Intensification
Intensification is a mode that is closely related to other modes like imagination and simulation. It’s when we attempt to concentrate on certain aspects of a theme we are exploring and intensify (or subdue) its presence in order to test the role it plays in the experience of the participants.
In the example that we are working from, ‘We want to teach people how to have arguments and remain commonly committed to the movement’, we might wonder if disagreements turn into fighting because one of the comrades raises their voice when they are feeling defensive. We might set up an argument (simulation) but stipulate that the volume of the speakers must increase exponentially as they go back and forth in the argument until they are both screaming at extreme or absurd volumes. Alternatively, (or afterwards), we might ask them to do it the other way round, so that by the end of the argument, the argument is being held in the smallest whispers. Intensification has thus allowed us to isolate an element of the argument question (a kind of vocal aggression) and consider it more closely.
We can imagine many forms of intensification, which often border on the absurd. For example, we sometimes run an exercise where one person is to react in a very unfriendly manner to everything that is said. When this is done, it is obviously very silly (a good role for the class joker). But it also allows everyone to look at the elements of unfriendliness, from posture to speech to mood, and to talk about it explicitly together.
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