cacoethes

cacoethes noun an irresistible urge to do something inadvisableAt first I thought, "Oh...this word is the same as spontaneous" and then I stopped to really think about it and it isn't the same at all. I think the key to the difference is "the irresistible urge." Like an itch you cannot help but scratch. I feel like that in spontaneity there is not an urge, you simply just do something...and it could be inconsequential. Cacoethes has two friends - the urge and consequence - that make something totally different.I think a cacoethes is a bit like an out of body experience that occurs in adulthood, but is discovered in childhood. In kindergarten I bit a girl because she was reaching over my arm to take the rotary phone I was playing with away. I just had this irresistible urge to hurt her and so I bent my head down and bit her forearm. I was fully aware of the fact that I was going to pay dearly by missing recess and having to stand in the corner for a week, but I couldn't help myself. For one split second it felt so good to be bad.If you're going to talk about cacoethes, than you have to talk about that evil split second of delectable urge. It is really at the center of why people love to be bad. It's that short moment that feels like a match striking in your chest causing a momentary, wondrous burst of flame. In that moment, you feel incredible, rebellious, powerful...and then it goes out as quickly as it lit. You marvel at the embers and smoke of sweet, sweet rebellion and then the air just clears...and the consequences begin. Much like an orgasm or binge, you do something reprehensible to achieve that feeling knowing that you most likely will regret it later.Cacoethes has a lot to do with addiction as well. It would seem to me that if you come to the consequential portion of the "cacoethan cycle" and launch right back into the urge - not taking the time to acknowledge the consequences - you are some sort of addict, always chasing that evil split second of bliss. The consequences just continue to pile up like undone laundry until you have nothing left to wear, naked and exposed. I suppose when you get this far into it you make a decision to live or die - to end the cycle and face that pile of dirty laundry...or to stay naked in the world chasing that urge until you die.At least I didn't become a biting addict. But I still remember the girl's name who I bit that day. This song reminds me of my first memorable cacoethes. So perhaps I am still paying a small consequence to this day...[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDPIK7Fz_g4]