Ignorance is Bliss?

Knowledge is power and I never knew me till now. ~ Michelle Malone

I’m sure many people will explain what knowledge is and isn’t, you will find some explanations of how it enhances life, and perhaps some that demonize those who believe they are knowledgeable, but clearly are not. Those who have obtained a good deal of knowledge sometimes flaunt it, but more tend to be low key. Perhaps I have an idea why it works that way.

Feed your brain. The more true information you can pack in there is great, but you also have to come to terms with something else. That being, “What do I know about myself?” It seems to me more people have steadfast beliefs with no idea why they really have them. There are people on the other side of debates who don’t belong there. They have simple convinced themselves they belong there.

I read a quote once that went something like this, “The most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves.” I truly believe that, and that means the deepest and best knowledge is a true self awareness. Once you have that full understanding, it’s easier to deal with the outside challenges to things you know to be true.

It’s not like I’m breaking new ground here. The Greeks had the whole “know thyself” thing going on a long way back. But it’s just as true today, and there are too many people that simply don’t understand themselves. It’s a tragedy. There are times I want to say to people, “Are you lying to me, or to yourself?”

One of the problems is we truly have people who do not want knowledge, they want to be spoon fed, and at least my government in the U.S., is more than willing to accommodate it. They want easily duped people. The less they know, the more malleable they become. It may be a corny line, but perhaps you can’t fix stupid. Who really wants to try?

To sum up how I feel about the average people on the planet, I often tell a story I came up with probably two decades ago. It’s about possums and crosswalks. I posit that one day, possums will be smarter than humans. No one takes it seriously, but I explain it this way. We humans take care of the simplest people, and try and make them safe. Hence, we have crosswalks. I know when I was young, I was taught how to cross a street. It served me well. Now, apparently, kids slap the flashing crosswalk sign and dart out into the street. It happened the other day to a fellow I know. Next thing you know, they’ll be a pedestrian bridge. Then into this new world they introduce a small device that can basically give you all the known information of mankind in recorded history. What do we do with all of that? We watch cat videos.

On the other hand, possums are found flattened on the pavement all the time. We’ve all seen them. But, one day some possum will head up to the road, see lights coming and think, “Huh. I saw those things just before Fred got pancaked and eaten by crows.” Just imagine if he decides not to run up on that road. Then one day, he meets a mate who also doesn’t play real life Frogger, and they reproduce. Thus, they eventually surpass us in the skills required to survive. I doubt we have a Planet of the Possums movie, and this scenario is silly, but it makes my point. While this may be a far fetched tale, there is plenty of truth in the fact that a dumbing down of the population has occurred, and no one seems to care to stop it.

Will we get to a point where people completely lose all self awareness? I hope not.