Orgone
ORGONE
The term orgone energy was coined by Wilhelm Reich to designate what he hypothesized to be the fundamental energy of a biological nature omnipresent in the cosmos. In addition to sounding scientific, the term orgone derived from Reich's views concerning orgasm, a pivotal concept in his theory of "sex economy." In the summer of 1939, while performing "bioelectrical" experiments, Reich believed that he isolated energy-filled microscopic vesicles that he called bions. He went on to formulate a specific hypothesis that "organismic orgone energy" is a vital, irreducible form of energy that manifests itself with special intensity in sexual activity. Reich came to believe that orgone energy is also present in etheric form in the atmosphere and active in certain kinds of precipitation such as storms and tornadoes; he believed it exists throughout the cosmos and played a role in formation of the universe. Reich's later writings are entirely taken up with aspects of orgonomy, as he called his theory and teachings. Clinically, he invented orgone therapy ; he called the research institute that he established in Maine (the present day Wilhelm Reich Museum) the Orgonon. Reich also defined an egglike geometric form as the orgonome, which he viewed as a basic biological shape. To capture atmospheric orgone and put it to clinical use, Reich built box-like devices he called orgone accumulators. His therapeutic claims for these led to an injunction by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1954. This resulted in a contempt citation that brought about Reich's imprisonment in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, where he died three years later. In a famous act of censorship, the FDA ordered certain of Reich's pamphlets and publications concerning orgone energy to be banned and destroyed.
Roger Dadoun
See also: Character Analysis ; Character formation; Orgasm; Reich, Wilhelm.
Bibliography
Dadoun, Roger. (1975). Cent fleurs pour Wilhelm Reich. Paris: Payot.
Reich, Wilhelm. (1948). The cancer biopathy. New York: Orgone Institute Press.
——. (1967). Reich speaks of Freud (Mary Higgins and Chester M. Raphael, Eds.; therese Pol, Trans.). New York: Farrar, Straus.
Sharaf, Myron. (1983). Fury on earth: A biography of Wilhelm Reich. New York: St. Martin's.