You Need To Be Criminally Curious

A modus operandi

Titus at his Desk, Rembrandt, 1655

You need to be criminally curious.

I’m talking about reading widely and deeply. Studying radically different branches of philosophy. Learning other languages. Considering ways of thinking with which you disagree. Looking into the most controversial events and ideas. Traveling to new lands.

It’s a real thrill.

So I say to you, read Nietzsche but don’t forget about the Buddha’s wisdom.

Enjoy the sayings of Jesus but give Machiavelli his due.

Consider the economic philosophy of both Adam Smith and Karl Marx.

Dive into Biblical passages while having an understanding of the process of evolution by natural selection.

Gain an understanding of the tyranny of both communism and fascism.

Contemplate the perspectives of the atheists and the faithful.

Hear out the AI doomers and the techno-optimists.

Meditate on the poetry of Rumi and the aphorisms of La Rochefoucauld.

Investigate both independent and corporate media.

Think about the paradoxes in both the Tao Te Ching and the Bhagavad Gita.

Ponder the deep ideas of both Emerson and Schopenhauer.

Do this not from a place of moral or cultural relativism. Let’s be clear: objective truth exists, and some cultures are more pleasant to live in than other cultures.

Rather, do this from a place of criminal curiosity. The philosopher Albert Camus is often attributed with saying, “Always go too far, because that’s where you’ll find the truth.”

Do it. Go too far.