HEAVEN and EARTH

By: Jennifer Harris

Where Ignorance is Bliss…

We are living in the age of New Consciousness. Some people still speak of the Industrial Revolution and the Technological age but we outgrew them a long time ago. Science is no mystery even to a child in grade school. We’ve explored this planet with planes, boats, satellites and spades. We’ve duplicated every part of the human body with the best machinery we can design. We’ve explored our space and reached further than our ancestors. Although, it is possible, we’re not as superior as we think in that arena.  Time will tell. But, some people still don’t seem to be getting it and where ignorance is bliss you dwell in your own folly.

Charleston made the list AGAIN. We are number one when it comes to VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.

But not just violence; murder. Is it wrong for a woman to have a desire for a man or a man to have a desire for a woman? Certainly not. In today’s society, we know as much about desire as the Buddha and he was a master in the subject.  Pleasure is a blissful state and so is love and happiness, but without self- control and wisdom, these ‘states’ of desire will kill us faster than prejudice or hate. But, what is the root of violence? Is it really jealousy or anger or even passion? No, it is neither jealousy nor anger nor passion. It is ignorance; the lowest state of the human mind. An undeveloped mind, starving for light, is like a child behind the wheel of a racing car. You will crash and burn carried away by your own unbridled excitement.

If your mind is incapable of growing along with your money, education, titles or position, then you are still an ignorant person. If your desires are incapable of controlling your senses, then you are still an ignorant person. Ignorance means ‘lacking knowledge or awareness in general’.  Ignorance does not mean stupidity; it means I lack knowledge or general awareness of what’s going on, but I am capable of learning the knowledge and awareness of what’s going on.

Unfortunately, misunderstanding our own ignorance of why something is not going the way we expect it to go, leaves us with no choice but to fall into a state of nonchalance or misplaced bliss. This ‘bliss’ has many conditions. The dictionary says bliss means to reach a state of perfect happiness, typically so as to be oblivious of everything else. There is great suffering in thinking you are blissfully happy in a relationship based on passion to such an extent that you become oblivious to all its imminent dangers. The outcome of such thinking, whether you be a man or a woman, is violence that can lead to death.

Knowledge teaches us to be patient, become a person of reasoning, seek counsel, or even create a space between the two opposing forces. For men to be engaged in violence so willfully speaks for the need of an educated male within today’s society. Neither men nor women are superior genders as long as we rely on the same elements to survive (air, water, sunlight, and land). I spoke with a man about these numbers reported in the New York Times. He smiled blissfully in response and exclaimed, “Yes, number one again!” I looked at him and replied blissfully, “I guess this means that today’s educated woman will have nothing to do with a man from Charleston”.  We need to come out from our caveman era. A fool is not born. A fool is made.