Ignorance prevails as long as the will remains cheated by its own offspring or its own image, consciousness, in which the knower always stands distinguished from the known. The darkness of ignorance cannot be dispelled because it is its own self.
D.T. Suzuki wrote those thoughts in his book, Doctrine Of No Mind. We all taste the water of ignorance as we travel through this physical life. Ignorance is a faithful companion, but it changes as we change. We are not always ignorant of things, but we are always ignorant of somethings.
Ignorance is a free-flowing muddy, mental river. As we experience life, facts and tangible things pull themselves out of the muddy waters of ignorance, and we see another side of our mind. Suzuki explains that ignorance is its own self. We think that self treats everyone the same, but that sameness has its own unique way of manifesting. We never really know ignorance until it disappears or is suddenly awakened by a mental nudge.
Our minds contain invisibles civilizations. Each mind has a personal history, geography and a unique personal culture. Ignorance lives in that culture in many different forms. There are peaks and valleys in the geography of the mind, and ignorance lives in every geographic fold within them. We travel some of these mental roads in ignorance. Our only tool on our journey is our ability to experience. Experience is a mind opener and an ignorance finder. Once we find ignorance we absorb it, and it becomes part of our mental personal history.
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