I’m the kind of person to make very opinionated takes on my WhatsApp status, and something happened recently that made me understand that I’ll be giving yet another take.
But I decided to talk about it here first.
Enlightenment is a frightening thing.
It’s a frightening thing because it’s synonymous to scales falling from your eyes.
Sometimes, you’re happy with the new insight and knowledge you’ve gained, but there are the other times, when even with the knowledge that you’ve gained something, you regret that insight.
You regret that enlightenment.
Because the truth is that no information leaves us the same.
No knowledge leaves stagnant.
And so we end up missing who we were.
Who we were before we knew these things.
Because somehow our ignorance was our security.
And that is why they say that ignorance is bliss.
Because ignorance is safety.
Ignorance means lack of responsibilities.
Ignorance is welcomed naiveté.
Because what you don’t know can’t hurt you, right?
But now enlightenment is in the picture.
And so, you’ve gained knowledge, but at what cost?
There is this happiness you get in being a part of something. The joy that comes with the knowledge that you’re part of a people. That you belong somewhere. That they see you, they accept yoy, and they recognize the things you do with and for them, and love you every step of the way.
Yet, what happens when you find out that community of people is not everything. That there are things you don’t know, and that you’ll be victimised by these things you're ignorant of even when you hold dear the establishment in itself. It changes the whole narrative. How much of me has changed, and how much of me is no more with this insight?
Either way, I love that I’ve stepped into yet another phase of enlightenment, and while I’m sad that I’ve lost my innocence when it comes to these community of people, I’m looking forward to how my newfound knowledge would serve me. How different the decisions I make would be, and what new paths I would have to forge for myself.
I don’t regret putting myself out there, and being active (at my detriment) in the process even with this knowledge I’ve gained but I miss when I knew nothing. When my life with these people was blissful, and I felt like a child in a flowered dress, skipping along the path, and simply loving that I was even allowed to come along.
With knowledge comes responsibility.
But is it one I’m willing to take?
Image is mine.
