The Little Death

The French refer to an orgasm as “the little death.”   Some compare the loss of worldly control, the wholesale abandon at the time of orgasm, to that of a seizure.  For thousands of years people from all across the world have perceived a spiritual and deeply emotional connection to this.

But there is another thing that feels similar to an orgasm: electric shock.

Electric shock both tingles and jars you.  Energy jitters limb to limb.  The space around you ripples like the walls of a tent in strong wind.   Sometimes you feel as though a river is running right through your chest.  For an instant, all other inputs are blocked.  

You are one with the flow of energy.

Once released from the circuit, you feel as if great weight has lifted from you.  But rather than wishing to float up, you would rather fall back.  Something big happened to you.  The stuff of sun storms and lightning just now surged through your body.

Yet, there is another kind of shock.

When exposed to certain levels of AC current, the human body reaches the “let-go” threshold.  Here, all bets are off.  Due to the alternations of this current, the nervous system and muscles in your body lock-up.  If you are clamping onto something, you cannot let go.  The tingling is now more like hammer-blows.  You may think you are screaming, but likely are making nary a sound.  The stars and rivers are not merely running through you—they are filling you with energy.

You are about to explode.  You are helpless.

This is the shock that can kill.  If God ever reached out to touch you, this is what I imagine you might feel.

--Mitchell Hegman