IGNORANCE IS BLISS – YOUR VIEWS ? This is another topic often given in Toastmasters table topic sessions. Once I heard a toastmaster handling this topic vociferously… Speaker : “ Ignorance is bliss – I fully agree with the topic. Ignorance is always bliss because if ignorance is not there, there is no bliss. If knowledge is power then definitely ignorance is bliss”… then a small pause…..then turning to table topic master speaker asks “ is it bliss or bless?” Table topic master : Bliss, it is bliss, not bless speaker : “O.K. o.k., ignorance is bliss, of course,……” he goes on and on and left the stage astonishing himself about his ignorance of the topic… “IGNORANCE IS BLISS – YOUR VIEWS” itself is a wrong topic or incomplete topic. The topic should be “Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise – your views” (or true or false etc.) It was taken from a poem written by Thomas Gray Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. “Yet ah! why should they know their fate? Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies. Thought would destroy their paradise. No more; where ignorance is bliss, Tis folly to be wise.” “bliss” means - supreme happiness or extreme joy. The phrase is often misquoted, which makes it seem that not knowing what is really going on results in happiness. Actual meaning is that “being innocent of what lies ahead allows you to be happy. If you find yourself in a place where you have bliss, do not trade it for wisdom”. If you could not change your fate, would you want to know it anyway? Ignorance and innocence do have benefits. Innocence allows you to dream unhindered by the reality that surrounds you. There are many nuances to those lines. We must use our presence of mind to connect it to our life and experiences.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 18:20:10 +0000
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