The Meaning Of Ignorence

I use the word, «ignorance» (sometimes deliberately misspelled as «ignorence» in order to emphasize the root of the word, i.e. to ignore) a lot. But, I seldom mean anything derogatory by it when I do. For me, ignorance is as natural as gravity, and just as pervasive.

But, to be sure, I should be clear about what I mean by ignorance insofar as it might differ from the common usage of the word. The main difference (and I would say the only significant difference) is mostly connotational. On the surface, the meaning is plain and straight forward; it means simply, the lack of knowledge. But, most people use the word to imply something more sinister than that. They use it to imply that someone is somehow inferior, or faulty because of their ignorance. When I use the word I usually prefer that such implications were not so widely emphasized, which is why I often intentionally misspell the word, «ignorence», in order to (hopefully) rid the word of some of its unwarranted baggage.

The meaning of the word, ignorence, is important to me, because it holds the key to the lack of understanding that causes so much unnecessary suffering and violence in this world. For me, ignorence is a willful act, not a passive state at all. We choose to «ignore» the very knowledge that could otherwise be freely known. But --- and this is the «key» I mentioned a moment ago --- we almost always make that choice unconsciously, or we have at least become unconscious of ever having made it.

Let me give you a simple example. Most of the time we are unconscious of our choice to breathe. So, I would say that we are ignorent of our breathing. Of course, it's a relatively simple matter in this case to become conscious of our choice, and hence, to «breathe consciously». This is a commonly practiced meditation technique. And, it is said that a «master» can (and does) essentially «meditate» continuously, which is to say that they remain conscious of their breathing, and their heart-beating, and their movements, and everything else they are doing, all at the same time. It is this «expanded consciousness» that defies ignorence. And so an enlightened master is someone who literally ignores nothing, and hence is not ignorent unless he consciously chooses to be.

To get a sense for what this might be like, we have only to work at expanding our own consciousness, usually with the help of meditation «exercises». Becoming more «conscious» means simply to become more aware of what we are doing. So, through meditation, for example, we might learn to become aware of the unconscious choices we make that define who we are (or, more precisely, WHAT we are... but that's not real important for this discussion). By doing this, even if we never achieve true «enlightenment» or complete self-awareness, we end up gaining much more control over ourselves, and our lives, as a result, which is the only real control any of us can ever have.

So, that's all ignorance, or ignorence, is to me. It is simply the unconscious choice we make to ignore what we are doing (and hence, who we are). Ignorence is the natural state of non-enlightenment. And as our enlightened teachers have so often tried to teach us, there is no shame in it.

[J.D. April 22, 2015]