Morning Greetings from Venus, Moon and Jupiter
It is your immediate experience that provides you knowledge. Gregge Tiffen (Life – The Staircase of Many Steps – January, 2008)
…no knowledge can be stuffed away and not have an effect in terms of the living of the individual. Gregge Tiffen quoted in P-Systems’ PS 52, Series 11, Week 19.
The familiar phrase ‘ignorance is bliss’ suggests that bliss is the absence of worry. If we know, then we worry. If we don’t know, we don’t worry and, thus we are blissful. Really?
The idea may sound nice and cozy, even a quick path to living in bliss, except it can’t stand. Ignorance is contrary to the purpose of life: acquiring knowledge that can be distilled to wisdom.
We ignore this truth to our peril personally as I suggested last week (http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/more-than-paying-attention) when I shared the result of ignoring clues indicating a problem with my wood stove. Likewise, we are witnessing the effects of ignoring facts of history, science, current events on many fronts in our world today.
In exploring the words – ignore, ignorance, ignorant – all having roots in the Latin ignoratia, not knowing, I discovered that the latter two (ignorance and ignorant) were widely used in the 1800s, but are minimally used today while the verb, ignore, was rarely used back then, but is widely used today. Hmmm. Perhaps we’re ignoring too many things that need our attention these days. Perhaps we’re paying a price for what we’ve ignored in the past. Perhaps it’s time for correction, personally and globally.
If we’re in pursuit of personal bliss (and on some level aren’t we all?) and, if we envision a world that works for all, ignoring is not an ingredient to add, an action to take (yes, to ignore is an act, conscious or not). Questioning, researching, studying, expanding, learning, listening, exploring, thinking, along with practicing openness and curiosity are just a few ingredients that support us on the path of living a life of joy and personal satisfaction and creating a more peaceful, hospitable world that works for all.
And, what could be more blissful than that?
A Cold, Clear Morning Looking Across the San Luis Valley