Someone wrote on the wall that being atheist is like being the first kid in your class to know there is no Santa Claus because you know the truth and you long for others to know as well even though it will cost them their blind happiness. Someone wrote back saying that they would rather spend their entire life unknowingly believing in a God that doesn't exist, because when they die and find out he isn't real, they will have lost nothing. Whereas if they spent their entire life as an atheist and died only to find out there is a God, they would have felt they lost everything. When reading this it is clear why I thought of the Allegory of the Cave. It brought me back to the idea of reality and our perception of reality.
In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, when the prisoner is taken outside, he is first disgruntled and faced with confusion. But once he adjusts to this new environment and is shown all he had never known before, he immediately basks in the new knowledge and education he has received. This case is different because his ignorance before was not a source of happiness really. Finding all this new knowledge was all positive. But, just the basic idea of the Allegory of the Cave made me think of so many times when our ignorance does bring us happiness.
I couldn't decide which side of the argument I agreed with. Would I rather live my life knowing the truth and reality of every situation or be naive to some things but still happy with what I believe to be true. Clearly, knowledge is appealing. But is it worth your happiness? This idea immediately made me think of a scene from one of my favorite Christmas movies; Elf.
I think this is a pretty interesting topic and I definitely found the Allegory of the Cave to be one of the more engaging pieces we have read. I know there are so many examples out there that illustrate this idea. I would love to hear some more of the examples all of you guys could come up with. What do you think, is it better to live in blind happiness or know truth and gain knowledge?
As soon as I saw your Elf video, I had to read this post. I wrote a similar blog post earlier this semester about little kids finding out that Santa isn't real. I agree that Buddy the Elf is a great example of this "emerging from the cave" enlightenment. It does raise an interesting question of whether its better to be ignorant or enlightened. In the case of the cave, it was seemingly better to be englightened with this knowledge. In the case of Buddy the Elf though, personally I would rather go on thinking I was just like everybody else even if I wasn't. In some cases it is better to gain knowledge, such as important issues, but in others, such as my childhood pet "going to the farm, I would rather stay in the dark.
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ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. I agree with Elyssa, in some cases it would be better to know the truth, such as the prisoners in the cave. The knowledge of a world they didn't know existed brought them joy. However, there are certain issues where ignorance truly is bliss, such as Buddy's case. Another example would be, although childish, not watching a horror film. I'm seriously scared of horror movies, such a paranormal activity. So I'm happy if I don't watch it, because I don't want to know what happens in the movie. What I don't know won't hurt me (in this case).
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I'd rather know the whole truth and not be naive. Being that I'm Jewish, I can't really relate to Santa because I was never taught that he was real or not real, but I do have a parallel experience. When my family celebrates Passover, a Jewish holiday, we have a large family dinner the first night. Every year, even now, we always set an extra setting for Elijah. Elijah is a prophet who supposedly comes to Passover dinner. We always have to leave the window open for him. I don't remember exactly how old I was when I realized that Elijah wasn't actually coming to dinner, but I do remember being upset that I had been lied to. I think I was probably most upset because there were some quite windy and chilly Passover dinners I endured for a prophet that was never going to come, but nonetheless I wish I had known from the beginning because then I wouldn't have been so upset by it when I found out. Most kids would rather be naive to something like that, but it always bothered me when my parents would lie about that type of thing so I value knowledge and complete truth more than being happily naive.
ReplyDeleteI really like this post, especially the accompanying Elf clip. We find that many people in our society today are becoming increasingly secular, that is, less religious. But me personally, I would rather stay in the dark and be happy. I know it's illogical, but hey life is short and I would rather the little time I have here on earth happy and not depressed about the true reality. There is however a danger in choosing to be ignorant. We can cloud our judgement and make very poor decisions based on our preferred ignorance. For example, in the 1930s and 1940s, Adolf Hitler, due to his ignorance (and stupidity), believed that all Jews were bad and attempted to exterminate the entire race. Ignorance may definitely bring happiness, but it can also be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic. I think that ignorance does lead to happiness in most cases and there is truth in the saying "Ignorance is Bliss". It's often said that the most intelligent people are the least happy. In the case of the Allegory of the Cave, however, it seems that knowledge does not correlate with happiness. Knowledge is very good to acquire in the Allegory of the Cave.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I I'd rather be knowledgeable than ignorant, even if it detracted from my happiness. I think most other people would agree, but I don't know. I think of the fact that many college students drink alcohol, which is a substance that most definitely decreases your intelligence for a time. Drinking is done, primarily, to have a good time. If you go based on the idea that the decrease in intelligence leads to the good time, then ignorance definitely leads to happiness.
This is an interesting post. I totally agree that I would rather believe in something and not know to keep my happiness. Like the Cave, the only situations that are relevant are those that are present within your world. The world of those that were stuck in the Cave is only the cave and the other members of the cave. Whatever that was outside of the cave had nothing to do with them and was not apart of their world. I once read something about people that get overwhelmed and say "I cant deal with anymore" "I feel like the world is against me" or when asked whats wrong they reply "everything" the booklet broke down that a person should never feel like the world is against them or they are dealing with entirely too much because a person's world only consist of those things that are directly present in their lives. There is so much apart of the world that does not affect us, and to me i guess we are all in a cave. the cave is only what we are in contact with, we can always be exposed to more.
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