I so envy the ignorant & unimaginative fools whose minds remain uncluttered, who must actually make a conscious effort to even find the right words to use to describe the most commonplace of things.
What joy, what relief, what bliss and what blessed silence there must exist in an empty mind!
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My father used to say to me if you had brains you’d be dangerous.
So it could be worse.
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I know a few people like that Bretrick.
Thick is the best way for me to describe them,i don`t know how they get through the days at times.
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Ignorance is bliss, what a great saying that is, we all use it. But isn’t it used when referring to ourselves as the ignorant one, which means we are not ignorant of the problem but we’d prefer to let others deal with it. As a leader of men, I enjoy the odd problem, but when the answer is beyond my control, I can be forced to forget it. Don’t dwell it, it can interfere with one’s sleep pattern.
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“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” … similar sort a lazy cop out.
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With so many distractions these days no wonder people have forgotten how to use their mind.
I look forward to my time alone when my mind can wander where it will…I suppose that’s why I spend so much time out in the country by myself…No music, no news, no traffic, just the beating heart of nature…
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I believe the expression “ignorance is bliss” originated in this poem written by Thomas Gray
Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College
BY THOMAS GRAY
Ye distant spires, ye antique tow’rs,
That crown the wat’ry glade,
Where grateful Science still adores
Her Henry’s holy Shade;
And ye, that from the stately brow
Of Windsor’s heights th’ expanse below
Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,
Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowr’s among
Wanders the hoary Thames along
His silver-winding way.
Ah, happy hills, ah, pleasing shade,
Ah, fields belov’d in vain,
Where once my careless childhood stray’d,
A stranger yet to pain!
I feel the gales, that from ye blow,
A momentary bliss bestow,
As waving fresh their gladsome wing,
My weary soul they seem to soothe,
And, redolent of joy and youth,
To breathe a second spring.
Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen
Full many a sprightly race
Disporting on thy margent green
The paths of pleasure trace,
Who foremost now delight to cleave
With pliant arm thy glassy wave?
The captive linnet which enthrall?
What idle progeny succeed
To chase the rolling circle’s speed,
Or urge the flying ball?
While some on earnest business bent
Their murm’ring labours ply
'Gainst graver hours, that bring constraint
To sweeten liberty:
Some bold adventurers disdain
The limits of their little reign,
And unknown regions dare descry:
Still as they run they look behind,
They hear a voice in ev’ry wind,
And snatch a fearful joy.
Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed,
Less pleasing when possest;
The tear forgot as soon as shed,
The sunshine of the breast:
Theirs buxom health of rosy hue,
Wild wit, invention ever-new,
And lively cheer of vigour born;
The thoughtless day, the easy night,
The spirits pure, the slumbers light,
That fly th’ approach of morn.
Alas, regardless of their doom,
The little victims play!
No sense have they of ills to come,
Nor care beyond to-day:
Yet see how all around 'em wait
The ministers of human fate,
And black Misfortune’s baleful train!
Ah, show them where in ambush stand
To seize their prey the murth’rous band!
Ah, tell them they are men!
These shall the fury Passions tear,
The vultures of the mind
Disdainful Anger, pallid Fear,
And Shame that skulks behind;
Or pining Love shall waste their youth,
Or Jealousy with rankling tooth,
That inly gnaws the secret heart,
And Envy wan, and faded Care,
Grim-visag’d comfortless Despair,
And Sorrow’s piercing dart.
Ambition this shall tempt to rise,
Then whirl the wretch from high,
To bitter Scorn a sacrifice,
And grinning Infamy.
The stings of Falsehood those shall try,
And hard Unkindness’ alter’d eye,
That mocks the tear it forc’d to flow;
And keen Remorse with blood defil’d,
And moody Madness laughing wild
Amid severest woe.
Lo, in the vale of years beneath
A griesly troop are seen,
The painful family of Death,
More hideous than their Queen:
This racks the joints, this fires the veins,
That ev’ry labouring sinew strains,
Those in the deeper vitals rage:
Lo, Poverty, to fill the band,
That numbs the soul with icy hand,
And slow-consuming Age.
To each his suff’rings: all are men,
Condemn’d alike to groan,
The tender for another’s pain;
Th’ unfeeling for his own.
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.
I think the expression “ignorance is bliss” is true and apt in many situations, especially when it relates to knowing about something but not having the power to change it - apart from those times when knowing about an unresolvable situation may give you a chance to prepare for the consequences of it.
When I was a kid, my Mum used to say “what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over”, which has a similar meaning.
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Ignorance Is Bliss (I Dont Want To Remember NOTHING!) ~ The Matrix
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@Bretrick IMO there is no such human brain that has an empty mind. I really cannot say if mine is cluttered or not, but I do know that it is always striving to learn something new and store it for future reference. If I’m not raking through new info, then I’m setting my mind aside to be filled with music. Having recently kinda got a grip on Ukrainian, I’m now considering yet another language for a new challenge while my mind is still 100% under my control.
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I share Longdriver’s view that ignorant minds are not empty but filled with different stuff than that which they’re ignorant of. Ignorance is not just a lack of knowledge but often linked to an inner resistance to deal with a certain issue. You might say it’s rather an attitude, one of head-in-the-sand, than a real lack of knowledge.
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IMO it is our advanced mind and it’s constant striving for new information that raised us above all the other animal species on the earth. I fully intend to keep on learning until my light goes out 
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I think we might have been a little bit hard on the people who don’t want to learn the things that we do. The human brain is learning all the time whether we want to or not…There is some truth in the saying “I can’t unsee that” Which means that things are being recorded…Sights, sounds, Smells, tastes and touch from the moment we open our eyes in the morning. We file them away for future reference.
Learning comes in many guises, there are people who can play a musical instrument by ear, they have learned what each note sounds like and can instantly chose the correct key or string etc…I know people who can take the most advanced engine to pieces, identify the problem, and rebuild it perfectly and they have had no formal training. Another friend could deliver fifty or sixty parcels in one day. I actually went out with him because I didn’t believe his wild claims until I saw it with my own eyes…It was before the days of sat nav so he had to plan his route out on a map and he was dyslexic…
And finally, there are millions of hobbyists who build stuff even though it’s old technology, just to learn how it works…But have no appetite for learning something they are not interested in.
So I think ignorance is probably a word used by the educated to someone who they consider boring or lazy…There are many reasons why someone would ignore or pay no attention to certain things and until we find out what that reason is, we should not accuse them of being ignorant.
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In a way, ignorance is one of the biggest conundrums.
The physical nature of the universe, as we know it, exists in a way that we are to be ignorant of what lies in front of us. Is that blissful?
Likewise, the physical universe has stripped us from the ignorance past and present. We own knowledge. All societies demand it. Christianity would argue that we chose it. All things depend on knowledge, experience, and resources that enable us to survive. Knowing is results in a lot of hard work. Choosing ignorance of past or present a luxury of the physically rich. However, any bliss that comes with substantial risk.
Would you want to lose the bliss of ignorance of the future?
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