News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
[Also see Maurice Brinton's _The Irrational in Politics_
(http://tinyurl.com/ywojdg
) and the works of Paul Goodman and Robert
Anton Wilson.--DC]
*****
http://tinyurl.com/3y2w8r
Newsday.com
50 years after his death, sup****ters promote scientist's work
By JERRY HARKAVY
Associated Press Writer
12:55 PM EDT, November 3, 2007
RANGELEY, Maine
It was 50 years ago that physician-scientist Wilhelm Reich, best known
for his discovery of a pur****ted cosmic life force associated with
***ual orgasm, died in federal prison, his books burned and his
equipment destroyed by the government.
Ridiculed at the time, the European-born psychiatrist is today largely
forgotten and his work on what he called orgone energy remains outside
the scientific mainstream.
But a small number of scientists and other believers are working to
advance his studies -- and resurrect his reputation.
"Personally, I think it's going to be a long time before all of his work
is understood and recognized," said Reich's granddaughter, Renata Reich
Moise, a nurse-midwife and artist in the coastal town of Hancock.
Reich died on Nov. 3, 1957, in a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa., where
he was sent for ignoring an injunction obtained by the Food and Drug
Administration that outlawed his orgone energy ac***ulator.
The 50th anniversary of his death is being marked by a major exhibition
on Reich and his work that opens Nov. 15 at the Jewish Museum in Vienna,
the city where he attended medical school, began his psychiatric
practice and studied under Sigmund Freud.
In New Jersey, the American College of Orgonomy, which provides training
and research sup****t for physicians and others interested in Reich and
his legacy, scheduled a conference and dinner to coincide with the
anniversary.
Also this month, archives comprised of nearly 300 boxes of Reich's
unpublished papers that were placed in storage at the Countway Library
at Harvard Medical School will become available to researchers for the
first time.
Before going to prison, Reich directed in his will that the scientific
papers, journals and diaries only be opened 50 years after his death.
He also specified that his laboratory at the 175-acre site he dubbed
Orgonon that overlooks Rangeley Lake be converted to a museum.
In Rangeley, where Reich spent his latter years, scientists and doctors
from the U.S. and Europe gathered this summer for a conference that
explored the prospects of seeking FDA approval for clinical trials of
orgone ac***ulator blankets to treat burn victims.
Reich is described by the American Psychoanalytic Association as "one of
the most brilliant, creative and controversial of the pioneering
analysts." He was the first to focus on character analysis rather than
neurotic symptoms. He linked a healthy *** life, which he called
"orgastic potency," to emotional wellness, believing that failure to
discharge ***ual energy resulted in neurotic disorders.
His more controversial work came after he veered away from psychotherapy
into laboratory experiments in Norway that led to the discovery of what
he called "bions" -- basic life forms that gave off orgone energy.
After moving to the U.S. just before the start of World War II, he
focused on isolating and collecting that energy and went on to test its
effect on cancer.
His orgone ac***ulators eventually caught the attention of the FDA.
After an investigation, the agency branded the devices consisting of
alternating metallic and nonmetallic materials a fraud and in 1954
sought an injunction in U.S. District Court in ****tland. Reich refused
to appear in court, triggering a default judgment and order that his
books and ac***ulators be destroyed.
He was sentenced to two years in prison for contempt of court. He served
only eight months before he died of a heart attack. In accordance with
his wishes, Reich was entombed above ground at Orgonon, with a bronze
bust of him perched above the tomb.
The Wilhelm Reich Museum, located in a modernistic fieldstone building
atop a hill, has on display an orgone ac***ulator, which Reich believed
could charge the body with essential life energy, heightening vitality
and potentially helping to heal disease.
There is also a cloudbuster, a futuristic-looking device he designed to
try to change the weather by altering concentrations of orgone energy in
the atmosphere.
Critics seize on some of his more unconventional ideas in deriding him
as a quack. But sup****ters say he was a brilliant man whose ideas
warrant further exploration.
The FDA's injunction, sup****ters say, had a chilling effect on his work
that persists even today. That's a shame, Moise said, because she
believes there's merit in the orgone ac***ulator blanket, which her
mother used in her medical practice.
Moise has tried it herself to heal burns.
"It's not crazy. It actually works," she said.
Even as the anniversary-related events rekindle memories of Reich and
his theories, some of his sup****ters worry that they are in a race
against time.
The challenge, they say, is to keep his work alive and advance it
through new studies and experimentation at a time when Reich is not
being taught in either medical schools or physics cl*****.
Kevin Hinchey, who is writing a book about Reich's work in the U.S.,
said most of the doctors and scientists who've taken an interest in
Reich's life are baby boomers.
"If something dramatic isn't done to bring his work before the medical
and scientific community, I really wonder what's going to happen when
the baby boomers die. There's not a lot of younger people who are
reading Reich."
On the Net:
Reich Museum:
http://www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org
American College of Orgonomy:
http://orgonomy.org
*****
http://tinyurl.com/2zn34n
American College Of Orgonomy To Commemorate 50th Anniversary Of The
Death Of Wilhelm Reich
Released on: October 31, 2007, 8:59 am
Press Release Author: Laura Ward/Strategic Vision
Industry: Consumer Services
Press Release Summary: Reich -- A Man Of Vision Before His Time; Only
Victim of Book
Burning In The United States
Reich’s Influence Has Dedicated Worldwide Following
Conference Will Feature Keynote On “The Decline and Fall of Modern
Psychiatry”
Press Release Body: Atlanta, GA/October 31, 2007 -- The American College
of Orgonomy will be commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the death
of Wilhelm Reich, whose influence and impact on the world and on
psychiatry is still being felt today on November 4, 2007. The conference
will be held at the Lakeside Conference Center & Hotel at the Princeton
Forrestal Center at 900 Scudders Mill Road in Plainsboro, New Jersey
from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Registration will take place from 9:00 AM to
10:00 AM. Dr. Charles Konia will deliver the conference’s keynote speech
entitled, “The Decline and Fall of Modern Psychiatry”. In addition, the
conference will mark the launch of Dr. Konia’s critically acclaimed
book, The Emotional Plague.
“Wilhelm Reich was a visionary whose impact is still being felt,” said
Dr. Peter A. Crist, President, American College of Orgonomy. “He was a
colleague of Sigmund Freud and expelled from the psychoanalytic movement
for his revolutionary ideas. He fled Nazi Germany but later became a
victim of the U.S. government that felt threatened by new ideas in an
age of complacency. Yet his work continues to thrive and be developed
today.”
Reich was the first psychoanalyst to move from behind the couch to sit
beside patients, a practice that is commonplace today. But in 1924 this
was considered revolutionary and forever changed the dynamic between
therapists and their patients. Reich was a forerunner in other ways as
well, founding the Socialist Association for *** Hygiene and ***ological
Research that distributed practical information and advice on ***ual
health and contraception, considered by many to be dangerous in the late
1920’s but now is common throughout the world in *** clinics, and public
school *** education. Long before the start of World War II, and at a
time when even Winston Churchill saw positive benefits in Adolf Hitler
and the Nazi movement, Reich warned of the dangers of Hitler and the
Nazis in his book, The Mass Psychology of Fascism (one of the first
books to expose how a dictator can control the minds and emotions of an
entire nation). Forced to flee from Germany, Reich moved to Denmark and
later Sweden, where he published his well known book, The ***ual
Revolution. This book advocated contraception, *** education, the ***ual
rights of youth as well as Reich’s belief that no one should be forced
to remain in an unhappy marriage, views that were considered truly
revolutionary by some, abhorrent by others, but again are currently part
of modern society.
Departing Europe, just as World War II started, Reich settled in the
United States, where he pursued his most im****tant work in the fields of
sociology, biology, physics, and atmospheric science. Ironically,
today’s liberal magazine, The New Republic led to Reich’s persecution in
the United States during the height of the Red Scare and the career of
Senator Joseph McCarthy. Freelance writer Mildred Edie Brady wrote a
devastating article in the magazine filled with half-truths and lies
about Reich motivated in part because of his revolutionary ideas and the
fact that early in his life he had once flirted with communism. Brady
implied that Reich was running a “***ual racket” which led to an
investigation by the Food and Drug Administration and a federal court
complaint against Reich. Reich responded by stating that courts should
sup****t the rights of scientists (a position today advocated by The New
Republic and its staff).
In May 1956, after an assistant, unbeknownst to Reich, sent orgonomic
devices across state lines, Reich was arrested and brought in handcuffs
to the U.S. Courthouse in ****tland, Maine where he was charged with
contempt of court. Found guilty, Reich received a two-year sentence. He
died on November 3, 1957, in the Lewisburg, Pennsylvania federal
penitentiary, one week before the date of his first parole hearing.
Ironically, Reich was a victim of the practices that today’s liberal and
progressive movement abhors against terror suspects. Reich’s influence
continues to be felt today in many ways:
• Modern psychoanalysis and psychotherapy have incor****ated many of
Reich’s innovative concepts -- that patient and therapist should
interact face to face; “that character is the soil in which neurotic
symptoms grow;” and that a patient’s social environment is integral to
his or her emotional well being.
• His work is the basis of contem****ary mind-body therapies such as
Gestalt, Rolfing and Primal Scream.
• His advocacy of universal access to contraception, *** education and
no-fault divorce led to changes in the laws of countries around the world.
• He emphasized the im****tance of good emotional contact between mother
and child right from the moment of birth and pioneered the view that
newborns should not be separated from their mothers and put into
hospital nurseries.
Today, Reich is honored throughout much of the world, particularly in
the new democracies of Eastern Europe. His views of the rights of
scientists to pursue their work are considered cornerstones in
democratic debate. This year’s Conference will explore and honor Reich’s
life and the impact that he and orgonomy have on society. Orgonomy is
the term Reich used to describe the science of the orgone energy, the
cosmic life energy, he discovered and studied in great detail. Keynote
speaker Charles Konia, M.D. will examine current mental health treatment
and contrast it to medical orgone therapy, the mind-body treatment
developed by Wilhelm Reich, M.D. In addition to Dr. Konia\'s keynote
address presentations by medical orgonomists will include case studies
illustrating the effectiveness of this revolutionary method of therapy.
Additionally, Dr. Konia’s book, The Emotional Plague will be released at
the conference. The Emotional Plague explores a disease of destructive
human behavior involving people’s emotional lives that can be spread
from person to person with all the characteristics of infectious
diseases known to medicine. From Hitler to Osama bin Laden to school
shooters to politicians, the emotional plague is a pervasive illness.
Konia’s book shows people how it existed throughout history, how to
recognize it, treat it, prevent it, and understand it. Recognition is an
essential first step in eradicating its destructiveness. The Emotional
Plague has earned critical praise from experts in the field and leading
publications. Additional information on the conference and the American
College of Orgonomy may be obtained at
http://www.orgonomy.org
*****
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
http://tinyurl.com/3akhhr
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://www.geocities.com/clorebeast/
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Strange pleasures are known to him who flaunts the
immarcescible purple of poetry before the color-blind.
-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"
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