“Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes, it obstructs your vision.”
This is both literal and abstract. Gold, like most dust, will indeed obstruct your vision and probably be quite painful. This irritating metaphor shows how even materials that we feel are precious can hurt us in ways we may not have thought of.
Another metaphor would be to highlight how gold, the epitome of material wealth, can “get in our eyes” as in that is all we see, such is the case with material obsession. We can get money or gold in our eyes and become blind to the feelings of those around us, and our own spiritual minds that we must take care of.
We are of mind and body, they are the same. We must take care of both, for ourselves and those around us. If we don’t we will cause suffering. We do not want to get gold dust in our eyes. Too much of something is not good, instead we enjoy moderation.
Gold in the eyes makes it hard to see anything else. Let us remember how precious everything is.