Morin’s now-famous “erotic equation” states that “attraction plus obstacles equal excitement.”6 High states of arousal, he explains, flow from the tension between persistent problems and triumphant solutions. We are most intensely excited when we are a little off-balance, uncertain, “poised on the perilous edge between ecstasy and disaster.”7 This insight into our human propensities helps to shed light on why people in happy, stable relationships are lured by the charge of transgression. For Priya, the question is bewitching: What if just this once I act as if the rules don’t apply to me?
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