IS IGNORANCE BLISS ?

In the poem, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College’, Thomas Gray said — “Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise".

Ignorance is the absence of knowledge and bliss is absolute happiness. So by saying this Gray meant that the absence of knowledge is absolute happiness. But is it?

To understand if ignorance is bliss or not, one first needs to understand the difference between ignorance and passivity.

While Ignorance is the absence of knowledge, Passivity is acceptance of what happens without active response. It's avoiding what you already know and remaining silent when your voice could make a change for the better. Passivity is even more harmful than ignorance could ever be.

Now as for the question of whether ignorance is bliss or not, let's see.

One side of the coin to this is that it's a complex world, aren't we better off not knowing the ruckus?

Like in the poem, Oedipus gaining the knowledge of the prophecy lead to his ruin.

As soon as a person gains knowledge of worldly problems, they lose their creativity and imagination. They're no longer carefree. An ignorant one doesn't know what's going on around them. They're enjoying themselves in their little bubble.

Let's take an example of children, Children are the most ignorant beings in the world. They find happiness in the smallest of things. They're creative and all tucked up in their little wonderful imaginary world.

Now imagine if one tells a child about the worldly issues of money, wars, epidemics, racism, gender inequality, rape, the world of possessions, and all the harsh realities of this world. Wouldn't the child lose their innocence, their comfort, and their imagination?

Wouldn't it rob them of their childhood?

When they get a glimpse of the complex world, they lose their imagination and most often originality.

Thus for them, Ignorance is bliss.

Taking an example of a person I know. So when "X" lost one of their loved ones, their family did everything they could so that X wouldn't know of the demise. But as it's said curiosity kills the cat, X wasn't ignorant and found out. Years passed yet X is still in pain due to the loss.

Thus wouldn't have X been in bliss if they were ignorant?

Isn’t it true? If we forgot all our painful memories, wouldn’t we be happy?

But not everyone agrees with this side of the coin. They believe that ignorance is oblivion, not bliss. They believe that ignorance is the state of being completely destroyed, not of absolute happiness.

For example, Imagine if a country was unmindful and ignorant of all the terrorists, thieves, murders in the country.

Would the country be a safe place for its citizens?

Hell, would there even be any citizens left?

Or what if X got to know about that tragedy years later, how would X feel?

X's family kept such a big thing from them for so long. X was unaware of one of his loved ones passing away for such a long time.

What do you think he would be feeling, better than when he found out or even worse?

Imagine if a person's spouse is cheating on them, is ignorance bliss?

Is not knowing about it good for the person?

If the person doesn't know, they'd be living a lie for life, living with a person who cheated on them.

Isn't this detrimental and destructive for them?

But if they knew, it would only benefit that person as they would leave that spouse and be careful of people in the future so that they are not cheated on again.

So, ignorance can also mean that a person is just living in cloud cuckoo land.

Living in fantasy is pretty good in the short run but in the long run, it's simply detrimental.

Thus ignorance is not always bliss.

Knowledge ultimately leads to betterment. If you're brave enough to strive through the problems, you'll end up better and stronger in the end. Not knowing is painful in some situations. But if one knows and then they're solely being passive about it, that's even more destructive.

In some other situations, Ignorance indeed is bliss because then you're comfortable and happy. You're all safe and tucked up in your Lala land away from the humdrum affairs of life.

Hence there are two opinions on whether Ignorance is bliss or not. It all depends on the situation and perception. This is a debate that can go on for long but in the end, there's no black and white answer to it.

Personally, I believe being ignorant is bliss when you already have a lot to deal with but if not then one's simply living in fantasy.

If you even have a glimpse of what might be going on around you then, don't remain silent because that's just being passive.