THE CURIOUS CASE OF CURIOSITY ITSELF

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When I was in my tenth standard, I read an eassy by an Indian intellectual, Kaushalyayan, Addressing an issue of Culture and Civilisation. He addressed a crucial question of human curiosity. He argued why are we curious? The answer he provided was sort of ambiguous but in a nutshell, It is so because the prehistoric man had nothing to do once he fulfilled his need of Food, Clothing and Shelter.I was quite convinced at that time about this reason. But later on, As all people go through a metamorphosis of thinking process and so did I. 
Can Curiosity be just an extension of basic human needs? Or is it some other desire of human mind to be curious? Is there some philosophical dimension to curiosity itself? 
Does it make you curious? It makes me enough. 
Later in my life, I satisfied myself with a self made answer. The answer I gave myself was simple, 

"CREATIVITY IS THE INNATE CAUSE OF CURIOSITY!"

I used to believe that human beings are intrinsically creative.These creative instincts forces them to question, to enter in the realm of reason itself. 
But here is a flaw in the reasoning in the very ontological sense.What makes us creative? For that I would recommend go check out a nice documentary on "WHY WE ARE CREATIVE!". It's a 2018 film. 
Not sure, you will get an answer but the answer cannot be merely our biology.may it be so, should we be satisfied by this argument? We got bigger brains and analytical and imaginative abilities by virtue of our biology, and that's that. How's that? Okay, at least, we are upto something. 
But now, I will move on to ask an application based on question.What good is curiosity? Why be curious? And don't worry, I already know the stupid moralistic answer. Oh! Curiosity is the essence of life. Being curious gives your life a meaning. Yes, I know all that. 

But I am not quite convinced that we should be curious because we want a reason to live.Living is a complex phenomena. Life as we know it has have artificial meanings as we are in habit of attaching them with each suitable to our purposes. 
Another interesting line of observation, why be curious and why are we curious are two different questions. The former makes you in-charge of your own curiosity while the latter presupposes that you will be curious irrespective of whether you wish or not. 
So, here are we? In a chaos of 3 big line of thoughts and nowhere to go. But haa! May be there is a way. 

Let's summarise, 

1.Why are we curious or are we? 
2.Why be curious if we aren't? 
3.If we are innately curious, is shift in curiosity possible? 


As a  Noble Marxist, I have a Marxist answer to all these questions.Marx may have said it otherwise but what I think of marx, I will state that in these answers. 

1.I think Ascribing nature with the credit of doing everything is not the Marxist way, rather it's a right wing propaganda way. So, We can say that there is a biological line of reasoning in human beings beings curious, but not completely. I would say there is a conscious role of human society in curiosity development and if not inculcating curiosity then shaping it's pathway. 
Next comes the question why are we? The cosmological answer, of course, is between the extremes of either I don't know or there isn't any reason for that. It's never the extremes, always between the spectrum. 
But There is a line of thought a Marxist would lead you to. May be, you are curious because you want to reproduce. No, I am not some Freudian geek relating everything with sex. Rather I am saying you want to reproduce what you see.Like a child, you want to do what your father does.Like a child of this world, you want to reproduce what you see. And for that, you ask questions how it is made, how it works. 
So, basically the starting point of reasoning, 
Creative endeavor. 

2.Why be curious is the most interesting thing I would like to address. Almost the singlemost important thing for which I sought to write all this nonsense. 
I believe in any of our endeavor, being curious is the most noble way to go about it.There are many philosophical dimensions to this way of reasoning. 
Two of them I will list you down. 
Quoting Geeta, "Doing your duty is your right, not the fruit of your duty."
Now the essence of it truly that do the work and not think of the reward it will give you. Yes, but how to do it? It's hard. So, curiosity is the way to go in this case I suppose. In any work,you may focus on the curiosity aspect of your work. How will it be done and so on. And carefully weeding out the negative aspects of curiosity like:- why are we doing this work and so on!"So, being curious makes you less thoughtful towards the rewards of the goal. 
Another aspect is the Critique to Nihilism aspect. Why be curious if you can be nihilistic? 
That's how sarcastically I put it. Non-curious people are often seen with nihilistic abilities of narrowing everything down to. Meaninglessness. I claim, careful reasoning gives meaning. Let's look at it this way. A Director, I don't remember his name but a famous one I am sure, was once asked by a journalist, what is the meaning of life, and so because he used to make films based on these concepts. 
What he replied is the sole gist of the topic. He said, "If I knew what it is, I would not be making films".Now here a careful analysis of this answer where we can find the Lacanican symptoms. His Nihilistic view of life doesn't stop him from working and making films.Rather his curiosity drives him to make films and it's a sort of tradegy that he doesn't know the meaning of life and that's why he is making movies so that someday he will get to know what is the meaning of it all. Of course, he will never get to know it, but see, that's how it functions, being fruitful to the society and saving his own nihilism as well and that too with one and one weapon, Curiosity. 
The hidden message here is that, the straight way answer that making films is my life would have been a stupid answer because it is too conforming. Rather, puting it in the curiosity box of why you do it is itself part of your drive to the question what is the meaning makes life more interesting and in a sense dramatic. 


At last, we conclude that we are curious and we can't help it. No God can cure curiosity. What can be done is to use it and channel it so that it works like a weapon. But wait, who we have to kill? May be your inner desires sometimes, may be your ethical big other but may be even yourself (nihilistic self). 
Most of all, be curious because being curious makes you noble in a strategic way of ignoring fruits as said in Geeta to do. 

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