Dan Berry • January 20, 2026
Finding myself in the latter season of my life, I have had time to do a great deal of reflecting. If you take the time to look, it is amazing what you can see. One of my many observations is that even though we are living in what some call the information age—with instant access to knowledge, global awareness through the internet, and now artificial intelligence—it seems we should be swimming in understanding. You would think that we would be figuring some things out and that the world would be a better place.
Yet the opposite often feels true. As consumed as we are with what is happening around us, instead of digging for truth, we frequently rely on social media, sound bites, and talking points handed to us by others—snippets of what people think, especially when it aligns with what we already want to believe.
Have you ever heard the phrase “ignorance is bliss?” It suggests that not knowing certain truths can lead to greater happiness or peace of mind. This tension is not new. Knowledge can enlighten us, but it can also burden us. How many times have we ignored the information our own bodies tried to give us—warning signs that something was wrong—at the expense of our health or even our lives? Why would we do that unless ignorance felt like a safer place?
In daily life, knowledge often comes with responsibility. Learning about injustice, global crises, or human suffering can provoke anxiety, grief, or a sense of helplessness. A person unaware of looming problems may sleep better at night than someone who constantly absorbs troubling news. In this sense, ignorance can appear to protect emotional well-being, offering temporary comfort in a complicated world.
However, ignorance rarely remains harmless for long. Avoiding truth may preserve short-term peace, but it often leads to poor decisions and deeper consequences. As with health, ignoring symptoms may allow someone to feel fine for a while—but that calm disappears when the untreated problem worsens. Likewise, societies that choose ignorance over understanding tend to repeat mistakes, allowing misinformation and fear to flourish.
True wisdom lies in balance. Not all knowledge must be consumed blindly or constantly. Choosing when and how to engage with difficult information can help preserve mental health without abandoning responsibility. Awareness paired with compassion and healthy boundaries allows us to face reality without being overwhelmed by it.
Ultimately, ignorance may feel safe, but it is always short-lived. Growth, healing, and meaningful change require understanding—even when it is uncomfortable. While knowledge can be heavy, it also empowers us. It offers clarity, resilience, and the possibility of a deeper, more lasting peace than ignorance can ever provide.
Choose courage over comfort. Take time to seek truth with an open heart. Like surgery, truth may cause pain at first—but in the end, it heals and leads us into deeper freedom.
He has pastored for forty years in Iowa. After pastoring in predominantly white spaces for several years, he began to realize the need to bring about racial healing in the body of Christ. For the last 30 years he has worked to bridge ethnic and cultural divides, a work that has led him into confronting the churches complicity in upholding systems of racism.
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