I often reflect upon the worthiness of Goethe's maxim--

'Nothing's worse than active ignorance"

Celivia:
I agree with you! It would be nice to know the truth about everything, painful as it sometimes would be for us!....."The truth is mightier than the sword!"
Unfortunately our system seems to thrive on "untruths" of varying degrees, but generally we are just a bunch of human "mushrooms".
Imagine the chaos that would result should the masses be told the truth about happenings/past events such as: The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Assassination, The Marilyn Monroe "Suicide", The Earl Mountbatten Assassination, The Twin Towers "Conspiracy" and last but not least..... The Diana and Dodi Vehicle "Accident".....just to name a few!
Unfortunately we MUST be kept in the dark about most issues that adversely affect our everyday lives, or the political and corporate raiders who prosper from the extraction of pennies from our purses, would suddenly find themselves out of the rich pickings that they currently procure, and at the same time, with this exposed knowledge the masses world-wide would tend to become a little "testy" to say the least.

Foxy, that was fantastic!

As for ignorance or truth ... well, what is truth? Truth tends to be transitory, and what is true today may be proved false tomorrow.

An example of ignorance vs truth for me is my exposure to global warming and climate change, my work has led me into academic and scientific circles, with many of the leading advocates and detractors of global warming. The more I learn the more confused it becomes, without boring y'all with the details, the underlying truth of many of the responses has less to do with fact than it does with motivation.

Therefore, it's not just a matter of knowing but deciphering that becomes the issue.

Truth was explained to me as a two sided coin, my truth and yours.

Even things that were held dearly as true (the world is flat, Earth was the centre of the universe ... our planet contains the only living creatures in existence) can be turned on their head with just a little time.

Would I like to be omnipotent ... no way, too much knowledge to contain if you ask me! For with ignorance also comes the opportunity for discovery, new experiences, new ways of seeing and learning.

I've come to realize that the more I learn, the more there is to know... as the saying goes - you spend your life learning and still die ignorant (words to that effect). I've always loved history and thought that from its study you will learn the 'truth.' However, I now know - that it depends whose account of history you're reading.

Everything is open to interpretation ...

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." Shakespeare ... though does that not mean that the wise man therefore is a fool who thinks he's wise?

Dear Corri,

Yes, that's the way it reads.

But it doesn't matter because as Oscar Wilde said, "Only the shallow know themselves!"