Ignorance

If the chicken, pig, and cattle know that they can be slaughter any time, will they still eat and sleep in their eager and peaceful manners. If the ant, termite, and bee know that they live in a world of no individuality with the sole purpose to serve the queen, will they still perform their duty enthusiastically day in and day out. If the dog and cat know that they are the results of selective breeding to be pets, will they remain faithful and obedient to their human masters.

Because a person does not yet know what one can do and who one can be, one is free to dream and hope, choose and explore, take risk and endure failure. Because of the ignorance, a person has a chance to fulfill one’s potentials; good or bad. Fortunately, our 7000 years of civilization has proven that its results are more constructive than destructive.

Burden

With the exception of the human beings, all the animals know just enough for them to live a simple existence: finding food to eat, seeking mate to reproduce, and raising a family. The ignorance frees them from worrying if they may not find enough food to eat the next day, from the stress of not having a mate to reproduce, and from the peer pressure of living a single life. Moreover they do not have to concern about getting health care, making friends, what to do for entertainment, upset stomach, and sleepless night.

The animal world is cruel, unforgiving, and full of dangers. Its residents live day to day without knowing what is going to happen the next day and only the strong has a better chance to complete its mission in life. The ignorance of how the world works makes the animal’s existence possible and manageable.

We possess the capabilities to understand how the animal world works; as a result, we are able to live a life of our own choosing, finding purpose and meaning in our existence, and enjoying eating gourmet food. But, we are constantly worrying about a slew of health issues having to do with overeating, are trapped in a stressful situation having to make relationship works when the sexual attraction has worn off, and are finding that raising a family can be economically taxing, physically demanding, and mentally exhausting. In addition, we have to be concerning about global warming, overpopulation, and the dwindling natural resources.

Harvest

We know more about the world that we live in than the other animals. But, we have more worries, suffer more pains, and endure more violence. Our knowledge is the result of slow, piecemeal, cumulative endeavors of many generations of people. It is an on-going process even after 7000 years. There are times that ignorance had us believing that:

1. Earth was flat and at the center of the Universe,

2. Solar eclipse and meteoroids streaking across the sky were signs that bad things were about to happen,

3. Living things arose spontaneously and were the creation of an almighty being,

4. Our body is built in different ways from the other living things including bacteria and insects, etc.

   But, our ignorance has also helped us solve uncommon problems and accomplish the impossible:

1. 60,000 years ago, our common human ancestor ventured out of Africa into a new world that they knew nothing about,

2. 300 years ago, Columbus and his men set sail to find America across the vast and turbulent Atlantic ocean that they knew nothing about,

3. 50 years ago, we set our sight to land men on the moon knowing only that it is a challenge that has to be met,

4. Each person embarked on a journey of life from baby to old age without knowing that it was an obstacle course of physical hardships (illness, injury, sickness), mental agonies (fear, depression, failure), and spiritual decadence (lie, jealousy, revenge).

Benefit

After 7000 years, our accumulated knowledge about the world we live in is unimaginably immense and unthinkably complex in its breadth and depth. Each person is capable of knowing only a tiny fraction of the available information. Instead of subsisting on a life of constantly worrying about food, predators, and weather, we rely on one another to pursuit a life of happiness, wealth, and imagination:

1. A teacher needs to know only how to keep the students engaged in learning as the teacher can go to the doctor for sickness, let the financier to handle the investment, seek entertainment in theater, restaurant, and concert, etc.,

2. An average person needs the expertise of the lawyer to defend one’s legal rights in the complex laws of the court,

3. There are people who spend their whole adult life digging the ground to find clues that will explain the origin of the human species,

4. There are housewives who dedicate their whole lives taking care of their kids and husbands oblivious to the outside world, etc.

   Our man-made world is designed to keep us happy and healthy against the ravaging diseases like flues and cancers, the devastating effects of hurricanes and earthquakes, and the ruthless aggressions of people against one another. Even so, each day, there are people fall victim to cancer, lose homes due to natural disaster, and pass away prematurely due to murder or traffic accident. Ignorance of when, where, and how those life changing events can happen makes our life worthy of:

1. Living for – family, friend, hope;

2. Fighting for – liberty, justice, equality;

3. Dying for – ideal, dream, freedom.