Ignorance Is Bliss

“Ignorance is Bliss” 

Most of us have probably heard this saying at some point in our lives. The words were penned by Thomas Gray, a 17th Century poet when he wrote ‘Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eaton College.”

It is basically a whimsical reflection of how the gaining of wisdom also equates to the loss of innocence. The loss of the illusion of immortality that children experience as they move from childhood to adulthood. The inevitable loss of the seemingly endless summer days filled with play and fantasy as age brings knowledge and knowledge brings with it the reality of man’s physical mortality and the pain and suffering that will at times accompany it.

I think that each and every one of us can think of a time in our life where we have felt that ignorance would be bliss. Perhaps we have even wished for that ignorance at different times.

I am old enough to remember a time before the 24-hour news cycle. Before social media. Before Google and the ability to access “instant knowledge.” 

The world was very disconnected and relatively small from a personal perspective in those days. We knew very little about what was going on in the next county, let alone what was going on around the world. When we did learn about something on a global basis, it was big news only. The kind of news that made worthy headlines within the limited time and/or space available within the news media. But, as I said, most of our news back then was local and even personal. It was indeed a small world and to some extent, perhaps a seemingly more peaceful world. Ignorance is bliss. Or is it?

The problem with ignorance lies within its very definition. By definition, it is a lack of knowledge or information. While that might give a person some false sense of peace or security, it is indeed false and fleeting. It doesn’t chance the facts or truth of the state of things beyond our sight or hearing. 

We are living in a time where it would be very tempting to just block out everything around us. Who really wants to know about the pandemic and how many people are dying from it? Who really wants to know about the riots and looting? Who wants to listen to the political rhetoric of the day? Who wants to hear about the number of jobs being lost, the businesses that are closing, the dire economic forecast or the predictions of what is to come if this happens or that happens? 

The answer is, nobody. Not really. Because that information causes us pain. It causes us worry. It causes us to question what the future holds for us as well as the generations to come. 

But it is very important to remember one thing. Knowledge is not wisdom. Not by itself.

One very important piece of that is perspective. Perspective is gained by position. Where you are standing and the view that it gives you is critical to how you intake and process the information or knowledge that you receive from any given source. As Christians, our perspective is unique in the sense that we should seek to view things in the same way that Jesus would. 

I believe that first, Jesus would, of course, consider the source of that information. He would identify the truth and the lies. He would filter out the noise and focus on the truthful facts, never relying on the opinions of man, but the bare truth that lies amidst all of that noise. He would take those truths and make Godly decisions based upon those truths, for that is the essence of wisdom.

He would not look first at how it was impacting His life, but rather how it was impacting others lives and would seek avenues to lessen the pain and suffering of others. He would make sacrifices to make that happen and in doing so, would gain far more than He lost.

We are not witnessing much of that in our world right now. Not much of what we see embodies or projects the wisdom that God asks us to seek and exhibit in our daily lives. Rather, we are witnessing quite the opposite on a daily basis.

While the pandemic rages on around the world, in the most prosperous nation on earth, people have taken to the streets demanding more for themselves. They are ignoring the fact that there are millions of people around the world that are just days away from death by starvation. 

They are blaming our government for a poor response to the pandemic while thousands per day are starving because of the lockdowns in countries where millions live hand to mouth even in good times.

In India, there is plenty of food, but there are millions of people who have no money to buy the food. Millions of migrant workers have left the cities and are forced to walk, sometimes hundreds of miles back to their own villages. Thousands will never make it.

 In Africa, there are food shortages due to lack of workers, lack of transportation and a plague of locusts. Starving children are being beaten by untrained police, blindly and violently enforcing the lockdown on the innocent and desperate scrounging for scraps of food.

Experts have a dire prediction. They predict that up to 12,000 people will die every day in these countries from starvation alone. Far more than the number that will die from the virus itself.

Perspective. Wisdom.

Every day, without fail, we receive news from the Directors of our children’s homes. While the news varies slightly, it is much the same everywhere. The children we care for are doing well, but the people in the villages and towns around them are suffering greatly.

The Directors are being asked to help the thousands of widows and orphans who have no source of food. The Directors are in turn asking us to help them help those that suffer. It is heartbreaking. 

Perspective. Wisdom.

I know that many of you, myself included, watch the news each day with trepidation. It’s easy to do. Easy to allow worry and fear to rule the day, and it’s not all without warrant. But it’s also important to maintain the proper perspective. To position our minds and hearts in such a manner that we gain the perspective that God would have us seek. To seek His wisdom and find the truth amidst all of the noise in the information and knowledge we intake each and every day. 

Wisdom. It is the crown jewel surrounded by the thorns of knowledge. A person cannot experience the benefits of wisdom without first experiencing the pain of knowledge. And, while knowledge may bring pain, wisdom will bring peace and without it, one will never truly gain what God intended us to gain from this life He has given us. We must seek that wisdom and within it reflect His will in our actions. 

We are thankful for each and every one of you and pray for your well-being, freedom from fear and security during these troubled times. May God give each and every one of you, wisdom, and the peace that comes with it.