needs met, or we meet our own basic needs. We’re also quite familiar with our lives and our terrain. We “know” when something is a bad idea. We know where the rattlesnakes live, we know how to not get our hand chopped off by a machine. In many cases, we’ve learned to minimize risk. Accidents do of course happen, though.
Why do we feel these stories are told? Well, it’s true that it may be a method or means of control. There’s no better way to put people in their place of subordination than to tell them through fantastical means that their curiosity will end up getting them killed. We do tend to exert our own fear and insecurity, so it’s no surprise that we may even share this with our loved ones at an attempt to keep them safe, as well
But is there a more interesting reason that these stories are told? What is curiosity and what does it lead to from a metaphysical perspective?
In my opinion, curiosity is one or two things. One is simply our quest throughout life to find and fulfill our life purpose. It’s truly our intuition, or our “guiding” light. We must be curious in order to continue to learn and grow. There are certainly practical means to it. But curiosity also does something else. In my opinion, it’s our subconscious guiding us through and almost out of the matrix. So how does this work? Every single day we wake up and we have a perceived reality. It’s perpetuated by our matrix. The sun rises, it sets, our home looks relatively the same. We look relatively the same. We’re very aware of all of our functions as a human being. But there’s simply more to this reality, there’s life and its truest essence, which exists beyond this matrix. There’s always more to uncover in terms of spiritual information, connection, creativity, beauty and brilliance. The more curious we are, the more we’re able to explore and see outside of this matrix. The more we go into parts unknown. We can imagine that it’s how any and all innovation starts. Curiosity means we go beyond what’s at face value. And this is incredibly important.
But here’s an interesting twist to this conversation. Does curiosity inevitably kill the cat? Here’s why I feel there’s truth to this, and not only just control or conditioning. When we have curiosity about our lives, and we go outside the realm of normal and outside the realm of our perceived matrix, we tend to shake up our lives quite a bit. On numerous occasions, those who overcome fear and align to their higher selves, particularly as they’re a little bit older or more established in their journey in life tend to have pretty severe consequences for doing so. And I’m not talking about wrath of god, I’m just talking about realistic ramifications. Often times people are living in a state or sense of denial. And when their curiosity ends up encouraging them, or at times, foreign them to do something different, see something different or experience something differently, many secured elements and aspects of their lives may change. There could be broken relationships, new career paths, maybe even moving. Much of your life could be “destroyed”.
It’s hard to say whether or not this curiosity is positive. There are of course situations, and in my mind I’m immediately thinking relationships, where people’s curiosity ends up leading them to be unfaithful, when they’ve promised otherwise. One must think… is this inevitably intentional, or is it curiosity’s fault? Is it inherently good, bad or neither? Does setting the intention to have “good” curiosity put you in the right direction?
There’s a reason for all curiosity. Follow yours, but lovingly doing so. Be smart. Consider the purpose before you accept any and all experiences at the end of the curiosity journey. Simply not acting on curiosity but intellectualizing its purpose can potentially be as valuable. But I admit at the end of the day, I do feel there’s intention in not just curiosity but its destination, too.
