The wise lives with the blessing of reason in misery
Whereas the ignorant lives with the misery of ignorance in bliss
The above quote belongs to the proclaimed 10th century Arabic classical poet “Al Mutanabbi“ who still remains the greatest poet ever lived. I recalled this verse while I was doing/receiving information through the act of reading an article about Stoicism and Seneca. At that time, a thought stroke me, which was that most of what philosophy aims for is to live a good life; i.e being happy and of-course virtuous.
In line with that, I thought that the happiest people on earth must be adherent followers of one or more of the various philosophical schools and/or are themselves philosophers; which in our modern view, they must be avid readers who consider archetypal philosophical questions.Though, reflecting on many of the happy people I know, it turns out that most of them are the ones who would resist deep questions,feel awkward in moments of silence around others,wouldn’t enjoy alone time and their dinner joy would increase in proportion of how many people are there as they will never enjoy a two ways dinner. I was humbled to realize that they are the happiest people on my friends list as opposed to what I was thinking, that the deep thinkers must be the happiest. I concluded that the majority of the happiest people are the “narrow minded” ones, those who automatically conform to their environment customs & Culture and use tradition and/or inherited religious teachings as a flashlight to see through darkness (Never science). Those who follow blindly without ever thinking to open their eyes or to ever question the status quo.
The Herd V.S the Game Changers
It’s true that most game changers are as the late Steve jobs said: the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers and the round pegs in the square holes. And,every rebel (anyone who thinks outside of the herd norms)is a game changer, but it is not necessary that every game changer is a rebel.Yet as we saw in the movie Matrix, seeing things differently and seeking reality is not always a happy choice or the only way to success, As Morpheus tells Neo in the movie, “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill — the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill — you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” Neo was a real human in a world controlled by robots that look like humans, he figured out a layer of truth, i.e that all what we call life is nothing, but a fake, a simulation created by AI/robots.
Day in and day out boredom
Could life be an endless meaningless purist and taking the red pill (philosophy) will only lead to our misery as it unfolds this truth. Maybe the blue pill (Bliss in ignorance) is the happy path because life is nothing but an endless mundane tasks and activities and being ignorant of this reality is your shield for not losing your mind in the face of the modern daily routine and its banal platitudes.The analogy of Sisyphus,can provide an excellent portrayal of what we are trying to think of right now. Sisyphus is a character from Greek mythology who was punished by God for his misdeeds and is forced to roll a stone up a hill, only to see it pushed back when he reaches the cliff and then the scenario endlessly repeats it self. That is life.
If we assume the myth of Sisyphus is the ultimate truth and all what there is, would you want to know or rather to stay in ignorance and have mysterious hopes. The thing is that the red pill (philosophy) is a double edged sword that cut/hurt most of its carriers/owners, except for a few. There is no doubt that knowing the reality could ignite a strong amount of energy in some people and unleash their true potential, but those people are very few and most people get hurt by the red pill as it messes them up. It is almost guaranteed that if one could take the red pill, which is taking philosophy deep enough to question everything and not lose his mind, that he will be an exceptional success. However, for most people this process is more than what they can bare; therefore living in the bliss of ignorance, which includes, but not limited to: Fighting with co-workers about foot-ball, taking up debt to buy an expensive car, never let an expensive experience pass through without posting it on social media, believing that being busy is the norm and enjoying the corporate rat race, etc.
A famous quote that is stored in my brain memory is about the importance of tradition as its said that tradition is basically a risk control process since following traditions is not having to keep relearning which plants are poisonous the hard way. Same goes to the anti-fragility of religions as a lot of the religious practices are deterring risks; take for example fasting and the benefits we reap (risks we deter)when fasting. Therefore, isn’t it an act of wisdom that many people chose not to take the red people, even though they sense that they are not seeing things for what they really are. I’m not talking about the extreme idiots who whom are unconsciously ignorant, i’m referring to people who are conscious about their ignorance. Most of them are cowards because they don’t want to face reality, but could it be that some of them are just wise enough to stay ignorant and play the game.
Disclaimer: I am not implying here that following religion, sticking to tradition or complying with the social norms is ignorance, in fact it might be the right things to do. However, to follow anything blindly,without choosing to is definitely ignorance.
