Usually translated “ignorance,” avijjā refers to strong habits that literally prevent us from seeing clearly the true nature of human experience. That is, being caught up in clinging to painful ways of experiencing the world, chasing shallow forms of happiness that do not last, being constantly dissatisfied with life because of this. It is an unconscious habit of not clearly seeing habits, if you will. It is like “The Matrix,” a persistent delusion hiding what’s really going on. Unless we train ourselves to see clearly, ignorance masks how we experience the world. Evolution leads to this design because whatever habits produce more beings (with particular DNA) are the ones that are preserved through time; your happiness as an individual matters only as part of that mindless process. This is why dukkha, “suffering” or “unsatisfactoriness,” is normally a basic characteristic of our experience. Ajahn Sucitto’s translation of avijjā, in Kama and the End of Kamma, is “loss of stable awareness,” which highlights this lack of clear seeing. Rather than something solid, to which the world happens, each of us is a small, intricate whirlpool of change within the rolling ocean of the world. Seeing how this works gives us the power to end dukkha, stress & suffering.