It's everywhere! Why are people happier in their on secluded worlds, lying to themselves and putting others down for a belief that they might have? Why are wars started over religion when no one knows the truth? Why are children beat up for being different? ... Why is ignorance such sweet bliss to humanity and yet, at the same time, destroying us?
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I know16% Voted for by Untouchable Blue, Sarah957, ohsweetie2788, X0-Confoozled-X0, Piscean Wisdom. (13 total)
Ignorance is bliss because if you don't know something, it can't hurt you. As children, people are themselves and get along much better. The more we age, the farther we lose who we are and begin to restrain ourselves for fear of others. As we grow older, we become increasingly aware of pain and suffering, and the more we know about everything wrong in the world, the more we lose our innocence and become less 'blissful'. I read once that when we lose the innocence of childhood, we become compassionate. That's the start of adulthood. We loose our ignorance and bliss with innocence, but we gain knowledge, compassion, and understanding.
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ignorance is bliss...8% Voted for by classical beauty, Piscean Wisdom, Crazywaves180, pwincessovfantasy, Krick. (7 total)
ignorance is bliss because knowledge is pain
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The Bliss of the Journey of Life and the Sorrow in Reaching The Destination8% Voted for by Sankofalokumbe, Jackymania, oRis1024, adel, ignorance. (7 total)
If you have ever read Ecclesiastes (a book of the Bible for those of you who don't know) it is rather easy to nderstand why. As the human mind becomes wiser and learns more about the world around it, things lose their value. Certain things that were sooo awesome loose their awe because you realize that there is so much more out there, and many times, you realize you can't get to it. For example, babies. They really get a kick out of playing with balls or playing "pick-a-boo". But as the child ages, they learn more about the world around them and thos childish games loose their value. As you becme wiser, there seems to be less value for everything. I have experienced this. I used to get so excited about parties. But then one day I asked myself, "What happens after parties? What happens after i get that first 50 billion dollars and reach world wide fame?" What do you think happens after you become famous and rich? What else is there to possess besides love after you have bought pretty much every physical possession you could ask for? As the mind becomes more complicated, it takes more to bring happpiness to it. If it is true that ignoranc is bliss (which I think it is), is it not also true that poverty is bliss, for if you are poor, you have more to live for. You have more goals (wealth, for example)to aim at. Once you are at the top, the journey has ended. Is the journey not also more blissful than the destination?
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simple.7% Voted for by looking4realtruth, thinking, Cherub, ignorance, mlinko. (6 total)
Ingorance is bliss because it's easier to support something blindly than exploring all the options. It's also easier to act on instinct and learned behaviors rather than to think about what they're saying/doing.
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What?6% Voted for by Cherub, oRis1024, basix, mlinko, mememe6.
What a silly question. Why do you crazy people spend soo much time thinking? The world is bundle of sunshine and rainbows where Jesus protects us from all the big baddies out there like Muslims, Pagans and Gay people, because they're all evil and we Americans are all good. Hurray for America! Let's all go to a picnic and eat watermelon. (cough-sarcasm-cough) Get it? Ignorant people can be happy because they only need to see one side of an issue. Without real knowledge of a situation assumptions and generalizations can be fabricated to any ends you wish, and as the ends most desireable all lead to happiness, an ignorant person may invent a happier world to live in than that of the world they actually do live in. Basically, if I could be ignorant, I think I would, it beats anti-depressants anyway.
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The Ultimate Truth5% Voted for by Maerad, Piscean Wisdom, Kevin, mlinko.
Ignorance is bliss for bliss's sake. Personally, I think that far more pure happiness can be got out of truly understanding something. Otherwise, why would we thirst for knowledge? It's just the half-way point that hurts so much. Having said that, there's certainly a few things that I should have kept schtum about because telling people brought far too much pain for all sides. There I go again, contradicting myself. I suppose that ignorance must be bliss if one is ignorant of one's ignorance. Once one becomes aware of it then that blissful state is lost and the only way of regaining it is to seek for the ultimate truth.
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Sticks and Stones3% Voted for by A Miserable Romance, Deixa, Rachel92.
I think people don't want to face society's cruel and unforgiving ways. People think that ignoring it will make it go away.
I went through foster care for eight years and it has opened my eyes to the failing system and how we need to fix it.
I think that ignorance is not bliss. By not seein the pain and sorrow around us we leave the others to their fate.
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It's not.3% Voted for by Lazarae, Deixa, Rachel92.
Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is simply that, Ignorance. One can't claim that just because a person is ignorant they are happy. In fact, I believe it's the opposite. An truely ignorant person can't ever achieve true happiness, because part of happiness is the acceptance of life's experiences (both positive and negative). The ignorant haven't had, or don't understand these experiences, and therefore have not had the chance to arrive at the conclusion of acceptance. Furthermore, true ignorance is in most cases temporary. It may last for years, or even decades, but the majority of people do not live their entire lives in a state of ignorance. Instead, they at some point arrive at a sort of 'epiphany' of one kind or another. For a person who has lived up to this time in ignorance, this would come as quite a shock and would probably have more of an effect than it would on a less ignorant person. In this regard, when thinking about the long term, ignorance is actually an inhibitor of bliss, not a cause. While the ignorant may feel happy for a time, they are actually just unawhere of the things that suppress bliss, meaning, they are not truely happy, simply ignorant.
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Ignorance is not blissNot knowing is bliss. Ignorance is thinking that one knows something without studying it. Ignorance is what destroys the world.3% Voted for by Brew Kline, dollar, ExpensiveThinker.
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Ignorance, Bliss, The Government3% Voted for by XxPlaStiCxHeaRtxX, mlinko, Rachel92.
Ignorance would feel like bliss becuase those who are ignorant have no clue what the heck is going on. When you are ignorant, you don't realize that there is wrong in the world, that wrong is being done to you, or that you are being manipulated or controled by those who abuse other's ignorance. The governmen preaches ignorance, advertises it everywhere, and bombards us with propaganda, so that when we are happy in our ignorance, they can go about controling the world without us worrying about what they are doing. Some would say "Well, if your ignorant, it wouldn't matter, so why care?", but I think otherwise. If we all choose to follow blindly in ignorance, the world could evolve into a fascist world order lead by a small elite secret society (which could be in the near future, looking at the kids of today), and then the bliss that we know would quickly transform into a blind obedience. We would become slaves to our state of "bliss". sounds fun, right?
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Because the Ignorant are Safe?2% Voted for by JM Kenyon, Piscean Wisdom.
The human mind is a network with billions of neurons that are conductive to nerve impulses. I think ignorance is like an open circuit. People stop the flow of information by opening the circuit and breaking connections for whatever reason. They reject being concuctive to understanding. Some people chose ignorance because a circuit has been underexposed to stimulus from the rejected source and some because the circuit has been over-exposed and weakened by the source. In both instances they refuse to try to process any added data in order because it threatens to destabalize the very foundation of their network.
Thus, most people, when they sever a connection never realize that they have done it and will defend to no end their ignorance. In the case of the extremely ignorant, if suddenly all of their open circuits were closed the rush of stimulation would probably create a total mental meltdown. Oddly enough, it is the most ignorant of people who consider themselves flawless becuase to admit a flaw would mean closing a circuit and allowing new data to circulate.
Consider all the things that ignorance creates ouside of the obvious cultural intolerance. Ignorance fuels things like domestic violence and phobias.
In the case of domestic violence, it is proven that those who are abusive were abused and witness abuse; and I think this is a case of over-exposure, the mind opens a circuit at some point to protect itself, the information process is interrupted and thus the mind never learns an appropriate way to deal with anger.
In the case of phobias, take for example arachnophobia; a person might be badly scared by a spider and open a mental circuit to protect the mind from recieving more possibly terrifying information about spiders. The mind then stops processing information about spiders correctly. One can read that a spider is completely harmless because the mind has not been exposed to a flow of "harmless stimuli" thus, the person will never experience anything but fear until the circuit is closed and the flow of information is resumed and the mind is exposed to the harmlessness.
I think that at some point in everyone's life, ignorance is bliss because it saves our mind from becoming unstable. Circuits are repaired every day like getting over the fear of falling and learning to walk, some we don't know exist and some we stumble upon during life and have to chose whether or not to close the circuit.
I think only the fearless are free of ignorance; and a person without a trace of fear is insane. I think a person who would say that they are ignorance free and sane as well is admitting that they are in fact one of the most ignorant people.
People who are willing to analyze their own circuit board and close opened circuits are brave but it doesn't make them better than those who can't or give them the right to condemn them, I think it is the duty of those who who are understanding of themselves to be understanding to others as well. You never know, that person may have closed a cicuit that you do not even realized you opened. The more networks you accept the more ignorance you can defeat.
EEEEK.... okay, long winded, but it's my philosophy.
~genie~
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ignorance is in fact blissthe way i see it is that what i don't know can't hurt me,2% Voted for by aubertl, Dihan22.
it's as simple as that. Take relationships for example; i dont want to know how the one who broke my heart is doing, i don't want to know that he's moved on and found someone else while i'm still dwelling over it. I don't want to know that it's one of my friends and that i don't know who to trust.
ignorance is in fact bliss, what you don't know, cannot and will not hurt you -
Ignorance of ignoranceIgnorance is bliss as long as long as you dont suspect you may be ignorant.2% Voted for by el.numbre, mlinko.
e.g. if a partner cheats on you, being ignorant - it may as well not have happened because you know nothing and suspect nothing and therefore things would remain the same between you [at least in your mind]. if you think, I might be ignorant as I wouldn't know if she/he kissed them or not - then its hell. Its better to know nothing than suspect something and its better to know than to suspect the worst.. -
Aren't people happy?2% Voted for by Black-Angel-001, NoPoe.
If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?
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Because I'm Happier2% Voted for by Mad-Hatter, mlinko.
Though plenty of the options above did mention this, none of them actually FOCUSED on it.
Ignorance is bliss because I'm happier that way.
A prime example: I would be much happier not knowing that the saying, "Don't let the bed bugs bite" originates from the fact that there are thousands of dust mites living in my bed, eating my dead skin cells.
If I were ignorant to this fact, I would be happier, and as such in a state of bliss.
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Ignorance: conflict and peaceVoted for by Defenestra.
Living in ignorance or predjudice (though i suppose everyone is to an extent prejudiced in some degree) is just easier because you dont have to look at the bigger picture, only at your narrow view, you have no inner conflict because you are so set in your beliefs that they cannot be challenged, and if they are, well war ensues. Ignorance is bliss because you have no doubts about how right you are and how wrong everyone else is. You might even say i suppose that you express your lack of inner conflict in outspoken or violent gestures against those who disagree with your beliefs.
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The reason (if you want one)Voted for by dr f fisher.
Ignorance is bliss because you necessarily recognise ignorance from an objective, non-ignorant stance (or so it would seem). The idea principally is that "ignorance" seems "blissful" to you, if when upon reflection of your current self the words "chaotic", "fast-paced" or indeed "blissless" come to mind. Or indeed we may view ignorance as different things, for instance, I view the ability to be able to perpetuate blind terror for no actual reason throughout a civilised nation as being due to "ignornance", hence, I view ignorance as, well, dumb.
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Can you handle it?Voted for by iamretarded.
To me, ignorance is for those who can't handle what they will find, it is for those who are weak minded and in some way know that they could not possibly withstand what the truth will show them. To avoid this find, they live in ignorance. While they completely avoid this pain they are within bliss. It is not really a choice to be ignorant. One person brought up how the way the brain works, saying that if all the circuts closed, the person would just have a meltdown. The question of ignorance is can you handle the truth, or should you stay within the dark's safe haven?
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Is ignorance bliss?Voted for by chaotic999life.
Ignorance to me seems to be staying in the dark, knowing you are staying in the dark, and yet choosing to stay in the dark. There are a number of things that were said previously, by the previous comments, that are a core factor of it...the idea of staying in the dark is so much easier than slaving over finding a light AND staying in the dark is much more secure than finding a light and finding out what ultimately is reality...which might not exactly be what we hoped, or like. But this does not mean that ignorance is truly blissfull, simply because staying in the dark is no better than being blind by choice.
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Bliss...Voted for by star-filled-sky.
Ignorance causes innocence. When you do something wrong without knowing it or without knowing a reason for doing it, I don't believe it is really wrong.
Also Ignorance protects from pain and hey, everyone fears the unknown. So in a way, if we are ignorant, aren't we really just afraid? It is that fear that is destroying us. Not the ignorance itself.
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BecauseNothing can be known, so deluding oneself to the unknowable produces comfort in the conviction of what one thinks is true, and what one's mind wishes to manifest to maintain such a state.Voted for by TeChNoWC.
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my untitled opinionIgnorance may be bliss, but once you gain that knowledge, you're that much less ignorant than you were before. Having the linguistic capacity and computer skills necessary to post a blog on the internet discussing whether ignorance is bliss or not demonstrates our own true lack of bliss in the first place. Whether this argument seems plausible or not would depend upon one's definition of "ignorance" and that of "bliss". Our existence in this world is both the cause and effect of time and space. Without the cultures and civilizations containing and defining our existence, it would not be possible to attribute any coherent meaning to this world as there would be no way to communicate this meaning to the others around us. Childhood is a learning process; the process of learning diminishes one's ignorance with every passing second and adds a layer of meaning onto everyone's life. Every society has its shared meaning structures. These structures are socially constructed and, in turn, construct society. Once we have learned to conform to these structures, the only way to make ourselves ignorant again would be to resist, or unlearn them. But even if we do, we must learn to do so first. Now, let's repeat this exercise and define "bliss"... If ignorance is bliss, bliss would entail the loss of all the cognitive mental functions that allow us to know what the meaning of the world around us is. To achieve this state of total unlearning requires that we empty our minds and open our hearts. Easier said than done, especially when writing an internet blog discussing your philosophical standpoint on whether ignorance is bliss or not...Voted for by UrbanWarfare514.
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my untitled opinionIgnorance may be bliss, but once you gain that knowledge, you're that much less ignorant than you were before. Having the linguistic capacity and computer skills necessary to post a blog on the internet discussing whether ignorance is bliss or not demonstrates our own true lack of bliss in the first place. Whether this argument seems plausible or not would depend upon one's definition of "ignorance" and that of "bliss". Our existence in this world is both the cause and effect of time and space. Without the cultures and civilizations containing and defining our existence, it would not be possible to attribute any coherent meaning to this world as there would be no way to communicate this meaning to the others around us. Childhood is a learning process; the process of learning diminishes one's ignorance with every passing second and adds a layer of meaning onto everyone's life. Every society has its shared meaning structures. These structures are socially constructed and, in turn, construct society. Once we have learned to conform to these structures, the only way to make ourselves ignorant again would be to resist, or unlearn them. But even if we do, we must learn to do so first. Now, let's repeat this exercise and define "bliss"... If ignorance is bliss, bliss would entail the loss of all the cognitive mental functions that allow us to know what the meaning of the world around us is. To achieve this state of total unlearning requires that we empty our minds and open our hearts. Easier said than done, especially when writing an internet blog discussing your philosophical standpoint on whether ignorance is bliss or not...Voted for by UrbanWarfare514.
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Ignorance is NOT bliss! It only gives the illusion of blissfulness!To touch on what many others have said, it is not blissful to be ignorant because to be ignorant is to be uneducated, and to be uneducated is what I would see to be unhappy (or atleast not as happy as one could potentially be). People strive to obtain knowledge in their lifetime, so why would this be so if knowledge is a negative thing? Knowledge is power and a great 'high' to be able to achieve. Also, how can ignorance be bliss when the ignorant would so choose to not know what makes then NOT blissful? So there is a serious flaw in this statement.Voted for by missykeough.
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The Complete TruthIgnorance is bliss because the mind is a problem solver. If you are not aware of any problems, then you can just plug in your iPod/TV, eat food and go to bed.Voted for by ExpensiveThinker.
But... some really hard problems exist (overpopulation, intolerance, health care,...). Ones that wont easily go away without a lot of minds thinking about them.
If you don't know the problem, it can't bother you (and you can't solve it!).
Also, if you don't fully understand the problem, you can come up with some over-simple solution that really won't work.
What you should do:
apply your beliefs to solve real problems. If they're right, it will work. Otherwise, you'll encounter new problems and learn from your mistakes.
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Wrong idea about ignoranceI understand that the word ignorance is used a lot to describe "being in the dark" but I don't find that this saying is using ignorance in that context. I think the ignorance mentioned in the saying means to not know.Voted for by The Raiden.
Someone brought up intolerance as a result of ignorance. I see it as quite the opposite. Knowing is the reason for intolerance, well, knowing or learning in the wrong way is what leads to it. What we tend to learn about others in our quest for knowledge is the differences between us. Our learning of these differences is what leads to intolerance, NOT our ignorance of others. If we were "ignorant" to the fact there are differences and just saw people for people maybe there would be less intolerance.
In my life ive seen people boasting their knowledge of a person based on sterotypes and preconceptions. They relate learning about people to some kind of scientific analysis. I always react dumbfounded to these traits that are pointed out to me because I simply see people for people and not their race or religion. Thats the ignorance I think is being conveyed in this saying.
Therefore, with this ignorance in mind one can find true bliss in actually getting to know the person instead of knowing them based on preconcieved notions. -
emily33Ignorance isn't necassarily a decision a person makes, everybody is ignorant to something weather it be not understanding why the 2nd Iraq war was started or something as simple as the fact that a tomato is a fruit. Ignorance is all circumstantial and can be due to education, your willingness as a person to seek answers and a persons ability to reason. Just because somebody who is ignorant to alot of the worlds issues, it doesn't mean they are not suseptible to depression- it is often genetic or due to experience. Although an 'ignorant' person doesn't necassarily often consciously think about all aspects of issues and may block out something they see as irrelivant it does not mean that it doesn't register. Who knows what lays at a sub-conscious level and how this plays a role in a persons happiness or not. That said, simplicity is the key to hapiness, weather you are ignorant or not. If you lose your innocence and become aware then you will seek until you reason so much that you come to this page and realise that after all your searching and knowledge that simplicity is bliss. It has been tought to us indirectly- and philosophers well before our time came to this conclusion- Adam and Eve chose to eat the apple of knowledge because the snkae of tempatation came along and therefoer they were forever cast away from the garden of Eden into the 'outside harsh world'. In other words once man obtains knowledge, happiness will go and their search to regain it will begin.Voted for by emily33.
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its diversityVoted for by Neros Decay.
people live in diversity. and with this diversity there will always be an exsistence of conflicting beliefs. hence religion. since there will be no way to compromise due to radical beliefs then religious wars will continue to start. it has nothing to do with bliss, rather whose right and whose not. but the evidence that bliss exsists is there as so many people refuse to take action or any stand in any cause. bliss is the easier way out. americans would rather lie to themselves than deal with a cause that has meaning just because it may require work and dedication longer than a half hour.
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No correlation"Why is ignorance bliss?" is a loaded question and implies that "ignorance is bliss" is a fact. Ignorance vs searching for better understanding and alternative views of how our minds and other people trick us do not necessarily corralate with hapiness. You can be happy or unhappy just about anything.
Adding your reply:
It is funny how Christians get offended at this. I am a Christian myself and I Bravo the poster, for he has made him clear without being offensive. He did not refer to Christians, but to ignorant Christians. If you were offended at this then i am afraid this implies something that i better not to voice here.
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July 11, 2007
WaltzMoore
December 17, 2007
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More specifically, the artwork he surrounded them with.
Innocence is ignorance, and the innocence engravings were always peaceful, blissful, if you will. Whereas the engravings accompanying songs of experience always hinted at pain and suffering.
Inan
January 4, 2008
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February 28, 2008
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March 31, 2008
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May 30, 2008
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my untitled opinion
Ignorance may be bliss, but once you gain that knowledge, you're that much less ignorant than you were before. Having the linguistic capacity and computer skills necessary to post a blog on the internet discussing whether ignorance is bliss or not demonstrates our own true lack of bliss in the first place. Whether this argument seems plausible or not would depend upon one's definition of "ignorance" and that of "bliss". Our existence in this world is both the cause and effect of time and space. Without the cultures and civilizations containing and defining our existence, it would not be possible to attribute any coherent meaning to this world as there would be no way to communicate this meaning to the others around us. Childhood is a learning process; the process of learning diminishes one's ignorance with every passing second and adds a layer of meaning onto everyone's life. Every society has its shared meaning structures. These structures are socially constructed and, in turn, construct society. Once we have learned to conform to these structures, the only way to make ourselves ignorant again would be to resist, or unlearn them. But even if we do, we must learn to do so first. Now, let's repeat this exercise and define "bliss"... If ignorance is bliss, bliss would entail the loss of all the cognitive mental functions that allow us to know what the meaning of the world around us is. To achieve this state of total unlearning requires that we empty our minds and open our hearts. Easier said than done, especially when writing an internet blog discussing your philosophical standpoint on whether ignorance is bliss or not...June 10, 2008
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Not really
Ignorance is bliss, but at the same time it's not. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to some aspects in life. One example of ignorance being bills is when my grandmas close cousin from her old county died all of us knew but we decided to keep her from knowing what’s really happening back home. Why would we do that? Because for one we know for a fact that if she found out it would not help her but make her sad. My grandma is more happy not knowing what’s going on with her cousins back in the old country because if she did find out she could not doing anything about it except be sad. But some ways being ignorant is not bliss because you might be a happy kid when you’re younger and not know allot. Don’t you ever say to yourself if I only knew this when I was younger or if I really had this mind when I was in high school. SO being ignorant and being blissful can really hurt a person if the future and the harsh outcomes that come out it.August 16, 2008
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my 2 cent
Most of you are misinterpreting the word ignorance. A lot of you seem to believe its being dumb. Let us look at the poem from which this great quote cometh shall we not:Yet ah! why should they know their fate,
(if you knew how the journey was gonna end, would you still follow the path)
Since sorrow never comes too late,
(speaks for itself)
And happiness too swiftly flies?
(indeed it does)
Thought would destroy their paradise.
(live in the moment)
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.
(whats this my icy heart is drippin water ;o, just so well said <3)
To me it says, a number of things. Stuff like,
You don't have/want to know everything in live. And we live and breath to feel, let our emotions guide us.
happiness comes not from knowing but feeling. And you can't think and feel at the same time <3
atleast not when its an overwhelming feeling
timothyward
August 22, 2009
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I agree
I totally agree with what you said here. Sometimes I wish I could lose the compassion and get the innocence back.April 13
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SteeezySea
Undationthescr is totally true. We are caught up too much these days in knowing everying and using complete and emotionless rationality as the superior state of mind. I wish I could personally go back to a state of ignorance so i could better enjoy the world we live in. I wish undationthescr, i wish...May 28
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Bliss: Now vs. Then
Interesting questions, indeed. I believe that the beliefs/hopes about eternal reward/heavenly bliss after death actually contribute to unhappiness, by setting up a comparison with life-as-it-is-in-the-here-and-now, which is usually not blissful (except in odd, rare moments of ecstasy). This notion of bliss we don't have (but might someday in the future possess) causes us to believe that we are unhappy/miserable. (Because, obviously, if we're not experiencing bliss we must, by default, be miserable, right?) Wrong! So often our "misery" is little more than inconvenience, which we blow all out of proportion. If we really stop and think about it, most of us, barring the odd disaster here and there, are generally not having too bad a time of things. Yes there are difficulties, but the idea that life is supposed to be blissful and easy is a FAIRY TALE and the promises of future happiness, made in the name of some invisible person who doesn't speak for himself, only exacerbate the fact that we're not blissful now.My advice: quit waiting for that promised bliss. Live each moment now to its fullest, and appreciate its own, unique goodness. After all, regardless of the truth about what happens after we die, everything we do hinges on the only time we actually are in possession of -- NOW.
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