Is Ignorance A Bliss?

When we were children, we often dreamed to be adults. They seemed to us are free in all ways in which we were not. No one would interfere with what they do. They are able to freely enjoy all the spectacles of joy that life has to offer. Now, our wish seems to be fulfilled. We are officially adults right now. We are confronted with the crudest reality. Our life is filled with anxieties and worries. Our desire for friendship always comes quickly, but friendship is rarely found anymore. We, for the first time in our life, come to realise the painful fact that all men are wicked. The world is full of hatred and grievances. All of a sudden, we wish we could live as children again, free of worries and anxieties. We wish we could lead a life in ignorance. We often ponder upon the wisdom whether ignorance is a bliss. And we always seem to arrive the same conclusion that this is really the case. Socrates once says that the only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. Is he wrong?

Let us see what happens when people are aware of the cruel facts of reality. As an ordinary white collar, you may work hard but you will not often be rewarded with the work you have done because hard work is mandatory. What you do is never enough for your boss. When your work is too outstanding, jealousy is often the sentiment you get from your colleagues. When you have done one thing wrong, regardless of what you have achieved for your company, you may worry at length whether your boss still thinks well of you; We are often told romantic love is the greatest delight we encounter in our life. However, having experienced it, we often wonder whether we can ever understand the inextricable relationship between men and women. In marriage, either party is anxious of whether the other party will commit adultery; Money is often the major driving force for men nowadays. They are dominated by it. Most of the greatest pleasures in your life depend upon how rich you are. But it also brings us as much miseries as happiness. If you start making money yourself and living on your own, you may know how hard it is to afford a lifestyle that you had as a teenager. Nevertheless, we still enjoy making money. Because we are aware of the fact that money does not necessarily bring us happiness, but it does buy unhappiness off.

As we look around nowadays, our Utopia, I often wonder, may perhaps have come. Ignorance is praiseworthy. Being knowledgeable is condemned. Having lived in an age of our own, we should not be surprised that one does not know the geographical locations of major cities in the world. It is exceptionally normal that people are no longer concerned how to lead a good life. They only need to know how much money and at what time they should invest in stock market. It does not matter whether philosophy, art, and literature can promote civilisation. In modern age, business administration is supreme. It promises us a good career in the future. We should take the values that our society holds as granted. It is needless to criticise and evaluate them since uncertainty renders us insecure. It no longer matters whether what we believe in is truth. Truth is not important. It is "truth" as long as it is comforting. Homo Sapiens cannot be more confident.

The virtue of ignorance becomes prevalent. Unfortunately, people do not seem a whole lot happier. On the contrary, the exact opposite happens. Ignorance has caused more miseries than ever. Why is that so? The answer probably lies in what sort of ignorance we delve into. It seems to me the Homo Sapiens have led themselves in the completely wrong direction of ignorance. And that kind of ignorance is what we may call the "pig ignorance". Ignorance of this kind is the blindness of the deluded. Their stupidity may sustain some sort of happiness. But this sort of happiness is shallow and unstable. If we lead our life with "pig ignorance", we are not only "ignorant". We are mistaken in false beliefs as truths which breeds stupidity. Therefore, taboos, bias, and prejudices will come in many ways unnoticed. On the other hand, the other sort of ignorance is wise ignorance. It is the ignorance of Socrates. It is also the ignorance only a minority of the world population profess to have. They use scepticism as a tool to analyse matters of the world. Their ignorance lies not in what opinions are held, but how they are held. They do not hold most of things happened in the world as absolutely certain. And they always arrive conclusions which are nearer to the truth. In the city of Athens, Socrates often wander around the streets next to the gymnasium questioning people about the values that they hold at the time. This is not because he is superior to them that he can teach them the "right" values. He never claims to know the truths. In fact, he claims to know nothing except the fact that he knows nothing. He wishes others to light his way through ignorance. However, it turns out he is wisest person in the city. We are all ignorant but we should become wise of the fact. Only after we desire to know more, we will be convinced that we are truly ignorant.

"Pig ignorance" is detrimental to human progress. It condemns human civilisation. It prevents us from discovering the wonders of the universe. With pig ignorance, philosophy, art, literature, and science would not be possible. Our world would not be very different from the one in Stone Age. "Wise ignorance", on the contrary, cherishes the human intellect. It urges us to conquer the world with free intelligence. It drives science if it is a quest of unknown. Science explores the world that was previously unknown to us. It expands our limits of understanding up to a degree than we can ever imagine. It possesses the essence of "wise ignorance". It teaches us to realise the evils of certainty and learn to entertain doubts. Doubt is humble and certainty is arrogance. Only through "wise ignorance", human progress is possible.

In the twenty-first century, where ignorance is the hallmark of social eminence, I must confess that I am unable to live up to the standard upheld by the majority. For me, this is very unfortunate. This glorious century marks the supreme victory of "pig ignorance". I have endeavoured to change myself but what I am met is endless frustrations. Is it the outcome of the survival of fittest? I do not know. This regret, I fear, will still taunt me after death.

W