However, I have mulling over a particular topic in my mind for a bit -- one which I'm sure will be the topic of my next post -- I've been thinking about "willful ignorance" -- that thing in which we all participate in some capacity -- something akin to "denial" I suppose -- but I'm particularly interested in how it operates in our own social, political, and spiritual lives. I'm not going to attempt a full definition here, but I think of it as a somewhat deliberate -- even if it is for "right" or noble reasons of conscience -- dismissal of real facts of experience, or a deliberate refusal to discover those real facts of existence. Willful ignorance has both active and passive counterparts.
So, even as I try to put this into terms, the nuances are making my thought pattern more complex -- and I realize I have more thinking to do. Willful ignorance is a deliberate "not knowing", a refusal to investigate, to consider, to learn -- and it is usually motivated, in my estimation -- and as I will elaborate further -- by a perceived threat to some sort of belief and/or value system, or to something valuable, perhaps an ideology, an expectation, an idea. And I think -- and we will see as I attempt to flesh this out -- that there is at the root of it some sort of fear.
And I think also a part of it is this: it also can be a real denial of the consequences of the real facts of experience. One remains "ignorant" in the face of evidence -- and this can approach -- and does become delusion -- believing something that has little or no base in reality. Hmm, so what is reality anyway? And why is it important that we see reality clearly? Is denial and delusion ever a better option? Guess I have some more things to think about -- maybe this will get my motivation going.
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