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Carrion Luggage
Carrion Luggage
 
Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem.
This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it.
It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans.
It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier."
I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination.
August 23, 2025 at 9:06am August 23, 2025 at 9:06am
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Today, I'm just linking someone else's blog. This author describes himself as an "existential psychologist," so, okay, with that in mind:
The title interested me, because I'm already curious.
It's good to be a curious person. Curiosity is associated with personal growth, intellectual engagement, psychological well-being, stronger relationships, professional success, and healthy ageing.
I don't disagree, but there is a such thing as taking curiosity too far. Especially in relationships.
We often think of curiosity as one of those personality traits you either have or you don't.
No, "we" don't, if you're including me in this "we."
But what if curiosity is a characteristic we can actually grow throughout our lives?
Are you curious about that?
Specifically, a recently published study from psychologists Madeleine Gross and Jonathan Schooler at UC Santa Barbara demonstrates that we can boost our curiosity levels through deliberate practice.
Well, that's encouraging. But as usual, I'll point out that it's only one study. The post goes into the basic methodology used.
Participants also reported feeling more creative and finding more meaning in life, both outcomes linked to curiosity.
Again, I'm an outlier, it seems: I'm not creative and I revel in life having no meaning, and yet, I am curious.
This study adds to growing evidence that personality is more changeable than we typically think.
It's a question as old as the nature/nurture debate, and almost as intractable: can people actually change? I've always felt like the answer was "yes," but I had nothing but anecdotal evidence to back it up.
But we are also an agentic species, capable of actively shaping who we become.
As an example of my curiosity, "agentic" is a new word for me, so I looked it up to be sure, even though I felt pretty confident because that sentence basically defines it. As I suspected, its root is "agent." What surprised me was that it seems to be an adjective normally associated with what we call AI. It's also classified by at least one online dictionary as slang. 
Want to become more curious? Act more curious on a regular basis, and you become more curious over time.
One can say that about lots of different personality traits. It's another way of saying "fake it 'til you make it."
One effective strategy involves connecting new information to personal relevance. Studies show that people become significantly more curious about scientific topics when they understand how those topics matter to their lives.
I think that's a good place to start, but I don't believe it should be the end. I feel a bit of rage every time I hear someone say some variant of "but when will I ever use this?" like in the context of math class or whatever. It doesn't matter. The more you learn, the more you know, and the more you know how to learn. Besides, for a writer, there's no such thing as information you can't use.
Another powerful technique is making question-asking a regular habit.
Again, though, it's possible to take this too far, especially in social situations. There's a fine line between curiosity and nosiness. I don't know where that line is, so I tend to err on the side of not asking people personal questions. This is probably something I could work on.
In our current moment, when many feel pessimistic about the future, cultivating curiosity becomes vital for advancing a more hopeful vision.
This is what resonated the most with me, because I am pessimistic about the future. But I'm working on that. And I'm still curious. |
© Copyright 2025 Robert Waltz (UN: cathartes02 at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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