, THE BLACK ESSAYS
I
THE GNOSIS IN BEING COLOURBLIND
2
, 19th January 2022
I have just moved. Of whom I used to live with has also
been my best friend for three years, and good friends for
nine. In our time as friends and housemates we shared
many conversations, relating muchly to perception and
philosophical talks. However, I had forgotten until last
week that he was colourblind. Before his girlfriend and I
had tested him, ending in a bit of offense, and I had
decided to remind him that there is nothing wrong with
who he is, and how he sees, and that my queries and
fascinations with how he sees so differently to most of us,
is without judgment and only with pure joy and good
intentions.
It is important to remember that our imagining of the
experience of being colourblind is not the experience of
the colourblinded. Jack knows he’s colourblind because
he has been reminded many times, but he doesn’t
experience being colourblind. He doesn’t even know
what being colourblind is. Instead, he has inherited a
3
I
THE GNOSIS IN BEING COLOURBLIND
2
, 19th January 2022
I have just moved. Of whom I used to live with has also
been my best friend for three years, and good friends for
nine. In our time as friends and housemates we shared
many conversations, relating muchly to perception and
philosophical talks. However, I had forgotten until last
week that he was colourblind. Before his girlfriend and I
had tested him, ending in a bit of offense, and I had
decided to remind him that there is nothing wrong with
who he is, and how he sees, and that my queries and
fascinations with how he sees so differently to most of us,
is without judgment and only with pure joy and good
intentions.
It is important to remember that our imagining of the
experience of being colourblind is not the experience of
the colourblinded. Jack knows he’s colourblind because
he has been reminded many times, but he doesn’t
experience being colourblind. He doesn’t even know
what being colourblind is. Instead, he has inherited a
3
