BLINDNESS....DECEPTION....AND....WILLFUL-IGNORANCE

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Today we face a crisis of consciousness and critical thinking. Although today's information and education is increasingly available and more widespread than ever before, this has created a new problem with understanding it. The saying that "a little learning is a dangerous thing" has a really profound meaning. Knowledge is not the issue. It is the application of such knowledge and how it's learned (absorbed) that is crippling society. Alexander Popes essay on criticism, composed in 1709, compares the effect of knowledge to that of intoxicates like alcohol and drugs. Without knowing how to properly mix and use substances they can be dangerous. Truth is always in agreement with other truths. Critical thinking allows us to hear and homogenously blend together multiple truths. Critical thinking creates the judgments derived from a group of developed abilities combined together into a skill set. These set of skills produce ways of observing, analyzing, interpreting, explaining, deciding and solving problems. Critical thinking is a part of the process we use to form beliefs. Beliefs are areas in our lives that we no longer see a need to actively question. Any areas in life we fail to examine, or question are potential points of blindness, deception or willful ignorance. Most people fail to understand that while blindness can be self-diagnosed ​deception is never perceived by the deceived. In addition to that, willful ignorance is a conscious choice. “A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.” The irony of interacting with knowledge is that the process requires engaging whatever little bit of knowledge we think we already know to get some understanding about the majority of knowledge we don't yet know. The best remedy to this method of learning comes through superficially applying the new knowledge filtering it through feedback and experiences while being consciously aware of ignorance and deception. And even though a little knowledge is dangerous; still more is better.

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BLINDNESS WE SEE!  DECEIVED WE BE!

It may appear so pretty and pink
but not work out as we might think.
If it's too easy or comes to fast
The essence of it may not last.

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It's from the core of what we believe
and through it we can be deceived.
Deception by nature fools our mind
cripples our senses and leaves us blind.

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​And to these facts we give attention
there is no cure only prevention.
bad information and wrong perception
will simply cause us self-deception.

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Today's society presents our world through a veneer of artificial images. On demand immediate images provide instant gratification. This is one way we plant the seeds of deception in our minds. By the time we've matured enough to decipher the real from the fake and the imaginary, our sense of the way things work has been distorted. Distortion is one of the first steps towards deception. Imitation may be called flattery but in reality, it is like substituting almost for actual and similar for original. Critical thinking is the first line of defense in fighting deception. It easy to get a false impression of how life really is. So much of reality is repackaged and presented through simulation we broadcast over our virtual artificial multimedia channels. The Pictures and images are not the actual objects we are seeing, in reality they are lifelike imitations. The images on our screens may display real life, but in and of themselves they are not real. Unfortunately, because they are so widespread and common among us, we accept them as true representatives of reality. But in reality, they are only capturing one aspect of it. The projected images in any program or broadcasts carry a connected theme that subconsciously appeals to our eyes, senses and affects the way our minds think. The light for our bodies comes through the sight and visions of our eyes. There are canes and a multitude of aids to assist with blindness. There are teachers, instructors, psychologist and books to combat ignorance. But there is no one foolproof instrument or tool we know of, that can detect and warn of deception before it manifests itself.

Deception works through appearances and feelings. Plato said the worse deception of all is self-deception, but all deception ultimately involves fooling oneself. The power of deception is as strong as the snares of death. The nature of deception is such that it causes us to BELIEVE that what we embrace as truth, is in reality false and what we think to be false is actually true. A little yeast will cause the entire loaf of bread to rise. Deception is multifaceted. By that we mean that anyone under the influence of deception is being deceived in more ways than one. The SPIRIT of deception comes as a by-product of indulging or accepting any lie. Deception always has a component of "willful allowance" supplied from its victims. Deception works through compromise of morals and values. All deceptions imply that we can have our cake and eat it too. Deception suggests that we can surrender a bit of our integrity at the core of our being and remain the same. Deception compromises our consciousness.

To be deceived we must believe
that fiction is a fact.
And then embrace the lie we face
till it becomes our act.

​We play the game to shift the blame
along to someone else.
But in the end as we pretend
we just deceive ourselves.

The word 'willful' implies that there is intent. When we aim or desire to ignore, hide or obscure something it is done on purpose. When the sun rises, if we don't want to see it, the only thing we can do about it is close or cover our eyes. Although it doesn't prevent the sun from shining it gives the impression that it does. There are many things we observe in life that are not apparent as they appear. The way life seems to be is not the way it actually functions. There is so much hidden beneath and behind what we are aware that we fail to account for in our conclusions. This is the phenomena of "incorrect correlation," commonly encountered but rarely corrected. WHY would anyone purposely decide to be and remain ignorant? The answer to that question is better answered by asking WHAT causes a person to stay ignorant. The question is not WHY but WHAT! What is willful ignorance? We all have chosen at one time or another, whether consciously or unconsciously, to remain unseeing in situations where “we could know, and should know, but don’t know because it makes us feel better not to know.” Many relationships function this way. Ignorance is a form of blindness that can be a physical, mental or spiritual condition. Many times, it's simply a matter of will.

It is important to properly associate and differentiate blindness, deception and ignorance. There are many similarities but there are also distinct differences. We become susceptible to blindness through deception. We are susceptible to ignorance through blindness. Most importantly we are susceptible to deception through both blindness and ignorance. There seems to be more hope for the ignorant and the blind than for the deceived. Ignorance can be combated through education. We can compensate for blindness with assistance, aids and instruments. Deception, however, has a distinct dual dilemma, a catch 22. Deception by its very nature comes with a "spirit of belief" matched only by an opposite "spirit of doubt;" both of which sanctions whatever "the deceived" wants to believe. The illusion of being able to believe whatever we would like to believe has been a historical weakness in our critical thinking. Critical thinking takes work. We should practice exercising critical thinking on a daily basis and consistently measure our growth. The way we thought and functioned as a teenager never would have sustained us as working adults. Our minds and mentality grew and matured with us. Fairy tales and seasons built around fictional characters believed and embraced in the past seem silly now. We had to keep growing our thinking in line with our beliefs. As we progress through life, we have come to the realization that yesterday's thinking will not be enough to sustain us or solve tomorrow's problems. Acknowledging and embracing this fact lets us know that we are continuing to grow. Be not deceived, we are not capable of fully seeing ourselves. Looking in a mirror reveals that clearly. Without seeing ourselves in a proper perspective we will most likely deceive ourselves. Sight in and of itself is susceptible to incorrectly perceived errors, we call this short sighted. Ultimately everyone has a propensity to be fooled by anyone, but we generally deceive ourselves. This is why we need the wisdom of rules to guide us and compare ourselves to. This is why even the best athletes need a coach, trainer or corner to instruct them by exposing their multiple blind spots. We must first believe to be deceived. Critical thinking tempers our beliefs in light of both faith and reality. It is our practices that put us in the paths we follow. When we practice principles that accomplish peace and mutual prosperity, we will see just that. A practice is not what it says it is. A practice is what a practice does. START PRACTICING!

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