Woody Allen once said that mankind now stands at a crossroads; “One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly “ And are these two options really it? No I don’t think so…?. We have love, laughter, still an ounce of individualism, still an ounce of soul and real feeling that hasn't been ripped out our minds by television or raped by advertising, doing all of those things for us. Are we the humanoids that Howard Beale speaks of in Network?
And after feeling this, I ponder the question…is ignorance truly bliss? Have I cursed myself through asking why it isn't? By removing the glass ceiling, have we removed a glass floor that ultimately, was the only thing protecting us from the large gaping downward spiral into despair and self-loathing? Ironically i question my questioning with a series of questions. Because it's all i know. Am i happier for it? Well i don't know. It’s immeasurable. It is on a completely different scale to the happiness that you derive from a particularly funny episode of Frasier or a particularly good meal at an ego-masturbatingly pricey restaurant.
Again I’ll contradict myself, well in-fact, define myself by putting this question into the context of a film: The blue or the red pill...is it ignorance or bliss, or is it ignorance as bliss or else is it committing yourself to the unknowing. That’s the crux of it. Fear hides behind the guise of bliss. It's not ignorance if it's a knowing ignorance. I would only be deceiving myself, tricking myself into bliss. Doublethink? “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom” says Bertrand Russell. My thought process works like books and films because my life experience is limited. But so is everyone’s or at least the majority. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe books and films have opened our minds to our own ignorance, as juxtaposed as it seems. But then everything comes with balance. I guess it’s the difference between watching Eastenders and Planet Earth.
But life will out. There is no such thing as just good or just evil. Balance? Time after time, I come full circle back to a 50/50. Once someone told be I either need to commit to one thing or another, never sit in the middle, looking both ways, because all you’ll get is a pain in the neck. The sentimental bastard. But maybe if I take a step back I can look at both. Take life as it happens, in the knowledge that it will.
