Ignorance

You know, humans have this crazy habit,

where some of them prefer not to know things

rather than to know them.

They prefer ignorance to having knowledge.

If something is there to be known they would rather ignore it.

They say 'ignorance is bliss'.

Now, if someone was playing a game and they broke the rules

it wouldn't make a difference if they said that it was because

they didn't know the rules in the first place.

If they want to play the game

they are expected to know the rules.

That's the way a game works.

And if people break the law, it doesn't matter if they didn't know it was a law.

The Judge will say 'Ignorance of the law is no defense'.

So people learn the rules of the games they play,

because if they didn't know them the game would make no sense.

While others are playing they would just drift around

not knowing what to do.

It's the rules that give the game its meaning

and tell the players what they are trying to do

and what they are trying to avoid.

Of course nobody would try to play a game without knowing the rules,

but there are often times when people try to do things without knowing how.

Sometimes it makes things impossible for them to do,

and sometimes it's just a lot harder than when they have learned what they need to do

beforehand.

Knowledge makes things easier for people.

Ignorance is not bliss, it makes things harder.

But what about when people say 'what you don't know doesn't hurt you'?

Well, what they don't know may not always hurt them, although it can,

but it cannot help them either.

Ignorance can be very dangerous if what people don't know can hurt them.

If they don't know that walking on a railway line is dangerous they can easily end up being hit by a train.

And not knowing can change the way people see the truth of their lives.

And looking for the truth of life is what searching for knowledge is all about.

To prefer to be ignorant of the meaning and purpose of our lives,

to choose not to think about how the world works and our place in it

is like playing a game but refusing to learn the rules.

Learning things can be hard,

but it makes things easier in the end.

But just because we have to learn different things doesn't mean that they are all as useful as each other,

or useful in the same ways.

Learning is important for its own sake,

but the most important things we have to learn are the great truths

about God, and the Creation.

The most important thing

is that we are not ignorant

of what is good and bad for our souls.