Reflection
Dispersion, Diffraction, Refraction
It's encoded in our language that when we think about something, we are reflecting - a word that initially combines re "to turn back" or "to undo," with flectir "flexibility" or "bending."
Nowadays, the movement and act of reflection is linked to "the action of returning light or heat," from the Latin reflexionem - "bending back," "tilting back, moving away." The meaning of "an image produced by a mirror" comes from the 17th century. And with Enlightenment humanism comes the connection to the mind, "turning one's thoughts back to past experiences or ideas," i.e., an "observation made after thinking again about some subject." The reevaluation, contemplation, and examination of the thinking process.
Today, we know that light, possibly just like thoughts or ideas, can be reflected. But there are other ways of observing the behavior and trajectory of waves, such as dispersion, Diffraction, and Refraction.
We then observe the fluid movement of ocean waves, light, sound, and, perhaps, consciousness.
Reflection is a sudden change in the direction of propagation of a wave, like a reflection in a mirror. Dispersion, on the other hand, connects propagation with speed. Diffraction refers to interference in the propagation of waves around obstacles, as occurs with sound, electromagnetic radiation, light, X-rays and gamma rays, atoms, neutrons, and electrons. Refraction is the change in direction of a wave from one medium to another due to a change in speed.Â
Refraction tells us that waves move faster in deep water than in shallow water; the speed of sound waves is greater in warm air than cold air; sounds, such as voices and music, can be heard much further through the water at night than during the day. A ray of sunlight is made up of many wavelengths which, combined, appear to be colorless. Still, when it enters a glass prism, the different refractions of the various wavelengths spread them out in a rainbow, opening up the spectrum of the various colors.
What if, instead of just Reflecting so often in a closed and standardized circuit, addicted to one-dimensional rationality and unable to get out of reflections that imprison us, we considered Dispersing, dissipating confinements, dissolving ties and pouring ourselves into relationships?
What if we took on Diffraction, assuming the blurred shadows, such as blind spots, prejudices, inevitable obstacles, and noise that interfere with our idealizations of purity?
What if we could ruminate and evoke through Refraction, which speaks to us of the vast echo of darkness and depth, which opens us up to different speeds of being and the vastness of the colors that make us up?
What if reason, with our thoughts, beliefs, and ideas, is much more fluid than the linear and logical crystallization with which we want to tame it?
What if thinking is like the ocean’s waves?
 References
https://www.etymonline.com/
https://www.britannica.com/