Ignorance Isn’t Bliss, You Just Remember It That Way
The hands of time flatten your memory
Ignorance is bliss. The saying so easily trips off the tongue. Yet, can you find happiness from a lack of awareness?
The thought hit me on my usual twice-daily excursion into the wild with my dog. Swaying, uncut, so as not to disturb buzzing insects, the damp grass whacked across my lower legs, and the notion popped into my head.
Ignorance is not bliss. It’s just you forget all the difficulties not knowing gives you.
My life lessons are as scattered and as numerous as the pasturage, and they share a common feature. I have insufficient knowledge to pass judgment about what happens. But, because, as a human, I’m wired to contemplate why events occur, I use my current level of understanding, which is lacking. And let’s face it, even when you’re certain you know something, there’s more to learn. You never get to an ultimate level of knowing.
Later, though, if your awareness expands, the picture gets somewhat clearer. What you thought you knew wasn’t exactly right. Now, the complexities of the situation are apparent, and you note you must use your newfound wisdom, and that’s difficult. You recall how simple life was before you knew plastic, irresponsibly discarded, goes into the sea and kills fish or creates junk piles.
You ponder the ease of living without the knowledge that hurt people often hurt other people. Previously, you could moan about them, despise them, or ignorantly assume they were different from you. But the view that life was easy when you perceived less is an illusion.
The hands of time flatten your memory. They squash out details like the desire not to harm the environment is more important than enjoying discarding rubbish wantonly. Or they erase the pain of taking untoward comments from hurt people personally.
You then believe the responsibility of acting with your new moral vocabulary is tougher than when you were uninformed, and you say ignorance is bliss.
Responsibility grows, though, the more you learn: This isn’t an illusion. When you comprehend the sea of faces you pass on the street with actual people behind them, full of fear, love, and other emotions, there’s a need to give each one eye contact. If you note the beauty and significance of an insect you once paid no attention to, you are beholden not to damage its delicate wings as you brush it from your collar.
All new knowledge adds to your arsenal of gems that aid wise decision-making. In my experience, if I take up the mantle, adding each piece of data to my cache, my maturity potential rises, and I must rise with it. Otherwise, I’m left to spout the notion ignorance is bliss while I stunt my growth.
Bridget Webber is a writer and nature lover, often found in the woodland, meadow, and other wild places. She writes poetry and stories and pens psychology articles; her love of discovering what rests inside the thicket and the brain compels her to delve deep. She’s appeared in many leading publications and is the author of Nature Poems to Heal the Heart and Nurture the Soul.
