Ignorance is not always bliss

I’m sure most of you have heard the phrase ‘ignorance is bliss’, right? Well I’m here to tell you that ignorance is not always bliss. Ignorance can lead to fear of the unknown, which can lead to hate. At this point the quote from Yoda in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comes to mind. The quote I’m referring to is: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering”.

Unfortunately I have also came across another quote that fits that subject very well and I agree with what it conveys. The quote is: “Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here”.

One more quote that I feel tells us to seek knowledge or should I say encourages us to move away from our blissful ignorance is found in the Bible at Proverbs 15:14 “The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly”.

To true right? Fear comes from ignorance, ignorance comes from a lack of knowledge. To get past our fear and ignorance we must learn about what we fear.

We must ask ourselves first why do we fear something? If our answer is lack of knowledge, then research more. If our answer is because some one told us information we should seek out another point view on the subject. If we have no idea why we fear it, we need to search within ourselves to see if we have an answer. If fear is of a person or their faith, personally I would ask the person for a time we could sit down to talk so that I could learn about them.

I think part of that is from the fact I have always been hungry for knowledge of other cultures, religions, etc. This thirst for more knowledge was first fostered by my Grandma Edna; not to mention the fact I have a college degree in journalism which helps me to feed my need for knowledge.

Some of us need to remember and get back to the days when we were fearless, the days of our childhood before we learned fear and the phrase “Ignorance is bliss”.

What are your thoughts on this subject? I welcome all comments, criticisms, and questions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.