Could there be some greater wisdom behind our ignorance?

The question "ignorance is bliss." and its meaning I will leave till later in my answer

As for the wisdom of imparting partial knowledge to a person who is ignorant enough to cause them harm has more to do with the proverb "Knowledge is power". With knowledge one can kill directly, indirectly or even with enough knowledge one can extend life. It worries me that you use negative contexts to illustrate this point. Do you not seek the help of your local GP when you are ill? Do they not impart enough information to you to make you better without devulging their total medical knowledge? They use their power for good.

For the next question many parents either do not understand to what level to disipline a child fearing to do permenant damage to the kid or are simply unattentive and indifferent toward their child. True those that are unattentive should be educated to give them the power to raise a child correctly.

For the questions of crime and disease, this is not a matter of wisdom. These evils in society exist because of two reasons:

1. Humanity is living beyond its means. We have too many people on the planet to end world poverty. The planet has been long suffering to support the lifestyle the west enjoys. As more countries join us our resources are fast depleting. We will soon ALL be using nuclear energy which will cause even bigger problems for ourselves down the track and most definately will end the single car commuter.

2. Indifference again is a contributer. When was the last time you shared your house with someone who is homeless? When did you share a meal with a homeless person? Sounds like the ramblings of a communist doesnt it? Socialism was a theory devised to attempt to end poverty but without the acquisition of personal goods their lacks the motivation to innovate. Lack of innovation is backward and leads to eventual economic failure. Communisim although humain, simply does not work. While their are so many who would simply exploit its good nature, it shall never work.

Poverty leads to crime. People need to eat, even those that are hard luck cases. They will resort to stealing if other means of self sustainunce are not available. A spurious income leads to poor medical attention resulting in disease causing the two very evils you mentioned.

Also reason 2 answers your first question. "Ignorance is bliss". This is intended to identify situations like that of the rich who turn a blind eye to the lifestyle of the criminal. Most of which would NOT ACTUALLY BE a criminal if given half a chance. Poor education (the lack of power to do anything about it) as well as indifferent middle to upper classes leave many in a tunnel without an exit.

We are already worldly wise. The nature of things is not nice. The west has access to so much that we can simply build a venire over the crap and act like the world is good. Peel back the venire and you will see the world of business is only a modicum better then a stag bitten by a kamodo dragon left for a month till the disease of the bite brings it down for the kamodo to finally eat. Thus the saying "dog eat dog world".

Animals die horribly to preditors, preditors die horribly to competing preditors. The most adaptive (they change) or adaptable (change surrounding) survive.

So sadly no... no greater wisdom is to be had from ignorance. Knowledge and especially experience is the only path to wisdom. Ignorance leads to weakness and exploitation by the enlightened. Corporations and Governments know and use this knowledge.

Thomas Gray

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College

".Yet ah! why should they know their fate?

Since sorrow never comes too late,

And happiness too swiftly flies.

Thought would destroy their paradise.

No more; where ignorance is bliss,

'Tis folly to be wise."

the example 's I came across of "ignorance is bliss" were not very nice/flattering

I liked these:

If you have a terminal illness and don't know about it then you Don't have all the "worries" you would have if you knew* The more I looked into this phrase I never knew people dis-liked it so much or felt so much anger for it, that seemed so strange to me

another favorite: I liked ,,,it means your happier not knowing some particular thing you feel ,,,and it's always nicer not getting the bad new. so thats when "ignorance was bliss" just for even those moments before trajedy strikes anybody!!!!

I think people really took that one our of context and chewed on it until there was no flavor left in it at all,,,it was a harmless, actually a nice thing to say, and they made it a dumb, irresponsible rude remark,,,,,oh what can you do "some peoples kids lol,,,,,

ok back to the other stuff I think I might have to answer twice lol

Superb question!

I see that wisdom is greater if we know and understand what ought to be the purpose behind the lesson we learn. Ignorance is the start of everything before we proceed to acquire knowledge. I cannot imagine why other people tend to pretend to be all knowing wehn the fact of the matter he is not. It is better to accept ignorance on a particular area rather being a fool to oneself. Wisdom may already be there but being ignorant as we may not know it hides itself the wisdom from the nutshell of ignorance. We may not know that the greater wisdom we are looking for is just hibernating and waiting to be prick.

Thanks for asking. Have a great day!

Now, now - you're entirely too cynical. We've learned a lot from Bush and the Congress: 1. Eliminate the lobby organizations. 2. End signing statements. 3. Establish term limits. 4. Require paper ballots. 5. Restore checks and balances. 6. Streamline the impeachment process. 7. Vote for third party candidates. 8. Write your Congressperson and let them know what you think. 9. Buy American-made products. 10. All of the above.

In order to find wisdom we must first realize our own faults. In a christian sense whenever we sin we destroy our selves making our sould pitted and dirty. In order to find godly rather than earthly knowledge we must first realize where we have went wrong and try to look at ourselves realistically rather than looking at ourselves in a self-deluded way. If we look at what we criticise other people for we will learn to realize we are simply criticising others for our own faults. Disease is not easy to cure because they are caused by mental, physical and spiritual problems in most cases. Health is not just physical it comes in many forms but if we simply eat unprocessed foods and eat a moderate amount of good food we can be physically healthy. Doing exercise is also good.

Spiritual health is a mine-field because it is so complex. There are so many different reasons for illness and it is impossible for someone to ot experience some kind of illness in their lives. It is also possible for a wise person to become unwise over time. Wisdom and spiritual health are not permanent and people cannot be healthy forever.

Though ignorance stands an an opposite to knowledge, I believe it is essential to knowledge/wisdom. But I believe acceptance and humility is the bridge between them two. I might be ignorant of the concept of safety of machines, but if I accept my ignorance, it humbles me to listen and learn the concept of safety. The opposite is true also. If I don't accept my ignorance of safety, then my pride will not let me listen correctly. Though, this might still lead to knowledge/wisdom, but not for my benefit. It will wisdom to others on how not to do it.

Well put, in a simple response I think its down to our emotions were conditioned to feel. What may be a logical and simple situation to solve can often be clouded by are emotional ties. We know what must be done, yet we choose to remain ignorant through are actions rather then thoughts.

People grapple with situations like these all their life's and that's why I think people develop a strong subconscious.

But isn't that what makes strive to learn? What one person knows knowledge wise he teaches to his peers and to his children. What an individual doesn't know he try to find out or learn about and no ignorance isn't all ways bliss.

Ignorance is strength (1984 - George Orwell)

When you are full of knowledge, you tend to fight for your belief and and find something to fill the gap in your that is missing... but if you are ignorant, you will just go with the flow, you will not be hurt with what contradicts to your idea (if you have any idea); you will expect less and content with what you have...

Perhaps this greater wisdom allows this ignorance as a teaching device.

Love and blessings Don