Ignorance is Bliss
That is the famous phrase taken from Thomas Gray's poem "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College". It essentially means that not having knowledge of something is a good thing as it means less disturbance to the mind.
I was watching one of my all time favourite movie, "Life is Beautiful", earlier last week (an umpteenth time) and this phrase came to my mind while watching it. The little kid, Roberto Benigni's son in the film, never realises what lies in store in the brutal Nazi concentration camp. For him it is just a game that he and his father have to play in order to win a prize.
On the other hand, if you have discovered something that the rest of the world is still ignorant about, it can spell great trouble for you. Some of the great scientists and philosophers in the past have faced this predicament. Italian scientist Galileo Galilei is a case in point. He created a huge controversy when he proved that the Geocentric model of the universe is incorrect and said that Sun is at the center of the universe (the Heliocentric model). The Catholic church forced him to change his statement and accept the earlier model. He spent the rest of his lifetime in house arrest. Here is a nice poem I found on the net written by Mike Finn, a Physics professor, on Galileo's inquisition:
Once again, the Inquisition questioned me,
Are you quite certainof what you have claimed to see?
I sweated, despite the chill.
Misunderstanding their intent, I replied,
through my lenses, I saw what I saw: spots on the sun;
valleys, mountains, and plains on the moon;
more moons circling Jupiter; the phases of Venus.
Heaven is quite a sight.
God’s creation is grander than we can possibly imagine.
Would anyone here care to see for himself?
Use the telescope lying before you on the table.
Their response was solemn and sure.
This Council will not be lectured
on that of which
we are already certain.
Let us speak plainly:
You are disturbing the people.
The truth will be what we say it is to be,
neither one word more nor one word less.
Defeated at last,
blinded by age,
broken in spirit,
I consented to their demands.
Your will be done, but, nevertheless,
Earth turns round the sun still,
no matter what you choose to believe,
or what I am forced to confess.
That is the famous phrase taken from Thomas Gray's poem "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College". It essentially means that not having knowledge of something is a good thing as it means less disturbance to the mind.
I was watching one of my all time favourite movie, "Life is Beautiful", earlier last week (an umpteenth time) and this phrase came to my mind while watching it. The little kid, Roberto Benigni's son in the film, never realises what lies in store in the brutal Nazi concentration camp. For him it is just a game that he and his father have to play in order to win a prize.
On the other hand, if you have discovered something that the rest of the world is still ignorant about, it can spell great trouble for you. Some of the great scientists and philosophers in the past have faced this predicament. Italian scientist Galileo Galilei is a case in point. He created a huge controversy when he proved that the Geocentric model of the universe is incorrect and said that Sun is at the center of the universe (the Heliocentric model). The Catholic church forced him to change his statement and accept the earlier model. He spent the rest of his lifetime in house arrest. Here is a nice poem I found on the net written by Mike Finn, a Physics professor, on Galileo's inquisition:
Once again, the Inquisition questioned me,
Are you quite certainof what you have claimed to see?
I sweated, despite the chill.
Misunderstanding their intent, I replied,
through my lenses, I saw what I saw: spots on the sun;
valleys, mountains, and plains on the moon;
more moons circling Jupiter; the phases of Venus.
Heaven is quite a sight.
God’s creation is grander than we can possibly imagine.
Would anyone here care to see for himself?
Use the telescope lying before you on the table.
Their response was solemn and sure.
This Council will not be lectured
on that of which
we are already certain.
Let us speak plainly:
You are disturbing the people.
The truth will be what we say it is to be,
neither one word more nor one word less.
Defeated at last,
blinded by age,
broken in spirit,
I consented to their demands.
Your will be done, but, nevertheless,
Earth turns round the sun still,
no matter what you choose to believe,
or what I am forced to confess.
No comments:
Post a Comment