I’d describe myself as intellectually curious. I recently heard someone describe himself as having an unquenchable curiosity. I like that. I’d say that’s me. I’m addicted to information. I can’t get enough of it. I always want to know why people do what they do, why things turn out the way they do, and how everything works. The problem you encounter, however, is that more questions seem to be generated than answers. And as you dig deeper, the answers gravitate toward mere speculation or guesswork. Instead of an educational, brainy prescription for an elevated level of academic exploration, I offer a different solution: screw it, don’t ask why. Just don’t care about some things. It’s so liberating.
There really are just no answers to some questions. Intellectually curious people, however, want to hypothesize and theorize and dig for an answer. They have trouble letting things not make sense to them. Things they honestly can’t empathize with or relate to drives them nuts. I’m primarily talking about human behavior. Humans are weird and sometimes flat unexplainable. Why Tiger Woods was whipping his junk out with ugly girls in Perkins’ parking lots is not rationally explainable. James Holmes, a bright kid in medical school, busting into a movie theater and open firing on helpless moviegoers is not explainable. There are, of course, attempts to “get inside their heads” and apply the latest, fanciest philosophical and psychological principles in an attempt to produce plausible answers.
That’s where I say timeout. People are crazy. I’m so happy to leave it at that, save myself the trouble. A good portion of the Tiger Woodses and James Holmeses don’t even know why they themselves did it, let alone someone else figuring it out for them. I think searching for a motive is sometimes way overrated: it can be either so buried and obscure that you cannot ascertain anything meaningful from the entire exercise, or it can be so obvious that you’re basically dealing with a ten-year-old’s level of intellect. James Holmes did it because he was angry. Tiger Woods did it because he was horny. Who knows? Who cares? Set yourself free, don’t waste time asking why.