If ignorance is bliss....

[idav]

If ignorance is bliss does that mean knowledge is suffering?

[methylatedghosts]

Originally Posted by idav

If ignorance is bliss does that mean knowledge is suffering?

"Sometimes I wish I was dumb. Then I wouldn't know how much [knowledge/learning] I've missed out on"
- my Mum.

[Madhuri]

Ignorance can be bliss and knowledge can be bliss. I think suffering comes from having some of both. When you are completely ignorant, there is no awareness of suffering. When you have complete knowledge, there is no reason to suffer. But since life is about going from one state to the other, our experience is full or ups and downs.

I speak from a spiritual Vedic perspective.

[LegionOnomaMoi]

Originally Posted by idav

If ignorance is bliss does that mean knowledge is suffering?

it means "'tis folly to be wise."

[Me Myself]

Originally Posted by Madhuri

Ignorance can be bliss and knowledge can be bliss. I think suffering comes from having some of both. When you are completely ignorant, there is no awareness of suffering. When you have complete knowledge, there is no reason to suffer. But since life is about going from one state to the other, our experience is full or ups and downs.

I speak from a spiritual Vedic perspective.

I can only agree

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by idav

If ignorance is bliss does that mean knowledge is suffering?

It can.

We hold the world in memory, and assign words, ideas and definition to the world there. That world, though, is not the real world as it is experienced in the present moment, here and now. It's a pale copy, a shadow version that has been allocated to be "understood" in terms of other pale copies of the world (other memories) where it has been shaped, formed and interpreted.

If "ignorance" can be understood in terms of letting go of this grand "understanding" of the world, that isn't really the world at all, then one can find "bliss" in living in the present moment and accepting everything "is." Else, we tend to squeeze things into what we want them to be, and get upset when they won't properly squeeze.

[Quintessence]

Yup. This pretty much sums up why I dislike proverbs. They nearly always present a horribly oversimplified map of the territory.

[waitasec]

Originally Posted by idav

If ignorance is bliss does that mean knowledge is suffering?

yes...

[waitasec]

To each his sufferings: all are men,
Condemned alike to groan;
The tender for another's pain,
The unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies.
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.

Read more: Who coined the phrase 'Ignorance is Bliss'

[The Sum of Awe]

Originally Posted by Madhuri

Ignorance can be bliss and knowledge can be bliss. I think suffering comes from having some of both. When you are completely ignorant, there is no awareness of suffering. When you have complete knowledge, there is no reason to suffer. But since life is about going from one state to the other, our experience is full or ups and downs.

I speak from a spiritual Vedic perspective.

I agree with this, but does it have to be a spiritual perspective?