It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable

“It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block.” Thus spoke Paul Gauguin, the restless artist who sought truth beyond the gray walls of convention. In these words, he offers not merely a painter’s lesson, but a revelation of the spirit. For Gauguin knew that color — like truth, like life — is not fixed. It shifts with the light, with the hour, with the heart of the one who sees. To declare that a thing “is” and can never be otherwise is to be blind to its mystery. It is the eye of ignorance that clings to certainty; the eye of wisdom perceives transformation in all things.

The origin of this thought lies in Gauguin’s rebellion against the rigid traditions of European art. In his time, painters were bound by rules that dictated what colors belonged to nature — the sky must be blue, the leaves green, the skin pale. But Gauguin, in his exile to Tahiti, saw differently. He looked upon the world and found that light danced upon it with endless variation. He painted red seas, yellow forests, and faces suffused with violet and gold. Critics called him mad, but Gauguin understood that reality itself is not static. He saw that art — and truth — must flow like the wind, alive to the shifting rhythms of perception. His warning, “beware of this stumbling block,” is therefore a call to cast off the chains of assumption and to see with living eyes.

Yet this lesson extends beyond the canvas. For in life as in art, how often do we fix others — and even ourselves — in unchangeable colors? We call one man good, another evil, one nation noble, another corrupt. We define, we label, we assign roles, and in doing so, we cease to see the living soul beneath the surface. This is the true ignorance Gauguin warns against — the blindness that mistakes appearance for essence, and the cowardice that clings to certainty instead of embracing mystery. The wise know that no being, no idea, no truth remains the same under every light. The morning reveals one color; the evening another.

Consider the story of Nelson Mandela, who was once condemned as a rebel and a criminal. The world saw him in a single, fixed hue — the color of resistance and defiance. But with time, that same man became a symbol of peace, forgiveness, and unity. What changed? Not the man, but the light in which he was seen. History, like art, is shaped by the eye that beholds it. Those who see only in one color — in the black and white of prejudice and assumption — remain forever prisoners of ignorance. But those who allow the world to shift in shade and tone discover beauty and truth in every transformation.

Gauguin’s wisdom is a call to perceptual humility — to remember that what we see is not the whole, but the part that light allows us. The artist who paints, the thinker who reflects, the lover who forgives — all must learn to look again, and then again, and again. To see deeply is to know that nothing is ever complete, that each moment reveals a new truth. The color of reality changes with understanding. The ignorant cling to the first impression; the wise rejoice in discovery.

And yet, Gauguin’s teaching is not merely about observation; it is about the spirit of freedom. When one abandons the notion of fixed colors, one becomes free — to create, to love, to grow. The painter can transform a sunset into a symphony of gold and green; the thinker can imagine new worlds beyond the known. To see the mutable nature of all things is to align oneself with the universe, which is itself a dance of change. Only the dead remain unchanging; life itself is the art of transformation.

So, dear listener, take heed of Gauguin’s warning: beware the eye of ignorance. Do not fix your judgments upon the world, upon others, or upon yourself. Look anew each day, for the light is never the same. Cultivate a vision that shifts and deepens — a vision that sees potential in imperfection, and growth in change. When you learn to perceive the world as Gauguin did, not as a painting already finished, but as one still being made, you will no longer stumble on the stones of ignorance. Instead, you will walk upon the path of insight, where color, truth, and beauty are forever reborn beneath the changing light.