“Ignorance is bliss”: a statement so tantalizing that one can stay out of the world’s troubles and live in a utopia of happiness and ignorance. Thus being completely content with oneself. What really is truth? Is it how our perception of reality is the one that is handed to us. Is it no further seeking of knowledge and ones owns self revelations that can lead to misguided paths.
With these paths only enforcing their wrong doings. Uninformed statements of not believing what has not been examined leads to uncultivated thoughts and misjudgments. These misjudgments about one’s own reality is what should make people want to come out of their utopia and into the reality that is around them, and see what truly is their existence.
The truth is one owns knowledge of reality and what surrounds them. People believe the truth is the extent of knowledge that they have researched and find anyone else’s statements or opinions wrong. Take Oedipus a man so content in his life he doesn’t know he is married to his own mother. The lack of acceptance of truth when it is finally given to him represents his ignorance in this situation. Tiresias a blind seer, a man who is supposedly knowledgeable of all things tries to guide Oedipus on the right path.
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“ You have your sight and do not see what evils are about you , nor with whom” (Oedipus Rex 17). A statement that gives oedipus insight on the world he has grown in and how its a complete sham. He does not accept this as truth at first questioning the credibility of a blind seer “that having such a clue I should refuse to solve the mystery of my parentage!” (Oedipus Rex 40) Oedipus further denies the truth that is handed to him to further live in a world of ignorance. He threatens everyone in his path that they must tell who the killer is and yet he is too naive to realize he is sealing his own fate.
He had lived in a world of oblivion and when the truth finally came crashing down he wasn’t ready. His own words that “he [who] contaminates us all” (Oedipus Rex 11) will be banished and held accountable must be honored by Oedipus himself. The knowledge that he married his mother and had kids with her was too much. He couldn’t handle the truth, his denied reality that resulted in his banishment from the country he was accepted in. And with that Oedipus is left blind in a world where he is pitied for his ignorance that resulted in his whole life being fake.
The perception of truth is jaded by one’s ignorance and what they believe to be true. Neo, a man living in a fabricated world trapped without knowing it. He’s given an opportunity to “stay in wonderland and [see] how deep the rabbit hole goes” or “wake up in [his] bed and believe whatever [he] wants to believe.” (The Matrix) Ignorance is bliss is a perfect statement for Neo. He is unable to see the truth through the barriers of the illusion he is given.
Struggling to adapt to the fact that his whole reality is a lie. And what makes it worse is “no one can be told what the Matrix is . You have to see it for yourself”(The Matrix) To find the truth one must want to know the truth, and to know the truth you must come to the realization that there is more out there in life than what you are handed. That is what Neo did, he realized that this life he lives in the Matrix is worthless.
There is more to it than the daily grunt work of sitting in offices serving to a greater purpose that doesn’t even exist. “The answer is out there, and it will will find you if you want it to.”(The Matrix) Searching beyond the ignorant to see what life holds in store is what people must do, and to be able to see that is the greatest meaning of truth out there. Neo takes the plunge into an unknown mystery and therefore becomes the one to save them all and free everyone from the matrix to see their own truths themselves.
The truth is hidden by the seemingly safe world surrounding us. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave prisoners are chained to a cave only being given projections on the wall of false reality that they believe is true. They have no other reason to believe it’s not true for there whole life that is all they have ever known “ the truth [is] literally nothing but the shadows of the images”(Plato’s Republic 2) When a prisoner is finally released he will stumble out of the cave in exploration for the images on the wall he has been seeing.
He will come across a sharp blinding light that will make him want to turn back and see the darkness of his former life in which he felt safe in. This world he has now just been released to is overwhelming. He will gradually start to adapt and see the truth of the real world and how amazing it is compared to his cave. He will try to tell the others and they won’t believe him. They too are blinded by the ignorance of the world surrounding them. They rather stay in their safe bubble and conform to what everyone else is doing rather than branch out a see what truth life has to offer.
Out of fear of being ridiculed they chose to stay in the darkness never “going into the light” (Plato’s Republic 4). Everyone “must go down the general underground abode [the world of common, uneducated people] and get the habit of seeing in the dark”(Plato’s Republic 5) for after they emerge they see the truth of the world. They are not blinded by ignorance. The constant need to fit into social standards and conform. They can live their lives to the best they can knowing they have reached the light and the truth at the end of it.
Truth is the extent of knowledge taken in and how little educate themselves with it to free them from the jaded reality of society. All three stories Oedipus Rex, The Matrix, and The Allegory of the Cave give a very important insight to the world humans perceive to live in. The truth must be found through self realization and the wanting to know it. One must want to step out of the cave they live in and into a bright light that confuses them. To want to learn the truth is to want to know the best person they can be. To come out the other end and know that you have achieved all you can achieve is a great feat.
And to do this without the ignorant stopping you an even greater one. To realize the ignorance most live in is something many will not do in their lifetimes. The ignorant will always try to stop the ones trying to reach the truth ,but the ones who reach the truth and don’t let anyone stop them are the strongest ones. “Ignorance is bliss” is not something someone should strive for. To go beyond and realize how much more the truth has to offer is something humans should achieve in their lifetime. And with that truly see what their existence is all about.
Works Cited
Entertainment, Warner Bros. Home. The Matrix. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, 1999.
Plato. Allegory of the Cave. Lulu.com, 2017. Print.
Sophocles, R. D. Dawe, and Sophocles. Sophoclis Oedipus Rex. Walter De Gruyter, 2011. Print.
