The Prism vs. Obsidian — Transparency as Strength
Most men live like obsidian — dark, dense, absorbing all the light that comes near them. They fill themselves with preconceived notions and rigid beliefs, desperate for structure. They are impenetrable, which feels like strength.
But that very density blocks the light that is trying to find them.
A prism doesn’t keep the light. It takes an invisible signal and refracts it into something beautiful.
The call is to become a prism: clear, transparent, vulnerable enough to let what passes through you emerge as something others can see and use. Not to generate the light — to stop blocking it.
What obsidian does
The obsidian response to the world:
- Harden against uncertainty
- Fill every gap with certainty, even false certainty
- Perform strength by showing no cracks
- Absorb everything without response
It looks solid. It is brittle. Under enough pressure, obsidian shatters.
What the prism requires
- Vulnerability — the willingness to be seen, including in uncertainty
- Empathy — the capacity to receive another’s experience without deflecting
- Transparency — not performing anything, just being what you are
- Acceptance — the world as it is, while still working to make it better
This is not passivity. The prism is active — it does something to the light that passes through it. But it does not contain the light. It does not try to own it or prevent its escape.
The connection to Brí
In the theology of Brí, the prism image lands with precision. Brí moves through you, not from you. Your job is not to generate it, but to remove the obstructions that prevent it from passing cleanly.
Patriarchal conditioning made men into obsidian — functional but closed, productive but not generative, able to work but unable to channel life. The rewilding is the slow work of becoming glass again.
The honest admission
You go dim. The old beliefs and rituals pull you back toward obsidian. The prism is not a permanent achievement — it is a direction. The practice is to remember it and move back toward the source when you find yourself hardening.