Ignorance is one of the major obstacles that we encounter, according to Buddhist teaching. The 'three poisons' as they are called, that form the very center of the endless round of life and death, are lust, hatred, and ignorance. And usually ignorance is seen as lack of knowledge, perception, or even intelligence. It appears to be a rather passive fault - at worst, wrong views, misunderstanding, quite unlike the active qualities of desire and hatred.
A long time ago one of my dearest friends pointed out to me that one can also see ignorance - in some instances at least - as rooted in actively ignoring things. There is an element of choice in such ignorance, not the simple dice-toss of one's genes, or bad luck in birthplace, parents, personal qualities. Choosing not to be aware is the worst form of this poison. The subtlety of it makes it even more powerful. It's hard not to notice burning desire, or firece hatred - but that soft turning away that is the first step into not-knowing happens so easily, seems so innocent that it is doubly dangerous.
A long time ago one of my dearest friends pointed out to me that one can also see ignorance - in some instances at least - as rooted in actively ignoring things. There is an element of choice in such ignorance, not the simple dice-toss of one's genes, or bad luck in birthplace, parents, personal qualities. Choosing not to be aware is the worst form of this poison. The subtlety of it makes it even more powerful. It's hard not to notice burning desire, or firece hatred - but that soft turning away that is the first step into not-knowing happens so easily, seems so innocent that it is doubly dangerous.
