Ignorance is bliss

Most of us are reluctant to admit that we are ignorant or lacking in knowledge. When others come to us seeking advice we tell them various things as if we are real pundits. To hide our ignorance we use many methods.

One day I met Gulsar (not his real name) at a graduation ceremony held in a posh hotel in Colombo. The well-dressed, stocky man introduced himself to me: “I’m Dr. Gulsar. I have a Phd.” I immediately sensed that he was a fake. But the next moment he turned towards me to say something different.

“You know, I’m supposed to deliver a speech today. As I am not a good speaker I have brought a readymade speech prepared by a friend of mine. Will you please go through it?”

Although I had no respect for his “Phd”, I admired his confession of ignorance. If you do not understand something, it is quite ok to plead ignorance. When you do so the doors are open for you to gain knowledge. When you say that you know something you are obstructing yourself form learning further.

Some people are not conscious of their ignorance. Others do not know whether they are ignorant or not. For instance, a child is not conscious of his ignorance. So he is willing to learn. However, adults fake ignorance, especially when they follow a course of studies.

Once an accountant who was following a diploma course in English clashed with his teacher.

“Sir I can’t understand this grammar lesson. It is quite different from Sinhala grammar,” the student said.

“You have come here to learn English. Stop comparing Sinhala and English because they are quite different,” the teacher told him. But the student gave up learning English from that day.

While a child is not conscious of his ignorance, a saint is conscious of it. In other words, a saint knows that he does not know. If you can genuinely claim that you do not know anything, you are someone who can learn, seek knowledge and benefit from it. Unfortunately, the majority of adults do not fit into this category.

The scene was at the Postal Training School. The year was 1964. A batch of trainee postmasters and signallers was following a course in morse code - a system of sending messages, using combinations of long and short sounds or flashes of light to represent letters of the alphabet and numbers. One student failed to pick up the code language. When pulled up by the instructor, he had an explanation.

“Sir, as I have a good knowledge of English, I make mistakes in receiving signals.” “If you have a good knowledge of English, you will find it easy to learn the morse code. The problem with you is that you are not conscious of your ignorance,” the instructor said.

This does not mean that you should not seek knowledge. If you do not understand something, it is always good to ask questions and get a clarification from a speaker or teacher.

Dr. Abraham T. Kovoor, the well-known rationalist, in one of his lectures said that children were born with “blank minds.” Although this is a questionable statement, he had a point. What he really meant was that children were ignorant of many things and they did not know about them.

When you join a university you must leave your luggage of acquired knowledge at the gate. As soon as you get rid of your luggage you are ready to receive new knowledge. However, what happens in Sri Lanka is quite deplorable. When students come to the university they leave their brains at the gate. When they complete the course of studies they pick up the brains lying at the gate and go home!

According to an ancient book in India, “Shivasutra”, knowledge is compared to a bondage. That means all knowledge is bondage. Then what happens when there is no knowledge? You become a free man. A classic example is the prisoner who refused to go home when he was set free. He was used to the prison life so much that he thought that it was freedom similarly, when you do not know that you are ignorant, you think you are wise.

Then there is a friend of mine who is crazy about Zen.

“What’s Zen?” I asked him casually.

“Zen is a new vision of life and reality,” he said.

“But we have enough religious that give us many visions of life.”

“Yes, religious are there. But Zen is a new penetration into the mystery of existence.”

“Can you recommend some books to read in order to understand Zen?”

“Books are not going to help”

“Why?”

“Because Zen is not intellectual but existential.”

Once a visiting Indian Guru in the course of his lecture said something very interesting.

“Don’t believe everything I say. Remain open. If you like, you can try out some of the little little things I am going to say.”

The audience remained silent.

“Look at the trees and birds. Will there be birds without trees or trees without birds?”

Nobody had the guts to answer his question.

“You will find it difficult to answer my question because you have never looked at trees and birds meaningfully. Do that regularly for a long time and you will find the answer.”

“Sir, have you found the answer?”

Somebody asked meekly.

“Yes, if there are no trees, there will be no birds. If there are no birds, there will be no trees.” That is a revelation after careful observation.

One day an advanced level teacher asked his students to write an essay on “sound of silence.” They did not know what to write because there was apparently no sound in silence.

Some students went back to him with blank faces.

“Look at a university teacher. He makes such a noise with borrowed words that there is no silence in the classroom. But look at a saint. He remains silent, now tell me who is wise,” the teacher said.

“The saint, of course,” they said in a chorus.

“Why?”

“Because the saint is silent but eloquent.”

“Now you hear the sound of silence. Start writing the essay,” the teacher said.

You cannot be happy if you cling on to past knowledge and experience. If you wish to discover something new the experience of others do not count. You have to start from scratch. If you are seeking new knowledge, leave the bundle of old knowledge at the doorstep. All the enlightened people - Gauthama Buddha, Jesus Christ and Krishnamurti - did just that to seek new knowledge.

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