Reflection #1: Ignorance is a Bliss

actually i want to write about this topic many days ago, but unfortunately i have no time to do it. then finally i found the right time to write it on after i've received some signs, enough to made me decide to write about it as soon as possible.

it's triggered from a short dialogue from one of the character in The Matrix (1999), which like three weeks ago i watched it from one of TV station who aired that fantastic movie. the dialogues goes like this,

Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize?
[Takes a bite of steak]
Cypher: Ignorance is a bliss.

at the moment , i realize that "ignorance is a bliss" sentence is not only talking about electrical signals which interpreted by our brain. the meaning of that sentence can be more wider out of that context.

is it really an ignorance a bliss?


i keep thinking about it and found this analogy.

do you ever watch a TV show that tells the secret behind the magic trick that performed by magicians? that TV show, showed the magic performance at the first. and later they revealed the secret behind it.
what did you feel about it? what did you feel when you see the magic performance before you know how to do the magic? and what did you feel after you know how the magic has been done?

i don't know, but for me, i feel curious and more exciting when i watch the magic performance. it's like, "wowh! how they do that? it's wonderful!"
and i feel kinda disappointed and less exciting when they revealed the secret behind the magic trick. it's like, "oh, it's only that so?"
and after that i found out that, i kinda lazy to watch the same trick that they had revealed because i feel like, "ah it's not so that interesting anymore, i already know the truth".

is it true, that after we know about the truth, it's not interesting anymore like it was?

one more analogy i've found lately. and it's confirmed with a short dialogues made by one of the character on the movie Angels & Demons (2009) which i watched it last night. i can't find the quote on imdb, but more or less the dialogue goes like this,

Camerlengo: why the science always opposite each other with the religion? how was they feel when they know the thunder is a sort of particle's friction in the sky than one of the greatness of natural event?

precisely, that dialogue justify me of what i've been thinking of these days.
what i've read about history, that our ancients worship their gods to ask for the rainfall. how our ancients worship their gods because of the rainbow in the sky, or the fertility of their lands, and so on.
and what do people think and feel about the rain after they know the truth it's about air condensation in the sky?

is it really ignorance a bliss?

then what is knowledge use for?

my wild thought reached about Holy Bible in the first chapter. it writes about how Eve and Adam ate the apple of the knowledge that results in their expulsion from Paradise and the curse of suffering. it's because after they ate the apple, they become know that they're naked and yet they know about good and evil.

with no intention to wider the discussion into religion aspects and the use of knowledge, let's emphasize of what was Eve and Adam felt about the Eden before they eat the apple.

i imagine that they really enjoy their life. they enjoy how the wind blows, watch the tree grows, feel the warmth of the sunshine, taste the sweetness of the fruits, become wet because of the rainfall, and maybe taste the juicy and delicious steak ;p i suppose they joyfully enjoy their life every a bit of moment in that garden of Eden. the garden of safe and secure environment. the garden of a piece of Paradise.

these thoughts is confirming of what i've read lately to support my thesis, it's about archetype Innocent. Carol Pearson, in her book, Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World (1991), on the chapter about Archetype Innocent, she wrote about how Innocent believes that the world as it is being experienced is all there is. that the world which Innocent lives is an utopia, a secure and safe environment, a safe garden, a Paradise, a Kingdom of Heaven.

and then my mind goes back about ten months ago when i was in Taizé. when i was in the week in silence, i was asking my contact brother, what exactly will i do when i'm in silence. and he said:

just simply bless the Lord of what you hear, what you see, what you feel. that's why i suggest you to spend your day in the outside, maybe take a walk to visit some churches in villages around Taize. just take a walk, enjoy the nature, and simply bless the Lord of it.

with a lot of confusions, i asked him again how i suppose to do that. and he replied,

sometimes when we are blessing, there are almost no thoughts in our mind. so keep your mind on the basic level, not too high, neither too deep. just feel and accept everything around you. just like a little children who always joyful of everything around them.

it takes time for me to learn these things and quite difficult at the first; to bless of everything that all around me, without some thoughts.
the flower which i found in the middle of the road, the shape of clouds in the sky, the trees' formation in the wood, the fresh air that i breath. and finally i found the love shape in the asphalt. at the first, i was thinking,
is it really a love shape? how can it be this kind of shape is formed? did it made on purpose? because of the workers was so in love with his partner so he made this kind of shape as his dedication to his partner?
or it is simply because of the combination of rainfall, heat, and cars tires' friction with the asphalt and unintentionally made this shape and (maybe) some electrical signals interpreted by my brain, combine with my experience and knowledge about this kind of shape, made me consider it as a love shape?

and then i was thinking,
ah whatever the reasons is,
whatever the facts behind it,
it's only a shape.
simply a love shape.
it's beautiful and it made my day.

so is it ignorance a bliss?

or a bless?

hm...

i've made my own conclusion about this thoughts that,
(maybe) it's better that sometimes, we ought to awaken our inner child (archetype Innocent ;p) to feel about almost everything in our life around us, even on a very simple thing, simply just to be grateful.

okay, let me (temporarily) finish this Reflection #1 with a passage that taken from the Gospel, of what Jesus told to His disciples. this passage grabbed my attention when i was in Taizé and at that time i didn't fully understand what it meaning about. after i spent a week in silence, and finally i found again this passage on Pearson's book (1991), i think i become more understand and keep made me craving to find out the truly meaning of it.

Except as ye become like little children, ye shall never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.