“Ignorance is bliss”
~Thomas Gray
Well? What do you think? Do you think that ignorance is bliss?
Let’s put it this way. Imagine that your mind is your world. After all, regardless of where you are, who you’re with, and what situation your in, the brain’s ability to perceive is what essentially dictates your thoughts, emotions, and perspectives of “the” world. Thus, metaphorically speaking, creating your own “world.” One may say that we see through a specialized lens that is unique to each and every one of us. But how clear is your lens? How blurry? Now imagine residing in a world you know nothing of. You live day by day, unaware of forbidden secrets and wicked realities. You live on cloud 9 because you lack contemplation, you naturally dismiss truth, and you simply fail to foresee consequence. Instead, you see rainbows. Ignorance is indeed blissful…
I have always somewhat admired people who could embody such a state of ignorance; and this trait isn’t always a negative one despite the stigma. Granted, it may be difficult for some people to fathom such a notion, do believe that often the least we know, the better. Now of course as an over-thinker, a pessimist, a Capricorn, and someone who has typically been through many negative experiences, I could never obtain such a state even if I wanted to. Some people in the world, because of many factors ranging from nature to nurture, could just never acquire a state of oblivion. For example, when we tell ourselves that it will be okay, it probably doesn’t work because we know it won’t (if the odds are stacked against us). One may be so grounded into the roots of this earth that they see the world with naked eyes, and they become frightened as a result of it; too vividly understanding that reality shows mercy to no one and that tomorrow is never promised. And as a result, while one falls into a pool of foam blocks another falls into depression. Suddenly, our minds become our worst enemies and we essentially end up weaving our own darkened world as a result of it.
Nevertheless, I have always had a knowledge of how much happier I might be if I completely severed my cognitive ties and essentially worked to rewire my mental framework. But even so, I could still never see myself giving up my sense of reality. Whether I am just too stubborn or too curious, I guess I am more willing to endure the darkening depths of my mind than to give up seeing clearly; or perhaps what I think seeing clearly is. Maybe I, as similar people might, fear the thought of succumbing to delusion or “triviality.” Maybe it is something that many of us would not relate to which is why are the way we are in the first place.
Regardless, ignorance and practicality both have their positives and negatives. There may even often be cases where ignorance strives for truth and practicality strives relief. Perhaps I would wish only for one day a place to see the rainbows…
But despite all of my cultivated wisdom, would I ever really want to leave?
How bliss is ignorance exactly?
I have always been fascinated with the different ways that people look at, interpret, and process the world around them. It is interesting to see your perspective on this. Do you think that ignorance is selective and can be temporary? Like do people go through phases of being realists and then being selectively ignorant to prevent themselves from spiraling into negativity no matter even if it is appropriate to be pessimistic (and they know it)? I just find the idea of trying to control inner dialogue interesting, since sometimes being unrealistically optimistic can be helpful while other times its just unproductive.
You drew such a captivating question in relation to this and I always like to think that there are people like me, the pessimists or the people that know what it is and don’t have it in them to stray away from reality. The optimists, the people that somehow (and I say somehow because I find it magical and beyond me..) find a way to separate their heart and mind from the moment: “I just got evicted, but I heard the local shelter serves macaroni!.” With this, these people are resistant to logic in the sense that will not board on their train of logic and thus end up crashing on the train with it. They know how to take what they got and let the train leave on its own. And then the type of people that you mentioned: the ones that pick and choose when to fictitiously immerse themselves. The typical coping style since humans strive to adapt. Unfortunately and fortunately for whatever reasons that can be named, people with too much optimism or pessimism are definitely the most inflexible, rigid, and unadaptable in a sense. But at the same time, they are also the most resistant to reality and the most true to themselves.
I think being too far separated from reality would be too much for me. It is enjoyable to get lost in your fantasies occasionally, but after a while you just become more depressed in your own life. Maybe the secret to living through your eyes is to have not crystal clear lenses, yet not overly fogged. Somewhere in the middle.
Precisely! A good middle!