"Isn't it better to live in ignorance of everything--asphalt, macadam, vehicles, telephones, television--to live in bliss without knowing it?"
Respond to this quote from 3 Cups of Tea. Do you agree? In a society that is built around consumption and consumerism are we even able to comprehend what this suggests?
Not having lived in a place without vehicles, telephones, etc. I can't say that I can judge one way or another. Others that have lived as missionaries in small African villages tell me that life without these things is far simpler. That could be either good or bad. Is it possible that neither lifestyle is better, that they are different but equal?
ReplyDeleteI think that this is true because you don't realize what you're missing. It could be something good but you also are missing out on some of the bad things that come along with the good things. We can't even imagine what living without cars, plumbing, and electricity is like. We have grown up with it and have become dependent on those things. Without ever having them introduced to you, you don't gain that dependency. If you are happy without those things even though you have never been introduced to those things then it is better to live in ignorance.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot even come close to truly understanding and comprehending this idea. We are now so utterly enveloped in the world we know - a world of technology, innovation, communication, instant gratification - that to imagine a world where these things didn't exist is beyond us. We know it all to well to understand what life would be like without it. Even if we were to experience it, similarly to how Mortenson experienced it, we would not be able to truly comprehend what it would be like to live that life. We have been exposed to so much that, even if presented with the experience itself, we could not just forget what it would be like to live the way we do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this quote. When we ar eliving in this society of consumption and consumerism we have lost what is most imoortant which is one another. While we are worrying about how much money we're going to make the rest of our lives. The village that we are reading about in Pakistan is trying to survive. And to survive you need to look out for eachother. I wish we had that here. Yes we do have a lot of things that make this life easy. But doesn't that let us get away with a lot of things? Getting drunk at parties? Doing drugs? Maybe if life wasn't so complex we wouldn't have so many complex problems..
ReplyDeleteI think it is better to live in ignorance. I think that in our society, we always want more, more, more, more, because that is what we see in our lives. We see other people with 10,000 sq ft. houses, and we want that. Our friends get a ferrari, and we want that. In America, we have the best of everthing in the world, and it creates greed and selfishness. I think that in places in the world where they have absolutly no idea what they are missing, they are better off because they can live simply with what they have and be happy with it. I do think technology has done many good things for us in our generation, but I think that if i honestly had the choice to forget that all of this existed and live simply on only what was necessary, I would choose to do that.
ReplyDeleteSince we are a society that lives in bliss and consumerism we will naturally take things for granted. The only reason we use technology/communication/vehicles is to make everyday life easier, but we could just as well live with out it. It's hard to say that being in a wonderful bliss is a bad thing, especially when we consider how the daily American lives. But I don't think we'd be able to fully adjust to the situation if we saw it, because we have it so well here. Our society isn't based on survival every day, we have things made beyond simple for us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this statement because cultures like this don't know what excess is, they only know what they truely need to survive. I do not think that we can fully comprehend what what the author suggests because we are always surrounded by excess. We only know what we want and we do everything we can to get those things. Never in our lives have we experienced a time when we need something desperately or else we will die.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be nicer to live without all of that stuff but I would want to know what its like to live with all of it so its possible to feel the difference. If we never knew that we were living in bliss, I dont think it would be as nice as it sounds because we would be used to it and maybe take it for granted
ReplyDeleteI dont think we can fully comprehend this because we have never felt this "bliss" that he is talking about.
I think that this concept is hard to comprehend. We don't realize how bad other people have it and the daily struggles that people in other countries have to face. I think that it is better to live in ignorance of technology because it really isn't important and when you realize you don't have it than you might look down on yourself and your society. They have each other and their families which is something we take for granted, they have it so much harder than the majority of us in the US and they still manage to have smiles on their faces. They appreciate the little things, like a jacket or a Nalgene water bottle. I think their ignorance in a way is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIt's convenient to throw stones at the materialism of modern society, but happiness is not dependent on external influence. It can momentarily be augmented or diminished, and with great advances, can reach a new standard of contentment. However, happiness, like most things, is relative, and whatever standard a peoples become acquainted with is how they will judge external influences upon them, as either positive or negative.
ReplyDeleteIn our country i think its virtually impossible to live "in ignorance of everything" we are all brought up to seek better lives for ourselves and our children, and with the technology even medical advances these days, its hard to get back to the more ruggid times. Mortenson makes a reference to the two boys sifting through their hair for lice, and in our world that would be unheard of, from what we have seen and experienced we would be unable to see this village as a valuable bliss. It's sad to see how far we have come and what we've lost in connecting and loving people by choosing over materialistic things, and in this clip of the book we see the most loving village of people who have nothing but care and respect for eachother and whoever may stumple into their bliss. some people seek this kindness by traveling and like mortenson finding these extraoridinary groups of people to learn from and eventually give back.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. In todays society we live off of what we want but not what we really need. In todays world in America we can have whatever we want and with technology is is even easier to get what we want. What we dont realize is there are people in the outside world, the real world, that struggle every day to get food and even water. We on the other hand can just go to the tap and not worry about diseases from the water. We can also just walk to our refrigerator and grab some fresh food. I wouldnt say that we live horrible lives because of this but this is the way we live and thats the way they live, its just the way it is.
ReplyDeleteI think that by living in a society that is not based on consumerism, but rather survival, people would have a more unobstructed view of their life and what they seek to accomplish. Even if their goal in life is to merely survive day to day and form a family in a tight nit community, it seems that these people could have a more meaningful life than the people in our society that are more motivated by capitalistic desires and modern technology than looking at what they aim to acheive in their lives day to day.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because how can someone take atvantage of something that they don't even know exsits? I think that it would be easier to live a more simple life but I don't know that I would realize that i'm in a more simple life, so it would be hard. In a society that is built around consumption and consumerism I don't think we understand what a 'simple' life is. We grew up in a fast moving, technology based country and I think it would be hard for a lot of us to try to step back for a second, take everything modern away and understand how their life is actually run.
ReplyDeleteThis is hard for us to comprehend. We are so use to technology and cars and entertainment stuff like television that for some of us, it would be hard for us to imagine what it would be like to live without it. I agree with the statement because being able to avoid the chaos of the modern world and living a simple life would be great. However, certain people will disagree. Some people may want the simple life, but many people like their lives in the modern world. There is nothing wrong with living in the modern world.
ReplyDeleteTrying to find a balance between the two is the goal. Taking things like medicine, roads, farming, shelter, and education are advances in history that has certainly made life easier. Taking things like this and adding it to a simple lifestyle really promotes the essense of enjoying the sun, sky, and earth, and everything that they do for you. Having some modern conveniences are gateways to the disquisting truths that are really out there. So the question is, how much education does someone living in solitude need in order for them to want more of the modern life?
ReplyDeleteI think it is better to live without such things because you would cheating all of the natural causes of various attractions(illnesses, natural disasters, etc.) ALTHOUGH as we develop as a society the world is also changing at a faster pace than us, and in order to keep up with the worlds progression we must create new things out of the natural resources it provides for us to create a society that would be able to keep up & deal with all the changes.
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I personally do agree. I think the world could be better off had we not had such a technilogical boom as we have. I do think all of the advances we have made in our society have contributed to the highly intellectual abilities that we have in this region, however I do think that these advances have also contributed to the turmoil that we have suffered, as well as making us unaware of what the world is around us. The United States is a special bubble, Highlands Ranch, CO is an even denser bubble which shields us from even our own nations troubles. Where we live people would be unable to comprehend giving up everything to live in the bliss of nature. We consume so much of the amentities that we should be more grateful to have, and if we lost these things at this point it would be an apocalypse moment. The crazy thing though is as the world turned to chaos when all of our man made treasures just disappeared, these people and other villages like them would be absolutely unaffected, because they don't rely on these things. I think there blissful living is something special that I wish I could have every know and then, just a way to get away from all the commotion of our informational world. However I do believe that we have itr much better off in our lives because we are not living by surviving, and to be honest if we were thrown into their lives we wouldn't survive.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with this quote. If you do not know what is going on in the world and what you are missing out on, then you do not have the desire to have it. It is better to be happy in life with what you have then living a life with always wanting and desiring more. I believe it is difficult to comprehend this in America because we have all these goods. We go to school, we get laptops to work on. We have a shelter, food, a warm bed. Balti does not have as much as we do, but still live a happy life with what they have.
ReplyDeleteI agree but I also think that some people in today's society really do understand what they are actually living like. Some people think that they know but I feel like if they actually saw how these people are living then they would be astonished at what they see and how these people get through life.
ReplyDeleteIt is very hard to understand how these people feel or how we would feel in this situation. The reason it is so hard to relate to is that we have found ourselves in an purely technological lifestyle. The Pakistani people have no more that blankets and Huts. However, i think that the more adventurous souls CAN begin to feel this without ever seeing it. Anyone who has ever been trapped in the middle of nowhere with little to know supplies knows exactly what i mean. Here's how i can relate. When i was a lot younger me and my grandpa were on a fishing trip in the flattop mountains it was a fantastic trip up until the end. Days before our departure, it rained for hours upon end, flooding the sketchy winding dirt roads making travel impossible. We had no choice but to stay at camp for another couple of nights. Before being "stuck" living off the land partially seems pretty easy to do. But as soon as catching or not catching a fish means life and death, its not so fun. This was only a few days, i cant imagine a life in conditions like this, only in much more harsh terrain.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's all hard to comprehend how this is because of how much we depend on our everyday life style to entertain us. Like the fact that some of us would start going through "withdrawal" if we didn't have our computers, TV, or phones. It is easier to never have something and live without it than to have something and get it taken away so you have to learn to live without it. We also don't have the knowledge from our younger age on how to survive in these conditions its just taught that we don't need to learn how to survive since we just pay someone for food and we all have an average amount of money, and have stuff we don't even need. I think our ways of living are pretty simple compared to most and we don't understand that.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with this quote because I feel like everyone should have the option to experience luxuries like vehicles and television. Then choose which type of life they would prefer. Maybe after seeing both sides they would be able to see which life is bliss and appreciate it. I think that people should be able to know that they are living in "bliss" because if they don't they may not appreciate it. I think it is very difficult for people in our country to picture what life is like for people in other countries, especially those that aren't as developed as our country is. We take most of the things that we have for granted and I don't think we can picture what is like to have barely anything and to be hungry.
ReplyDeleteI believe that living in ignorance would be better for in today's society we can never be thankful for the simple luxeries we have; we are constantly in search for something bigger and better. We have grown up with so much that we take for granted unlike those who don't understand the luxeries we have. What they don;t know they don't want want want like we do. Living a life of ignorance would cut out the greed and selfishness we see in our society today. Those without it can live simpler lives that we wouldn't understand or could relate to. Yes, we are very lucky for everything we have but it's a different view for those who live without everything we have.
ReplyDeleteIn a society that is built around consumption and consumerism we are not even able to fully comprehend what this quotation suggests. There isn't a single one of us has lived like a Balti. None of us live without modern conveniences therefore none of us can even truly respond to this quote, but merely offer an opinion. I believe that it is not better to live in ignorance of everything purely for health and educational benefits.
ReplyDeleteI feel like living a life like this would be so much more pure and honest than what our society lives. Were so caught up in our routines that we sometimes forget about what’s really important. I feel like being ignorant of all the things described would make it easier to focus on what’s really important, faith, family, friendships, etc. I think a balance between the two would be key though, people not only focusing on our technology and complex lives, but also on the simpler things in life. We have become so numbed by technology that I feel like personal connections aren’t as strong as they could be. I can’t honestly say that I feel like our society could transition to the way of life described in the passage, but I do think we can change our mindsets to reflect the way the people think. We live in a society that wants more more more, and we need to learn to be content with what we have like the villagers.
ReplyDeleteyou would think so... i think that is the easy way to think though. To just ignore the world around you is ignorant, and i dont belive ingnorance is bliss. Even if the world around you seems corrupt and ugly it doesnt mean that you should ignore it. Maybe you could try and change it. maybe make it something worth livng in. If you live ignoring all the bad things it doesnt help you. You are still living in the shitty world. You are still present phyisicaly just not mentaly. I agree with what bret says balance in life is very key. So have a balance in how much you pay attention to the little stuff. Ad pay attention to the part you play in our society.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the media has complete control of how we view the outside world. They can take the smallest thing and make it so huge and out of proportion and I feel like that is the case for our view on middle Eastern countries. Public safety is completely different over there, yet the news doesn’t focus in on this, but rather bullets and bombs like he says. If I were to actually research this topic I have the feeling I would find that there are exponentially more deaths caused by thing other than violence, contrary to popular belief. At first I think I would be apprehensive about visiting Pakistan because of the things I’ve heard about it, terrorists, street fights, etc; but in the end I think the roads, food, and just way of life would be more shocking and prevalent then the fighting. I feel like we are spoon fed beliefs on just about everything from the media, and that is the case involving Middle Eastern countries. Yes the danger is still there from bullets and bombs, but like the quote says death would more likely come from another source.
ReplyDeleteYes i think they are in somewhat denial. But i also dont think they realize it though. Living in an area in your life no moatter how bad it looks it will lokk normal to you. But once you go out and live in an area that is better than you will realize it then. The world wont be a place that everything is in bliss. Theres always going to be a place that has hate.
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