Orgone energy

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{{hatnote|"Orgone" redirects here. Were you looking for the [[Oregon]]?}}
'''Orgone energy''' was [[Wilhelm Reich]]'s term for an omnipresent, "life positive" energy he claimed to have discovered in 1939. Reich often used 'orgone energy' as a catch-all to explain every natural phenomenon for which there was no conventional explanation (or for which Reich did not know there existed a conventional explanation), as a kind of a [[God of the gaps]]. Those few properties of orgone energy Reich did spell out as definite included:

*Orgone is attracted by organic substances
*Orgone is attracted, but then immediately re-radiated, by metallic substances
*[[Earth]] has an orgone energy field that flows west-to-east faster than the Earth rotates, except when a storm is approaching and the flow reverses its direction

==Origins==
[[File:Rychnbion pic1.JPG|thumb|right|165px|Photographs of "plasma spheres" made by Rychnowski in 1923, "showing" ''eteroid'']]

Reich, a [[Freudian]] [[Marxist]], believed that a lack of good [[orgasm]]s is what kept the working classes from realizing their political potential.<ref>See:{{cite book | last1 = Reich | first1 = Wilhelm | author-link1 = Wilhelm Reich | orig-year = 1942 | title = The function of the orgasm: sex-economic problems of biological energy | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CjYCtgEACAAJ | edition = 3 | publisher = Noonday Press | publication-date = 1961 | page = | access-date = 2018-09-29 | quote = }}</ref> The [[Communist]] Party of the [[Soviet Union]] quickly distanced itself from Reich's curious solution to the [[Conflict theory|class struggle]]. Essentially what we see is a formerly respected Freudian, with the associated sexual obsession, extending his tenuous psychiatric theories into the realm of [[physics]].

In 1939 Reich was performing one of his "bion experiments" &mdash; he believed that [[bacteria]] and amoeba-like organisms [[Spontaneous generation|arose spontaneously]] in sterile dirt and [[coal]], if soaked in [[water]] for sufficient time &mdash; and one of his assistants accidentally prepared a sample with sterilized ocean sand instead of using sterilized dirt.<ref>[http://www.rogermwilcox.com/Reich/sapa.html A Skeptical Scrutiny of the Works and Theories of Wilhelm Reich: As related to SAPA Bions] by Roger M. Wilcox (23 February 2009)</ref> Under the microscope, this sample seemed to show an "intense blue glimmer", and soon Reich started noticing all sorts of effects in the room where the experiment was taking place that could be described as "blue" or as "glowing". When he gave this sample to a [[radium]] physicist to test, the physicist reported that he could detect "no radiation" being given off by the sample, so Reich concluded that he was seeing an entirely new, previously undiscovered form of radiation which he called "orgone radiation".<ref>[http://www.rogermwilcox.com/Reich/orgone_radiation.html A Skeptical Scrutiny of the Works and Theories of Wilhelm Reich: As related to Orgone Radiation] by Roger M. Wilcox (24 July 2000)</ref> How Reich leapt to the conclusion that this orgone radiation was the biological energy responsible for good orgasms, he didn't say.

As well as ensuring that humans have enjoyable orgasms, orgone energy is allegedly pretty much the driving force for everything in the [[Universe]]. But do not confuse with {{wpl|Franciszek Rychnowski||'s}} ''eteroid'' and {{wpl|Henri Bergson||'s}} {{wpl|Élan vital|''élan vital''|,}} since orgone energy is not restricted to living organisms.

Reich largely self-published his works, including such memorable titles as ''Listen Little Man!'' This particular work was a response to the neurotic, sexually sick "little men" who had attacked Reich's amazing work. His style was mostly humorless and followed the traditional ego-maniacal trend of (self-proclaimed) geniuses angered by the failure of the world to realize their genius. For example:

{{quotebox|Whatever you have done to me or will do to me in the future, whether you glorify me as a genius or put me in a mental institution, whether you adore me as your savior or hang me as a spy, sooner or later necessity will force you to comprehend that I have discovered the laws of the living… I have disclosed to you the infinitely vast field of the living in you, of your cosmic nature. That is my great reward.<ref name=fads>[[Martin Gardner]]n ''[[Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science]]'', 1957.</ref>{{rp|258-259}}}}

Like modern-day [[cranks]], Reich repeatedly lashed-out at mainstream [[academia]] for its rejection of his ideas. The failure of the [[Medicine|medical establishment]] to accept his orgonomic cure for [[cancer]] led to his accusing cancer pathologists of being more interested in a steady salary than in actually curing cancer.<ref>Reich, Wilhelm. Listen Little Man!, 1948.</ref> Reich's early work in [[psychoanalysis]] &mdash; which he extended into what he called "Character Analysis" &mdash; was in part well received, perhaps because that [[pseudoscience]]<ref>[http://skepdic.com/psychoan.html Psychoanalysis] on the Skeptic's Dictionary</ref> allows more scope for conjecture, but it proved far more difficult for him to make headway in the biological and physical sciences, which normally require testable predictions and evidence.

==But it's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane==

According to Reich, when a human body absorbs orgone energy, red blood corpuscles emit a blue glow at their fringe when viewed under a microscope.<ref name=fads />{{rp|254}} (The possibility that this blue fringe was chromatic aberration, a side effect of focusing light through a lens, didn't seem to have occurred to Reich.)

Also, orgone energy causes an involuntary pelvic thrusting motion, which Reich called the "orgasm reflex". The orgasm reflex can appear from activities other than an actual orgasm, and Reich claimed to see it in some of his patients during vegetotherapy. This motion is related to Reich's dividing of universal forces into ''suction'' and ''pushing'' actions.

==Orgone therapy==

Reich extended his ideas of orgone energy into psychoanalytic-based therapy throughout his career. Late in his life, he combined them all into a general therapy theory coined Orgone therapy. There were two main broad subdivisions: physical orgone therapy and psychiatric orgone therapy. It was not uncommon for Reich to use both types of therapy on the same individual.

Physical orgone therapy involved the use of devices that Reich believed manipulated orgone energy directly. These included [[orgone accumulator]] boxes large enough for the patient to sit in, orgone blankets and "shooters" which were built out of the same layers as a single wall in an orgone accumulator, and Reich's medical DOR buster which was a scaled-down version of his [[cloudbuster]].

Psychiatric orgone therapy was Reich's late-in-life name for character-analytic vegetotherapy. It was developed by Reich in the early-to-mid-1930s, and consisted of Character Analysis techniques used in combination with more direct physical techniques that Reich called vegetotherapy (after the vegetative nervous system). Vegetotherapy included physical movement exercises and lots of deep breathing, but were often centered around a rather painful process called "attacking the muscular armor", which resembles a later technique called [[Rolfing]]. 

Psychiatric orgone therapy has its origins in Reich's Character Analysis. Reich believed that chronic tension in part of the musculature indicated that emotions were being "held" in those muscles. He referred to this alleged emotional holding as "muscular armor." He sought to remove the muscular armor by pressing on them directly with his fingers, in a way most likely to elicit a strong emotional response from his patient. Since these attacks were often quite [[pain]]ful, emotional responses in the form of anger or even crying were very common; Reich interpreted these reactions as proof that his attacks on the muscles were releasing pent-up emotions and, thus, that his therapy worked.

Physical orgone therapy has its origins in Reich's belief in orgone energy. He believed that one effect of muscular armor was that the chronically-contracted muscles blocked the natural flow of orgone energy in the body, and that thus supplying the body with extra orgone energy might be able to overcome those blocks. He also believed that organic substances attracted orgone energy, and metallic substances attracted but then immediately re-radiated orgone energy &mdash; so, he reasoned, by building boxes with organic substances lining the outside and metallic substances lining the inside, he ought to be able to "accumulate" orgone energy inside the box. Reich and his followers built many of these orgone accumulator boxes and had patients sit naked inside them for 10-20 minutes at a time. They eventually came to believe that physical orgone therapy could cure everything from impotence to [[cancer]].

==Orgone accumulator==

{{hatnote|Were you looking for other uses of [[Orac]]?}}

[[File:Orgone Energy Accumulator (left-angle, open).JPG|thumb|right|165px|An "orgone accumulator," based on Reich's original design.]]

[[File:Orgonegenerator.jpg|thumb|left|165px|A modern-day "orgone accumulator", composed of epoxy resin and metal shavings. There is probably a quartz crystal in the middle as well.]]

An '''orgone accumulator''' (ORAC) was a box developed by Reich to trap and then radiate his [[magic|magical]] orgone energy into a concentrated area. Reich constructed the box so that it had organic material lining the outside of its walls and metallic material lining the insides of its walls. To Reich, orgone energy would be drawn into the organic material on the outside of the box, but then be radiated into the box by the metallic inner lining. Over time, this orgone energy would "accumulate" in the interior of the box.

Reich came to the conclusion that orgone energy would be absorbed by organic substances because of his (woefully inadequate) knowledge of "[[radiation]]" — by which he meant "nuclear" radiation, e.g. the spooky stuff that comes out of [[radium]]. Somewhere along the line, he heard that organic matter absorbs radiation,<ref>Wilhelm Reich, ''The Cancer Biopathy'', ch. III, sec. 3 (p. 90, 1973 trans.)</ref> and that was all he needed to convince himself that orgone energy "must" behave the same way.

Objects (including people) could then be placed inside such a device and be exposed to well above background levels of orgone energy. Of course, there is absolutely no evidence that orgone exists, so any device designed to "accumulate" it in one place can be immediately written off. Orgone accumulators were proposed to cure [[Panacea|everything]] from mental disease to [[cancer]]. It is the ultimate mix of [[woo]] and [[pseudoscience]].

==In popular culture==
{{trivia}}
* Hawkwind, "Orgone Accumulator" – but make sure it’s the original version off the “Space Ritual” album…
* Patti Smith, "Birdland"—a song about Peter Reich missing his father Wilhelm
* Kate Bush, "Cloudbusting" (a song about Peter Reich missing his father Wilhelm)
* British sitcom ''Peep Show'' (Series 5, Episode 6) &mdash; orgones are mentioned as part of the belief system of a fictional [[Scientology]]esque [[cult]] which two of the sitcom's characters briefly join.
* It is widely rumored that the Orgasmatron in Woody Allen's movie ''{{wpl|Sleeper (1973 film)|Sleeper}}'' was inspired by Reich's orgone accumulator boxes.<ref>Peter D. Kramer, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110902022127/http://www.slate.com/id/2297527 The Great Proselytizer of Orgasm]. Archievd from ''Slate'', 27 June 2011.</ref>
* ''The Last Great Wilderness'' features an orgone accumulator as part of its plot.
* Celebrity orgone accumulator users include Sean Connery, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, William Burroughs, Jack Nicholson and Robert Anton Wilson.
* Orson Bean wrote a book titled ''Me and the Orgone'', which was mostly about Reich's vegetotherapy.
* [[Yugoslavia]]n director Dušan Makavejev's 1971 film "W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism" had, as one of its many segments, a documentary on Reich and Orgone that endorsed his ideas of sexually-liberated [[communism]]. Despite being rather [[insane]], the film is artistically well-regarded and even got a Criterion Collection release.
* Orgone energy makes an appearance in the anime crossover video game ''Super Robot Wars: Judgement'' as the primary power source used by a race of [[ancient astronauts]] known as the Lunar Furies. Understandably for a strategy game about giant robots, the sexual aspect is never brought up and the name is mainly used for a generic "life force"-type energy in the longstanding anime tradition of namedropping kooky [[New Age]] concepts for sci-fi plot devices. Orgone accumulators do feature prominently in the game, as the last level involves blowing up several building-sized ones protected by robot ghosts. Did we mention it's Japanese?
* Onetime art school student Vex Ashley<ref>Vex Ashley, [https://www.vice.com/en/article/vex-ashley-four-chambers-porn/ "As A Porn Director, I Find the Beauty in the Gross Parts of Sex,"] ''Vice'', October 4, 2018</ref> shot a porn film inside an authentic orgone accumulator

==See also==
*[[Vitalism]]
*[[Qi]]
*[[Subtle energy]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Cancer woo]]
[[Category:Energy therapy]]
[[Category:Energy woo]]
[[Category:Energy therapy]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]

Categories: Pseudoscience, Cancer woo, Energy therapy, Energy woo, Energy therapy, Psychoanalysis