What happens when you eat something spicy?
Several things.
The compound responsible for the spiciness is called capsaicin, and it triggers the body's pain receptors. Capsaicin stimulates the nerve endings in the mouth and throat, causing a burning or tingling sensation. This is why one may feel immediate heat or even discomfort when eating spicy food.
Found through: https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2018-07/19/17/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web-06/sub-buzz-15461-1532034537-1.jpg
Next, the body reacts to the perceived "threat" of the spicy food by releasing endorphins. Endorphins are natural painkillers that can create a sense of pleasure or euphoria. That's why some people may experience a "spicy food high" or a rush of positive emotions after eating something spicy. Additionally, eating spicy food also increases the body temperature and can make one sweat. This is a natural response to cool down the body and counteract the heat caused by capsaicin. It's important to note that the effects of eating something spicy can vary from person to person, depending on their tolerance and sensitivity to capsaicin.
Group process and more specifically Worldwork reminds me of the process of eating something spicy. Everybody in the group reacts differently with the topic or the role being unfolded at the moment. Depending on the intensity of the personal engagement. Just like how one can or can not handle spicy food, depending on preferences and own development of taste buds of the food consumed before.
Worldwork as group process represents a complex social situation. It involves people with differing opinions, engaging in debates, conflicts, and passionate exchanges. In group processes, emotional and intellectual engagement makes the whole experience ‘spicy’. Participants might experience physical sensations such as sweating or heart racing. Like when tasting something spicy. Spiciness and group processes both involve intense sensations and interactions, but in different contexts.
The participants involved in Worldwork reminds me of the Youtube serie ‘Hot Ones’ where celebrities are invited for an interview where they have to taste chicken wings dipped in different hot sauces while answering questions. The host of the show for me, is like the facilitator in group process, as he is also eating while interviewing. Like the facilitator in the group process is also part of the group process. The interviewer in the ‘Hot Ones’ gives some instructions of the intensity of different sauces, like a facilitator would frame hotspots and coolspots and deepening roles when needed. Eventhough everyone has their own tolerance to spice, every guest on the show will eventually hit a certain point where they stutter and almost can not handle the heat. Just like in group process, all participants are digesting the roles together, each in their own way, depending on their history, involvement and capacity.
One of my favourite episodes of ‘The Hot Ones’ is the one with Viola Davis, where about 21 minutes and 30 seconds in, Viola dips the chicken wings in ‘The Last Dab: Apollo’ and starts to sigh and taking sips of milk to dempen the heat. While the interviewer asks: ‘What does the saying by the famous mythologist Joseph Campbell ‘The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are’, mean to you? ‘
Viola replies by taking a big breath with the answer:
“Now we are about to get deep….. (folds and put down her napkin, coughs) while I am choking to death……. I just feel like our whole journey in life is becoming our ideal selves…. We get stripped away as we get along the journey….. At the end of the day, you come into this world you are absolutely who you are…. (goes on with examples of social conditioning in the consensus reality)… Somewhere along the line is a voice deep within you that tells you exactly who you are. You just have to have the courage to do that. That is what the hero’s journey is all about……. At some point you come face to face with not God, but yourself… And then somewhere along the line, you get it: your Aha moment, your Elixir.
And you go back to your Ordinary World, and you share it with others……. I think that is the privilege. Being absolutely who you are, belong to yourself, and being brave.”
https://youtu.be/YzKZNM2Ir8A?feature=shared
As a reaction to the hot sauce, there are visible bodily sensations during Viola’s speech, and still she keeps the words coming. I see it as a symbol of what spices can do. How we are able to perceive reality differently when we consume spices. How we are transported to another dimension in which more is possible. The ‘spicy’ group process gets us to a dimension where we can deepen our understanding of the essence. How we get back to our true and unique selves. This experience is a reminder of our limitless potential and encourages us to explore the depths of our being. It encourages us to take risks and challenge our assumptions about ourselves. When we allow ourselves to be moved by the spices and the group process, it allows us to become our true selves and to live a more fulfilling life.
In contrast to what some prefers to do, stray away from spices, keeping things bland. Or build a thick wall, like Homer Simpson does in this episode. He does not want to be laughed at, and to avoid the heat, he drinks candle wax.
https://youtu.be/Ji8oZTJAC5A?feature=shared
<aside> 💭 From the memory archive: getting spicy online
March 2022, only a few months after the invasion of Russia of Ukraine. Bill Say (member of my guiding team) was organizing a public forum together with Lane Ayre. A week before the event, Bill reached out and inquired if I could step in as a chat facilitator. I gladly accepted the invitation. Together we agreed that my assistance during the virtual public forum will be:
There were somewhere about 150+ participants for this forum. I can’t remember the specific details or how the process went, I just remember the chat kind of blowing up. Different comments, some in characters I could not read. Frantically, I copy-paste the unknown characters in Google Translate, then copy-paste the answers in English back.
Looking back, it feels like I was going through bottles of hot sauces while assisting in the chat, my heart racing as the chat got more and more complex. Sometimes the comments were made to the process in the plenary, sometimes the comments lead a life of its own. At a certain moment, I became somewhat like Homer Simpson who drank candle wax. I made a mental wall so I could focus more on the technical aspect of the task to stay ‘alive’ as the chat facilitator. Blocking out some of the emotions I was going through when I read the translated comment in the chat.
Afterwards, re-reading the chat made me wonder and sometimes even second-guess my interventions. However, knowing that as a facilitation team, we all did the best we could with the awareness we had at that moment. Following the signals and unfolding it where the process allowed it to.
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<aside> 🌶️ Laotian spicy paste ‘Jeow Bong’
*On our honeymoon trip to Laos in 2008, my husband and I attended a cooking class where we learned to make this spicy, semi-sweet, and savory paste. We just could not stop eating this stuff. Unfortunately, I can not find the original recipe in which we were instructed to stirfry the pounded chilli paste, so I found a different version online which I am sharing below.
The complex layers of this paste make one craving for more. Not unlike my appetite for attending Worldwork and learning Intensives. Even though you know you will burn from the inside from the experience, you take a bite anyway and go back for more.*
Ingredients:
Steps
Serve with sticky rice, fresh vegetables, and grilled proteins. It’s great with potato chips, spread some on a sourdough bread accompanied with Dutch cheese, toss some nuts with this paste and roast it in the oven…. Umami and morish!
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<aside> 📖 Back to chapters 🎼Umami
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