Orgone

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Orgone is the name coined by Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) for an energy postulated by him and initially characterized as "biological" and later as "primordial cosmic". Reich was convinced that he had discovered such a thing at the end of the 1930s in what he called a bionic culture . The existence of such energy has not been scientifically confirmed.

Furthermore, with the help of his special method of "orgonomic functionalism" developed from dialectical materialism , Reich formulated a system of postulates and theorems : the transdisciplinary "orgonomy" he conceived , which is viewed by critics as a pseudoscience .

Because he considered orgone energy to be ubiquitous, Reich was not only active in his academic disciplines of medicine, psychoanalysis and sex research, but also turned to other areas such as microbiology , physics and meteorology .

Reich's exit from psychoanalysis

Before his alleged “discovery of the orgone”, Reich, who after receiving his doctorate as Dr. med. trained as a psychiatrist in Vienna under Wagner-Jauregg , worked as a psychoanalyst for two decades . In a continuation of Freud's libido theory , Reich had suggested reaching orgasmic potency as a criterion for a successfully completed psychoanalysis . From therapeutic techniques that were suitable for overcoming the patient's resistance to achieving this therapeutic goal (resistance analysis ), he had developed character analysis and - after Freud's exclusion from all psychoanalytic associations in 1934 - by including physical processes in what is known as vegetotherapy further developed. Among other things, he followed the concept of the "vegetative flow" developed by the then famous physician Friedrich Kraus . The "orgone therapy" represents a continuation of this development.

The concept of orgastic potency

Freud's assumption about the libido was that the primary function of the "neuron system" was to dissipate energy immediately and completely and the secondary function to store energy in certain neurons and neuron systems. Freud assumed that disturbances of the psyche were caused by preventing the free discharge of this libidinal energy in childhood; B. through moral prohibitions of certain pleasurable actions, overprotective or overly strict behavior of the parents, etc. Reich built his theory of orgastic potency on this concept.

In his clinical work with his patients, Reich had come to the conclusion that neurotics generally had a sexual disorder in the experience of orgasm . He did not define such an orgasm disorder as an impairment of the ability to experience an orgasm, unlike medical research, but rather on the basis of the ability to feel during the entire sexual act. In a speech to the Psychoanalytical Congress in Salzburg (1924) he described orgasmic potency as the ability “to surrender to the currents of biological energy without inhibition”, the ability “to completely discharge all pent-up sexual excitement through involuntary, pleasurable contractions of the body. "

For example, he assumed that a man who can have an erection but does not have "deep" sensations during intercourse is overly distracted by thoughts or distracts himself or tries too hard to do well and then only experienced a more or less brief “flare-up” of satisfaction during orgasm, not reaching full orgasmic potency. According to Reich, “orgasmic impotence” - the inability to completely dissipate energy - causes a congestion of the libido which, depending on the extent, can lead to neurotic disorders.

Character analysis and character armor

On the basis of his work in the “Vienna Seminar for Psychoanalytic Therapy”, Reich came to an explanation of the phenomena of resistance and transference that deviated from Freud's analysis . According to Reich, a patient's resistance is caused by their "body armor". In this way, each patient reacts to the therapy according to his or her body armor with a specific defense that can take different forms. Reich called this individual organization of the defense patterns the "character armor". He assumed that the character armor is the result of a person's frozen life story, that is, "the functional sum of all past events".

Like Freud, Reich assigned a decisive role to the experiences of early childhood. According to Reich, the time and intensity of the conflicts, their nature (as in Freud's differentiation into oral , anal and genital aspects), the relationship between instinct satisfaction and frustration, the extent of identification with the same-sex parent and the contradictions in the parent's failing behavior are important Influencing variables for the formation of character armor. The interaction of these factors can lead to a wide range of different neurotic character structures. Reich distinguishes the following main types:

  • Phallic - narcissistic character: masculine mother, excitement of love suppressed for her, devaluation of all women, possibly homosexuality ;
  • Passive-feminine character: in the anal phase excessively strict mother, indulgence and submission characteristic, masochism also possible (under other conditions) ; other form, if father is very strict: son has to suppress feelings of hatred towards father and hide behind a feminine, submissive character mask;
  • Male-aggressive character: strict father is rejecting femininity of his daughter, femininity is suppressed, identification with hardness and strength;
  • Hysterical character: love from daughter to father is punished with morals and repression, genital fear becomes the dominant feeling; Lolita ( coquetry , then “don't know what that’s about”).
  • Compulsive character: early, strict hygiene education leads to the suppression of genital interest and genital activity. Violent and sadistic needs are controlled and only lived out in fantasy. Control and ordering mechanisms are used to hold down the sadistic impulses.
  • Masochistic character: behind masochistic self-diminution are incompetent ambition and fearful addiction to grandeur. Unsatisfied sexual tension, fear of pleasure (masochism as a desire to be brought to satisfaction against one's will).

In Alexander Lowen's work , which is based heavily on Reich, these main types have been expanded to include the schizoid and oral character types (see article “ Bioenergetic Analysis ”; section “Character Structures”).

In his further clinical work, Reich observed that certain character armor also manifested itself physically in equally typical muscular tensions. From this knowledge he developed vegetotherapy:

Vegetotherapy

As early as 1934, Reich no longer understood character armor as purely psychological armor, but assumed that it also expressed itself as “muscular armor”. The neurosis manifests itself as a chronic disturbance of mobility and vegetative balance. Psychological and somatic phenomena are seen as aspects of a whole. Reich took over the underlying concept of the “vegetative flow” from one of the then leading but controversial physiologists Friedrich Kraus .

For Reich, physical tension and relaxation form the basis for an understanding of all life processes. The “formula of life” consists, so to speak, of a four-cycle: mechanical tension - bioelectrical charge - bioelectrical discharge - mechanical relaxation. Although Reich repeatedly emphasizes the importance of this four-measure, in his works “expansion (stretching, widening) and contraction (balling, narrowing)” remain relevant as “primal opposites of vegetative life”. Accordingly, pleasure and fear are to be understood as opposing manifestations of the same mechanism. Reich linked this idea with the organism's reaction to acetylcholine (including widening of the vessels) or adrenaline (including narrowing of the vessels). Fear leads to a contraction of the muscles, pleasure to a widening / relaxation.

The cramping of the muscles is a physical consequence of the displacement process as well as the basis of its maintenance. Reich emphasizes that it is never individual muscles, but always muscle groups that belong to a certain functional unit, that come under tension and determine the structure of the muscle armor and body expression. For example, he cites the "stubborn" resistance as an illustration.

Reich divides the muscle armor functionally into seven segments: the ocular (eyes), oral (mouth), cervical (neck), thoracic (chest / upper body), diaphragmatic (diaphragm), abdominal (stomach) and pelvic (pelvis) segment. This classification is not to be understood structurally, but was made according to the reasons for the tension and its effects in these areas.

These assumptions were a break with the classical psychoanalytic treatment method, which was limited to verbal communication, and led to the development of body therapy methods. Reich began working directly on the patient's body. He developed various forms of physical intervention to influence muscle tension and breathing. This therapy method, called vegetotherapy by Reich, can be understood as a combination of character analysis and body work.

Reich observed in his patients that when the muscles are worked on, sudden affective outbursts often occur, which can produce (repressed) memories. This was later confirmed by other body therapy workers (including Alexander Lowen , Aadel Bulow-Hansen , Odd Havrevöld , Gerda Boyesen ). These body therapeutic approaches by Reich have established themselves today in many forms of therapy.

Reich's way to "Orgonomy"

In parallel to the further development of his therapy method, Reich began experimental laboratory work in 1934 in exile in Oslo. Since his student days, Reich was interested in the academic natural sciences and had followed the development of biology in particular, especially with regard to knowledge of sexuality, which plays a central role in psychoanalysis. In 1934, due to his theoretical studies of the work of the zoologist and natural philosopher Max Hartmann , the physicians Ludwig Robert Müller ( Die Lebensnerven ) and Friedrich Kraus ( The Deep Person ) and others, he was challenged to attempt a synthesis of their work with his ideas. To this end, he saw his own experimental work necessary. After attempts to do this together with university institutes failed, he set up his own laboratory. This was equipped with light microscopes , a microfilming machine and a range of electrical devices and instruments. Reich's experiments were on the one hand electrophysiological , the results of which he reported in two papers; on the other hand, microbiological, which he published in 1938 in the book Die Bione .

As bions he called him watching microscopic structure, which he called "energy bubbles transitional stages between the inanimate and living substances represent" interpreted. They arise “constantly in nature through a process of dissolving inorganic and organic matter that can be experimentally reproduced”.

First Reich tried to interpret the microscopic structures he observed using the physical theories known to him, especially electromagnetism. After he failed to do this for essential parts of his test series, he postulated the existence of a specifically biological energy, which he named "orgone". Academic science dealt only marginally with Reich's orgone work (see lit .: Gebauer / Müschenich; Hebenstreit).

Description of orgone energy

In the summer of 1939, Reich was convinced that a “bion culture” obtained from sea ​​sand had become so “energetically” charged that it produced a rash on a static electroscope . Reich related his observations on the sand of the sea to his own observations on humans. According to Reich, people who are not vegetatively disturbed have the greatest effect on the stomach and genitals that the rubber and cotton are charged energetically in the same way that a rash occurs after about 15 to 20 minutes of exposure to the static electroscope.

At first he was convinced that the sand from which these “bions” were created by glowing and swelling was solidified solar energy . It was therefore obvious for Reich to expose rubber and cotton wool to the glaring solar radiation, whereby they did not cause a rash beforehand on the electroscope, but they did after storage in the sun. Various other attempts, however, had led him to believe that the energy with which he was dealing was not one of the known physical types of energy. Reich called this energy 'orgone'. He claimed that, in addition to plant and animal organisms, it was also detectable in the ground, in the atmosphere and visually, thermally and electroscopically. Reich postulated that orgone energy basically penetrates all types of matter at different speeds and that it is therefore not possible to create a completely orgone-free space, but places with different orgone concentrations.

Orgone accumulator

The orgone accumulator

Reich's attempt to isolate (orgone) radiation from the "sandbione" in a box made of sheet steel ( Faraday cage ), which was clad with inorganic material (e.g. rock wool), convinced him that orgone energy was extracted from the atmosphere have accumulated therein, d. H. is present in a higher concentration than outside. This box was the prototype of the so-called "orgone accumulator", which was later built in various dimensions. Reich was of the opinion that carbon-based organic matter (wood, rubber, cotton, etc.) attracts orgone energy and slowly radiates it again, whereas metal passes it on or reflects it quickly. Reich believed that he could achieve a higher concentration of orgone if he used an accumulator with several double layers (organic material / steel wool).

According to Reich, orgone accumulation depends on several factors:

  • On the type of materials used: "Plastic" is a good orgone absorber, wood is a bad one, and only iron can be used as a metallic material for medical purposes.
  • Air humidity: Lower air humidity is better, since water strongly attracts orgone energy (and withdraws it via the air humidity). A relative humidity of 40–50% is a good condition for the concentration of orgone energy.
  • Geographical latitude: The closer the orgone accumulator is placed to the equator (lower northern latitude), the better the "orgone accumulation".
  • Height above sea level: The greater the height above sea level, the lower the gas concentration in the air that orgone energy can draw off.
  • Design of the "orgone accumulator": The "orgone accumulation" is increased non-linearly with an increase in the number of double layers.
  • Spatial distance: According to Reich, the proximity of the orgone radiating body to the inner walls of the box-shaped orgone accumulator influences the concentration of orgone energy. The smaller the distance, the stronger the orgone irradiation.
  • Spatial density of "orgone accumulators": The spatial atmospheric charge is increased with an increasing number of accumulators in a room or building and the greater the power within an accumulator.

As a result of orgone accumulation, Reich claimed the following phenomena:

  • There is a constant higher temperature inside the orgone accumulator compared to the outside temperature (the so-called often quoted "T 0 -T difference")
  • Reich detected an [electrostatic or electrical charge ] charge of biological preparations with an electroscope
  • Characteristic [electrostatic or electrical] changes in the potential of the skin of the test subjects who had stayed in Reich's “orgone accumulator” can be observed
  • Zinc sulphide flashes after bending a plate coated with zinc sulphide and left in the orgone accumulator for several days. The light effect disappears after the panel has been exposed to the air or has been bent several times
  • Luminous and light vapor phenomena can be observed on a plate built into the orgone accumulator and coated with a fluorescent substance
  • The reaction of a compass magnetic needle when approaching the orgone accumulator can be noted: When approaching the middle of the four upper edges of Reich's cuboid orgone accumulator box, the magnetic north pole is aligned with the orgone accumulator, when approaching the middle of the four lower edges, the magnetic south pole
  • A charged electroscope discharges much more slowly inside the orgone accumulator than outside
  • There have been observations of pulsating flicker in the nocturnal atmosphere - with the help of the trained eye and above all a telescope with 60x magnification

Radioactivity and deadly orgone energy

Reich was convinced that he had investigated the effect of physical radioactivity on orgone energy and vice versa in his "ORANUR experiment" ( Or gon A gainst Nu clear R adiation). For this purpose, a radium preparation was placed in an orgone accumulator. Reich was of the opinion that an "increase in background radiation" had been determined. The "Radium in the orgone accumulator" achieved "through a lead through shielding a higher pulse frequency than they measured some distance from the battery without lead shield" had been, and the " atmosphere in Orgonraum, in the accumulator and the entire perimeter of the laboratory" had [ electrostatically] charged. As a result, Reich also postulated the existence of a "deadly orgone energy" (DOR = deadly orgone energy) to explain negative effects on the atmosphere and living organisms.

Orgone therapy

After the "discovery of the orgone", Reich expanded vegetotherapy to orgone therapy, in which devices such as the orgone accumulator and the "DOR buster" were also used in addition to the psychoanalytic and vegetotherapeutic elements of the therapy method. Reich adhered to the therapeutic goal of achieving "orgasmic potency".

Scientific criticism

Albert Einstein's assessment of the orgone hypothesis

The first critic of the orgone concept, Albert Einstein , was not of his own accord. On December 30, 1940, Reich wrote to him asking for an interview "on a scientifically difficult and urgent matter." The meeting that was then agreed on January 13, 1941 led to Einstein having Reich deliver an orgone accumulator to him, to make Reich's claims about himself to check. Einstein ignored the subjective light phenomena in order to concentrate “entirely on the temperature phenomenon”, a measured higher temperature inside the orgone accumulator in the absence of a heat source. Einstein confirmed the temperature difference, but was able to explain it on a scientific basis using thermal convection . Einstein called Reich's "orgone hypothesis" an illusion. He communicated this to Reich in a letter on February 7, 1941, closing with the words: "I hope that this will develop your skepticism, that you will not be deceived by an inherently understandable illusion."

Since Einstein did not give his interpretation directly in the first, several-hour conversation and had made the effort of his own experiments, Reich felt encouraged to continue the discussion in a “technical” manner. On February 20, 1941, he wrote a long letter to Einstein, in which he presented arguments against Einstein's interpretation and discussed various experimental arrangements and numerous technical details. Einstein no longer replied to this letter.

Further reception

From a scientific point of view, orgone theory is assigned to the pseudosciences . Criticism of Reich's theory came not only from academic science, but also from protagonists of the New Age . Authors such as Ken Wilber , Theodore Roszak and Morris Berman accused Reich of “rigid scientism ”, while others, such as Fritjof Capra , welcomed him as a “pioneer of the paradigm shift”. Research on the orgone accumulator was then mostly carried out by people who had an academic training but who did not work in academic institutions (exceptions are the two studies listed below at the universities of Marburg and Vienna).

The Institute for Orgonomic Science in New York , founded in 1982, is dedicated to the continuation of Reich's work, publishes a digital magazine on it and collects relevant works.

literature

Selection of works by Reich on orgonomy
  • The Bione. On the origin of vegetative life . In: Sexpol- Verlag, Oslo 1938; rev. New edition: The Bionexperiments. To the origin of life . Two thousand and one, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-86150-099-X
  • The Discovery of the Orgon, Volume 1: The Function of Orgasm . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1969 (English orig. 1942), ISBN 3-462-01825-6
  • The Discovery of the Orgon, Volume 2: The Cancer . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1974 (English orig. 1948), ISBN 3-462-00972-9
  • The ORANUR experiment (I). Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1997 (orig. 1951), ISBN 3-86150-162-7
  • The ORANUR experiment (II). Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1997 (orig. 1957), ISBN 3-86150-194-5
Works by other authors on orgonomy
  • Rainer Gebauer and Stefan Müschenich: The Reich Orgone Accumulator. Scientific discussion, practical application, experimental investigation . Nexus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987 (coordinated diploma thesis at the University of Marburg ), ISBN 3-923301-19-7
  • Günter Hebenstreit: The orgone accumulator according to Wilhelm Reich. An experimental study of the voltage-charge formula. Diploma thesis, University of Vienna 1995
  • Irmgard Oepen, Horst Löb: The orgone radiator - a functionless, but apparently profitable dummy. Skeptiker 11 (4/98) pp. 148-152
  • James DeMeo : The Orgone Accumulator: A Manual. Construction, application, experiments, protection against toxic energy . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-86150-067-1
  • Jerome Greenfield: USA against Wilhelm Reich. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-86150-107-4 (on the trial against Reich, which resulted in the destruction of the existing orgone accumulators, the destruction of the relevant literature and a two-year prison sentence for Reich)

Web links

Commons : Orgone  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jon E. Röckelein (2006): Elsevier's dictionary of psychological theories. S. pp. 493, 517-518 , accessed August 3, 2011 (eng).
  2. ^ A b John Earman: Philosophical problems of the internal and external worlds: essays on the philosophy of Adolf Grünbaum. S. p. 163 , accessed on August 3, 2011 (Philosophical problems of the internal and external worlds: essays on the philosophy of Adolf Grünbaum, Pittsburgh-Konstanz series in the philosophy and history of science, 1, University of Pittsburgh Press).
  3. ^ A b Arthur Wrobel: Pseudo-science and society in nineteenth-century America. University Press of Kentucky, 1987, p. 229 , accessed August 3, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Martin Lindner: The pathology of the person. (Monograph on Kraus). GNT-Verlag for the history of natural sciences and technology, Berlin, Diepholz 1999, p. 56
  5. ↑ Wilhelm Reich: The Discovery of the Orgons , Volume 1
  6. ^ Wilhelm Reich: Character analysis
  7. ^ Wilhelm Reich: The discovery of the orgons , pp. 188-225
  8. ^ Wilhelm Reich: The orgasm as electrophysiological discharge. In: Zeitschrift für Politische Psychologie und Sexualökonomie , Volume 1, 1934, pp. 29–43. Wilhelm Reich: Experimental results on the electrical function of sexuality and fear. Oslo 1937
  9. ^ Wilhelm Reich: The Bione. On the origin of vegetative life. Sexpol-Verlag, Oslo 1938; There is also a detailed description of the laboratory equipment.
  10. ^ Wilhelm Reich: The discovery of the orgons. Volume 1. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1969, p. 346 (glossary)
  11. ↑ In addition to the literature cf. Bernhard Harrer: Critical evaluation of the life energy research by Wilhelm Reich (orgone theory). Berlin 1997, abstract of the orgone biophysics working group at the Department of Naturopathy, Benjamin Franklin University Hospital of the Free University of Berlin ; the criticism by James DeMeo ( memento from June 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Rainer Gebauer and Stefan Müschenich: The Reich's orgone accumulator. Scientific discussion, practical application, experimental investigation. Nexus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 50, ISBN 3-923301-19-7 .
  13. ↑ Rainer Gebauer and Stefan Müschenich: The Reich's orgone accumulator. Scientific discussion, practical application, experimental investigation. Nexus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 50
  14. ↑ Rainer Gebauer and Stefan Müschenich: The Reich's orgone accumulator. Scientific discussion, practical application, experimental investigation. Nexus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 53
  15. ↑ Rainer Gebauer and Stefan Müschenich: The Reich's orgone accumulator. Scientific discussion, practical application, experimental investigation. Nexus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-923301-19-7 , pages 48-60
  16. ^ Working group Wilhelm Reich: The discovery of orgone energy , based on David Boadella: The discovery of orgone energy (Boadella, 1981, pages 159-184), University Group Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, 2007
  17. ^ David Boadella: Wilhelm Reich. Bern and Munich, Scherz-Verlag 1981, p. 253 f.
  18. ↑ Correspondence between Reich and Einstein. Published in: History of the Discovery of the Life Energy: The Einstein Affair , Orgone Institute, 1953
  19. ^ Reich published the correspondence in facsimile form and related materials in 1953 as part of a series Wilhelm Reich: Biographical Material : The Einstein Affair. Orgone Institute Press, Rangeley, Maine, USA
  20. ↑ Ilas Körner-Wellershaus gives an overview of this: Wilhelm Reich - a father of the New Age. VDG-Verlag, Alfter 1993, pp. 59-81
  21. ↑ See also Stefan Müschenich: An inventory of the research on the orgone accumulator. In: James DeMeo , Bernd Senf (Ed.): After Reich. New research on orgonomy. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1997, pp. 631-663
  22. ↑ Bibliographies. In: The Institute for Orgonomic Science. Retrieved September 12, 2019 (American English).