Yes, “Ignorance Is Bliss,” a phrase coined by English poet Thomas Gray in his 1742 “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College” And this, much earlier – ”In knowing nothing, life is most delightful” (In nil sapiendo vita iucundissima est), a quote by Publilius Syrus.
My question is, if ignorance is bliss, then why are there so many unhappy people in the world?
Right off the top, the question assumes that there are many ignorant people in the world. Actually, I’m okay with that.
But that’s too easy. Let’s break this baby down and try to discern exactly what’s what about this saying before we begin digging into the question itself.
From Wikipedia, “Ignorance” is defined as a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge).The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult to describe individuals who deliberately ignore or disregard important information or facts.
“Ignoramus is commonly used in the UK, Ireland, and the US as a term for someone who is willfully ignorant. Ignorance is distinguished from stupidity, although both can lead to “unwise” acts.
“Individuals with superficial knowledge of a topic or subject may be worse off than people who know absolutely nothing. As Charles Darwin observed, “ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.”
“Ignorance can stifle learning, especially if the ignorant person believes that they are not ignorant. A person who falsely believes he or she is knowledgeable will not seek out clarification of his or her beliefs, but rather rely on his or her ignorant position.
“He or she may also reject valid but contrary information, neither realizing its importance nor understanding it. How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Leads to Inflated Self-Assessments,” otherwise known as the Dunning–Kruger effect.” Thanks, Wikipedia!
And Boyd K. Packer wrote, “Our whole social order could self-destruct over the obsession with freedom disconnected from responsibility; where choice is imagined to be somehow independent of consequences.”
Well, whatever. I’m thinking of some people right now who fit that description to a T… bet you are, too.
Okay, enough of that. We see that there is a distinct difference between accidental ignorance and willful ignorance. Seems to me that accidental ignorance is the true state of simply being “unaware,” whereas willful unawareness begins to slip into the stupidity zone. If that is true, then I’ve been a guilty party to it.
In my earlier years I was hesitant to stay up to date on national and world happenings, things I couldn’t change or affect. The result was that I was a happier person when I kept my concerns within my own family/friends structure. And for a long time that was my answer to the question, “Isn’t being happy the most important thing?”
Aye, Laddie, that it surely was. However… one’s happiness often takes the same twists and turns as does life itself. And in that possibility lies the reality that one’s curiosity for knowledge of the goings on in the outside world might rekindle.
This has happened to me. In the last few years, I’ve become more interested in the news of our country and the world. A new happiness is emerging, that of knowing more about mankind’s continuing condition, about our myriad problems and weaknesses, and our pathetic attempts to change/fix them, all the while ignoring our history in the bargain and refusing to learn from it.
To reach this point, I had to accept that much of mankind is mad and destructive… in any country! That there is as much peace and spirit of community left in this world is a major miracle in itself. For me, that understanding is essential to learning and growing, being able to accept what is starkly true about us, and what we can learn from our history.
It’s weird, but there’s even a strange contentment in this new knowledge, a new understanding of who we are and how we are, for though I’m unable to do a damn thing about any of it, still it helps me see humanity’s larger picture, and helps me to define myself, and see myself within it. And that is probably most satisfying to what’s left of my ego.
And while it’s valuable for several reasons, keeping me thinking and questioning, yet I know it’s basically an old person’s game. As a retiree, I have tons of time on my hands now… time to think about, and occasionally care about where we’ve all been and where we’re all going. I have found that learning can still be a positive process, even a fun process. I know that my new knowledge of the outside world is fairly useless, that I can do nothing about any of it, but I also realize that, basically, I never could do anything about any of it.
As much as I have come to understand the value of, and the need for simplicity in my life, still I’m finding that my lifelong ignorance is no longer blissful, but, at times, almost embarrassing. Thankfully, this new curiosity “to know stuff” has not, to this point, messed with my bliss… at all!
Over time I’ve come to realize that my disinterest for most worldly news items stemmed from a hard focus on my daily life and career. That is probably true for most of us, especially family folk. If we had, as my dad often said, a roof over our heads, held a steady job, put food on the table and were able to take in an occasional sporting event or concert, our lives were fairly full, and complete. After 30, being an activist of any kind was probably not in the cards, unless you were single, or a politician, a union worker or in law enforcement.
As a musician, the challenge was to make enough to pay the rent and eat semi-regularly. Pursuing my music career was a full-time job, and my ignorance was blissful! I neither deny it nor regret it, for it was, and still is for many artists, necessary for any chance of success. Our American culture was never fashioned for artists, or for that matter, almost anyone of simple means.
When any poet or artist exposes the reality of our daily life at any one point, their art is understood and applauded by those who already know those truths about ourselves. To others, some of our art might smack of conspiracy theories, and imagined by artists who “don’t know or understand what’s really going on.” Ha!
Perhaps ignorance no longer has much, if anything, to do with bliss, or anything else, save for our present national political crisis. And hell, the phrase itself was first written in 1742 by Thomas Gray. I’m here to tell you, Thomas, that 182 years later, times have changed. Yes, Thomas old bean, times have changed. I would suggest that perhaps today’s slogan might be, “ Ignorance is deadly.”
Steve Hulse
