Ignorance is Bliss

 

Ignorance is Fear, by Keith Harding
Credit: artfinder.com

Thoughts prompted by listening to Rory Stewart's podcast called 'The Long History of Ignorance."

Ignorance, similar to other words such as anger, sadness and effeminate, trigger pejorative thoughts.

Stewart comes to the defence of ignorance using the ancient socratic notion that ignorance has a lot going for it.

I was interested in the idea put forward that ignorance can be a maladaptive coping strategy.  Stewart points to the sensational German film, 'Zone of Interest', which follows the fortunes of the commandant of Auschwitz's family during the Second World War.  Life has never been so good for them.  They are now able to live their dream, designing and constructing a beautiful garden.  The only problem is that on the other side of their wall, a terrible evil is taking place.  Their idyll is in exchange for a horror.  The film leaves the viewer conscious that this is not an isolated story; could I too be living my dream concomitant on the suffering of others?  In the film 'Ignorance is bliss', but no one is ignorant, and everyone in the family suffers the consequence of the evil going on, each in their own subtle way.

Stewart links this with the 'White' ignorance of the West's past exploitation of mainly African people over hundreds of years, and the fact that the current status of African countries and peoples may still be affected by this.  Some people have 'woken up', and in response, mainstream culture does it's best to put them back to sleep.

I think now of the ignorance of the ruling classes (and that include me).  A wonderful colleague from my early social work days had many stories to tell.  One was the occasion she visited an elderly couple to meet with their children and discuss their care needs.  Judith could see when she met them that something significant had recently occur.  The couple were like young lovers, smiling and giggling.  She enquired why this might be.  The couple confessed that they had just got married.  Judith knew that this was extremely unusual for people from their background, and enquired why it had taken them so long.  The wife explained in hushed tones that when she was just young, she had had problems down below, and visited her doctor.  The doctor had been explained in serious tones that the situation was risky, and that it would be better for her if she 'never got married'.  The couple looked at each other, and sighed. The husband said "We figure that we are so old now that we can take our chance."

I am sure that that advice-giving doctor will have been shocked to observe the power vested in their wise and kindly words.  Powerful people are often ignorant of the degree of power society crowns them with, though salaries might give a good clue.

Ignorance is also freedom.  I recall Joanna coming back from an 'A'level philosophy and ethics class.  The teacher had asked the class to raise their hand if they were prepared to allow what they studied over the coming year to affect what they believed in.  Joanna thought about it, and raised her hand.  She explained that she was a seeker of the truth, and with the presence of God with her, she could safely explore belief.  Is this different for the poster my mother saw outside the Unitarian Church in Hampstead which said "This church does not undertake to believe today what it might believe tomorrow"?  I guess it's a question of motives and motivation. We all have our own beliefs, and relationship with the 'infinite', and as Stewart notes, our own perspectives are riddled with ignorance and prejudice.

Stewart is a Buddhist, and links with  Anthony Gormley, who may also describe himself as a Buddhist.  I am not against meditation, but I did wonder about the use of meditation to cope with the thought that we may never 'know' meaning in life. "Meaningless, Meaningless." If we conclude that meaning in life is unfathomable, are we like the fish in the fishbowl who conclude that 'water' around them is unknowable? (All about me, therefore ironically difficult to see.) Those who claim to have a close (personal) relationship with the Creator perhaps are starting from a different position.  "Given that I stand on this rock, my world looks like this."  

This is where 'not knowing' and belief meet. Stewart visits this are in the past episode. 

We are ignorant, to a large extent, of what the future holds. We have probability and prophecy to guide us.  The Creator has seen it all.  The story of life on earth is like a well worn video tape (disney's Frozen, or the Sound of Music' say).  It has a beginning middle and end.  We are stuck looking at it from the limitations presented by time.

I have been grateful to have been ignorant beforehand of many things that have happened in my life.

As Stewart points out, ignorance is a many splendored thing.