Is ignorance Bliss? Part deux,

"You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I am offering is the truth. Nothing more."

Money is not an easy thing to maintain some are better then others but there are also those that are in debt and continue to dig themselves deeper as they live from pay to pay. Somehow these people have the ability to avoid or burry the truth so deep that they are living day in and day out without any means to financially take care of emergencies, large or small, nor will they have anything for later years in life. This was just an example

So knowing the truth and accepting it can be a good and bad thing. It can destroy that perfect meal, or by avoiding it, it can result in financial peril, for example. About 10 years ago I avoided the truth that my addiction to cigarettes could be harmful bc I didn’t care I wanted that smoke. When the knowledge that I was killing myself with each breath hit home and someone threatened to never speak to me again if I continued, I quite. Having this knowledge and not ignoring it possibly saved my health.

Truth should not be avoided and doesn’t have to be to live a full, fun and meaningful life. Lets be honest coming to terms with those big questions in life that have answers no one wants to hear is not easy but the quicker a person can realize that for ex; there is no built-in meaning too life or that nobody will ever completely understand you...the quicker you can enjoy your individual place in the world and the meaning that you bring to it along with all the small and big things that bring you joy i.e. having children, travel, friendship.

In highschool I read some of the science fiction comedy series, "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". In it, the Total Perspective Vortex (TPV) was a black box that you were forced into in order to view a large map of the universe with a tiny arrow pointing to a smallish speck of light with the caption "you are here." The individual inside usually died of insignificance (except for Zaphod Beeblebrox who learned, just as he had expected, that he was indeed the most important being in the universe).

"The person who is confronted with the depth of reality as to his own true insignificance and doesn't live a life of despair and despondency (or go shoot himself in the head) is a truly enlightened person. Yes! One can live life knowing there is no god or afterlife, yet go about his business as best he can-and still be happy!"

Why I bring this up? Not really sure I am not depressed or questioning the meaning of life -as I mentioned above I don’t believe there is an intrinsic meaning to life and I accept that or at least I feel that I do. I honestly just think that it is an interesting topic, Is Ignorance Bliss?
I also think it has to do with the fact that a very close cousin of mine was diagnosed with cancer not long ago and just this week has now been told that she has a tumor in her brain.

We collectively have positive thoughts for her and hope she gets better soon. But this got me thinking of avoiding one’s choices in life that can make them, healthy, financially stable, or just happy. Not that my cousin avoided any of this she has always taken care of her self has never smoked and so on. It just got me thinking of how you can’t control everything, choices that you have some control over why not do it now as opposed to resorting to excuses and saying "I will start tomorrow!" Life is too short to do that.

This extends to Tracy and I (we are by no means perfect) wanting knowledge in life and one of the biggest things is our passion for health. We look into everything one ex. we stopped drinking diet soda on a regular basis as aspartame can possibly lead to cancer. We workout and run to stay fit and healthy. We have active pass times as we love athletics and the outdoors. We have our vices me, beer, Tracy, wine, but they are only consumed on weekends and we attempt to not over do it -sometimes better then others.

But that is the point; You can have a balance of knowledge and bliss. Don’t avoid everything that you think will hurt you and dwell on the negatives as that will fill you with fear and stress. Allow yourself to have blissful moments, take a risk.

The most important things -I feel- are;
1. Your personal mental and physical health, 2. truly love the people around you, 3. don’t take life too serious and indulge in those vices when appropriate and with the appropriate amount. 4. fill yourself with knowledge, Finally enjoy life! I always say try and confront a fear it will make you feel alive, adrenaline highs are fun.

I hope this didn’t come across as preachy as that is not the way I meant it just thought the whole idea of ‘Ignorance is bliss’ was a great discussion topic.