IGNORANCE IS BLISS?

Image by D2C Project

The very first time I heard someone utter this statement “ignorance is bliss”, I was impelled to ask myself ‘is it really true?’ My very nature thrives on doubt because I have come to believe that having the courage to doubt your convictions about any matter in the face of credible opposing ideas is the true beginning of wisdom. And so, I was a little skeptical about its veracity.The clarity to this popular adage came to me while reading the book The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. This epiphany of mine revealed to me that the statement can both be a blessing and a curse – if you choose to use these such words.
On one hand, ignorance is truly blissful when you as a child narrowly escapes the grasp of the ever- present indoctrination of children into senseless bonds of religion. I used the word ‘narrowly’ because of the growing trend in tele-evangelism and all sorts of nonsense self-acclaimed miracle-working pastors who seem to spread the ‘gospel’ like wildfire and infect minds like a deadly virus. In such case, I guess growing up as a child in enlighten home free from all the religious brainwashing could make ignorance of such prevailing inanity seem as bliss.

On the other hand, wouldn’t you agree that the religious zealots, most of them suffering from sheer bigotry to the point of mass murdering fellow humans for the sake of living in a promised utopia, have perfumed themselves with a strong stench of ignorance? It doesn’t take a genius to decipher the errors in their thought process and their entire convictions.
And so, upon concluding my brief reflections on this simple phrase, I still couldn’t decide on what to believe. Surely, I wouldn’t want to swim in ocean of ignorance, devoid of knowledge of the awe-inspiring natural world. Having the understanding of the workings of the human body, using the knowledge of engineering to better humanity’s life, exploring distant galaxies, to name but a few. I wouldn’t give all these up for the sake that ignorance is blissful. And most certainly, I wouldn’t and shall never stoop so low as to feed my mind with such any Holy- book- Inspired inanity as the religious do. It would be tantamount to believing that lighting is the anger of the gods, or rain blessings from a distant god. I wouldn’t wish any such mind-boggling nonsense as prevalent today in the name of faith on my arch enemy.