One thing I’ve been asked after switching from Mormonism to atheism is if I’m happier. The first response I typically give is that I pursued truth, not happiness, and that I let the consequence follow. I give this response because the people asking are generally doing so to convince me that their truth is the better truth based on resultant happiness, as if that were somehow a determinant. However, I certainly have made a few observations on happiness as it relates to my transition.
Mormonism (and likely all organized religions) is a suppressant. If the full potential for joy looks something like this:
Mormonism suppresses that reality to look something like this:
In that sense, yes, I’m significantly happier since leaving Mormonism. But it works on the back end as well. So if the full spectrum of joy AND sadness looks like this:
Mormonism suppresses from both ends to make it feel more like this:
So I must also concede that (along with experiencing more joy) I do experience more sadness.
It does this on other spectra as well. Freedom and chaos. Pleasure and pain. Safety and risk. Positive and negative aspects of your personality. Moral stances (e.g., acceptance and rejection of others). Healthy concern for the environment and terror of the destruction of the earth. Sexual pleasure and… whatever the downside of orgasms might be. (Obviously it’s not having too many babies, according to Mormonism. I’m seriously drawing a blank here, but it’s VERY important to nearly every religion to suppress sexual enjoyment for some reason.)
Critics of Mormonism tend to focus on the suppression of joy while proponents focus on the suppression of sadness. And they debate endlessly because they’re both correct, but never concede that the opposing argument is correct as well.
Reality is broad. And scary. There may be great value in trimming off the edges. A narrower view of the world offers security, provides comfort, reduces distractions, makes life more manageable.
Religion is ignorance. Ignorance is suppression. And suppression of reality tends to have that effect on both ends no matter what its origin. If it sounds like I’m criticizing religion by calling it a form of ignorance, it’s only because you’ve affixed a negative label to ignorance (and because I freely criticize religion all the time). However, I’ve done no such thing (this time).
The extended version of the famous line “ignorance is bliss” is “where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise” and it is probably most accurately read as a criticism of wisdom and the promotion of ignorance.
Shortly after Robin Williams ended his own life I stumbled upon an interview with Chris Rock, who made one of the most poignant observations I’ve ever heard. When asked if he was surprised by Robin’s suicide, Chris answered as follows:
Nah, I mean it wasn’t a surprise. Comedians can be a sad bunch, you know. You know what’s the saying? Ignorance is bliss. So if ignorance is bliss, what’s the opposite of ignorance? Must not be bliss. And your job as a comedian, you know, is basically to notice everything. And the better the comedian, the more aware he or she is of the world around them. So you know, it can be not a happy place. Sometimes you can have too much information. Sometimes you can know too much. So no, I was not, I’m never shocked at a comedian dealing with depression.
The real tragedy is that you generally don’t get to pick your ignorance. By the time you’re aware of your wisdom, it’s too late to undo it. You can’t put toothpaste back in the tube, as the saying goes. (I bet you actually could, but it would be pretty gross).
So is there a happy medium when it comes to suppression through ignorance? And if so, are religions doing humanity a huge favor in keeping them in that safe zone? Maybe. And I’d be cool with that if they weren’t also bullies or shamers or murderous conquerors wherever they have a majority. (Now I’m criticizing religion.)
But I think Mormonism is too small. Especially in this age of free-flowing information. It suppresses too much. And when people burst that tiny bubble, they tend to continue along, tearing down layer after layer, expanding their world both in frustration and delight, banking on the fact that they were ignorant before and likely continue to be so. Some continue this way, suffering one existential crisis after another, until they reach the point of nihilism. Relationships end. Marriages are broken. Even lives are thrown away.
I’m not even condemning any of that. I’m simply observing that it happens. But why does it happen?
Some might argue that it’s a self-control or discipline thing. We say they “lost it” or they were “self-destructive”. We’re so quick to frown upon the non-conformists, to condemn anyone who makes choices different from our own, to slap “bad” and “good” labels on things, and even to celebrate the suffering of these people. I don’t see it that way.
Others might argue that reality is really just that awful. I don’t think that’s it either. I’ve been delighted by virtually every new discovery of reality along this path of wonder and change. It may be the most overused adjective there is to describe it, but life truly is beautiful.
But you know what does suck? Being at odds with society in general, and especially with the people with whom you associate the most.
I think that’s the reason why ignorance is blissful. Because most of the people are ignorant. I don’t say this pretentiously. I think it’s a matter of statistics–or perhaps human behavior. Ultimately, we are all infinitely ignorant (we’ll never know everything), and so “ignorance” becomes a comparison between the people who know the most about something and everyone else. Shifts in wisdom don’t happen with the majority of people leading the way and the minority trailing behind, but rather with individuals stepping out into the darkness, making discoveries, and reporting them back to the masses. And how is this teaching received? Generally with scorn and rejection. Don’t mess with our blissful ignorance, wise guy.
No, reality and wisdom about it aren’t terrible. Though it may be folly to be one of the firsts to acquire it, especially if you’re into bliss.
Imagine you were transported back in time to your very own society a few hundred years ago. How would you feel about slavery? Hopefully you would find it unconscionable. And what could you do about it? How could you change the perceptions, which you know to be flawed (because of your wisdom), of those around you? How blissful is your existence among people with that and so many other disdainful ideas? Go back even 50 years ago. Civil rights of racial minorities and women? It would be hell given your wisdom vs the ignorance of those around you.
What hell might someone from 200 years in the future experience living among us today? (Ideas of sexuality and theism come to mind.)
From the book Living the Secular Life by Phil Zuckerman:
Luke Galen is a professor of psychology at Grand Valley State University…
When I asked Professor Galen about the many studies which report that religious people seem to enjoy better levels of mental health than secular people, he explained that while this may certainly be due to the social support factor, it may also be a result of conformity–the positive outcome of simply being in line with one’s broader social context.
In other words, people who are doing what most people are doing tend to report better states of mental health than people who are not…
…religious people have a slight edge in terms of life satisfaction or lower depression. But that may be because they are engaging in what is considered to be normal, common behavior in their societies: participating in religion.
…So, for example, when looking at the more secular countries of Europe, religious people there don’t exhibit better mental health. And even within the United States, in the more religious parts of the country, religious people tend to report better mental health–but not religious people in the least religious parts of the country. So it looks like at least part of good mental health is just being embedded in the normative community.
Perhaps ignorance is not the bliss, but rather solidarity.
I frequently call Mormonism “conformonism”. (I coined the term, though I’m sure others have as well.) Members are continuously encouraged to follow prescribed dress codes, grooming habits, and speech patterns. Lessons are correlated and radical thoughts discouraged. Think this way. Speak this way. Act this way. Be like Jesus. All of us.
And people find a lot of bliss in that. I used to. But not any longer, because I squirted out all the toothpaste.
However, I am happier. Without question in the world of my own mind. I experience more joy, more sadness, and less suppression of these and other experiences. As I interact with those sharing similar worldviews, and also as society makes its snail-paced steps toward progressive ideas, I find even more bliss.