preface

the goal of this book is to remind you what you've always wanted to do - chase your curiosity down the rabbit hole.

interesting, isn't it? do you imagine you could find the purpose of your life in here? discovering the meaning of your life from this book seems ridiculous. preposterous. evil even.

but the truth is every single person is constantly seeking purpose, meaning, identity every single moment

if you're not essentially curious, you wouldn't have this question in your mind about what the purpose of life is. but what if it is in fact constantly playing in the back of your head and you've just learnt to silence it as a grown up?

i want to focus on the attribute of curiosity that helps you discover your purpose in life. whether you find the goal of life or not is not as important as the search for it.

most children are curious about everything. and most grown ups are curious about nothing. everything that is taught to you as a child quenches your thirst, quenching your curiosity to know more, and to grow outside of who you think you are. and more often than not who you 'think' you turns out to be who you're told you are: whether it's by people around you, or a close a circle of people around you or the wider circle of society.

there's nothing overtly insidious about that. but there is something suspicious about grownups losing the curiosity to know more than what they're told.

as a child, i grew up questioning the limits that were imposed on me. we used to cycle around the block. a bunch of kids who were told don't grow beyond that marker. 99% of kids obeyed and i was a one percenter who decided to go beyond that marker. simply because i wanted to grow beyond what others told me. and was that a healthy curiosity response? well if i did it too challenge authority, maybe not as much as if i did it to chase my own curiosity. but the fact remains that i did chase my curiosity; whether it was to discover what lay beyond or to discover the consequences of challenging authority.

either ways, it was my curiosity that led me beyond the safety marker. and ever since i've been doing the same in all aspects of my life. i don't think this is an unhealthy way of living.

chasing your curiosity is what gets you out of bed. why else would you want to get up? why else would you want to get out and live your life? why else would you want to survive the rest of the day, if not to continue chasing your curiosity the next day?

of course there are cautionary details ringing in your ears that warn of the hedonic treadmill, but the chasing of curiosity isn't necessarily a delinquent adventure. the outcomes, the consequences of chasing curiosity are unknown to us. yet we tend to assume consequences as always dire and dangerous. the answer to whether it's safe or dangerous is not known to either you or me. unless you walk that path, unless you chase that rabbit of curiosity down it's own rabbit hole, you'll never know the answer to that.

so why did i write this book?

i'm curious to know how i can build a deeper connection with the world around me through the writing of a book

i'm curious to know what chasing one's curiosity towards creation of something that can be shared with others feels like

chasing curiosity can be tiresome, so at some point capturing that curiosity becomes vital. thereafter letting it go is compassionate and humane. while this isn't a fish to catch and release, this is an idea that i've been chasing for a while - the idea of curiosity, the idea of writing a book and i am capturing these thoughts and ideas in this book in this format, in this present version, and i now release it to all of you release it back into the world. so y'all may enjoy these thoughts, might be inspired or even instigated to go down your own rabbit hole of curiosity (even if it's only in my comment section).

so there you have it. this is a book that reminds you of the trait that kept you excited, joyous, playful and fun loving as a child. the trait of curiosity. now as a grown up if you're reading this book, in all likelihood you're probably forgotten. what being curious felt like. and i hope by reading this book, you remember what it felt like?

so, if you're curious to know what else lies is in this book, jump in and start reading. remember kids, always been curious!