AS a word, ‘connected’ is like all the others in that its meaning varies according to context. In the broadest sense, being connected means joined together in sequence, having a coherent link.

And although being well connected might still mean having influential personal ties, in the age of the world wide web, being connected is often more about things like signals and wifi.

I have written before about the remarkable teacher I had when I was 12, who for a time gave us weekly lessons beginning with a fruit.

After we passed around a kumquat or a kiwi to touch, smell and taste, down came the map so we could locate where in the world it was grown.

Then the discussion might have moved onto who lived in that country and something about the kind of life they led.

The lesson often finished with a story from that society, a fine way to not so much end the discovery but whet our appetite for more.

Following links in that way made sense to me then and still does. So in this column sometimes I have followed from an ordinary starting point – something happened to me, a friend or in the news – through a line of thoughts, ideas and questions.

The value of curiosity goes unquestioned these days, assumed as it is to be inseparable from learning and creativity but that hasn't always been so.

From the fateful desire to know in the garden of Eden there have long been cautions against the danger and vanity of curiosity. Wonder was deemed to be nobler, coming as it was from a place of humility and awe.

Curiosity later gained a qualified lease on life – the pursuit of knowledge was to be encouraged when the intention for knowing was good and the information lead to something useful, rather than something destructive like gossip.

Which brings me back to the meanings of being connected and how, well, connected they are.

Through the web we make links with others, follow our curiosity and tap into that goldmine of information and inspiration but of course we can also fall into its vast pits of mind quicksand, where curiosity is easily sucked in and snuffed out.

Maybe we dodge the pits by staying connected to each other and to ideas, spurred on by wonder and a yearning to know more that is without maliciousness.

With that I disconnect – from this space, as a regular feature anyway.

From next week Martin Field will be here, inviting you to meander in fields of his mind.