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I finished reading a book my son Zak gave me for Christmas last night. I love reading stories about people, and this person was fascinating. The book is entitled Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! An Adventure of a Curious Character. It is a memoir of Richard P. Feynman, a theoretical physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, won a Nobel Prize for physics and lived an extraordinary life in his 69 years. Feynman’s curiosity about everything from art to bongo drums to why a plate wobbles when thrown to nanotechnology was fascinating (not that I understood it all). His curiosity would extend to people he met on the street, in a bar or at a prestigious science conference and brought him into extraordinary circumstances that a less curious person would have missed.
My greatest takeaway from this book is the importance of being curious and the gift of wondering. Wondering what makes something work. Wondering how to create something new. Wondering about someone else’s thoughts, culture, and language. And then from the wondering to move into action. Picking up a brush and learning how to paint. Joining a band just for the fun of playing an instrument. Engaging in a conversation where the only agenda is to know more about the other person. Reading a book about a Nobel Prize winning physicist just to expand my own imagination.
This week our REconstruction series begins with small group opportunities for you to stretch your curiosity, learn from one another, and then choose how you might grow as a result of the time you spent together. I invite you to take this opportunity to feed your curiosity by engaging with others.
Thanks Dr. Feynman. That was fun.
See you Sunday,
Lori
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