Change – Breakaway Consciousness

Passion Project: Book Release – A Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities by Zy Marquiez | #Writing | #Poetry | #Poems | #TheIndividual | #Life | #Obstacles

KOP1
BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
June 10, 2019

Life is fascinating in innumerable ways.

Sometimes, you have certain goals, and everything you try to do to carry out those goals seems to work against you. Other times, you seem to care not for those goals, and somehow someway everything flows into place like water settling down from a river into an ocean becoming part of something more.

This last week or so, I’ve been deep in thought considering many things in life. Some thoughts are in respect to personal goals, some are passion projects, some of it regards health, so on and so forth. Irrespective of that however, I find myself venturing in a thousand directions unable to pick and choose whether to continue tackling things on an instinctual level, or whether to take a laser-like focus approached into a particular goal or project. Time will tell on that front.

With that in mind, one of the projects that is officially complete, although it has been for nigh two weeks, is the book A Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities which was published on May 29^th.

KOP2
The poetry book A Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities is incredibly significant to me for countless reasons, not the least of which is because this book is in essence an overarching view into many of the struggles I have personally faced, or have seen others face, along with many other noteworthy issues. Also, unlike most other poetry books which feature only poems, this one features personal notations through and through of varying length as insights or personal notes. These can be as short as a couple of lines, or as extensive as a few paragraphs. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and might do something similar in the future.

Most of the poems featured in the book have been shared on many social media platforms, whether it was on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., as well as quite a few websites as well. Some of these poems go back to what was written when I was a teenager, up until early this year.

While most poets that I’ve seen usually wait until their best work is published to start off, I thought I would take a different approach. I don’t want people only to see ‘the finished product’ of what my writing entails as I wait for more polished pieces. If that is what you seek, I would suggest waiting for Halcyon Days, or another other book thereafter.

What I want everyone to keep in mind with this particular book, including myself, is how my writing has grown over time, so I can go back and reflect on that. I simply want people to read that and say, “Hey, I can’ do that too!” This type of can-do mindset is much easier to impart into others when they see your ‘skill’ in its most basic form, from the ground up. I say ‘skill’ loosely, for I am only an amateur writer, but no other words come to mind that seem to fit.

Many times, in life, society as a whole sees the finished product of someone. They see the movie star, the athlete, the Olympian, et al., in their latest form. What people don’t see is where they came from, how they started, how they struggled and so on. Autobiographies cover this to a great extent, but that is usually after individuals have considerable experience in particular field, which does a great disservice to people who want to learn from others to the utmost degree.

Excerpt from *A Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities.*

That said, some of the topics featured within the book that can help with an individual’s growth include love, pain, suffering, fear, abuse, mistakes, addictions, life lessons, mistakes in poker that translate to life, and much more. Almost none of the notations in A Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities delve into incredible depth unless absolutely necessary (as can be seen above), given that this is primarily a poetry book, but the insights that are there are included for those seeking deeper rumination of such a full spectrum of subjects. A handful of the notations really seep into more mindful depths, but in the full totality, there’s a little bit of everything [1].

In other words, the notations in this poetry book, which encompass nearly 3/4^th of the substance of the book, are just as important, if not more important than the poems themselves. This is because the insights that may be drawn from these for me personally, or for others as well, are just as important as the finished product, those being the poems, which is exactly what I was getting at earlier.

Either way, this information is shared so it can serve as a baseline for some of my future works, so I can see, and others as well, where I have come from so others can take a “Can Do” attitude from it if at all possible.

No matter where you are from, what you have gone through, what goals you have or what you wish to ultimately get in life, you always have options, there is always a choice. These choices encompass the full breadth and scope, the veritable kaleidoscope of possibilities that life offers every single day.

These possibilities that exist every single day, and the choices that may stem from them, are what life is all about. Good choices, bad choices, it matters not, for individuals will always have choices, whether to start something great, or rectify past mistakes. What matters most is that we DO have a choice to live a better life, a more meaningful life, a life of possibilities.

That’s what A Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities is all about; it is about gazing into the abyss of life, sifting through the deeper levels of your being and life itself for the significance of every single choice you make, no matter how big or small, and how that couples directly into the lifestream.

You, the individual, are a microcosm of that lifestream, and ultimately significant component of life itself. And as you make your choices on your path, life itself changes accordingly, your life, as well as those of others, contributing to the larger tapestry of wonder that the world holds.

This tapestry, this timeless art piece called life, is intimately woven within you. Don’t ever underestimate the power in your ability within this grand tapestry.

But to contribute to this grand tapestry, your grand tapestry, choices have to be made. These choices start with you.

You – The Individual – are the key to the kaleidoscope of possibilities, and will always be.

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Author’s Note:

[1] While that notation might seem obvious at first blush, and even simplistic, much of the advice in self-help books can be seen just as such, and still manages to help millions of people. Given that, one should never underestimate the power that an insight, not matter how seemingly ‘obvious’ it is, can do to help others on their path.

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#Quote Of The Day | #Future | #Time | #Life | #Lincoln

“The best way to predict your future is create it.”
– Abraham Lincoln

Poker & Life – Old Roads, New Roads & Pursing Dreams | #Life | #Goals | #Freedom | #Writing | #Poker | #Inspiration | #Motivation | #Change

“The turning point in the life of those who succeed usually comes at the moment of some crisis.”
– Napoleon Hill

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
– Gandhi

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
June 1, 2019

Life offers infinite choices. Choices are one of the gifts that make life so grand, vast, and intriguing.

Some choices arrive instantly, such as slamming on the breaks not to rear end someone, while others, such as choosing a major in school, allow for extensive thought.

In this blog, choices are a subject that has been written about extensively. This is because no matter what happens, life offers a wide well of choices to draw from on a daily basis, many more than most individuals realize given that so many choices are done on autopilot, such as not having to think about directions to the grocery store. But there’s a lot more choices than the autopilot ones, and many can be significantly life changing.

For quite some time I have stood still on my path, mindful of two separate choices that can be, though not necessarily need be, joined at the hip when it concerns what I chose to do for a living. At this proverbial fork in the road I have pondered long and hard about what to do, which choice to make and the ramifications of each one to a considerable extent. While these choices have been a long time coming in a sense, for years in fact, I knew that eventually the longer it took for me to make these choices, the longer I would have to wait to chase one of my dreams.

Now, to chase certain dreams in life, an individual isn’t always required to sacrifice other things or dreams. Often, individuals can just chase a dream in a manner that doesn’t affect other parts of their life considerably. Other times, dreams can require a certain level of sacrifice, certain choices that you perhaps might not want to (or need to) make.

With this in mind I’ve chosen to stop one of my career paths, which is playing poker for a living, and only focus on business. In conjunction with that however, I have also chosen to take up writing on a more serious basis, hopefully 4-8 hours a day, if not more. Writing isn’t being chosen as a career path, though there are certain financial possibilities there as well that I am open-minded about, but that is in no way shape or form any of my main reasons for choosing writing. If I was concerned about making money or increasing income I would just log more hours playing poker. I simply choose writing because that is what I love doing.

The final portion of my poker bankroll was liquidated and converted into business inventory, as has been taking place for weeks and now. This way I can just pursue the two small businesses as a career in conjunction with writing as a passion as well.

I have loved writing ever since I was a teenager although I never thought about it seriously as I have the last few years. I have grown to love it more and more every single day. It matters not what the topic is about, I love writing about imagination, creativity, inspiration, research, non-mainstream matters, and more. And when you couple that to creative writing in the form of short stories, prose and poetry, I’m in absolute heaven when I write. I can’t get enough of it in all honesty.

Admittedly though, I did contemplate not writing as a passion, because being open-minded by default requires considering all options, even the unpleasant ones, like quitting poker.

But couldn’t I simply add writing to my plate and not quit poker? Yes. Haven’t I been writing somewhat regularly the last few months? Yes. Could I add writing to a more serious extent, even more so than now, in addition to poker? Yes. Would that be the best choice? Not in any way whatsoever.

Why is this? Because if I choose to write regularly, irrespective of what I write or to the extent that I wish to do so, it’s going to require a lot of time to write, but more importantly, to grow as a writer [1]. As Rappaport once stated, with writing, you are either all in or you’re not – not unlike poker! If you’re going to write seriously, it has to be part of your life, if not part of your being. Writing is something that I will absolutely sink myself into and have already been doing so for weeks.

In fact, just yesterday, while at the gym, I wrote 7 blogs while I was there, at least the first drafts of them as an outline format with bullet points; this very write up was the second one of those [2]. I don’t usually employ bullet points as a first draft in writing, but when you’re writing on a traditional notepad and not on a laptop or notebook, streamlining key points is all that matters in my opinion. Such an approach also allows for the honing of logic given the sequential order that’s needed to maximize effectiveness in writing, just like in life, and also simplifies to a significant degree as well. That said, I think doing that and only that at the nascent stages of writing would be detrimental to the process as a whole. I just employ an outline format when need be, and also because I like simplifying, though I think writing in the traditional sense is much better since it allows for thoughts to be written in their full breadth and scope.

Even with all that, there’s a more crucial reason why letting go of poker is a no-brainer and this has to do with health. Poker, by its very nature, is an incredibly stressful game. In a regular every day 9-5 job, you show up, you get paid. In poker, such is not the case. You could go days, weeks, or months (if you’re a tournament player) playing flawlessly and still lose. Some have even gone a full year without any profits, YIKES! Though I’ve played countless tournaments in my life and dabbled considerably in them, this was mostly before the fateful ‘Black Friday’ date that poker went through years back.

Poker is just a game (or career) that creates a never-ending avalanche of stress that most people cannot handle, and even with those that do, it can still affect them greatly, like it has affected me in the past and many others that I know.

Being cognizant that health is my main concern at this point, choosing to stop poker isn’t even a choice. That said, just because I have stopped playing poker doesn’t mean that I had to add writing. But, given that writing is my main creative passion in life and it allows me to vent to a significant degree, thus relieving stress, which is the opposite of what poker would do, I see no reason why not to venture head long in it.

I always knew (or at least hoped) that poker was simply a means to an end, a way to make a living while enjoying the love for the game. The chief binary reasons why I love poker are (1) not only because poker allows more freedom than what a traditional job could offer, but more importantly, (2) poker allowed me to stay home, and staying home was important for someone who’s always had family in mind ever since I can remember.

In fact, having family has always been a big dream of mine in a weird sense and something I thought about often while growing up. Before my parents’ divorce, my father used to work for FEMA and he had to travel a lot. At times, he was gone for months at a time, with one time him being gone 9 months if I recall correctly. Whenever there was a disaster he had to bolt with no warning. Whether it was the Mississippi river flood, the Oklahoma City bombing, or anything similar, he had to be gone because it was his job to set up the communication networks when things went haywire and nothing could be accomplished during emergencies without communication.

The fact the he made that choice never bothered me or anyone else in my family that I know of. Yes, we all wanted him home, but that’s what he had to do given his career choice. Those circumstances always made me think that if I had the option to not be away from family, then I would actively seek it out. Had I followed through with Aerospace Engineering as I originally planned on after ASU, I knew having a lot of time for family would never happen, which is another major reason why poker always seemed amazing.

While at ASU I spoke to many current or former engineers that worked at Lockheed Martin or other aerospace companies that would venture to campus occasionally, and the vibes I got most of the time were that even though they liked (or even loved) their jobs, they all worked a lot, and a small amount were even downright miserable because they didn’t do what they were told they would be doing out of college even though they were all making great money and a fantastic living in the traditional sense.

Don’t give me wrong, I don’t mind working hard at all, or spending lots of time at work. Working hard has never been an issue. If anything, no matter the job, if there’s anything I could be accused of being is a workaholic. Not the best trait to have, but it’s one that’s true, or at least it was many a year ago. But given a choice, the adage of working smarter over working harder should always be chosen. These days I’ve simply taken the 4-Hour work week approach, whether it was poker or business. Not that I only work 4 hours a week, nay. Essentially, my goal is always to accomplish as much as possible with work (or writing) in the narrowest time slot available at the moment. This approach has kept me focused and saved me from serious heartache whether it was poker or business.

It’s odd because although I played poker for a living for well over ten years, I never went to Vegas. That’s even more mind bobbling due to living in Arizona, which is a stone’s throw from Nevada.

I can hear it now: “YOU PLAYED POKER FOR A LIVING AND NEVER WENT TO VEGAS!?!” My friends will never let me live this down, and I’m sure many are still laughing. No, I have never been to Vegas, even when we only lived 5 hours (drive time) away from Vegas. Eventually I would like to visit, but that’s definitely for the future.

It’s incredibly paradoxical because you would figure that someone like me that loves meeting people, having dinners with friends and family, the night life, dancing and so on, would easily choose visiting Vegas, at least once. But no, Vegas never appealed to me like that. And although I do enjoy the aforementioned inclinations to a great degree and those are things I like or even love doing, like dancing, those past times were never my defaults.

By default, I enjoy writing, reading, thinking, meaningful conversations, and so on. Every single one of those is something I love doing, which is why those are some of my defaults, and not the prior proclivities.

In any case, because of that assemblage of reasons, making the choice to play poker (though it certainly wasn’t set in stone at the time) was a no-brainer, just like pursuing writing as a passion is now. But unlike poker, which was done primarily out the freedom it offered coupled with the potential for profits and income that allowed for the capacity to make a living, writing is strictly chosen as a passion, as one of my dreams.

In all honesty, I couldn’t chose writing if I didn’t have something to fall back on. In essence, the Ebay and Bricklink stores have replaced poker, and allow an approach that significantly decreases stress in more ways than I can express. Also, writing is simply going to take the time slot that poker used to take, as it has for the last 2-3 weeks, with the usual writing that I do sprinkled in the mix that I’m liable to do at anytime, anywhere, for any reason.

Will I ever play again? Heavens yes, of course. My Mom drags my wife and I from time to time to the casino and not the other way around as it might seem [3]. Interestingly enough, my Mom draws a lot of inspiration from that actually. I hope to write about how that inspires her in the future.

Now, am I following writing as a career path? Nope. I will do it because I love doing it, because I have an unending passion for it.

Writing is one of the ultimate freedoms of expressions of the individual. And in an outside-of-the-box sort of way, writing is one of the biggest investments an individual can carry out, not unlike an individual’s proactive focus on health.

Writing as a passion is essentially going to become my drop into the aether in hopes to spawn change at a grassroots level with individuals. The way I have always seen it is like this: if every single post I share within this blog reaches only one person every single day of my life, then that will have meant thousands of people helped over the course of my life. Thankfully, the blog has done way better than reaching one person a day, but I don’t want to try and get too ahead of myself.

I employ this mindset due to a particular scene that played out from the action movie The Core if my memory serves me right. Within the movie, one of the protagonists is stressing about saving the world. Within that key moment, one of the other protagonists goes on to share their sentiments, where they said something along the lines of, saving the entire world is complicated, so why not simplify. He stated that in his case he was simply attempting to save 3 people, which were his family, that’s all. If he could save those 3 people, which were his wife and two kids, then everything else would follow. That simplicity and depth always stuck with me.

That’s taking a huge complex problem, and boiling down to only its core aspects, which allows for significantly less stress and more focus to be had, some of the very things that a sound mindset would employ.

Now, something I have noticed in the alternative research community is that many people share news articles, perhaps dozens, hundreds, or thousands of them over many years and expect the world to change in a heartbeat. Change at that ferocious speed is nigh never going to happen. Not that it cannot happen, it certainly can and it very rare instances has; it’s just that change at that rapid rate is incredibly complicated for innumerable reasons. Such is not how the world operates. The world is fluid, its chaotic, it’s wonderful, its boundless, it’s growing, and it’s a blank canvas at its foundation. Life is a blank canvas that requires constant application of an individual’s dreams for significant change to not only manifest, but to create resonance with others.

Blank canvases and the resonance they create allow for individuals to express themselves as they see fit while affecting the world, whether it is artistically or academically. This self expression allows for creativity to be explored, which allows for roads to be ventured.

And in synchronistic fashion, the very road that allows me to make my drop-in-the-bucket type of contribution to help others, also allows me to follow my passion, which is writing. In that sense, choosing writing is simplifying because writing, compared to poker, is a walk in the park, when it comes to stress at least, and almost everything else as well.

But what’s most incongruous and intriguing is that is that, if you think about it logically, what is simpler than doing what you love, which in my case is writing?

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Author Notes:

[1] One aspect of writing that takes a considerable amount of time is editing, particularly in more objective and lengthier research-based pieces. The longer the write up, the more editorial sweeps an individual must do to make sure the writing has quality, unless someone has considerable skill level at editing. I don’t mind editing, and at times it’s even fun, it’s just that editing is not something that’s talked about as one might often think, but at least it’s a developable skill.

For instance, this entire write up took me more than 10 sweeps to get to a satisfactory point and at least a few hours. Could it be better? Probably. But given how much time I had already spent writing this and editing it, I think that for what it is, it gets the point across with no glaring mistakes (that I can see at least). That said, most of my blogs don’t take that many sweeps, particularly the ones that are 2-3 pages long, as opposed to this one, which is 5 pages in total.

[2] I mention the amount of blogs I made first drafts not in a bragging manner, especially since anyone else can do the same, but to show how excited I was at the time that I was finally embedding myself into what I have wanted to do for years, which was writing. I derived a lot of inspiration from these thoughts and still find them incredibly inspiring.

[3] Why would I not be leading the charge to the casino on a regular basis? Because the poker I played was mostly online, since it saves on average 500 hours of road time a year, and for someone that’s incredibly cognizant of time, how precious it is, even if all you get is minutes within an individual, 500 hours of year is lot of time that can be allocated for other things.

[4] I hope to eventually write a book on poker and life, similar to some of the blogs that I have written on this very topic within this blog, but that’s something that I will probably begin to tackle next year. As it stands, my year is already jam-packed with countless ideas and goals that I wish to accomplish or at least begin, but I will take proactive steps towards the goal of writing a Life & Poker book though.

[5] I hope every single one of you takes at least one step, every single day, to whatever goal you wish to accomplish, no matter how big or small. Those individual steps, while seemingly inconsequential, will accrue to a significant degree and eventually snowball into something more magnificent. Or as grandpa Yoda said, “Do or do not, there is no try.”

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Emotional Bank Accounts: Trust | #Life | #Growth | #Change | #Friendship

“My love is unconditional. My trust and my respect are not.”
– Anonymous

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 31, 2019

After getting home today, I ended up thinking what an interesting concept trust is for many reasons. The reason I even pondered such a thought was due to something that took place online.

Yesterday I ran into a thought someone shared that had to deal with trust. Thence, while getting some work done it occurred to me that trust is one of the very pillars of emotional bank accounts.

Trust allows for relationships of all types to grow; trust fosters comfort; trust fosters a certain level of understanding, deeper understanding; trust allows for individuals to not get stressed out for whatever reason; trust, ultimately, is a significant deposit into emotional bank accounts.

The statement I read could be the equivalent, at least to me, of, “I-got-your-back-no-matter-what.” That’s a level of trust that’s not easy to arrive too. Was what I read intended like that? I have no idea, though it seemed like it. What I do know is that the statement was based on trust, which is the Rosetta stone of this blog post.

In all honesty, the statement made me think about a lot of things revolving around trust. That’s the thing, trust filters in everything in life, so much so that it’s actually taken for granted at a deeper level. This is because usually, we all give and take various levels of trust like candy on Halloween, and since this type of circumstance happens nigh on auto-pilot, not a lot of thought is given to it [1]. But trust has many ramifications that seep in countless directions.

Trust is what makes friendships grow; trust is what makes communities grow; trust is what allows nations to be established; trust is what ultimately allows progress to take place to the utmost extent.

Without trust, without one of the pillars of individuals and society, growth cannot be had; without trust, society cannot stand firmly upon its foundation.

And nothing great can stand too long without a proper foundation; for cracks will irrevocably take place within the foundation, and then those will affect the rest of the structure.

But don’t trust me on any of this, nay. Trust yourself and find out if the above makes sense, and what other ramifications can be had from such a concept.

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[1] The fact that trust is handed out ‘easily’ might seem wrong at first blush, but let’s ponder a bit. Don’t you trust a teacher, even without knowing them, with your child? Don’t you trust a pharmacist to know everything about drugs, without ever questioning them? Don’t you trust a police officer when they arrive on a scene? Don’t you trust a politician to do the right thing? Okay, am being facetious about the last one, since most politicians aren’t deserving of the level of trust that’s imparted at them, but the prior individuals are to some extent.

People don’t actively wonder if they’re going to trust a doctor, teacher, lawyer, pharmacist, etc. they just do it. That kind of blind trust can backfire more often than you realize, except it’s never seen from the lens of trust, which is why it’s never talked about, yet alone pondered at length.

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Never Underestimate The Power Of Imagination, The Power Of Dropping Seeds | #Imagination | #Inspiration | #Motivation | #Positivity | #PositiveVibes

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview to life’s coming attractions.”
– Albert Einstein

“You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization.”
– Denis Waitley

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 16, 2019

Imagination is the gateway to everything that is created.

An individual merely must step through that doorway and begin imagining possibilities, solutions, change; positive change every single individual is capable of displacing.

For instance, just yesterday, someone left a metaphorical seed at my doorstep. I call the act a ‘seed’ because a seed always holds endless potential. And just as seeds need water and the right environment to grow and fluoresce, individuals need the right inspiration and the right circumstances to act on imagination.

The seed this person left was promptly used by me and fertilized as such, and voila, I there in chose to act. This was because (1) the right inspiration came around, and (2) the right circumstance was coupled to that. If both hadn’t taken place, my decision to create something wouldn’t have happened.

Why does an individual need both inspiration and circumstance to take place? Because people get inspired all the time, but many times individuals do not act on that inspiration, they merely ruminate upon it at length under endless “what-if’s”. I used to be incredibly guilty of this. On the other hand, many people create things quite often, but when they aren’t feeling inspired they are not at the top of their proverbial game, which is why inspiration is so crucial – it acts as fuel for those seeds of imagination. This could be emblematic of writer’s block – the ability to create something, but not much that ends up being useful.

The fusion of both above concepts is the perfect merger of gasoline and match; the gasoline is the seed in endless potential, and the match is the individual acting within the right circumstance to unleash the endless tsunamis of their bondless potential. This means everything.

As an individual, at any moment, at any time, you can inspire yourself to create something wondrous – be it writing, painting, creating music and the like. But it doesn’t stop there, because your very ability to act on your inspiration and imagination pushes others to test the boundaries of their imagination, wherever they may lead.

All of this is incredible potential that is inherent within every single individual and has an extremely resounding effect that doesn’t get the credit that it deserves.

How many seeds will you drop today?

What forms of seeds will you share?

What type of creations will those encourage?

It’s an interesting proposition to consider, isn’t it?

Every moment is the right moment, just keep dropping those seeds.

For when the right time comes someone will not only appreciate that gesture of kindness, but they will contribute to the cycle of creation that is woven within the very strands of life.

Dropping seeds to help creation itself, to help life move forward?

What a neat concept.

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Suggested Reading:

Have You Ever Walked On The Moon?
Stranger On The Moon
Wings Are Made To Fly, Seeds Are Made To Grow
Why A Sound Mindset Is Crucial: The Light Side Of Mindset Vs. The Dark Side Of Mindset
Mindset Mindset Mindset!
A Sound Mindset Amidst The Obstacles Of Life
Mindwaves & Mindfulness
Modern Misteps Meet Mindfulness
How TV Robs You Of Your Life
How You Deposit A Truckload Of Black Pearls Into An Emotional Bank Account
How Are Your (Emotional) Bank Accounts Doing?
Emotional Bank Accounts: Mutual Funds
Emotional Bank Accounts: Deposits & Withdraws
Emotional Bank Accounts: Gems Gems Gems, Babies Everywhere!
Emotional Bank Accounts: I Call Your 7 Cents & Raise You A Dollar
Poker & Life: Pulling The Friend’s Card
Imagination Unleashed
The Inherent Power Of Curiosity
A 7 Cent Investment Into An Emotional Bank Account To Convert A Hater?
What Do You Find Inspiring?
Poker FlashBack: Swimming With Sharks, Swimming With Whales
Imagination Rises Out Of The Jaws Of Defeat
What’s Your Story?
You The Individual Are Author Of Your Own Journey, Of Your Own Destiny
Harry Potter Fans Trash Talk? Say WHAT?!
Consciously Creating The Road Of Change, The World Of Tomorrow
What Are Your Personal Defaults?
The Opening Salvo, The First Minute
The Seeds Of Today, The World Of Tomorrow
Assumptions Are Mother Of All F@!$ Ups
Piercing Perspectives #1: Taking Things For Granted | Health & Mindset
Piercing Perspectives #2: You The Individual Are Extraordinary
Piercing Perspectives #3: The Divide & Conquer Left Right Paradigm
Piercing Perspectives #4: Poker As A Mirror For Life
The Individual, The Foundation Of Society

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If you find value in this information, feel free to share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and BreakawayIndividual.com

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About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

#Quote Of The Day – Planting Seeds | #Perseverance

“You can not force someone to comprehend a message that they are not yet ready to receive. Still, you must never underestimate the power of planting a seed.”

The Inherent Power Of Curiosity

“The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.”
– Edmund Burke

” People function better when they’re engaged and curious.”
– Tom Dotz & Tom Hoobyar, NLP – The Essential Guide

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
– Albert Einstein

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 8, 2019

For the individual, curiosity is indispensable. Without curiosity, the individual finds itself without the compass through which they would plot their journey in life.

In life, curiosity serves multiple purposes. Curiosity is the path through which we achieve truth, but also the path where we unleash imagination. Ultimately, one cannot strive for truth, if one cannot search for it. And one cannot search for truth, if one is not inherently curious. Conversely, imagination, on the other hand, cannot be employed if one’s intrinsic curiosity is under lock and key.

How can one imagine, if one cannot wonder? How can one wonder, if one is not curious?

This is why it’s imperative to foster curiosity, and therefore imagination, at every turn, for it will yield amazing results.

Who better to learn about being curious, then children?

Children are amazing beings; they always wonder what’s possible.

If you spend enough time around them you will notice children will do the most random, unexpected, delightful, or at times downright bewildering things.

However, once they reach that age, it’s reasonable to argue that the most persistent thing a child will do is to begin asking why. This is because questions, to children, are natural. They are inherently curious. Curiosity and imagination are only stamped out much later in life, as they ‘grow up’.

Children cannot know the world without inquiring; they inherently realize this. How else can one attain knowledge, but by figuring things out? How else can one attain knowledge, but by employing curiosity?

Curiosity is to questioning, as clues are to solving crimes.

Every person that has interacted at length with a child will eventually run into questions of all types. All types.

In fact, as a quick sidebar, not long ago, got into a very mindful and lengthy conversation with my friend’s daughter who was 11 or so. This young kid had more curiosity than any other adult that has interacted with me for a long time. It was relentless rapid-fire consistent questioning that you nigh ever get in adult life, and not aimless either. There was incisive purpose to the questions throughout. That is extremely rare even for adults.

Every question built on the previous one; it was a crash course in logic 101. Everything was as precise as it could be, but not overly so. It was quite refreshing. In fact, it was downright invigorating. It’s a pity most people seem to merely have a facsimile of curiosity when they grew up, because those possibilities are inherent in all individuals.

As people grow older, this type of passion for curiosity and questioning is siphoned for many reasons.

As adults, many tend to live life within the lines, never seeking life’s intricacies, or answers beyond societal-imposed boundaries. Adults, or even adolescents for that manner, tend to have a different type of curiosity – a downgraded type of curiosity. Adults tend to settle for the superficial answer. And what’s worse, superficial answers barely even scratch the surface, and by their very nature are unable to get to the heart of issues.

Children, on the other hand, employ curiosity like precisely aimed arrows, which is their attempt to ascertain the world around them. Moreover, just because they hit bullseyes doesn’t mean they will quit either. If anything, they get more courageous, as if someone just told them there’s no limit to the amount of sugar they can have.

Children’s relentlessness for knowledge coupled with focused inquisitiveness helps hone the type of curiosity that gets to the heart of the matter.

Why is this?

In How To Read A Book [Review Here], Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren speak about very issue:

“The child is a natural questioner. It is not the number of questions he asks but their character that distinguishes him from the adult. Adults do not lose the curiosity that seems to be a native trait, but their curiosity deteriorates in quality. They want to know whether something is so, not why. But children’s questions are not limited to the sort that can be answered by an encyclopedia.”[1][Bold Emphasis Added]

Children, like detectives, will not be stopped until they achieve the answers they seek.

However, although children are inherently curious, by adulthood, that curiosity has morphed into something else, something more static and less malleable. Why such a change?

Part of this is the downright destruction of imagination from public schooling, and part of it is brought about through propaganda. How can propaganda play a part?

Ponder, haven’t we all heard, “Curiosity killed the cat”? If that’s not propaganda and social engineering employed, nothing is[1].

It’s a statement made to slam down curiosity as soon as it rears its head, as if it’s a gnat to get rid of in one swift blow.

Translation: don’t ask that, don’t’ do that, don’t’ go there. One might as well say, “Live within that box, and don’t dare move beyond it.” It’s emblematic of living in fear, except it chains curiosity to the box.

Unfortunately, corralling curiosity can have detrimental side effects. Without curiosity, an individual’s life long adventure of learning in the world gets stultified, and we settle for ready-made answers [provided by others, rather than arrived through by personal insight] rather than journeying through the mysterious, and adventuring through life in search of the unknown.

And it is within the unknown that the lessons of life reside. Perhaps that’s why children venture there.

Philosopher Peter Kreeft, in his introduction to Philosophy via Plato’s Apology, writes in his Philosophy 101 by Socrates, and encapsulates the above issue best:

“…Socrates loves the unknown rather than fearing it. That is almost the definition, the essence of a good learner. Children who at an early age are punished for exploring the unknown will find it hard later to trust their own curiosity and will prefer the safety of the known, like scared rabbits afraid to come out of their comfortable holes. Children who have been encouraged to question and explore the unknown are reward for doing so, will make good students, make many discoveries, and be happy doing so. The unknown is to them not like poison but like food.”[2][Bold Emphasis Added]

The unknown shouldn’t be feared. In fact, it should be welcomed. It’s an opportunity for growth; an opportunity to test knowledge, character, insight.

Moreover, a child’s inherent curiosity – or for that matter, everyone’s curiosity – should be encouraged constantly. How else is an individual to foster creativity, and help imagination bloom if without not through curiosity?

And even though children can at times go a little overboard with questions, questions still remains the best avenue for curiosity to be employed, which undoubtedly leads to finding the truth, which is what questions are about.

Regarding this, in The Imaginative Argument [review here], Frank L. Cioffi states the following:

“A very fundamental human act undergirds and empowers this activity of arguing for truth. It’s one that you see in children all the time, one that might even be annoying: the relentless asking of questions. Just as a child might ask again and again, “why?” until the parent finally shushes him or her with a “Because that’s the way it works,” or “Just because. Now leave me alone!” so you as thinkers and writers should be asking question upon question…You should ask questions that will help you understand, assess, contextualize, make sense of a given situation, a given idea, text, or topic. And these questions should reach outward – “What do others say?” – at the same time that they should delve within: “How do I feel about this?” Questioning allows you to open yourself to possibilities – an action that characterizes genuinely creative thought.”[3][Bold & Underline Emphasis Added]

When one ruminates about it, when children question, they are little philosophers, for they seek the truth.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the questions children ask, are more crucial than what most realize.

In fact, the questions children ask – that stem from the curiosity children feature – are not as far-fetched and unimportant as they may seem at first blush.

In fact, Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren even go as far as comparing the questions children ask to great philosophical books:

“…we do want to recognize that one of the most remarkable things about the great philosophical books is that they ask the same sort of profound questions that children ask. The ability to retain the child’s view of the world, with at the same time a mature understanding of what it means to retain is, is extremely rare – and a person who has these qualities is likely to be able to contribute something really important to our thinking.

“We are not required to think as children in order to understand existence. Children certainly do not, and cannot, understand it – if, indeed, anyone can. But we must be able to see as children see, to wonder as they wonder, to ask as they ask. The complexities of adult life get in the way of the truth. The great philosophers have always been able to clear away the complexities and see simple distinctions – simple once they are stated, vastly difficult before. If we are to follow them we too must be childishly simple in our question – and maturely wise in our replies.”[4][Bold & Underline Emphasis Added]

Thus, in the child-like simplicity of asking questions, one may embark on a voyage of curiosity that might contribute something phenomenal to our understanding. How else is an individual, be they a child or an adult, going to breakaway from the conventional stultification of life and gravitate towards something more intriguing, and more profound?

Realizing this, individuals must be constant in their resolve, and impervious in their creative thoughts as they foster curiosity.

Then, and only then, do individuals have any chance to arrive at the answers that could truly change their lives.

Perhaps, just perhaps, next time we talk to a child or have a genuine conversation with an adult we could remember that the next question that you ask, or that you are asked might just teach you something you’ve never known before, something you might have not even contemplated.

If that’s not an open-minded outlook of imagination and possibilities of life, I do not know what is.

An 11-year-old’s curiosity changed my life. When the last time a child’s curiosity – or anyone’s curiosity for that matter – changed yours?

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Sources & References:

[1] Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren, How To Read A Book, pg. 264.
[2] Peter Kreeft, Philosophy 101 by Socrates, pg. 54.
[3] Frank L. Cioffi, The Imaginative Argument, pg. xvi.
[4] Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren, How To Read A Book, pg. 265.
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Author’s Note:

Many other statements such as “Curiosity killed the cat” will be examined in the future, because (1) they are propaganda at the best, (2) social engineering at the worst, and (3) they get accepted without a second thought.

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