The Paradox of Memory: Why Forgetting Makes Learning Possible

Willful ignorance is a different process. Consider a food analogy.

Of the food we take - cells accept a % of it as nutrients and such, rest is discarded as waste. The cells know how to get this job done - it's a very complex process for sure.

I think it's the same with information content - a % actually is useful for making life happen - whereas the rest should ideally be discarded because it is meaningless from a life perspective. The mind just knows what's important most of the time.

In this case - willful ignorance would be something like intermittent fasting or regulating food intake carefully, since it is a conscious process.

The former process is unconscious and operates at the "cell level" whereas the latter is a conscious process that operates at the "whole-being" level.