Ignorance is bliss. Solomon and Socrates were miserable.
I mean this seriously. No one thinks that the path to wisdom is easy, and even when someone achieves it, why do they continue to try and get more? Surely wise people are introspective and observant enough to see that it's not making them happy. So why continue?
I have this theory (what else is new?). Ignorance and bliss both avoid pain. Balance seeks to maintain an equilibrium. You can maintain bliss so long as nothing bad comes up. Stable job, stable routine, stable relationships, and you have a comfortable life. It's people who lament grown up responsibility and miss the "glory days" and "honeymoon phase".
Let me be clear, infatuation is just another form of ignorant bliss. And maybe that's enough, right? Maybe that is the best part of a relationship, and it is just downhill from there. Maybe there is merit to avoiding things ever becoming too serious. I just know that to me, personally, that feels confining.
I've been cursed to be created as a serious person. It's not like I don't enjoy fun things, it's just not where I spend most of my time or energy. Sure, I can be entertaining easily enough, and I'm a master of dark, cynical humor, but it's only those who I love who have ever seen me be "goofy". Plenty people see "weird", few have seen me laugh so hard at my own jokes that I cry.
At any rate, I don't have an easy time relating to people unless I can be serious. To me, the serious parts of a relationship are blessings, because then I can relax my overtaxed entertaining persona. I can talk about more than just the random exciting TV show I've seen, but also share my fears, griefs, and frustrations.
When I don't have a solid based relationship with someone, it's usually at this point that people do not know how to respond. What I've found, however, is that these people also do not know how to respond to when I am "overjoyed". Those who cannot sit with me in my grief can also not sit with me in my joy. Because joy is powerful and wrecks equilibrium.
So why not just have this joy all the time? Well, from a biological perspective, people who have their dopamine receptors firing this intensely for so long have them burn out. Scientifically, we call them "addicts".
It might be the cynical part of me that enjoys this, but I look forward to when I get a "healthy dose of reality". It might be, because I think it is possible (and dangerous) to get enjoyment from cruelty. However, since I think people are more complicated than just one emotional state, I also think that we can only relate to each other when we experience, accept, and understand one another in more than just one emotional state.
I'll try and tie this together now.
Bliss is one emotional state which we relate to others. Several relationships start there and just want to stay there (and maybe that's ok, with like work relationships and extended family). The longer you stay with someone, the less ignorant you become, and the further you move from bliss. So you can either limit how you know them, find new things to constantly be interested in together, or figure out how to deal with other emotions together. When you and someone else sit in a range of emotions together, you've begun to validate and accept each other. Bliss and equilibrium are gone, but those were always just training wheels that would stunt your growth if they stayed any longer.
Solomon may have written Ecclesiastes, but he definitely wrote Song of Solomon. Socrates was killed for seeking wisdom, but he faced death unafraid. How many people have ever been as deep as these two men? How many have felt grief as strongly?
You can avoid sadness by being blissfully ignorant, but you cannot love and not seek knowledge. Happiness without other emotions is also self-destructive. Ignorance may be bliss, but misery at least gets to enjoy company.
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