I am constantly amazed when I sit and just watch my baby explore that his natural tendency is to go for anything that is closed, hidden, or dark.  He delights opening up cabinets and discovering what is inside, looking at the electrical outlets, and crawling into hidden spaces.

Whether we know it or not, we are natural-born explorers.  We are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further. The intangible desire to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we know and where we have been has provided benefits to our society for centuries.

But, isn’t it interesting that, as adults, when we have all the faculties around us to protect ourselves, we seem to have more fear of the unknown than children seem to have?

Fear of the unknown often stops our progress and makes it harder for us to discover and understand new things, encouraging rejection and closed mindedness.

Albert Einstein said “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination circles the world.” Why don’t we play more? Somehow we equate play with immaturity. And that’s why we leave it behind.

But if you look at some of the greatest productivity, it comes from creativity – and that creativity comes from the ability to imagine and play. One final important consideration in looking at the unknown is this: in my mind there is no such thing as the unknown. It’s impossible if you think about it because something knows it, right?

It’s clear that from birth we learn about life and how it works by exploring.

How do children deal with the unknown? They play. 

Children are vulnerable, but they have an instinct in them that  they call upon when they want to explore something that’s “unknown”, they create a fantastical context (“play”) to explore that unknown.

Somewhere along the line, as adults, we tend to lose the ability to face our fear of the unknown as we move away from play and into the “real world.” We become “passive players” watching our heroes and heroines on tv, in movies, in books or on the sports fields. In this way we get to “play” while in the safety of our comfort zones. Perhaps the unknown would be less scary if we “played” more. If we became our own heroes or heroines.

No one can be satisfied for very long without exploring. Whether you are talking to someone next to you or looking around the room, you are exploring!

We do not want to be stuck in the past. We want to move ahead. Exploration looks ahead, not behind.  Exploration gives us the sense that any- thing is possible. Exploration leads to knowledge and understanding, and that means you make the world a better place as you explore. People have always tried to leave the world a better place for future generations. Exploration is one way we can do that.

People are curious about everything. We learn something new every day. If you get bored, you automatically look for something to do. That is the way we are. We like to learn new things.

Exploration helps us understand our place in the universe.

People have always tried to leave the world a better place for future generations. Exploration is one way we can do that.

When we explore, we make the universe our classroom for learning.

Live and Learn. We All Do.

Thanks for reading. Please pass this on to someone who means something to you.