Conference hydra::dejavu

    
    	sorry;  misspelled "cloudbuster" in the .0 note.   (just in case
    you were wondering what a "couldbuster" was...)
    
    	A.

    Anyone who's books the government burns is of immediate interest
    to me.  Any more information about him Alan?

His medical practice;
    
    	Many types of therapy that can be classed as "body work" are
    based on Reich's ideas.   When he broke with Freud he turned
    the couch around and started interacting with the patients.
    There were some accusations that he slept with some of his
    women patients.
    
    	He felt that healthy sex (with orgasm) is necessary for
    true psychic health.   He taught that *most* if not all
    mental illness begins with sexual repression.
    
    	He discovered that repressed thoughts and emotions get
    locked into muscle tensions.   He grouped these tensions
    into what he called "the seven muscular armor rings", that
    have a surprizing correspondence with the "chakras" of Hindu
    lore.    The tensions stopped the orgone energy from flowing
    through the body, and stagnating energies would cause disease
    such as cancer, in the same body location where the chronic
    tension resided.

On the wilder side of His unusual theories;

    	He said he could *see* the orgone energy in the atmosphere,
    as little blue dots.   He said that the blue dots were
    attracted to each other, and would spiral in toward each other
    to condense into material atoms.   (Here he ran afoul of the
    conventional scientific theories on "conservation of matter".)
    In "Cosmic Superimposition" he said that the spiral form of the
    galaxy was caused by two intesecting cosmic orgone streams.
    He also used this theory to try and explain the Aurora Borealis.

    	He also came up with an interesting reinterpretation of the
    Michalson-Morely experiment.   He felt that the orgone field
    was the medium within which light waves travel;  the "ether".
    The Michalson-Morely experiment was said to disprove the existence
    of the ether, but Reich said the results had been misinterpreted.
    The experiment involved measuring the speed of light, at the
    surface of the Earth, so that the velocity of the planet would
    be added or subracted from the measured velocity.   (measuring 
    the light from the sun at sunrise, and again at sunset might
    have been predicted to get two different numbers, different by
    the velocity of Earth's daily rotation.   When the experiment
    was performed, the velocities were the same in both directions.
    Similarly the experiment could use starlight measurements taken
    six months apart, to use the Earth's orbital velocity as a factor.)
    The original interpretation was that the speed of light is a
    constant, and that the direction and speed of the body from
    which the measurement is taken is irrelevant.   This theory
    was integral to Einstein's development of the theory of Relativity,
    which does deal with the speed of light as a constant.
    
    	Reich took the position that the Earth is rotating in a
    pool of orgone that is rotating at the same speed as the surface.
    The movement of the Earth did not add or subract from the speed
    of the light, since the media was moving at the same speed.
    He also said the "red shift" of light from distant stars was
    caused by friction in the medium rather than from an expanding
    universe.    I suppose this aspect of his ideas could be
    conclusivly proven/disproven by repeating the experiment from
    satellites rotating around the Earth in opposite directions.
    
    	He also claimed that gravity was the natural attraction
    between orgone charged objects.   He said the Earth stays in
    it's orbit because it follows the orgone whirlpool from which 
    it originally condensed.    (Do all those satellites up there
    travel in the same direction as the Earth's daily rotation?
    If a satellite will stay aloft as long when travelling against 
    the rotation it disproves this aspect of his theories.)
    
	In his final years, when he was experimenting with the cloudbuster,
    he believed that his experiments were being observed and interfered
    with by UFOs.   As he descended into the paranoia of his old
    age he said the UFO's were bombarding Organon with "DOR" (which
    he believed was a dangerous poisonous form of orgone energy;
    "deadly orgone").    In the end he saw himself as waging a cosmic
    battle alone against the forces of evil.

	Alan.

 
Cloudbusting  - Kate Bush
------------

I still dream of Organon.
I wake up crying.
You're making rain
And you're just in reach
When you and sleep escape me
 
You're like my yo-yo
That glowed in the dark
 
What made it special
Made it dangerous
So I bury it and forget.
 
Everytime it rains,
you're here in my head
Like the sun coming out -
Ooh I just know that something good is going to happen
And I don't know when
But just saying it could even make it happen.
 
On top of the world
Looking over the edge
You could see them coming
You looked too small
In their big black car
To be a threat to the men in power.
 
I hid my yo-yo in the garden
 
I can't hide you from the government
Oh God, daddy - I won't forget
 
Your son's coming out
 
    

    RE: .3
    
    How could anyone take any of that seriously?  It reminds me of a fake
    article OMNI printed one time called "Static Gravity,"  where the
    author claimed that particals called gravatons existed.  Gravitons,
    (as I recall) make things lighter and can be picked up by friction
    as with electrons.  Liquid moves up the rim of a glass when the
    liquid is stirred because the molecules on the outside of the vortex
    created by stirring move faster than those near the center.  Hence
    they pick up gravitons which makes them lighter.  For the same reason,
    the article said, "a man who is running moves faster than a man
    who is walking, and a man who is walking moves faster than a man
    who is standing still."
    
    Shades of organon!
    
    
    John M. 

    
    	RE: .5 (John)

        	Well, yes he was kind of nuts in his later years,
    	but still he occasionally made some surprizing sense.
    	He certainly didn't do well outside his medical specialty.

        	However, there may still be some value in his
    	ideas about sex, muscular tension, and orgone energy.
    	This "orgone" seems quite similar in aspects to prana,
    	and kundalini, or aka (mentioned in the Huna material),
    	or perhaps even the "vital magnetism" of Mesmer.   I think
    	these similar concepts keep being reinvented because there
	is something to them...   
    
    		I remember you didn't think too much of it when 
    	I mentioned Carl Von Reichenbach's "Odic force" a few weeks 
    	ago in another Dejavu topic, so I don't suppose you'll be at 
    	all impressed with this orgone stuff either.

    Alan.

    The US GOVERNMENT took him seriously John.  They burned his lab
    and his books and banned his writings for 20 YEARS!!  Unless you
    believe the US government to be a mindless bunch of idiots (:-),
    then they must have had *some* reason to freak out over this man,
    right?  Being silly or incorrect doesn't warrant that kind of
    treatment.  

    Re .last_several:
    
    There's at least one company that sells Reichian stuff, Hieronymous
    machines, and the like. (L'ord Company.)  I've gotten (and discarded)
    mtheir catalogues from time to time [one problem: some of their
    stuff is obviously renaming of old stuff.  Their "Chakra charger"
    is in description _exactly_ like the Relaxaciser that was marketed
    about a decade ago, and banned when it reportedly caused a few
    fatalities through electrocution].
    
    However, they can sell their stuff as long as the buyer fills in
    and returns to them a statement that he or she is buying the stuff
    with the clear understanding that as far as can be determined, the
    stuff's worthless.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

RE: .3
    
    (Reich's explanation of the Michaelson-Morely experiments in terms
    of the aether/Orgone-field moving with the Earth).  Actually that
    was one of the theories that was generally considered until Einstein
    came up with the theory of relativity.  The problem is that the
    aether would then cause a measurable "drag" unless it had vanishingly small
    viscosity and frictional coefficients.  But the speed of propogation
    of a wave in a medium is proportional to the mediums elasticity
    which is related to its viscosity.  Lack of drag implies high fluidity,
    while the high speed of light implies a very, very rigid substance
    -- compare the speed of sound in a bar of iron with the speed of
    light, then multiply the rigidity of the iron by the same factor;
    that would give you a rough estimate of how rigid the aether would
    have to be.
    
    And yes, satellites orbit in all directions (there is a very, very
    small correction depending on the direction of rotation of the
    body.  This is a consequence of the General Theory of Relativity,
    which predicts that space/time will be "dragged" [believe it or
    not, that's the technical term] around a little with a massive rotating
    body.  This effect was just measured for the first time earlier
    this year by some very delicate instruments mounted in satellites).
    
    					Topher

RE: .7
    
    Well, some individuals who were part of the US Gov't took him
    seriously.  This had almost nothing to do with his physical theories
    which I doubt that they understood (much less why they were nonesense).
    Reich was "taken seriously" for three reasons.
    
    	1) He preached sexual freedom, which was a challenge to the
    	   status quo.  Though his ideas are no longer shocking some
    	   of them would still be judged rather extreme even by fairly
    	   liberal standards.  Few people would recommend essentially
    	   unfettered teen-age sex, even with perfect "protection"
    	   available, as the road to emotional health.  He did this
    	   with an aura of "science" which made it particularly hard
    	   to ignore him.
    
    	2) He was a direct challenge to the medical establishment, which
    	   was then attempting to be seen as the *only* source of
    	   "scientific" treatment for disease.
    
    	3) He had been branded a Communist.
    
    It was not really important whether or not what Reich was doing
    was science or not -- the government could not recognize science
    if it bit them on the nose.  What was important was that he had
    the *aura* of science about him.
    
    					Topher

    But Toph,  it was the government who "branded" him as a communist,
    the medical establishment (according to that account) was more
    concerned with power than the medical well-being of the populace,
    and we are all familiar with the bizarre manner in which established
    authority treats sexuality.
        
    I guess it comes down to the fact that if the establishment has
    gone out of their way to surpress someone's work, we sort of have
    an intellectual obligation to examine his work personally before
    dismissing it (or part of it) as bunk.  It may be bunk, but so few
    scientists (or whatever) have been treated in this manner in this 
    country that it gives one pause for suspicion.
    Mary (paranoia-great distroyer_:-)

    
    	RE: .8  (Steve)
    
    	Six or seven years ago when I bought my first air ionizer,
    I had to sign one of those legal release statements, saying
    in effect that the air ionizer does nothing.    At the same
    time hospitals everywhere were installing them in their air
    conditoning systems since they were *known* to reduce operating
    room deaths.
    
    	The legal release statement doesn't necessarily mean that the 
    item really doesn't do *anything*.   It means the watchdogs don't 
    agree on what it does, or may simply mean that legal battles are still
    under way to establish the new technology.    We should remember
    that it often takes sixty or eighty years to validate new
    breakthroughs, to the point where there is general acceptance.
    
	But of course some of those devices really do nothing, and some
    may actually be dangerous, like the Relaxaciser you mentioned.

        	Alan.

    Re .12 (Alan):
    
    > 	The legal release statement doesn't necessarily mean that the 
    item really doesn't do *anything*.  ...
    
    But it also means that the devices are no longer banned.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    
    ALTHOUGH SOMEWHAT PARANOID IN LATER YEARS(WHO COULD BLAME HIM),
    IT 
    IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT HE WAS CONSIDERED HEALTHY AND TWENTY
    ONE DAYS AFTER BEING INSTITUTIONALIZED HE DIED.  MANY OF HIS 
    STUDENTS SUGGEST THAT THE GOVERNMENT DID MORE THAN BURN HIS BOOKS.
    
    THERE WAS AN INDIVIDUAL IN ARIZONA WHO USED AN ORGAN BOX IN CONJUCTION
    WITH TRANSDUCERS THAT DID CREATE AN ENERGY FIELD THAT REVERSED THE
    FLOW OF ELECTRONS IN IS ELECTIC METER AND ACCORDING TO THE ELECTRIC
    COMPANY THE DEVICE WAS SUPPLYING ELECTRICITY TO THE TOWN.
    
    REPORTS WERE THAT SEVERAL METERS HAD BEEN REPLACED AT THAT LOCATION
    AND THE METER STILL RUNS BACKWARDS. HOW VALID I DON'T KNOW.
    
    
    NO MATTER HOW FLAKY HIS WORK SEEMS.  IT DOES SUGGEST AN ADVANCED
    THINKER.  REMEMBER  THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY SAID MAN COULD NEVER
    TRAVEL BEYOND 47 MPH OR THEY WOULD EXPLODE.
    
    MURRAY
    
    

    
    	RE: .14
    
    	 You said "HE WAS CONSIDERED HEALTHY" when institutionalized.
    
    (Please note that when typing in all capitol letters someone may
     accuse you of "shouting".)
    
    	Well, just prior to gotin to jail, he had been doing 
    experiments testing for interactions between orgone energy 
    and radioactivity.   He was treating himself for the poisoning 
    he had inflicted on himself during these experiments (he was
    a doctor, after all).    He felt other doctors were unfamiliar 
    with the unususal medical condition, and refused treatment by 
    the prison doctors, prefering to continue his own treatment regimen.
    
    	However, the prison authorities refused to allow him the
    equipment or freedom to implement his own prescription.   The
    prison doctors might have been able to help him some, but since
    he refused their help, his own stubborness seems to have contributed
    to his medical demise.
    
    	They symptoms he displayed, seemed to be quite similar to
    the symptoms of positive ion poisoning, or radiation poisoning.
    (Although please note, I have no medical qualifications, so this
    should be classed as speculation)   Such a syndrome was little 
    known at the time, so the prison doctors may have honestly 
    believed he was healthy, although that was not actually the case.

    	Alan.

re: .0

In addition to the works you mention, Reich also wrote "The Function of the
Orgasm" and "Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality", both of which seemed to
me to have some good insights concerning the origin and consequences of our
irrational heritage of anti-sex prejudices.

I used to know some folks back in the '60s who had built their own Orgone
Boxes, but I was never able to observe any noticeable effect of the boxes
on the health of their users (some of whom had definite health problems).
It seemed also that when the Pyramid Power fad came around, it made some
of the same claims that the Orgone Box proponents had also made.

In terms of lasting legacies of Reich's work, the one key idea that he
promoted that many psychologists could probably buy into now was that various
neuroses become perpetuated in physical symptom constellations, such as
knots in muscles or postural abnormalities, and that treating the symptom (for
instance, by physical manipulation of the affected muscles) can alleviate the
associated psychological problems.  Freud, on the other hand, assumed that the
"underlying" psychological problem would simply manifest itself in some other
way, such that only a long-term psychoanalytic treatment would be effective.
I believe that Freud's view has been found to be basically not able to be
substantiated, whereas there has been some substantiation for Reich's view
(some of chiropractic and the "Alexander Technique" seem to derive from a
practical application of Reich's ideas).

    As I recall, the court order to burn was limited to those pamphlets
    that advertised the orgone accumulator as a possible treatment for
    cancer.  It was an over-zealous group who collected all his
    publications and burned over 150,000 copies in New York's City's
    incinerator.  That was in '57.  Years after we, as a nation, were
    shocked by the burning of books in NAZI Germany.
    
    There still are orgonomists around and they tend to interpret Reich's
    writings as absolutely correct.  They claim that Reich was killed
    by the US government.
    
    BTW, while Reich was hauled into court for violation of the interstate
    commerce laws, Reich, himself, was not the marketer of those products.
    However he used the courtroom as a place to share his ideas and
    "communications" re: extraterrestial life and plans for the planet
    earth.  As he refused to address the charges, he was found guilty
    of contempt of court and sentence to Lexington accordingly.
    
    Reich's influence is still fundamental in the work of Fritz Perls,
    the "finder" of gestalt therapy, and Alexander Lower, the most
    outspoken and widely published writer on bioenergetics, which has
    been called orgonomy with legs(Reich considered the legs as part
    of the pelvic segment).  Both Perls and Lowen were trained by Reich.
    
    Orgonon continues as a museum and is an inspirational place to visit
    after you have read some of his writings.
    
    Jack

    
    (Back again, for as long as this cluster holds up...)
    
    Back in the early '70s at UMass (Amherst), there were a number of
    people who got interested in Reich's work, and circulated copies
    of his books, organized discussions on DOR clouds, etc. Then someone
    decided to build one of Reich's devices that would concentrate Orgones
    in the atmosphere. It looked like a series of pipes; water was pumped
    through one pipe and the others pointed at the sky, where the orgones
    would accumulate.
    
    1972 had been a dry year, bordering on a drought. Two days after
    the accumulator was hooked up, it began to rain. And Rain. And RAIN!
    It rained for a solid week, if I remember correctly. Not just a
    drizzle--it POURED! EVERY DAY! By the time it stopped, there was
    four feet of water in the basement of the (at that time) new Student
    Center! I think it set the records for most rain in this area in
    a 7 day period.
    
    Coincidence? Maybe...
    
    Ed E.