It’s the classic age old question. Would you rather be “burdened” with knowledge or free in ignorance? Would you rather see the ills and difficulties in the world and know you’re powerless to do anything about most of them or would you rather be aware of nothing more than your immediate surroundings and even then be clueless to anything potentially harmful? It’s a question I’ve wrestled with for years and I think, with some help, I finally found my answer earlier this year.

I think I might have written about this topic on this blog before. It’s certainly the kind of thing I would have written about. I remember I used to oscillate between wanting to have the knowledge on some days and wanting to be ignorant on others. As I’ve grown older I’ve certainly leaned more towards the knowledge part but the more you look at it the more you see it as a difficult path. Ignorance just doesn’t appeal to my like it did at one point in my life.

I remember reading a wonderful blog post on Tumblr about this matter some months ago. I reblogged it here because of how well it was articulated. It was really impressive. In the post, the person who wrote it, argued that the whole question was wrong and ignorance should never ever be considered as a worthy pursuit, regardless of how good it makes you feel. She argued that even if you can’t do much with knowledge you can do more than if you’re ignorant and that’s what it should come down to. It was powerful and it’s a shame that tumblr doesn’t exist any more because there were some great posts on it.

Anyway, I would much rather be ‘worried genius’ as this question posits for the same reason.

In reality I feel we’re all a mix between the two. We worry about certain things and then close off other areas that would worry us further. There’s too much in the world to know everything but I feel we sometimes actively avoid potentially troubling knowledge. How many times have you seen a news article that you knew would make you sad and you’ve just skipped it? I’m not saying I do it constantly but it’s something I have done. Sometimes that extra piece of knowledge can act as the difference between having a good or bad day. We’re selfish at times.

I feel I’m more aware than most but far less aware than some. I still have a lot of learning to do, and will have for the rest of my life, but it’s a path I cherish. I’m glad I can actually the distinction and realise that there is a path.

I’m blessed to have faculties and intelligence that this question makes sense to me and I can think about it. Being a ‘joyful simpleton’ would have rendered this question intelligible.

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