Happiness and knowledge

There is a western saying that goes "Ignorance is Bliss", or as the chinese would like to say "What do i care?". Well, what is the opposite of ignorance then? Intelligence? i would like to think that ignorance has nothing to do with a person's intelligence. Ignorance is something like the freedom to be naive that can only be enjoyed by adults no matter if one is intelligent or not. Intelligent people could also be as ignorant as the stupid ones, although maybe it's less likely to be the case.

So then, ignorance is more like the opposite of knowledge. You don't know that not wearing a rear seat-belt these days is an offense and would be fined if caught by the authorities? Then you're ignorant. And if you're caught, bliss would be the last thing you would feel.

If ignorance is a lack of knowledge, then is an ignorant person happier than the more well-informed so that 'ignorance is bliss' would be true? But then, the types of knowledge is always subjective. The knowledge that not wearing a rear-seat belt constitute an offense under the law and global warming is bad for the planet are two very different things. Not knowing the former would not be a happy thing as it could lead to a fine. Then again, would we be happier having knowledge of this information? Probably not.

Not being aware of the effects of global warming would have little effect on our happiness and well-being, at least in our lifetime perhaps. Knowledge for knowledge's sake a wonderful thing or is it a case for saying knowledge of any kind does not make us happy. The idea is that being ignorant is even likely to make us happier as the less we know, the lesser our worries. Aha, ignorance is bliss. Or is it only 'relevant' knowledge that make us happy. But what about a man who's fooling around with another woman and cheating on his wife? Perhaps ignorance would be bliss then; but for the wife or the husband?

However, buddhists teach us that being aware of all human sufferings - things considered 'bad' (poverty, war, suffering, abuse of human rights) should not affect one's happiness. We must even embrace all these to find happiness. Maybe the more we know, the more we can find a way to solve or prevent small problems from becoming bigger issues. Ignorance is certainly not bliss then.

What about the belief that poor people, who are less educated, are more ignorant and therefore not as happy as the rich? But we also see that most of the poor, except those who lived in extreme poverty, have happy lives although they have fewer material possessions. The poor may see the world as a miserable place to be but in their hardship they could still find that elusive concept called happiness that the rich could only find in their material possession. Maybe their lack of knowledge is really a blessing. Maybe what they know simply has a different value from that of the wealthy. The poor just have a different value system than the rich. Or maybe the rich are happier as they're ignorant of the realities of the world.

Then there are friends and family who once in awhile would tell me to cheer up. This is most likely to happen after i had grumbled that life is so unfair sometimes. They would then offered good advice. Advice like all is well and at least i'm not the very poor types-lah; there is not much natural disaster here-lah or we're not at war like some other countries-lah. But having these knowledge doesn't really make me feel any happier. Knowing that i'm better off than a lot of people is not an excuse to celebrate. While it may make me feel grateful; feeling happy, even a little, just because there are other human beings who are worse off is not a right thing to feel. No sensible people would take that as a good reason to feel happy about life. Someone said "if the world is really a nice place, then knowledge would only make us happier". It's true but we could each try to make the world a nicer place for the ones we loved.

Most would agree happiness is always a subjective state of mind which is open to different interpretation for each of us. What might make me happy would not otherwise make you happy. And a lot of people don't even know if they're happy or not (but that's another topic for another day). In the end, there's no right answer as to whether ignorance is bliss. Some would say that while ignorance is not bliss but those who think too much tends to be less blissful too. In the end, this could be very true.

Read somewhere that older people would gladly give up their knowledge of the world for a little bit more happiness. Hmm, do not know if that's true but could that be the reason why older people likes to nag and offer sage advice to the young? Maybe they just want to show off to these youngsters that they're more knowledgeable (and intelligent). And that would make them happy, of course. Young people would also want more 'knowledge' (and intelligence) for the same reason - more happiness. In the form of more money, more fast cars, more hot women (or hot men). Of course, older men and women (mostly the very rich, i would think) would also want all these things.

Aiyah, sometimes i would also think that i'd rather be ignorant and happy than to be knowledgeable but unhappy. Or as the chinese like to say, 'what do i care?'. The problems of the world are someone else's problem. The experts. That way, i'll be happier as i don't have to think about how bad things could turn out to be in the next 3 months, right? But it's only because i'm not too bright to be knowledgeable and happy at the same time. Damn.

So, is ignorance really bliss? What do i care? Think i'll go put on some old chinese songs and have some roti telur and teh tarik (kurang manis, of course) at the mamak after that. Ahh, now that is bliss.