Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. It costs us opportunities, experience, and money. If a one believes no person would willingly decide to be ignorant, one would be wrong. Too many of us choose to lack knowledge about different aspects of life. We live in a time where most answers are a web search away. Yet, “ignorance is bliss” is a saying that is one of the most harmful statements that has stood the test of time. It states bliss, which means joy, is found in being ignorant. Adopting this mindset is inviting lack and stress into your life. When we accept such a mindset, we approve of choosing the easiest choice without confirming where that choice will take us. We do this for many reasons. We will discuss wanting to alleviate ourselves of criticism, avoiding the work that comes with knowledge, and shunning facts that go against our current beliefs, also known as confirmation bias. Premeditated Ignorance is willingly avoiding knowledge. It is one of the most detrimental actions a person can perform.
We practice premeditated ignorance to alleviate ourselves of criticism. We do this when we leave things to chance. We can stand by and watch if something is our responsibility. We can work hard on something, put our name on it, then share it with the world. Sure, we can, but we don’t. We don’t stand by and watch. If things go wrong, we don’t know instantly, enabling us to excuse ourselves for not being available to react. If we put our name on something we share with the world, we leave ourselves open for the masses to tell us how they feel about us and our work. It’s a cop-out to avoid criticism. It makes us weak and does not promote growth.
We attempt to avoid the work that comes with knowledge. We want to do better. We desire to make more money, have more free time, and travel more. Our desires are to be teamed with action, but it isn’t. It isn’t because attempting to make the goals occur reveals the work we’ll need to do. With just a glimpse of the work, we stop moving forward. We may point to fear of failure. We may state too many people want the same thing. More cop-outs. The answer is it’s hard. It takes diligence, consistency, and determination. It is easier to stop and no longer discover the amount of work needed. Avoiding the work that comes with knowledge makes us weak and does not promote growth.
Confirmation bias is a huge reason we practice premeditated ignorance. When facts or opinions get us thinking our beliefs are incorrect, we become irritated. It is easier to push away this information than to stay bothered by this new and challenging data. Let’s list some topics that rattle our cage: Religion, Culture, Socioeconomic status, Race, Gender, and Nationality. All of the above creates wars, break-up friendships, and causes people to stray away from others when facts or opinions against what their thoughts are surface. We must learn to take in new information and be open to changing our thoughts when legitimate data shows we should. If we don’t, it makes us weak and does not promote growth. (If you want more on “Confirmation Bias” read this blog ->Confirmation Bias – ItsDrills.com)
In closing, premeditated ignorance is a choice too many of us make. Too many times, we willingly handcuff our potential. We choose the easy way. The doomsday scenario is evident with the following example: You are feeling ill. You decide to push through. Now it has been months and things are still bad, but manageable. Years pass, the illness worsens, and now you have more issues than before. You continue to ignore the problem, by not getting a test to discover the cause. The illness has now handicapped you in a small capacity. You finally choose to go to take some tests. It is determined you have a terminal illness. You may think it justifies your premeditated ignorance, but more facts will reveal your situation was curable prior to you allowing it to progress to where it is. Choosing not to know put you in a position where you do not have a chance to fight. There is nothing blissful about ignorance. It makes us weak and does not promote growth.
Food for thought. You do the dishes!
