Philosophysm Daily - Desiderius Erasmus

Ever heard the saying 'Ignorance is bliss'? We'll be looking at a champion of it's cause - today's philosopher is Desiderius Erasmus.

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Erasmus was most known for his satirical standing on the religious institutes of the 1500's. He wrote quite a bit about the indoctrination of christian beliefs, and how this hampered spirituality by creating too much structure and discipline around something that is intrinsically a free-form phenomenon.

It was out of these views that Erasmus came to his most profound insight - that knowledge and happiness are two opposing forces. Erasmus argued that naivety was a fundamental part of being human, that without it we became too restrained by self-imposed complications, and often didn't do the things that we really wanted to do.

For Erasmus, a mind focused on knowledge was a heart not focused on living, and he paired this idea with spirituality . Erasmus believed that a relationship built with 'God' should be personal, simple, and heartfelt - through strict theology and intellectual probing, the essence of faith was eroded.

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Erasmus believed in being an honest human, living and learning freely without hesitation. We often find ourselves trying to calculate every possible outcome, trying to predict in the hope of creating a safety net for ourselves should things fail - and yet its often this very process which frightens us away from doing what we set out to do. Is that really effective? We box ourselves up with walls made from our dogmas, our theories, and our text books - but at the end of the day we're all just as human as the next sorry arsehole, and the next, and the next.

There will always be risks, there'll always be a reason to not do something or not love someone, but sometimes the best way to go about your life is in ignorance of this - for what worth is life if spent pondering on whether or not to live?

I hope you enjoyed the read. Please like, share, and follow if you'd like to see more Philosophysm Daily. Do you agree with Erasmus? Is it better to be a silly goose than an all-knowing owl? Leave a comment and express yourself!

Till next time... stay woke!