In this post, we’ll unpack all you need to know about knowledge versus ignorance, defining exactly what they are, the differences between them, how they relate to fear and faith and more.
What Is Knowledge?
Knowledge refers to the presence of understanding of information within a specific context, which leads to making informed decisions and actions.
“Knowledge is like a tree. You must understand the roots before you understand the branches.”
What Is Ignorance?
Ignorance refers to the absence of understanding of information within a specific context, which leads to making uninformed decisions and actions.
“There is only one good, knowledge, and only one evil, ignorance.” — Socrates
Knowledge, Ignorance, Faith & Fear
Your brain is ultimately designed to keep you alive. So it does two things; it predicts and it protects.
It predicts what’s going to happen in your environment (based on past experiences) and then it initiates behaviours to protect you.
Consequently, your brain loves familiarity (the known) because it can better predict the future and better enhance your survival and it hates unfamiliarity (the unknown) because it can’t better predict the future and better enhance your survival.
Knowledge creates faith because we have faith in what we do understand (the known). Ignorance creates fear because we fear what we don’t understand (the unknown).
Thus, knowledge dispels the darkness (the unknown) that ignorance creates and replaces it with light (the known).
For example, many people fear death (the unknown) until they gain an understanding (the known) of what death is (simply a transition).
Hence the sayings “Seek truth and the truth shall set you free” and “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” — Confucius
Knowledge Versus Ignorance Table Summary
Below is a table summarising the differences between knowledge and ignorance.
The knowledge rich tend to get richer and the knowledge poor tend to get poorer.
| Knowledge | Ignorance |
|---|---|
| Understanding | No Understanding |
| Informed Decisions | Uninformed Decisions |
| Familiarity | Unfamiliarity |
| Known | Unknown |
| Faith | Fear |
| Light | Dark |
“Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.” — Dalai Lama
Knowledge = Destiny
Knowledge increases your ability to determine your Destiny. In other words, knowledge increases the degree of power with which you have to influence the outcomes in your life.
This is because the more knowledge you have, the better predictions you can make, the better decisions you can make and therefore the better results will be.
Summary (TL;DR)
Knowledge refers to the presence of understanding of information. Ignorance refers to the absence of understanding of information,
Knowledge leads to informed decisions and actions. Ignorance leads to uninformed decisions and actions.
Knowledge creates faith because we have faith in what we do understand (the known). Ignorance creates fear because we fear what we don’t understand (the unknown).
