Curiosity killed the cat … was it really curiosity?

However the cat would not have survived without curiosity either! "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity." Albert Einstein

It is good to be curious and interested in life in general but it is imperiously necessary to keep out of others’ business. Curiosity is not a synonym of nosiness, here is how the Webster dictionary defines both terms: curiosity is the "desire to know", while nosiness is "an inquisitive interest in others' concerns".

"A strong desire to see something novel, or to discover something unknown, either by research or inquiry; a desire to gratify the senses with a sight of what is new or unusual, or to gratify the mind with new discoveries; inquisitiveness. A man's curiosity leads him to view the ruins of Balbec, to investigate the origin of Homer, to discover the component parts of a mineral, or the motives of another's actions." Webster's Daily.

Wondering about someone else’s business or judging others according to what you think you know, will not necessarily lead to an accurate judgment; you don’t know how much your neighbor of friend is willing to tell you and because you don’t really have all the information, you might end up misjudging your friend; there is no profit in such a thing, not for you nor for the other. Would you like to be inquired about the things you are not prepared to share? What can you do then? Most people brush off the nosy people and end up avoiding them.

"Don't judge, so that you won't be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you" says Jesus in Matthew 7:1-2.

Giving free advice is part of the same family of nosiness, even if it usually occurs only after an individual has opened his heart to you telling you his/her problem. It is then when many fall in the temptation of offering precious advice when no one has really asked for it. Just because someone tells us what they go through, we shouldn’t automatically suppose that they need our advice; most of the time they just want to talk to someone and have somebody listen to them.

We should only give advice when a person specifically asks us for it or in extreme cases when our advice saves someone from death/injury. Giving advice when not asked for creates the impression that you consider yourself better than the person you talk to, and in the same time, obviously you presume you know more than he/she does. That can cause you to lose friendships…who wants to be constantly suggested/advised to do one thing or another? It will develop resentfulness into the heart of the person you constantly "advice". The parent/child relationship is different and can’t be included here, yet the wise parent will have enough discernment to teach his child using a combination of love and discipline.

Right, but curiosity, curiosity is different, it is pure and it is part of who we are. When a person is not curios, that indicates a serious problem, depression or mental illness. Being curious to see how the car works, a child might try to break the car into pieces, not because he is evil but for the eagerness to know it’s mechanisms and see what lays inside it that makes it move.

Personally I don’t agree with the good old proverb "curiosity killed the cat", I’d rather keep in mind that every curious person should take the safety measurements to satisfy his/her curiosity; curiosity does not kill, it is the lack of it that kills most people… ignorance is the killer of the ones that are not curios. So be curios with a "holy curiosity" - as Einstein calls it - inquire, find out and use your brain to its maximum potential!

Mark Twain says: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do... Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."