Studiositas versus Curiositas

I read an excellent post over at Catholic Spiritual Direction called "Is curiosity bad? I seem to have an appetite for information about all things...." Father Bartunek writes:

Learning involves all the good things that you describe above. We cannot love what we do not know. Studying God’s creation can help us know God better, just as studying the works of an artist can help know an artist better, and by knowing God better we can love him better – which is the purpose of our existence. Our intelligence is meant for this, in fact. That’s why the Christian spiritual tradition catalogues studiositas as a virtue – the virtue of study, of applying our minds to studying and learning, so that we can grow in knowledge and understanding of the world, ourselves, and God.

and

But like every power of the human soul, this capacity to learn can be de-formed. Instead of applying ourselves to develop the virtue of study, we can fall into the vice of curiositas, or curiosity. In the Christian spiritual tradition, this word, like studiositas, has a technical meaning. The vice of curiosity refers to the superficial gathering of information, the thirst to imbibe the latest headline or rumor just because it’s new. Curiosity stops where learning begins. It’s like the butterfly that flits from flower to flower without gathering any nectar, whereas the bee will settle into a flower and drink up, taking time to gather all that the flower has to offer.

Ever since jumping into the online world (back in 2006 when I was on bed rest with our 3rd), I have had to fight the battle of spending too much time online. Before that, I viewed the computer as a tool I used at work, but spending time at a computer screen was never something I wanted to do with my free time. I checked email periodically and that was about it.

Image Credit:

Association of Catholic Women Bloggers

It is interesting that right before this is when I really started to experience an exponential growth in my faith and formation in the Catholic Church. I began researching the teachings of the Church through reading books, attending prayer groups, Bible studies, anywhere I could go to learn more about Christ and His Church. It is a wonderful thing to be so in love with Christ and want to know more about Him! And I still have that desire and am so thankful that God has given it to me.

But like with all desires, our unchecked human appetites can become vices (I type this as I eat chocolate chips since we have no other chocolate in the house....hmmm). Another good point that Fr. Bartunek makes in his post is the following:

On the other hand, it [knowledge] also can keep us distracted. In this case, the thirst to have new experiences and develop new areas of expertise is inordinate, out of proportion to our mission in life. The enjoyment of acquiring new knowledge, which is legitimate in itself, becomes so all-consuming that the duties of one’s state in life are neglected.

This is exactly what my struggle is right now with intellectual curiosity, it too often becomes inordinate and then I neglect the duties of my state in life. What seems to be a good thing becomes a vice. I need God's grace to keep this desire within His will. Pray for me.

Interestingly enough, right now as I am typing this, my daughter brought the mail in, and in it is a book I just ordered, No Greater Love, by Mother Teresa. It isn't supposed to be a used book, but thumbing through it, I noticed several sentences were underlined. Here is a sentence that was underlined:

Words that do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.

So not only do I need to watch the amount of time I spend online, but also discern what I am reading online. Thank you Mother Teresa!

I'm excited now to go start reading this book! After I get the laundry put away and dinner started, of course ;)

Pray for us, Blessed Mother Teresa!

Do go read all of Father Bartunek's post at Catholic Spiritual Direction. And go check out Association of Catholic Women Bloggers at: