My parents taught me that I was God’s creation and that I was loved unconditionally by Him. They told me that the Bible was God’s Word and that it was perfect (something the Bible conveniently states about itself). They made it clear that all things good come from God, that Christianity was the source of all morality and that everything good in this world comes from it. I later learned that was all bullshit.

My parents never told me the full story.

Misinformed

In the first few years of my deconversion from Christianity – something that didn’t happen until my early thirties and took about six years – I had the feeling that I had been lied to. Lied to by my parents. Lied to by the church. Basically lied to by all of the people I trusted most.

Why hadn’t anyone told me about the full history of the Bible? Like how exaggerated orally transferred stories had made their way onto paper and were altered countless times. How this religion was historically used for political purposes to unite people under a single god and belief system. How Christianity is a fairly new religion, borrowing and stealing from the traditions of other mystical belief systems that came before it.

As far as I knew, Christianity had been around for a long time, everything else was a false religion, and that’s all I needed to know.

Inherited Ignorance

If you tell a lie, but don’t know it’s a lie, is it still a lie?

Coming to the realization that I was just another victim of generational ignorance — not a vast conspiracy perpetrated by those I loved the most — greatly improved my feelings about being lied to. Without the intention of lying, I didn’t feel lied to. Instead, I felt misinformed by those who had also been misinformed.

My parents never got the full story. Their parents never got the full story. I realized nobody ever gets the full story.

I can’t haz Enlightenment

Obvious examples of misinformation include news sources like MSNBC, Fox News or the bat shit crazy Glenn Beck. Less obvious examples include any source I implicitly trust. In the same way I implicitly trusted my parents and the church, I must accept that whatever enlightenment I think I have now is ultimately still an illusion.

For example, Sam Harris’ general philosophies resonate with me today, but it’s doubtful he communicates the full story through his writings. He most certainly leaves out details that he thinks are insignificant to the arguments he’s making. He also has probably never been a true believer of any religion like I have, and therefore lacks the ability of knowing what it’s like to feel the presence of God.

Sam Harris is incapable of telling the full story, just as I am incapable of perceiving and comprehending it. It’s part of the human condition.

A Fullish Life

No matter how much I read and learn, I will most certainly die not knowing the full story. The best I can do is to continue to seek out truth, as best as I can comprehend it.

If I can do anything with this knowledge of my chronic lack of knowing, it’s to be more patient with those I don’t agree with, and to try to be less of a dick.

Some of the simplest and shortest sayings that people use in U.S. culture are actually overly complicated and philosophically wrong. They're used to comfort those who are anxious or emotionally stressed, much like the religious institutions they are connected to.

Take for example the saying, "everything happens for a reason." It's something that people tell others to imply that God has a hand in certain (or all) events, and it's okay, because the circumstances must be connected to something bigger than them – a master plan.

As a freethinker – one who espouses logic, reason and science – a more correct saying would be:

"everything happens for a reason"

While coincidences occur in practically everyone's life, in most (if not all) cases the things that affect us are a response to stimulus from an incomprehensible system. There is no plan as the superstitious would have us believe. Everything just happens, period. We must deal with it, whatever it may be, if we can.

There's another saying that's become popular near where I live, and that's, "it's gonna be ok." Or better known as IGBOK. The "ok" part means it will be okay after death, when you're in Heaven, blah, blah, blah. Not exactly helpful for the here and now, unless of course you long for death and can't wait to live in your fictitious resting place for eternity.

I prefer the more existential statement of:

"it's gonna be ok"

At the root of these sayings is a desire to provide comfort to another person (which is obviously not a bad thing in and of itself). However, in the same way that all religions are used as a coping mechanism for our limited and sometimes miserable existence, all these sayings really do – philosophically speaking - is provide false hope.

I was thinking about ignorance today. I realized – I doubt for the first time – that ignorance is not just one thing. There are different types of ignorance. Different reasons and circumstances for why people experience ignorance.

Incapable of knowing ignorance

Some people are ignorant because their life circumstance doesn't permit them to know. They could live in another country and be ignorant of a cultural folkway – one that's never been discussed on the Internet or in any book. Or they could be mentally incapable of understanding something.

Choose not to know ignorance

This is the "ignorance is bliss" type of ignorance. This can be conscious or unconscious denials of facts. A mother who refuses to accept that her son is gay or a Christian who refuses to follow a logical thought pattern for fear of finding an answer that is inconsistent with their beliefs.

Influenced to not know ignorance

Then there are people who are suffocated by those around them. A religious family that shuns any education that isn't inspired by their own canon and rituals, forcefully and intentionally keeping their children from experiencing a world view that would deviate from their own family traditions.

Not knowing how to know ignorance

There are those who lack the tools and skills to research, learn and build upon their knowledge. Even if they wanted to know more, they wouldn't know where to begin.

Stupid ignorance

Then there are those who refuse to live mindfully, and allow their impulses to drive their behaviors and are unable to take the time to experience empathy or understand the world around them. They experience the worst kind of ignorance. The kind that makes everyone's lives a living hell.