Curiosity Driven Life

On my first night here at Amritapuri, not even yet checked-in, the most curious thing happened.

I was standing in front of the main temple chatting with a woman from Australia who had also just arrived when a small, strange, elderly Indian woman walked up behind me and latched onto my arm and began pulling me. And when I say strange I mean strange in the sense she had one lazy eye and a spark of insanity in the other. I could have easily been sketched out by the whole scene, but I chose not to be. I didn't resist. I let curiosity take over. I let her pull me up the stairs and into the temple. We didn't stop there.

She kept going up and up and up--five flights of stairs and down a couple winding hallways before she let go of me and disappeared behind a door. On the way up, I noticed the temple was much more than a temple. It was full of shops, a library, and offices for anything you could possibly need including astrology, massage, and Ayurvedic counseling. I probably would have eventually found these places on my own over time, but it was kind of magical to be swept away and inadvertently shown by a woman who possibly may have been a character in the Dark Crystal.

Curiosity has led me to lots of fascinating (and not so fascinating) places in my life. It's opened me up to possibilities I would have never known existed if I hadn't kept following. It's also led me to some really dark places where I learned some of life's toughest lessons. Curiosity can bend us and break us open. It can heal us and liberate us. Without curiosity, how would we learn and grow? How could life possibly enchant us if we don't let curiosity in?

I have always led a curiosity driven life, and I've let curiosity lead me here. Where has curiosity led you? Where would you like it to lead you?