Quote Digest

[Manly Man]

Ignorance is bliss.

In my experience, I've found this to be very true; it's not until you go and look around on the news, going online and happening upon criminal articles, finding biased official opinions, seeing all of the shit that's wrong with the world that you lose faith in humanity. Remember when you were a kid, and the world seemed to be an all-around good place? You weren't aware of war, of poverty, of famine. The closest you ever got to that was getting into a schoolyard fight, being grounded or not getting your snack in between lunch and breakfast. But once you grow more and more aware of what's going on around you, your world becomes more and more fucked up, you stop seeing everything through a rose-tinted glass, and you lose that happiness you gained in obliviousness. It's one reason why I honestly wish that I could be a kid again, just so that way I could go back to being blissfully unaware. The more you know, the more depressed you become.

[Licawolf]

There will always be a barrier between what I see and what I am able to portray. This barrier keeps bringing me back to the canvas, carrying on a never-ending desire to express, in paint, what moves me inside.

[Sajainta]

Ignorance may be bliss, but I'd rather be informed and unhappy than ignorant and content.

[Lord J Esq]

Ignorance is bliss.

That's true...but it's a terrible thing to aspire toward. I've spent my whole life moving away from ignorance; it never ends--and the reality beyond is, if at times anguishing, the only ground where you will ever be able to come to know what you can really be. I look upon the people who pine for bliss with amused disbelief and sometimes disgust.

[Manly Man]

I think it's more that I want to be a kid again than it is I'd like to be oblivious to everything outright. It's really immature of me I guess, but it would be one way to make myself much happier.

[Lord J Esq]

Not "happier." Blissful. Important difference.

[tushantin]

Ignorance is bliss in various ways; think about it, if you know everything in the universe, if you're omniscient, then you'd see all the horrors of mankind, of life, of details, of magnificence, of stupidity, so much that it would numb your mind and you would further ahead refuse to think anymore. Humans falter easily with a mere horrid event that takes place in their lives. Imagine witnessing those horrors every second for eternity.

[Sajainta]

That doesn't seem like a very valid argument to me, seeing as no human being is omniscient...

I still stand by what I said.  Bring me truthful pain; don't feed me sweet lies.  I do not shrink away from knowledge, and it infuriates me when people shrink away from less-than-pleasant experiences they've heard about.  My ex-best friend's roommate overheard a conversation I was having with my ex-best friend about some of the things I've gone through.  The roommate later told EBF (because it's a pain in the ass to keep writing "ex-best friend") that he didn't want to know any more of what I had been through.  He didn't want to hear about it.  He didn't want to think about it.  He wanted to remain ignorant, and ignorant of awful things that happen in the US.

Well, he can sit in his comfy chair of ignorance, but I say fuck that.

Perhaps that makes me sound cruel, but I actually had to live through it, so don't shrink away from just hearing about it.

I've gone through horrible things and I've been exposed to pain and death and terrible poverty from infancy on, but I haven't faltered in the face of knowledge.  I saw friends starve to death as a child.  I've seen policemen shoot people in the head because some Hot Shot Rich Person told them to do so.  I lost my best friend when I was 13 to suicide, a friend when I was 16 to a heart failure, and I lost my daughter when I was 15.

Even still, I'd always choose knowledge over ignorance.  I've always chosen knowledge.

Believe me, my mind should have been numbed a long time ago due to all the things I've been through.  But I won't let it.  I don't want it to be numbed.  I would never refuse to think.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Unfortunately, Saj, not everyone is as strong as you. People have lost the will to live and died for less things than you've experience (whether by their own hand or otherwise).

[Mr Bekkler]

I agree with Saj, THIS is no way to live.

[tushantin]

I wanted to tell Saj the other day how inspiring her post was, but the lights went out. It was a big post, trying to cheer her up, but right now I'm frustrated with my own position. But I will say this:

Saj, you're strong. Incredibly, and hard hearted, surviving things that ordinary folks wouldn't. My friend committed suicide just because he failed his exam (I admit, it was a stupid thing to do). If you were here, I bet you'd simply laugh at his grave. I have lost people in my life, but not as much as you did, but I can understand somewhat of how you feel.

And yet (not to offend you or anything) I would say is that what you went through was only 1% of the Hell that is earth. You have not yet seen the core of the grotesque nature of humanity, but those who have seen it have subsequently gone insane. You have seen all that is horrid about humanity. And yet again, I dare ask, have you seen the best of it? Have you seen its magnificence? It is much stranger than anyone can ever imagine, has more depth than anyone could ever describe. My goal in life is to seek through this magnificence, to travel and learn, and show it to people of just how amazing humanity can be. If it means to change the world, I will play a part in it. Even if it's a handful of people, I will make sure they don't suffer as much as you did. No woman deserves to suffer as much as you did. 

[tushantin]

UPDATE: There's an interesting insight on Ignorance is Bliss proverb in Kino's Journey: The Land of Visible Pain. Check it out!

An interesting quote (to get the meaning of it, you'll have to watch the episode, though):

The reason we hurt others is because we don't understand their pain.

Kino: It's pretty interesting, isn't it?
Hermes: What is?
Kino: The way that when someone expresses something, someone else always shows up to interpret it. Maybe the world is just a series of such events.

Hermes: Kino, what do you think is beautiful?
Kino: The crimson skies, the endless expanse of the Earth, flocks of birds...animals playing by the waterfront. Hardworking machines. And...humans.
Hermes: Humans too? Really?
Kino: Yes. I think they're beautiful. Probably as beautiful as the world.

It's amazing Kino considers humans as beautiful considering most of them tried their best to have her killed.

Kino: Why do the people of this nation build this tower?
Man: Why? I don't know. I only stock the bricks.

[Licawolf]

Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work.

[tushantin]

Dad's pathan, Mom's rajput, 2nd mom's christian, in school they asked me what religion: dad said 'Human'.

[Thought]

The future revolves around you, here, now, so do good!

Biting is excellent, its like kissing, only there's a winner

Something here doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick.