Eyes Open and Eyes Shut : Thoughts for Rosh Hashana, by Rabbi Marc D. Angel
Paul Gaugin, the famous 19th century French artist, commented: “When I want to see clearly, I shut my eyes.”
He was referring to two different ways of perceiving reality. With our eyes open, we see surface reality—size, shape, color etc. But with our eyes shut, we contemplate the context of things, our relationship to them, the hidden meanings.