The Comfort of Ignorant Bliss

[babylonsister]

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/09/the-comfort-of-ignorant-bliss/62719/

The Comfort of Ignorant Bliss
Lane Wallace

Sep 10 2010, 10:48 AM ET

snip///

But stubborn ignorance goes beyond a simple failure to recognize gaps in knowledge and, therefore, fail to seek better information. It's an active effort to deny or dismiss better information. Why do people do that? Part of the answer is undoubtedly attributable to something called "motivated reasoning." (e.g. When a person encounters information that runs counter to their accepted worldview, the clash causes an uncomfortable level of "cognitive dissonance." To alleviate that discomfort, a person has to either alter their worldview or dismiss the new information. Since changing one's worldview is difficult and unsettling, people are often more motivated to dismiss or shut out the new information, instead).

Ignorance, in other words, is often more comfortable than knowledge. Or, at least, to a point. Knowledge, after all, is power. So why don't more people seek it? I think because the path to that power is not short.

Somewhere along the line, I remember learning that there are four stages of knowledge. The first is when you don't know what you don't know. (Ignorance). The next stage, when you get shaken out of that blissful ignorance, is when you know what you don't know. The third stage, as you accumulate more knowledge but still are painfully aware of how much you don't know, is when you don't know what you know. And the fourth, which I call the Zen Master stage, is when you know what you know.

Unfortunately, the distance between ignorance and mastery is usually fairly long. And the only two positions in that process that are comfortable are the first, and the last. To surrender the comfort of ignorance is to step onto a path that will be uncomfortable for quite some time before the confidence of the Zen Master can be attained. And, of course, the cycle never ends. Even Zen Masters have to keep stepping out of their comfort zones in order to keep learning and retain the strong and nimble mind of a master.

Why do some people cling so stubbornly to ignorance? Because ignorance is bliss. It takes courage to be wise.

[Fumesucker]

1. Reminds me of a proverb my father was fond of..

"He who knows not and knows not he knows not: he is a fool - shun him. He who knows not and knows he knows not: he is simple - teach him. He who knows and knows not he knows: he is asleep - wake him. He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise - follow him.”

[BeFree]

2. I dunno

I think the person who knows that he really knows nothing is the wisest.

In the sum total of the universe, even the smartest of all humans knows very, very little.

Those who strive to know become the wisest because they think about everything.

Ignorance to them is just a missed opportunity.

[Old Codger]

3. For myself

As I have aged i have come to realize that "The more I know, the more I know I don't know"

[unblock]

4. except that it's not comfortable at all. these people work really hard to protect their worldview

the expend an awful lot of energy trying to outshout the truth and cut themselves off from friends, relatives, and news sources that insist on relaying actual facts. then they work hard to reconcile conflicting position and shifting philosophies of the day at the behest of their foxnews masters. leave these people without foxnews and rush for more than a few days and you'll see them sweat and panic, they're totally lost without it!

did tim robbins or sean penn say something? we should ignore them because they're actors, they don't know anything, crazy hollywood people!
what about ronald reagan, aahnold or sonny bono? oh, their acting experience made them great communicators and patriots!

changing worldviews is hard, but in the long run, shifting away from a worldview that requires such tremendous maintenance is far more comforting.

[Dr.Phool]

5. Rumsfeld sez

As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things

[Mojorabbit]

6. There was an interesting piece at TED talks

with some charts on the differences between Right and Left thinking. I don't know that I agree with the conclusions in the piece but it was interesting to see the differences in thought processes.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html