despair and blissful ignorance

When I tell people that I am studying sociology and focusing on the sociology of religion, inevitably there are questions.  I usually need to explain to people that no, I am not going to be a pastor when I am done.  Other times, somehow the word 'religion' is like a mental block that doesn't allow people to think beyond 'theology,' which ironically is something that we very, very rarely consider.  Either way, the conversation usually doesn't stop there.

This makes for interesting bar/happy hour discussions.  (This isn't really a new thing for me at bars - ask Sara)  Not too long ago we were at the bar with the residents and someone asked me and so we got on the conversation of religion.  Seeing as how I like to talk about this stuff, and also seeing as how I have been on an existentialism kick for a bit now, we somehow arrived at Kierkegaard.  Ok, I arrive at Kierkegaard.  I was talking about his ideas of despair and defining commitments as a way out of the dark, and one of them, trying to take the blank look off his face - i need to figure out how to stop causing that - says, "well, ignorance is bliss."  To him, the best line of action is to do all that he can to avoid arriving at the inevitable realization that life apart from a Kierkegaardian defining commitment is submersed in despair.

In earlier generations this would probably seem like an odd conclusion juxtaposed the possibility of realizing one is stuck in despair, but for our generation this is old hat for some reason.  Why is this, I wonder, that we prefer to survive though life with a veneer of optimism instead of tearing off the veneer and looking into the face of actually living life?  In the past social research consistently showed that going to college could be detrimental to one's belief in the existence of God.  People would go to school and be exposed to lots of different view-points and ideas and realize that their own may not be the only one, nor the best one.  It can be tantalizing (or paralyzing?) to live in a box and then have the door opened and see a myriad of options.  It is like living in the corner store and then going to a super Walmart.

This is not really the case anymore.  The secularizing effect that college used to have on students is nearly absent today.  One of the reasons for why this is the case is that students today are literally no longer interested in questions of ultimate purpose and existence to the extent that it makes a difference personally.  This is interesting to me.  Why are we more content to live in despair than otherwise if given the option?  More than that, what does optimism really mean if we prefer ignorance?  What are we optimistic for in that case?

Do I prefer my box in disregard for world as it is?