Is it true that as we go through life, we enter higher and higher levels of consciousness and understanding?

Question

Should one abandon old ideas and concepts and embrace new ones and in the process change. Is it destiny that one should change ones concepts and ideas of life and things as one gets to know more and more. If that is true then at a given time, are we not living in some kind of ignorance.

Answer 1

This is a doctrine of progression, which is liberal and has an honorable history. One hopes that one becomes less ignorant as time goes on, and this would necessarily include abandoning some concepts and prejudices one once thought correct. The intelligent person is adaptable and flexible, and is able to discard that which is ugly, useless and harmful (such as ideas of racial superiority, the inferiority of women, unbridled militarism, etc.). Openness is a virtue, closed mindedness is not.
On the other hand, this is not to discount the value of steadiness. It helps to have a guiding principle, like the scientific method, to keep all your knowlege organized.

Answer 2

Dear ABC X, As to how high your level of conscious Can be reached depends on how much knowledge you have learned and remembered in your life. How many travels you have had, how much education of any sort you acquire on your own or by chance, this is what takes you to a higher consciousness. A lot of people abandon old ideas and concepts some times for the better some times for the worse, and of course all people are ignorant, because no matter what life teaches most people, we are fixed in our ideas and stubbornness to change, even though it would benefit the vast majority of human kind if there were more changes. This is why there are monastery's, it is hard to reach a high level of consciousness when so much muck is being thrown in your face.

Answer 3

If we abandon old ideas and concepts to embrace new ones...we will not only be living in some kind of ignorance, but we will potentially continue to make the mistakes that people have made in the past; we will repeat history. Change is inevitable and relentless...its just a fact of life. What we should do is to know the past, while critically analyzing new ideas and concepts and embrace those that benefit or solve the dilemmas that we are faced with, especially if the old ideas and concepts do not work or are not feasible to solve our dilemmas. This is ultimately important for identifying decision criteria, and developing, evaluating and selecting alternatives...we must think outside the box, but in order for us to concider ALL alternatives, old ideas and concepts are to be included...or we might miss something important.

While we go through life, we do enter higher and higher levels of consciousness and understanding...even if we don't look to institutional learning for it. We do not abandon old ideas and concepts (from experiences, for example)--but we store them (or should) for later possible use---since it is never truly known what we will be faced with, tomorrow.

Answer 4

yes we are living a kind of ignorance but it is a growing process. We have to crawl before we can walk.
I think at a certain age like 80 or 90 we level off and become set in our ways and just dont really give a dam anymore because we are on the way out anyway hopefully to a higher conciousness after we die.

Answer 5

No. Most fall into a routine as quickly as possible and sacrifice consciousness. The shell then does mechanical things and has no need to be conscious for longer periods of time. Mental dreaming keeps the machine from acting out or regaining consciousness for sustained periods of time. Being conscious requires effort and in my opinion, a Teacher.

Answer 6

Very few will enter higher levels of consciousness and understanding in their life, in fact, it will rare to see an improvement in human consciousness going beyond what it is today because of technology and many other distractions in life.

Self awareness is the key to wisdom, truth and love, but even a simple act like self-awareness is very difficult to do when our thoughts and ideas have more importance than reality itself!

Answer 7

If we seem to get bored and frustrated by our routines, and then the new routines eventually get boring as well, then I think we are not so much ignorant as frustrated by the borders of these ideas.

Perhaps we will never be satisfied with what we have - maybe that is why we left the trees and decided to live in caves?

Answer 8

Don't you think that as you exprerience more of life, you start to understand that you don't know as much as you thought you once did?

You build on Truth... you don't abandon it. Truth doesn't change to fit the latest polling data. Maybe what you're really asking... "Is there such a thing as true Truth?"

My answer is a resounding YES!

Answer 9

In the process of growing ,old ideas are discarded and new ideas accepted.If we stick to old ideas we will be left out in the race.We cannot change destiny,because we donot know what is it.What we have to do is just to keep with our times,if not ahead.

Answer 10

sometimes it just happens to be that old ideas are no longer applicable with your new found understanding. but that doesnt neccasirly mean that old ideas always have to be forgotten. as for ignorance... since none of us kno everything we are all a little ignorant of the unkown and the known... but dont think abt that too much just keep seeking knowledge

"seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave" (Islamic Scripture)