Why is there so much injustice in the world? Why the distribution of wealth is so uneven and disproportionate? May we are on the very edge of a nuclear war? Ignorance is selfishness’ mother and all vices’ grandma. In other words, ignorance is base and principle of any evil. That being said, would it be valid to state if any of humanity’s misfortunes are because of ignorance? Just think and reflect on this: there’s only a supreme truth which is love, and by loving we reach wisdom. Love is such a deep feeling for us as humans, it is hard to understand it and, above all, to live it fully. By misunderstanding love we allow ignorance to start spreading itself, until it rules ourselves. The less we are able to achieve a life full in love and truth, the greater the degree of ignorance that spreads over our existence. Worse still, ignorance spreads kind of a smoke screen over our beings, to the point where we don’t even realize about our mediocrity, which in most instances ends up causing damage to those around us. Einstein did master this concept in one of his famous quotes: “When you die, you don’t know that you are dead, you don’t suffer for that. But it’s very hard for everyone else. The same thing happens when you're an idiot” From my perspective, it is convenient to debrief some shapes in which we frequently find people who endure ignorance without knowing it, either not suffering from chronic ignorance, which consequently and inevitably leads many of us into a narrow scope in life. Ignoring what has to be known: this is a raw state of ignorance, when by mere innocence the truth is unknown. I would say this ignorance is the only one that is justified in a person because the simple fact that people don’t have the knowledge nor a notion of life’s truth. People who suffer from this kind of ignorance are the most vulnerable populations in a society. And it is with these individuals whose truly responsible leaders must provide the education and knowledge to foster opportunities and eventually leading the development of Society. Up to this point, each individual is gradually freed from ignorance. These are those societies we commonly find in a state of prosperity. The problem is, when these individuals have the misfortune to live in an environment where the system is governed by anti-leaders who favor the foolish and cynical states of ignorance, that is, where there’s lack of a genuine interest and resources to educate and to provide knowledge to the ignorant. These people become real victims of the system, and they end up living in misery, fleeing, emigrating or dying ahead of their time. Mis believing what has to be known: This is a foolish state of ignorance, when by stubbornness or misinformation we have a wrong version of the truth. In most of today's societies, we live in a system where those in positions of power create and support stupid and corrupt rulers, who use populist measures to manipulate those below of them. At the same time, those who are below of the powerful are kept buried and cheated by ignorance, naively thinking that they are the ones who choose and decide their destiny. There’s a South American poet called Facundo Cabral, who captured in one of his famous phrases an anecdote about how he admired his grandfather because he was a wise guy who was not afraid of anything except to idiots ... because they are vast majority and they even choose the president. As the poet points out, this second group of ignorants is really the bulk of a population - at least a population which we may know as “civilized" - where the social, economic, and political systems are designed to abuse of this vast majority, who inevitably ends up accepting the servitude to a few in power, ironically feeling comfort and sympathy towards the system. Denying what has to be known: This is a cynical state of ignorance, whenever being aware of the truth, it is denied by all means beyond any reason, the truth. Individuals at this stage of ignorance are the most noxious and dangerous, their degree of awareness towards the truth is almost plenty. Even though their consciousness, their egos crush the truth and instead toxic behaviors are set up. Egoism, laziness, gluttony, manipulation and lie are traits commonly seen in these cynical-ignorant individuals. Just think of some anti-leaders from past and present time -Hitler in Germany, Castro’s brothers in Cuba, Hussein in Irak, Al-Assad’s dynasty in Siria, toxic’s duo Chavez-Maduro in Venezuela, Yong-un dynasty in North Korea and last but not least... Trump in USA; all of them are, with no exception, state-of-the-art cynical manipulative and narcissistic individuals. How is it possible these individuals reach so much power over their nations?... Bingo! Ignorance is the obvious answer... Do you remember poet’s quote above? Well, there’s a saying that prays each society gets the leaders it deserves, the problem comes evident when facing the fact that humanity is now closer, related and interdependent like never before in a fully globalized world, where the decisions these anti-leaders have made and continue making are affecting us, driving consequences that are taking us little by little towards global chaos, with serious repercussions that may be irreversible to many of us, if not ... to all of us. Consciously or unconsciously we are all ignorants, some more than others, some of us are ignorants in subjects others know and excel, while some of us master subjects others ignore. The challenge here lies in recognizing if we may be immersed in a vicious cycle of ignorance and, if this is true, to show enough courage for starting change. Change that is needed to reach prosperity and justice in our world. How crazy would it be to think about suppressing any army and all of the weapon industry in the world, in such a way that all this mass of resources is destined to education and feeding the most vulnerable? How unrealistic would it be to think of a more tolerant society driven mostly by a spirit of collaboration, with individuals who catalyze a virtuous circle of truth? Such utopian dream is so good that it deserves someone who encourages a first step.
Is someone willing to join me in this purpose?
If you want to fight and overcome ignorance, please wait for my next article “The virtuous cycle of Truth”. If you also want to expand more in the concept of leading by the truth, please follow my posts at Leaders Approach Blog page: https://jpbarrantes1973.wixsite.com/leadersapproach