Ignorance

“What in the world was I thinking?”

Everyone has said this at some point about a decision they made in the past. That “past version of you” is a few years younger than you are now, perhaps only a few weeks or hours younger. Regardless, that person has less experience than you do now. In life, the greatest teacher is our own experience.

Generally, our lives tend to get more difficult as time passes. As children, our living expenses are paid by our parents but eventually we must leave and find a way to survive in the world without them. In an ideal world, we take advantage of what’s given to us to prepare ourselves for the world beyond childhood. I like to think of this time as the “tutorial phase.”

Life is similar to a role-playing videogame (RPG) in many ways since both usually include a tutorial and an experience-based ranking system. If you are a low level in a videogame, you’ll have to put in work to “level up” if you want to take on more difficult challenges. However, it’s important to remember that everyone always starts at Level 1.

Experience grants us knowledge, which allows you to level up. Education is meant to speed up the transfer of knowledge by cutting out the experience requirement. If you can read about a lesson learned from others’ experiences, you don’t need to make the same mistakes for yourself.

Of course, there are many, many different subjects to learn in this world and not nearly enough time to learn it all! Since our time is limited, we must choose where to place our efforts and which parts of our knowledge get to level up. If you know a ton about astrophysics and the Beatles, your knowledge of Renaissance philosophers or institutionalized racism might be lacking.

No matter how high we level up one part of our knowledge, we must always remember that we are still on Level 1 for many other subjects. In our world, Level 1 goes by the name: ignorance.

Unfortunately, this word has become more of an insult than a practical description. Being called ignorant is now equated to being called stupid.

In a society where “ignorant” is an insult, those who are still at Level 1 feel ashamed to admit it and instead choose to embrace the idea of never leveling up. This presents a problem to the progress of that society, but it can be fixed with a simple change in perspective.

To those who have high level knowledge in some areas, it’s important to remember that your knowledge doesn’t make you better than someone else in general. It also does not mean that their ignorance is as good as your knowledge. This is the central misunderstanding taking place on both sides of the many disagreements taking place throughout our society.

Those with knowledge have become preachy and intolerant of ignorance. Those who are ignorant have learned to reject and mock knowledge itself out of self-defense against being perceived as lesser.

Let’s all get on the same page; here are a few thoughts to keep in mind for your next disagreement.

It’s become commonplace for people to talk down to each other, ranking themselves based on their limited understanding of their world. The first step to moving past the disagreement is to show humility. The best way to do that is to mention some of the subjects that are still Level 1 for you.

Admitting ignorance is a great first step because it sets a precedent in the conversation that it is okay to admit when you are wrong or don’t know something. Everyone is ignorant of something! Revealing your own ignorance is also a great way to establish the idea that you are not better than the person in front of you.

You are not better than anybody and nobody is better than you!

After you have admitted your ignorance, you can contrast that with the work that you put in to level up your knowledge in the subject at hand. If you’ve read articles, mention that. If you have first-hand experience, mention that. This gives credibility that you have actually earned your knowledge.

No matter how high your level grows, don’t forget that we all started at Level 1. It may take some effort to remember what it was like when you were still ignorant but practicing it will give you useful insight into how this person is thinking. You must remember is that you aren’t trying to win a debate or make someone look foolish.

The purpose of debates is not to win, it is to learn and teach.

My final recommendation for disagreements involving ignorance is to just keep talking. If you have exhausted your energy trying to explain something that just won’t stick, start asking hypothetical questions. Keep that person engaged in the conversation.

Ignorance is a funny thing; it’s very difficult to back up for long. If an ignorant or bigoted person is pressed to elaborate on their views and offered alternative perspectives, their argument will get weaker. Eventually their argument will fall apart entirely and they’ll be forced to logically abandon it.

As the spiritual teacher Adyashanti said, “Enlightenment is a destructive process.” Pushing an ignorant person to realize their own ignorance leads them to rethink everything. Rethinking everything and changing your entire worldview is a terrifying premise, especially if you have never done it before. That fear can cause a person to lash out in anger or mentally shut down.

With knowledge comes responsibility. We must disagree with the ignorant for the sake of the improving our overall understanding of the world. We can remind the ignorant that sharing our knowledge is not meant to hurt them. Once a person accepts their lack of knowledge, their prior ignorance seems almost laughable. We will get nowhere trying to make them feel foolish. Rather, we must show them love and understanding so they feel safe enough to take that first step.

To admit you are wrong is a difficult thing to do. To admit you defended your wrong stance is even more difficult. The only way we can repair the damages of ignorance is to keep on talking and sharing with each other.