Better to Be

I think Mill made a good point in his illustration of a pig and human's concept of satisfaction and awareness. Mill said, "It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." In this statement, Mill argues that knowledge is bliss over ignorance. He was right in saying that it is better to at least know that he has imperfections over being oblivious. The image I saw in my head at first is of two musicians each performing a song. The first musician misses a few notes on the bridge, yet sees his performance as perfection, leaving satisfied with his work. The second musician messes up the entire bridge, looks back on his performance, analyzes himself and the song, and works hours afterward to perfect the song. The second musician may have messed up more, but is aware. The second musician is capable of fixing his mistakes, while the first musician will never get any better because he is blinded by ignorance.

I commented on Francesca's post.