Do not cultivate ignorance

We really cannot be blamed for what we have not been taught or even what we do not know. However, the tides completely turn when we are not willing to learn new things. That would include accepting the advice or opinions of others. Does it mean that we adhere to others advice or opinions? Not by any stretch of the imagination. We cultivate ignorance when we only know what we know and are not willing to understand that what we know can be understood and explained in a multitude of ways.

“Ignorant” or “ignorance” in recent years has adopted new societal meanings and are now seemingly associated with a more negative and insulting innuendo than its original denotation. Particularly among younger audiences, ignorant or ignorance may carry the same or greater weight than terms that are intended to be derogatory. The truth of the matter, to be ignorant is simply not to know. But how do people move from being ignorant to knowledgeable? That is a question with a very simple answer.

The term “cultivate”, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is to “foster the growth of.” If we delimited the title of this article, “Do Not Cultivate Ignorance,” we could use a more simplistic expression basing it on the meanings of the terms by stating, “We do not want to foster the growth of not knowing.” In other words, what we do not know we are ignorant to; what we do not care to learn cultivates our ignorance.

Moving beyond our own ignorance requires change. It requires us to look outside ourselves and outside our own understanding in search of new and different perspectives. As much as we care to always be right, our individual opinions and thoughts are based on our theoretical perspectives. But what does it mean when our perspectives are based on theory? Reverting back to Webster, it defines “theory” as “an ideal or hypothetical set of facts, principles, or circumstances.” Hypothetical refers to something based on a hypothesis, which are “assumptions” or “interpretations.”

Given this, how could any one person within society assume that his or her “assumption” and/or “interpretation” be held in any higher regard than another? With an understanding of where our opinions, thoughts, judgments, attitudes, and beliefs all originate, we can move towards becoming knowledgeable and thereby retard our growth in ignorance. It is not necessary to accept the ideas and opinions of others, but we should at least acknowledge and respect them knowing that they are all—including our own—based on theory.

Be willing to at least hear from others with differing points-of-views. Respect their differences knowing that those differences are based on their derived theories. But remember what the “relativist fallacy” states, “What may be true for one is not necessarily true for another.” In this way, we are cultivating knowledge, not ignorance. © 2008 Keydron Guinn