The little death
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The little death is a translation from the French "la petite mort" (Le Petit Mort/Le Petit Morte/La petite morte), a popular reference for a sexual orgasm. The term has generally been interpreted to describe the postorgasmic fainting spells<ref>The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 21, 1952, No. 2. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 34:353</ref> some lovers suffer from. Also it can refer to spiritual release that come with orgasm, or a short period of transendence, an expenditure or spending of life force.
Speculations to its origin include current connotations of the phrase, including
- Greco-Roman belief that the oversecretion of bodily fluids would "dry out" one of the believed four humours, leading to death
- Islam's reference to sleep
- Buddhist Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying's quote: “Life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change.” (Existence through many changes, "births and deaths")
[edit] See also
- A Little Death: A Modern Day Fairytale
- 1995 movie The Little Death
- "Electroencephalographic laterality changes during human sexual orgasm", Archives of Sexual Behavior, Springer Netherlands, Vol. 5, #3, May 1976. Abstract: "Left and right parietal EEGs were recorded while seven subjects experienced sexual climax through self-stimulation. "[1]
- Psychobiology of altered states of consciousness, Psychological Bulletin 2005, Vol. 131, No. 1, 98-127
- Orgasmic aura originates from the right hemisphere, Neurology 2002;58:302-304
- EEG during masturbation and ejaculation , Archives of Sexual Behavior, Springer Netherlands, Vol. 14,#6,December 1985. Abstract: "...Examination of the literature shows little agreement among reported results of studies of EEG changes during orgasm."
- +44 wrote a song about Little Death. It is off their debut album When Your Heart Stops Beating.
