Editing Orgone (section)

==History==

The concept of orgone belongs to Reich's later work after he immigrated to the US. Reich's early work was based on the [[Freudian]] concept of the [[libido]], though influenced by sociological understandings with which Freud disagreed but which were to some degree followed by other prominent theorists such as [[Herbert Marcuse]] and [[Carl Jung]]. While Freud had focused on a [[solipsistic]] conception of mind in which unconscious and inherently selfish primal drives (primarily the sexual drive, or libido) were suppressed or sublimated by internal representations ([[cathexis|cathexes]]) of parental figures (the [[superego]]), for Reich libido was a life-affirming force repressed by society directly. For example, in one of his better-known analyses, Reich observes a workers' political rally, noting that participants were careful not to violate signs that prohibited walking on the grass; Reich saw this as the state co-opting unconscious responses to parental authority as a means of controlling behavior.<ref>See ''The Mass Psychology of Fascism'' and ''Listen Little Man''<!--cites to follow--></ref> He was expelled from the Institute of Psycho-analysis because of these disagreements over the nature of the libido and his increasingly political stance. He was forced to leave Germany soon after Hitler came to power.<ref>Paul A. Robinson, ''The Sexual Radicals: Reich, Roheim, Marcuse'', Paladin, 1972. Previously published as ''The Sexual Radicals'', London: Maurice Temple Smith, 1970. Originally published as ''The Freudian Left'', New York; London: Harper and Row.</ref>

[[Image:WilhelmReichcloudbuster2.jpg|thumb|Reich with one of his [[cloudbuster]]s, a device which supposedly could influence weather by altering levels of atmospheric orgone.]]

Reich took an increasingly [[Bioenergetics|bioenergetic]] view of libido, perhaps influenced by his tutor [[Paul Kammerer]] and another biologist, [[Otto Heinrich Warburg]].<ref>James Strick, ''[http://www.jackflannel.org/orgonon_2005.html  The Historic Context of Reich's Laboratory Work]'', talk, {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051223134314/http://www.jackflannel.org/orgonon_2005.html |date=December 23, 2005 }}</ref> In the early 20th century, when [[molecular biology]] was in its infancy, [[developmental biology]] in particular still presented mysteries that made the idea of a [[Vitalism|specific life energy]] respectable, as was articulated by theorists such as [[Hans Driesch]]. As a psycho-analyst, Reich aligned such theories with the Freudian libido, while as a materialist, he believed such a life force must be susceptible to physical experiments.

Reich wrote in his best-known book, ''[[The Function of the Orgasm]]'': "Between 1919 and 1921, I became familiar with Driesch's 'Philosophie des Organischen' and his 'Ordnungslehre'…  Driesch's contention seemed incontestable to me. He argued that, in the sphere of the life function, the whole could be developed from a part, whereas a machine could not be made from a screw…  However, I couldn't quite accept the transcendentalism of the life principle. Seventeen years later I was able to resolve the contradiction on the basis of a formula pertaining to the function of energy. Driesch's theory was always present in my mind when I thought about vitalism. The vague feeling I had about the irrational nature of his assumption turned out to be justified in the end. He landed among the [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualists]]."<ref>Quoted in Malgosia Askanas, Ph.D. ''Expose of the Secret and Not-so-secret misery of (An)Orgonomy and Reichianism''</ref>

The concept of orgone resulted from this work in the psycho-physiology of libido. After Reich migrated to the US, he began to speculate about biological development and evolution and then branched into much broader speculations about the nature of the universe.<ref name="kelley" /> This led him to the conception of "bions," self-[[luminescent]] sub-cellular [[vesicle (biology)|vesicles]] that he believed were observable in decaying materials and presumably present universally. Initially, he thought of bions as [[electrodynamic]] or radioactive entities, as had the Russian biologist [[Alexander Gurwitsch]], but later concluded that he had discovered an entirely unknown but measurable force, which he then named "orgone",<ref name="kelley" /> a pseudo-Greek formation probably from ''org-'' "impulse, excitement" as in ''[[orgasm|org-asm]]'', plus ''-one'' as in ''[[ozone]]'' (the Greek neutral participle, virtually {{lang|grc|*ὄργον}}, ''gen''.: {{lang|grc|*ὄργοντος}}).<ref>[[Webster's Dictionary]], [http://www.yourdictionary.com/orgone orgone].</ref>

For Reich, neurosis became a physical manifestation he called "body armor"—deeply seated tensions and inhibitions in the physical body that were not separated from any mental effects that might be observed.<ref>Edward W. L. Smith, ''The Body in Psychotherapy,'' Macfarland, 2000.</ref> He developed a therapeutic approach he called [[vegetotherapy]] that was aimed at opening and releasing this body armor so that free [[instinctive reflex]]es—which he considered a token of psychic well-being—could take over.