2007-01-26 07:24:47 · 18 answers · asked by ali 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
"Ignorance is Bliss" doesn't apply to every situation. It means there are some things we're happier not knowing. If you think about it, there are probably things in your own life you wish you hadn't found out... be it a family secret or even something as trivial as the ending of a movie you hadn't yet seen.
As humans we have a drive to know things... particularly things that we're told we can't or shouldn't know. This drive for knowledge is what continues to propel us forward as a race and keeps us growing as individuals.
Think about it this way: if toddlers didn't keep asking "how" and "why" they'd never learn to dress or feed themselves, let alone all the things they need to learn to progress beyond the mental and emotional age of, say, two. This pattern repeats through our lives in more subtle, less concrete ways (emotional knowledge, for example). I believe it is also true of us as the human race.
P.S. "Ignorance is Bliss" says we're happier- not better off - not knowing some things.
2007-01-26 07:40:52 · answer #1 · answered by bumsteadowl 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The phrase, as a popular saying, comes from:
Thomas Gray's
"...where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise." is the closing phrase.
The thought there principally relates to childhood, the innocent pleasure that children can have, and whether precipitately enlightening (endarkening?) them of the troubles, duties and woes of life can in any way have a good purpose.
Those who use it in the sense of a deliberate means of ducking an unpleasant reality which needs facing (avoiding a doctor's opinion on a chest pain, for example...) are somewhat distorting the original idea.
If the knowledge can't possibly help, why would one want it? But the "If" is important.
The idea that more knowledge causes more problems occurs in extremely different places, from Ecclesiastes to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It's not Thomas Gray's idea alone, by any means.
But a lot of the time more knowledge is a good thing, so to take the "ignorance is bliss" quote out of context is, itself, an act of unhappy ignorance.
2007-01-26 07:47:28 · answer #2 · answered by Pedestal 42 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance in others is blissful to those with knowledge and a will to manipulate.
2007-01-26 08:12:15 · answer #3 · answered by Justin 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ignorant people dont realize that they are ignorant. they seek knowledge because they want to prove their ignorant ideals to be true. knowing everything means knowing that there is no way to know anything for sure. for a person to feel fulfiled, they need to believe in something that can not be proven. they need to always be wondering about something. that is where faith comes in. more creative people tend to believe in some sort of religious faith while the more logical put their faith into science. the problem begins when people start to understand that their faith is not the only faith that could be true. when people lose their ignorance about their faith, they dont know what is right and what is wrong. for a person to feel good about knowing nothing, they must make decisions based on how they feel. what makes a person feel good is what is right for that person. if you do what makes you feel good, and realize that your feelings are not the same as everyone elses, you can feel fulfilled and not be ignorant.
2007-01-27 17:07:04 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
people seek knowledge because they don't believe that ignorance is bliss...and then when they find the knowledge they are seeking they then realize that ignorance REALLY IS bliss.
2007-01-26 07:37:10 · answer #5 · answered by asphyxia derailed 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, SOME of us seek knowledge, and apparently, others seem to prefer the simplicity of ignorance.
Some - for varying reasons - seem to prefer their solutions in simple form, either-or, black and white, instead of realizing that there are frequently MORE than two options to any situation.
And, of course, when it comes to "simple ignorance" - meaning just a total lack of knowledge on a subject, without any preconceived notions - what you don't know can't give you a headache. At least, temporarily.......
2007-01-26 07:45:10 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
As it had been said any road lead to God...Knowledge is a longest one....Somewhere along the way knowledge will bring the Truth and the Truth would be : no knowledge IS True, that we are creating that knowledge not the Truth created them...Ironically it will point out that we are capable to manifest any crap we created in our mind...So we will learn it once again., consciously..
2007-01-26 07:40:49 · answer #7 · answered by Oleg B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance isn't bliss. That's only a cynical wisecrack. It's only applicable to that situation where one loving person is being two-timed by their partner ... & it means they're happier not knowing.
2007-01-26 07:33:36 · answer #8 · answered by yahoohoo 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance isn't bliss. I think that saying was invented by the church so that people would question all the lies they told them.
2007-01-26 08:08:37 · answer #9 · answered by thievesstolemypolicecar 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we are board with ourselves and lack self confidence in ourselves as well. It is okay not to know, but society has said it is not. We follow the leader. We can not be independent of thought and also because the idle mind lets the devil in. Keep the brain activity active to live a long and prosperous live!
2007-01-26 07:37:15 · answer #10 · answered by Isabelle P 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋