If ignorance is bliss, why do we seek knowledge?
Knowledge for sake of knowledge is not good. Knowledge is like food which must be consumed in the right quantity. This question is originally answered by Awdhesh Singh.
The height of a human increase up to the age of 18 years.
After this age, there is no growth of height and hence the height of an 81 years old person remains almost as it was when he was 18 years old.
Most of us wish to become taller as a tall person stands in the crowd and everyone looks up to him.
Imagine now that due to some miracle, your height keeps growing with age and soon your height becomes twice as much as the ordinary person.
You are now so tall that wherever you go, everyone notices you and look up to you.
Do you think, you will be happier now?
While we have no power to increase our height once we turn 18, we can increase our mental ability till a very late age.
In the present world, most people study only to get a job and once they get a job, they stop learning new things in their life.
Hence, their mental ability remains the same throughout their lives or grow very little.
On the other side, there are a few people who never stop learning and the size of the mind keep growing and growing even at an advanced age.
These people may physically look the same as ordinary people, but in reality, they stand very tall and other people develop complex as soon as they meet them.
You also look down upon the people who once had been your equals because they refuse to grow with life and continue to be so ignorant and stupid.
Can you make friends with these ignorant people?
Can these ignorant people make you a friend?
Hence, a knowledgeable person soon finds himself isolated from his friends and loved ones who also avoids him because their intellectual level is now so different.
Therefore, it is often said that ignorance is bliss since an ignorant person will find friendship and love in a society that is full of people of similar ignorance.
However, we chase knowledge in life because we want to excel in life and become outstanding.
However, sometimes, our knowledge becomes a curse since it isolates us from the people who are close to us.
John Mill's writes in Utilitarianism, “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their side of the question. The other party to the comparison knows both sides."
A pig may be more satisfied than a human being.
A fool may be more satisfied than a Socrates.
Hence, understand that knowledge may after all not make you happier than an ignorant person.
If happiness is your final goal, it may be better to stop chasing knowledge beyond a point to avoid becoming a Socrates and remain intellectually at the level of the masses and enjoy the simple blessings of life.
There may be a great glory of being outstandingly tall or knowledgeable, but at the top, there is a lot of emptiness in life as you would rarely find people there to give you company, love and friendship.