Perverse Thoughts

Have you ever been at a bar and imagined spilling your drink on someone? Or something more gruesome like punching  your friend in the face, not from a place of anger or actual desire, but just a weird image that pops in your head? These thoughts are more common among people than you may think, though it’d be hard to imagine that since you wouldn’t really mention to your best friend that you imagined punching them in the face…but that’s a violent example.

The NYTimes recently published an article in the Mind section discussing this ‘Imp in the brain’ in the Mind Section. Below is the opener to the article, click to get the full meditation.

The visions seem to swirl up from the brain’s sewage system at the worst possible times — during a job interview, a meeting with the boss, an apprehensive first date, an important dinner party. What if I started a food fight with these hors d’oeuvres? Mocked the host’s stammer? Cut loose with a racial slur?