Frederick R Smith has moved to Frederick R. Smith Speaks (substack.com)
A personal acquaintance of this author believes that the experiments and “psychology” of one Wilhelm Reich have merit. Since this person made an oblique reference to the “sexual nature” of Reich’s works, I was naturally skeptical. Sure enough, after some research, it is no stretch to consider that the experiments of Dr. Reich are the product of a “mad scientist.”
Wilhelm Reich (1898-1957) was born in Austria and graduated from the Medical School of the University of Vienna in 1922. He was a student and protégé of Sigmund Freud and he became one of the psychoanalytic pioneers (for lack of a better word) that led him into the laboratory where he focused his efforts on the investigation of the energy found in nature. While conducting his early experiments, many considered him to be Freud’s successor but his infatuation with the sexual aspects of humans caused the Austrian psychiatric profession to question his motivation. It was involvement with the early Communist Party in Europe that broke the camel’s back.
In 1933, Reich left Germany and settled in Norway because the Nazis were going after the communists. Reich came to the United States in 1939 where he continued his experiments, which were about the “energy” that occurs during human orgasms. No kidding. As such, he performed bioelectrical experiments on subjects in various states of sexual arousal. A newfound force detected during these experiments was purported to be the same type of energy that decaying matter emits. Reich also claimed to see microscopic “bions” develop from lifeless matter and organize themselves into living cells. Now I know where the writers of the 1960’s Outer Limits television show may have got their inspiration!
By 1940 Reich had constructed his first “accumulator.” This contraption consisted of a box insulated alternately with organic and inorganic substances. Reich claimed that the particles seen in his microscope were unidentified energy. Because of his belief about the similarity between human orgasms and the energy from decaying matter, he named the purported “Orgone” power. It was during his experiments when he placed a milligram of radium in one of his accumulator machines, that Reich’s eyes started to burn, which caused a form of Conjunctivitis, and he received a skin tan. People as far away as 90 feet from his building became sick. As a result, he tried many methods to shield and contain this energy.
In 1941, Reich met with Albert Einstein and he was excited to have a chance to discuss his theories with the famous physicist. However, Einstein ignored the claims about Orgone. Undaunted, in 1948 Reich founded the “Orgone Institute” at Rangeley, Maine. Experiments with orgone energy and electromagnetism continued.
The mainstream scientific community criticized these experiments and Reich
naturally took every criticism as a personal attack. Nevertheless, he was
convinced that these experiments “proved” that his works were the greatest
discoveries in the history of science. He blamed the mainstream for his
problems because he felt that his discoveries were too disturbing for them to
accept.
Undaunted, Reich built accumulators large enough for people to enter for mental disorder cures and arresting cancer. These contraptions were known as “Orgone accumulators” and sold to any person willing to take the plunge. As Reich distributed these machines, the government started investigating the good doctor.
As the story goes, workers and visitors got sick during experiments as ominous clouds appeared over the Orgone Institute. Additionally, the vegetation near the area died and Reich claimed that this was caused by “Deadly Orgone Radiation,” more reason he claimed that he had to produce the “good” Orgone Radiation (he insisted this was a life-giving process). So, he developed a “Cloud Buster” machine made from piping which sat on a revolving platform. Reich claimed that this latest contraption could make or dissipate clouds.
A 1947 FBI investigation occurred to figure out the extent of Reich’s communist connections. [1] This investigation concluded that neither the Orgone Project nor any of its staff was at the time engaged in subversive activities or were in violation of any statute within the FBI’s authority.
In 1954 the U.S. Attorney General filed a complaint seeking a permanent injunction to prevent interstate shipment of devices and literature published by Dr. Reich’s group. That same year, Dr. Reich faced incarceration for contempt of court for violation of the Attorney General’s injunction (he refused to go to court). The Food and Drug Administration ordered Reich’s literature to be banned and destroyed. [2] Reich asserted that “Man’s right to know, to learn, to inquire, to make bona fide errors, to investigate human emotions must, by all means, be safe, if the word freedom should ever be more than an empty political slogan.” The Court rejected this defense and convicted Reich of contempt of court and imprisoned him in Lewisburg Pennsylvania Penitentiary where he died on November 3, 1957.
While Reich had his detractors, there were those who defended his works. Enter one Phillip Rieff, an advocate who wrote in his 1966 book “The Triumph of Therapeutic – Uses of Faith After Freud”:
The chief institutional instrument of repressive authority is the family. As a political revolution must overthrow the power of the state, moral revolution must overthrow the power of the family – all families. Reich makes the standard point: the family, being the training ground of morality, is authoritarian by nature. It is the “factory of reactionary ideology and structure”… A revolution must sweep out the family and its ruler, the father, no less cleanly than the old political gangs and their leaders. However radical the revolution, so long as the family persists, authority will creep back.
Reich’s works include volumes such as Character Analysis, The Mass Psychology of Fascism, The Function of the Orgasm, The Cancer Biopathy, Children of the Future, Passion of Youth, Beyond Psychology, American Odyssey, and Orgonomic Functionalism.
Notes:
- FBI Press release February25, 2000, according to Nosubject.com: “This German immigrant described himself as the Associate Professor of Medical Psychology, Director of the Orgone Institute, President and research physician of the Wilhelm Reich Foundation, and discoverer of biological or life energy. A 1940 security investigation was begun to determine the extent of Reich's communist commitments. In 1947, a security investigation concluded that neither the Orgone Project nor any of its staff were engaged in subversive activities or were in violation of any statute within the jurisdiction of the FBI.”
- As bad as Reich experiments may have been, the government nor social media giants should not engage in blatant censorship. We should take reasonable measures to prevent harmful reading materials from reaching children.
Sources:
- Web page - The Wilhelm Reich Museum
- None
Dare Call it Treason 25 Years Later - 1992, John A. Stormer
- The 70 Greatest Conspiracies of all Time - 1998, Jonathan Vankin & John Walen
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