The price of greatness and of ignorance

Is it so bad then to be misunderstood?
Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh.
To be great is to be misunderstood.
- Emerson

Yes, but most of them were executed for their beliefs. Copernicus only revealed his findings that our sun was not the centre of the universe just before he died because he feared he would lose his job with the church and be excommunicated. Newton had to recant his finding that Earth is not the centre of the solar system or be imprisoned for life (if not executed).

Yet where would our knowledge of the world we live in be if these men had not done what they did and written or spoken about what they found?

Today we live in a world where scientists and other researchers and explorers expand the depth of human knowledge every day. New discoveries are often greeted by abuse from the peers of the discoverers. But, in general, msot people simply ignore most of the findings.

We are comfortable in our ignorance.

There's a steep price to be paid for ignorance. But that price need only be paid later. For now, learning new knowledge is hard work we believe we can safely avoid if we just mind our own business.

Bill Allin
"Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to take the cover off ingorance and reveal it for the hell it really is.
Learn more at http://billallin.com/cgi/index.pl