This is the paradox that I am thinking about right now. If you think ignorance is bliss and being wise is folly then you are wise enough to realize that. But if you are wise enough to know that then you are foolish because being wise is folly?

Well, if we remain ignorant about that paradox then we are saving ourselves from a serious headache. We are used to this. When we faced something that we don’t understand we brush it off. We forget about it. We are not taking the time to think about it. This is what the world is teaching us these days. Knowledge is bad. Ever notice someone politely correcting people on the internet and ends up being bullied? Or some kid who constantly raising his hand because of eagerness to learn is called a “teacher’s pet”?

The world is teaching us to be stupid. The world is training us to be lazy enough to just read the title of an article and not the content. It is teaching us to jump to conclusions without research about the background and other stories. It is teaching us to rely on our emotions and claiming what we feel is what is right.

Why are we fine with this?

Because we tend to draw a safe circle and keep us inside. Away from any harm of anything we might encounter that could hurt us — that includes knowledge. We think knowledge is evil and think of it as the enemy. We fear the idea of knowing and keep ourselves in a box of ignorance.

Let us clear some “knowledge” myth most of the ignorant people believed in.

What I don’t know can’t hurt me. If someone throws a rock behind you does that mean you’ll not get hurt? What we don’t know CAN hurt us. The truth of the universe is so wide to be happening outside our spec of a size knowledge. The truth remains the truth whether you know it or not. On the contrary, what you don’t know can earn so much fatality that what you know. If someone throws a rock behind you, you’ll get hurt. But if someone throws a rock in front of you, you’ll know and have a choice to dodge.

Knowledge gets Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Disobedience got them out, not knowledge. God gave them a clear knowledge about something: DO NOT EAT THE FRUIT. Then they act like the opposite of that knowledge. spoiler alert — THEY ATE THE FRUIT. People usually act ignorant while having a bunch of more-than-a-computer information in their heads.

• We know we must not cross the road when the light is red. What are we doing? We cross the road even if the light is red.
• We know junk foods are bad for our health. What are we doing? Enjoying eating junk foods (even while reading this article?).
• We know that staying up late is the root cause of being late at work. What are we doing? Binge-watching Netflix series.

The truth is we want to be ignorant so that when something goes wrong we’ll just say “I don’t know” or “I have no idea”. While in fact, we knew all along. We are afraid of being responsible enough to gain knowledge so that we can blame someone who knew. Being knowledgeable is not bad. Being knowledgeable but still act like an ignorant man is bad.

We can stay ignorant forever. No. Knowledge is inevitable. One way or another you’ll learn something from anything using any senses that you have. We can’t shut down our senses. Oh wait! we can, when we’re dead. And even if we can shut all our senses, we can always have our heart that longs for something new. A heart that learns from a sympathy that usually grows in a short period of time.

Knowledge makes someone anti-social. This is the biggest mistake intelligent men can do. We can isolate ourselves from other people to contemplate things and to have a realization but eventually, we come back with the connection to others. I personally see other people like a book and this world is the biggest library we can ever see. By accepting other people know something that you don’t know you will earn the longing of knowing them. Again, we must apply our knowledge. That is what the wise men will do. We connect. We learn from others. We hear their stories. We may differ in language, culture, skin color, etc. but we are united in the Truth. We need each other to figure this out.

God is infinite. He holds all the answers in the universe. I believe that God set us in the point of ignorance for us to explore what is unknown to us. He planted longing in our hearts to know Him — to grow in the knowledge of Him. We humans are so impatient that we want everything on our table without even thinking that that makes us weak and boring. He never intends us to be like that. God created us in His own image. It means this eagerness to know is one of the things that are from Him. Yes, the feeling of rest is from Him also (He rested on the seventh day, remember?). Take a rest but do not stop. He places us in a dark place of ignorance to trust the promise He gave us and move forward — not to stay in the dark.

Ignorance can be bliss but not for long. We can all be ignorant about death but still the fact about death is coming. The question is, how much do we learn in such a short period of a lifetime?

We don’t need to gain great knowledge. Just gain everything you can. One of the smallest but the greatest knowledge I have is knowing the color yellow. It is the favorite color of my mother and I use this to make her happy. Buying her yellow flowers makes her smile. Making someone happy satisfies the purpose of knowledge. A knowledge that I knew that makes the inevitable truth of death somehow bearable. Knowledge makes this short life worth living.

We can compare knowledge to a knife. we can use it to be useful, making our lives better or we can use it to destroy us and others. That is why we hold it like a responsible adult and we enjoy the outcome like an innocent child. God knows what He is doing. He is giving us the knowledge we can handle. He knows our capability. His job is not our job. Let God give us what we need for the moment while we do our job of knowing Him in a place where the act of knowing Him is discouraged. Take heart and step outside the circle of ignorance. We’ve got a long way to go ’cause this quest for knowledge knows no line of limitation.