St Augustine of Hippo, after a lusty and intellectually young
manhood, withdrew from the world of sense and intellect and advised others to
do likewise: “There is another form of temptation, even more fraught with
danger. This is the disease of curiosity….It
is this which drives us on to try to discover the secrets of nature, those secrets
which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing and which men
should not wish to learn….In this immense forest, full of pitfalls and perils I
have drawn myself back, and pulled myself away from these thorns. In the midst of all these things which float
unceasingly around me in everyday life, I am never surprised at any of them,
and never captivated by my genuine desire to study them….I no longer dream
dreams of the stars."
The time of Augustine’s death, 430, marks the beginning of
the Dark Ages in Europe. And no
wonder. When we withdraw our curiosity what is left? Only darkness.
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