7th (2/15/26): The Spice of Life

ING: ImagineNewGreatness
21 hours ago
2 min read

Expectation, Contrast, and the Complexity of Experience

This week began most ordinarily — a conversation with friends around food. We started talking about spice, how spice transforms cuisine, how one small ingredient can completely shift a dish from bland to brilliant.

And then it struck me.

We often say, “Variety is the spice of life.” But what does that truly mean?

Spices are not all or nothing. They are layered. Subtle or bold. Sweet, savory, smoky, bitter, fiery. Some combinations delight us. Others surprise us. A flavor can be unexpected — even jarring — and yet it expands our palate.

Life is no different.

Life Is Not All or Nothing

We tend to expect people, situations, and even ourselves to remain consistent — mostly sweet, mostly stable, mostly predictable. And when we experience another “flavor” — anger, disappointment, contradiction, vulnerability — we become confused. Sometimes even shocked. But perhaps the shock comes not from the experience itself, but from our expectation that things should remain singular. Kahlil Gibran (1923) reminds us: “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain” (p. 29). Joy and sorrow. Sweet and heat. Comfort and discomfort. They coexist. They deepen one another.

When the Flavor Changes

When someone reveals a side of themselves we did not expect, it can alter our future connection with them. The experience leaves an imprint. It changes the “taste” of the relationship. Yet perhaps this is not betrayal of what was, but expansion of what is.

Alan Watts (1951) wrote: “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance” (p. 43).

Spice demands adjustment. A strong seasoning cannot be undone — only integrated. So we adjust our palate. We grow more aware. More discerning.

The Full Experience

Helen Keller (1903) said: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all” (p. 109).

Adventure implies unpredictability. It implies contrast. It implies risk.

If life were only sweet, we would not recognize sweetness. If it were only calm, we would not appreciate peace. It is the variation — the spice — that shapes our awareness.

Perhaps the confusion we feel when something shifts is simply our palate adjusting to complexity.