Is ignorance really bliss? How do I know if I'm ignorant, and are there varieties of ignorance? These questions and more are answered on February's podcast, featuring quotes from Stoicism and Confucianism.
@razahnazar last month, after reading “The Optimistic Cynic,” asked me the following:
“Is ignorance, in the sense of not being exposed to arts, classics, and philosophy, bliss? Surely, without exposure to them, it’s easier to make human connections which (some would argue to be) the only truth worth pursuing?”
First off, great question and thank you for the patience while waiting for a substantive response. The past month has been busy!
Ignorance Existential
When thinking about ignorance and bliss, the first important step is, ironically, to understand ignorance and its relation to the conscious mind because not knowing is inherently related to knowledge and awareness. Alan Watts has a great bit about human perception being like a flashlight in a dark room, able to illuminate only so much at a time. Everything which is dark can be illuminated but at the cost of making somewhere else dark. Torchlight travels so far and in such a pattern, just like human attention, illuminating only a slice of existence at a time. Ignorance is everything that is in the dark, and consciousness is what lies illuminated.
The characteristics of your existence are like a gallery on display, where the entirety cannot be viewed at once. On one wall might display math or linguistics skills, another
childhood memories, and elsewhere a menu of personal preferences. (I recommend reading about The Five Skandhas of Buddhism if the nature of existential ignorance interests you especially.) As a person moves through life, different moments demand different skills; there is little use for math in recalling good memories, but also a minimal utility for fond recollections of yesterday if you’re trying to build a car. Hence ignorance also performs services for humanity, by allowing a person to temporarily forget things irrelevant to the task at hand.
Though the human condition is choked by ignorance all around, this type of ignorance is benign- even if occasionally exasperating. There is nothing to do but bask in the unknowing, creating a life you can feel ok acting out, and that for me is the image of adventure and creation. But questions like not knowing our origins or fate underwrite life itself and there is no way around it, unlike other varieties of ignorance.
The Types of Cognitive Ignorance
A conscious human being is a combination of interpretation skills, thoughts, and what is demanded at a given time. Mind, memory, and recall are functions of consciousness, separate from one another but interacting altogether. This specific interplay between senses and mind within consciousness, the nature of which is to process, form, and then act out impressions physically or mentally, is where opportunities to grow ignorance arise.
Ignorance is the blindness and separateness of any single person from everything else, the birther of empathy, the reason people wander through sleepless nights seeking, and also the sweetest coping method. Human beings are ignorant of the great oneness of this universe, we will never know the consciousness of a plant or of omniscience, and we will forever be confined to our localized sensations (like touch sight, etc..), and present conditional thoughts. Though I may choose to do whatever I want in a perfect state of freedom, the human condition is my parameter for this freedom, and the human condition tends to become trapped in some specific types of ignorance.
Type one is the “trickster” brand of ignorance, where one deludes themself. The
trickster thinks itself clever for convincing a person that if they look left, nothing will happen to the right. The trickster brand of ignorance convinces a person that by avoiding an answer, reality will somehow align with where they focus their consciousness. Confrontation with immense uncertainty, like the results of an important blood test, can cause some people to run away instead of face the results. The trickster nurtures false hopes, shrinking from unpleasantness and hiding in possibility without explicit verification or evidence because, without it, any conclusion is still possible. “There might be proof, but if never presented to me it can’t be true!”
Type two is the “deceiver” brand of ignorance, where confusion blurs interpretative abilities. Without clarity, a person fumbles around as if without their eyeglasses. By rationalizing that not enough information exists to reach an understanding when clear evidence suggests otherwise, a person deceives themself. Instead of averting the gaze like a “trickster,” the “deceiver” lures a person in deeper only to entangle and paralyze with overanalysis. The “deceiver” brand of ignorance feeds delusion, trying ferociously to litigate with reality. This brand of ignorance thrives in situations where truth is difficult to come to terms with. “My husband’s fingerprints on the murder weapon don’t mean he committed the act!”
Type three is the “aloof” brand of ignorance, perhaps best described as being ignorant of
ignorance. The “aloof” brand is far away from everything, like a person who lives down the street and knows nothing of your life. “Aloof” has different gradients, like my ignorance as to solve complex calculus versus my lack of knowledge about a random fellow you point to in the phonebook. Certain sets of information we choose to remain ignorant to out of apathy or laziness while other snippets are simply extraneous to our lives. Distancing oneself from reality can create numbness, but not always. “Ya bro, I could do that too if I tried to,” said while eating Cheetos on the sofa, watching a video of someone on an adventure.
These types of ignorance can be applied to so much more, too.
Is Ignorance Really Bliss?
On an existential level the veil of ignorance protects people by allowing us to focus on present tasks, but on the cognitive level can lead people away from the truth. In the realm of self-reflection and growth, ignorance maintains a facade of bliss by justifying laziness, avoidance, and dismissal. Deliberate not knowing allows human consciousness to wander around in shadows and although strenuous, at least the solace of familiarity exists. And that is preferable to the hard truth.
When all is said and done, most types of ignorance create a false bliss designed to distract humanity from a scenario that can change our current perception or trajectory. I might blissfully watch television while remaining ignorant of my homework by a preference for loafing, or I might vehemently deny my wrongdoing instead of owning up to error to preserve integrity, but cognitive ignorance is always a reflexive shelter to the truth. So in some ways, yes, ignorance is bliss in the sense it delays discomfort, but in the long-term ignorance is a real detriment in many cases.
So, to finally answer your question, Raza, I can’t claim ignorance of classical culture to be bliss. As with any type of specialized education, relating your knowledge to others presents difficulty because of its hyper-focused nature, but to say that an inability to connect with others stems from some specific accumulated base of knowledge is to fall victim to type two of ignorance, the “deceiver.” Instead of recognizing that one’s etiquette or attitude might need recalibration, consciousness rationalizes that the problem lies in others not appreciating what you prize greatly. In other words, you can’t be surprised when people don’t hold you in high esteem if you value Shakespeare quotes more than them, or are unwilling to speak about anything relatable to them.
Knowing classic, foundational texts of culture should honestly be looked at as a great basis for relating to others. Getting acquainted with the archetypes portrayed in these stories can make a person keenly aware of human nature, and with such social knowledge, a person is equipped to interact gracefully in social situations. The pivotal factor here is ignorance; embrace it and let truth fall out of favor, or rest in the quietude of mind that Epictetus describes:
“If you keep yourself calm, poised, & dignified, if you observe rather than are observed, if you don’t envy people with more success, don’t let externals disconcert you, if you do all this, what more will you need?" -Epictetus 4.4.9-10
A present, mindful person will rarely fall into ignorance because they do not need it as a crutch. They will always be engrossed by existential ignorance and on occasion by “aloof” ignorance, but the more malicious brands will stay away because of a healthy relationship with the truth.
Combatting Ignorance
Being present and independent of detrimental ignorance is great but how to achieve it? A person might know themselves trapped somewhere, but such knowledge does not necessarily lead to an escape.
The first step is to identify the source of destructive cognitive ignorance in your life. Is there something you’re ignoring, denying, or hiding from behind apathy? This can be a deeply personal question, and often immensely painful to reflect on because the answer will force change in your life. But addressing these truths can greatly improve the overall quality of life at the price of intense, fleeting pain, instead of chronic, nagging pain. Setting a broken bone correctly is excruciating but in the long run the healthiest path to heal.
In short, self-reflection, within healthy limits, is the key to staving off ignorance. The lack of or abundance of clarity comes from within, and learning to probe your own beliefs is the healthiest method to cultivating truth.
“Mencius said: if others do not respond to your love with love, look into your own benevolence; if others do not respond to your attempts to govern them with order, look into your own wisdom; if others do not return your courtesy, look into your own respect. In other words, look into yourself whenever you fail to achieve your purpose.” -Mencius 4A4
Yet, as many overthinkers out there know, introspecting too deeply can grow unhealthy. Sometimes the tunnel vision required to self-examine leads to a belief that everything is dependent on your own actions. Falling into this pattern of thought is to be ignorant and aloof of others’ independent choices and actions. Sometimes, identifying colleagues' and acquaintances’ ignorance is the best service you can do for yourself.
“When, on looking into themself, a person finds they have done their best and yet this outrageous treatment continues, then the gentleman will say ‘This person does not know what they are doing. Such a person is no different from an animal. One cannot expect them to know better.’” -Mencius 4B28
Combatting ignorance has a dual nature, recognizing it within yourself and within others. Having metrics or rough definitions of what constitutes ignorance is the first step towards awareness. These metrics, by default, will come from an awareness of your inner world and of others’ behaviors. As Epictetus said:
“I observe other people’s words and actions- not maliciously, in order to judge or ridicule them, but to better assess whether I engage in the same behavior.” Epictetus 4.4.7
So, to answer the second part of @Razahnazar’s question, ignorance might make relatability with connections easier in some respects but not richer. People are inherently social creatures, and this characteristic is independent of knowledge or education. If highly educated people who crave human connection find relationships extremely difficult to cultivate, there must be some reflection to perform as to why your advances flounder, and with the database of humanity found in philosophy and literature, reflection should be even easier.
Yet with great knowledge and wisdom from studying classics naturally comes greater rarity in deep connection because of the uniqueness of your mind. The human element of craving social connection is present in everyone, and this common ground, enriched by studies, is enough to nourish the “truth found in human relations” when balanced with proper awareness of human ignorance directed both inwards as a mechanism to safeguard against delusion, and outwards as a device to understand other’s aloofness to what you’ve dedicated so many hours of study to.
Next time you feel yourself slipping into an ignorant train of thought, I hope this podcast helps out!
Thanks for tuning into this Mental Sweat Production, and if you liked this podcast please remember to like, comment, and share it with your friends.
Until next time, thanks for breaking a Mental Sweat with me today, This is Justin Markowitz signing off.