Is Ignorance bliss?

[prasad1]

Share:

Facebook X Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

In a different thread, a comment was made that Animals are better than Humans.
We do not know that, but some humans behave worse than animals.
We as humans suffer more because we are capable of thinking.

The phrase comes from Thomas Gray’s 1742 poem Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, where he writes:

“Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.”

Gray was reflecting on the carefree innocence of youth, untouched by the harsh realities of adult life. In that context, ignorance was bliss—because knowledge brought sorrow.

Short-Term Comfort vs Long-Term Growth

Ignorance can shield us from painful truths—like not knowing a diagnosis or avoiding bad news. But over time, this avoidance can lead to stagnation, poor decisions, or even harm. Psychologists call this willful ignorance—a coping mechanism that often backfires.

Socrates famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” From this view, ignorance is not bliss; it’s a barrier to self-realization and ethical living.

In today’s info-saturated world, selective ignorance (like tuning out doomscrolling) can protect mental health. However, total ignorance, especially of social, political, or environmental realities, can breed complacency or injustice.



In Indian philosophy, especially Vedanta and Buddhism:

Avidya (ignorance) is seen as the root of suffering. Liberation (moksha) comes from knowledge—not just intellectual, but experiential wisdom. Yet, there's also a recognition that too much attachment to knowledge or control can disturb inner peace.



So, it’s not about knowing everything, but knowing what truly matters.

 

[renuka]

Ignorance is indeed bliss.
This holds true since mostly what we call knowledge is but a narrow perspective.

Many mistake intellectualization as being intelligent and knowledgable.
But most of us humans( me included) function through a very narrow spectrum of acquired knowledge.
We spin our web of acquired knowledge around our minds and the ego is the spider which sadly traps itself.

At the same time we tend to underestimate other life forms.
Trees for example have their own underground wide world web to warn each other of any disease..for eg if a tree gets a disease..it sends signals to its underground web to other trees, signalling to them the nature of its disease..the other trees " read" the info and increase their protective barrier to the disease.

So its not as if they have no intelligence...in fact they are better than us humans.
A sick human might not choose to warn others rather some even choose to infect others.
Nature is so selfless..its we humans who are mostly selfish.
So how good is a brain that is not helpful to existence?
Is that intelligence?

Also we tend to only use the word intelligence if it is academic brilliance.
If a person is an excellent artist..we admire the art and say.." what a talented artist"
Why not say " wow! what intelligence!"

A football player who wins the best player in the world cup is called talented but a chess tournament champion is called intelligent.
strange isnt it?
Didnt both play a game that involved carefully calculated moves?


Everything in this world is a specific form of intelligence..its just that we lable it wrongly.

Honestly we have been blissfully ingnorant that intelligence is only academics and thinking we are the most evolved just because we acquire bookish knowledge.

" Addiction to knowledge is like any other addiction; it offers an escape from fear of emptiness,of loneliness, of frustration, the fear of being nothing"- J.Krishnamurti.

 

[sravna]

Ignorance is bliss vs half baked knowledge when you think you know everything and have conquered nature. Every understanding until moksha is half baked. Thats fine but the problem happens you think you or your creations are omniscient with that half baked knowledge. Not even half baked just beginning to get baked.

 

[prasad1]

I have been reading Socrates, and he is making sense now.
Socrates saw himself as a gadfly—provoking Athens to wake up and think critically. He was sentenced to death not for violence, but for “corrupting the youth” with questions that unsettled the status quo. His legacy lives on in every thinker who dares to ask, “Is this truly just?”



Socratic Meets Vedantic

There’s a beautiful parallel here:
Socrates: “I know that I know nothing.”
Upanishads: “He who thinks he knows, knows not.”

Both traditions honor intellectual humility and the pursuit of deeper truths beyond surface appearances.

Avvaiyar:
"What is known is a handful; the unknown is as vast as the universe."