We become aware of some ugly behaviors and characteristics. Perhaps we see it in people, or someone conveys it with us, or our work reveals it. If you’re curious or nosey, perhaps you want to uncover more. But it can become too much.

In a recent situation, I wanted to stop looking after what I thought was confirmed, but I needed to know what I was dealing with. It was a need to know similar to when someone betrayed me. I would have preferred to leave the yuck in an isolated capsule, but it was important to know the depth and breadth of the truth. Without the context of reality, we can’t begin to assess the direction we need to go.

We can rarely discover every detail. We have limits. But I hope we don’t let our assumptions drive what we’re willing to see or how thoroughly we’re willing to search among others and within ourselves. We cannot fully understand, but our limitations shouldn’t hold us back from looking and discerning. Our feelings shouldn’t be discredited or be given too much weight as we respond.

Curiosity can be an energizing drive into lifelong learning. It can also be a twisted drive to find the wrong information that affirms us in a misguided direction or prompts us to devise our own account by mismatching bits and pieces together while ignoring critical structure that provides more truth.

Keep searching and slide the pieces of truth into the bigger picture. I don’t know that we’ll ever get the complete view in this lifetime, but there is a lot to see and explore. let’s not miss it.