I will be the first to admit I am ignorant of many things. Often my ignorance has prevented me from seeing things for what they really are. I have lost out on many blessings and I have been cursed because I was unaware of something. I have supported politicians I thought were good but turned out to be evil. Because I didn’t take the time to unearth their past.
Every spring my wife and I plant a garden, it’s not very big but it yields some healthy 100% organic vegetables. As the vegetation grows I begin looking for invasive plants that I didn’t plant which I pull out so they don’t take over.
Recently I was watching an infomercial about a book about foraging. The very plant they highlighted as an example of a nutritious plant often seen as a weed, was the very one I had been removing from my garden and lawn. It turns out the very plant I was uprooting was more nutritious than some of the vegetables I had planted!
The lesson I learned is, I need to pull out my plant books and start understanding what is growing in my garden and not be so quick to remove what turns out to be very beneficial to me. I will allow these plants to flourish next season along with the regular vegetables and when ready, I will harvest them.
Ignorance has its costs. It can be as simple as missing out on a band that comes to town but because you didn’t keep track of their schedule and only relied on local media it was too late as the tickets sold out. It can be signing up to support a cause that is actually something very nefarious and ends up killing innocent people. It can be not availing yourself to out of the box health practitioners who have cures but aren’t covered by your medical insurance.
Ignorance in daily life is what fuels all our lives. It shouldn’t, but it does. We should constantly be open to learning all we can about everything we can. We should stop settling for saying I know enough. We often settle for routines based on what’s familiar to us and never take time to adjust our mind to be open to new concepts or old concepts long forgotten.
Ignorance leads to fear. Ignorant people rely on what others have to say (news) instead of doing primary research of their own. They may read one book and think I know it all! Ah right. An Ignorant mindset limits your research to who you know and fits into your world view.
Ignorance is the lack of quality knowledge and can leads to being a fool if we aren’t careful. Foolishness can lead to mass panics and draconian laws and rules being put into place. When the collective minds of the community are unwilling to listen to sound advice, they become fools and as such can make and support some very evil things. Imprisoning 120,000 innocent Americans of Japanese descent for 4 years without any restitution, comes to mind.
Take a look at what we are currently living through. Who would have thought a single option “cure” would be forced upon people with the ability to fire someone for not complying. Who would have thought people would be made to believe a face covering was a mark of intelligence?
Con men rely on people’s ignorance to rip them off. Tyrants rely on ignorance and trust to bring forward evil agendas. There is nothing new under the sun. The fool and the wise have always existed. The good thing is this, the ignorant person who admits they are ignorant, can change directions and begin their journey into wisdom.
So the question I leave with you is this. What will you choose to be? What direction are you walking on right now? Are you open to learning or closed?
Anyone for dandelion tea?