Are our actions the product of willful ignorance or free will? Or are they elements of some grand scheme over which we have absolutely no control – genetic predisposition playing itself out in our little corner of time and space? Is our ignorance ingrained in us vis-à-vis determinism or the product of poor choices? Does our willfulness chart our future, or is even such a thought but a figment of our imagination? Is willful ignorance a misguided attempt to hold onto ideas and beliefs – an attempt to explain our actions after the fact, or is it the best we can do to while sensing our experience of life as it glides by? Can we through acts of volition actually change our relationship to something, or do such misinterpretations simply veil unfolding karmic events?

Let’s throw these ideas around and examine them through our own personal perspectives, whether the filters we’ve been influenced by are spiritual practices, groups, philosophy, quantum theory, religion, yoga, genetics, evolutionary biology, or cognitive science – or other studies or experiences we’ve been affected by – and, of course, even what appears to be our plain old common sense.

Write and exchange what you think and feel; refrain from citing long quotes – instead use links. Attempt to preserve an environment of understanding one another rather than demeaning someone who perceives differently; refrain from personal attacks. Is it even possible to facilitate a change in another, or they within us without willful ignorance getting in the way? Is such a dynamic an unavoidable part of the process?

http://tribes.tribe.net/willfulignorancetribe