Refraction can be measured and described but never captured. It has practical applications even while remaining wild and evocative. Everyday occurrences trigger stories in every culture. Explanations continue to fall flat.
If you are interested in an overview of different ways rainbows have been understood, try this link: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200409-rainbows-as-signs-of-thank-you-hope-and-solidarity.
Those interested in playing further might try a “compare and contrast” exercise with refraction and fractals. One approach is through physics: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/154576/how-would-a-fractal-refract-light. Another approach is through visual arts: https://www.deviantart.com/justravelin/art/Refracted-Fractal-Duo-69270342.
For the moment, of interest is asymmetrical slowing as light (life) enters, exits, or changes its current medium. As one edge is slowed, a beam shifts in its direction until all of it eventually follows suit, and a new straight line is established.
This reflects a similar process of changing one’s mind. An initial shift in a leading edge portends a fuller shift to come.
Conversion is not an instantaneous event. It can be credited to a first contact with something different or chalked up to a completed shift of a whole, non-zero beam. In real life, a change in life direction is as much a process as refraction.
This may not be recognized from within a refracted life. It is much easier to spot from the outside—as when a rainbow shows up on a wall. When it is an internal shift, we cover it over until it is well and truly on a different trajectory than before.
Given the multiplicity of our various parts, it makes sense that we are always behind a recognition of a new life. This is perhaps, even more, the case for a community. A take-away is to not give up on life getting better—we just haven’t caught up with a refraction point begun yesterday.