Each of us is on a life path. Some of us are searching for the divine truth. Others just let it happen. Others, still, choose to eat unbelievably spicy food. And let them worship, for it is their path.
Your path is paved in experience. Green Chiles are a step. Blackened is a step. Jalapeños can be a hurdle. But as Confucius said, "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop."
If you've read "The Celestine Prophecy," you no doubt take notice of strange coincidences in your life. Maybe you hear the word "Zen" twice in one day and say, "Hmmm... I wonder what that's all about." Or maybe you notice that the foods you used to think were hot are now just tasty—and you want to go hotter.
The word of the week is Wasabi. You know, the little pile of green toothpaste you get when you order sushi. If you get enough of that stuff in your soy, or more importantly in your mouth, you know what Zen is— without knowing it. For a good four to seven seconds, "The no mind not thinks no thoughts about no things." If spicy food is your religion, the wooden platform is your shrine, and you may just have to hold onto it to keep from falling out of your chair.
Now wasabi is hot, but it's also over in the blink of an eye. A friend once brought some authentic jerk sauce back from Jamaica. We slow roasted a heavily jerked chicken, then began eating. It took an hour to eat, and three more to calm down. As Jamaican Rastafarianism makes sacred the Old Testament, jerked chicken is as Revelation 9:17: "And thus I saw horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire... and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone." I might mention that, besides the fiery sensation left on the lips and palate, by path of experience, the flavor was very good.
These affections are common denominators among many religions. Spicy food, like Shamanism and worship of the Absolute, can be boiled down from most any religious sect. From food springs life. From life, we experience. This experience leads us down our path to enlightenment. But once I ate one of those crazy Szechwan peppers... just for experience. For approximately 20 minutes, I lost all track of reality and tuned in to the Absolute. It was a wasabi buzz with the hang time of jerk sauce.
In the first 30 seconds, I began channeling with the Pliedeans. We discussed our higher purpose of evolving to our light bodies, and creating the universal communication station from our planet. The Blue Star would soon begin to take effect. The Photon Belt will engulf us and our petty interests and preoccupations will become null. I learned that the Absolute is so much more comprehensive than I had anticipated. A "God," as termed by so many earthly cultures, is a very powerful collection of universal, seed-sowing energies. These energies are so powerful, it is vain to even consider their vastness, nature or ability. I was rapidly evolving to my light body to join this universal communication energy, and become it. I felt the common essence of every universal religion...
And let me tell you, that Motha' was HOT! Which brings me to the end—the, uh, rear end. The only gospel I can preach to you as a matter of the Almighty Truth is this: All things being cyclical, reincarnated or what have you, any food with real zest will certainly be tasted twice.