Theory of Orgone Energy

WILHELM REICH
Theory of Orgone Energy

Reich developed his theory of orgone energy over several years and expanded it throughout his lifetime. His theory was the result of experiences with his neurotic patients and his biological experiments, which he felt provided concrete evidence for the existence of orgone. Orgone energy can be thought of as organic or "life-energy." Reich first observed this energy while studying the bioelectric nature of pleasure and anxiety. Using a galvanometer, he discovered that in pleasurable situations skin has a charge, while in displeaurable ones it does not. He initially called this phenomenon "bioelectric energy."

Later, while attempting to research the origin of life, Reich discovered what he termed bions. These globules of energy seemed to give off a certain radiation, such that when objects were left near the cultures containing bions, those objects became highly charged. Reich later observed that this radiation was the same energy he had observed in his skin conductance experiments, and that indeed, this energy surrounded all living things and was free in the atmosphere. He renamed this energy "orgone."

After conducting an experiment in which Reich believed he had succeeded in developing protozoa from bions, he began to investigate the formation of cancer cells. He believed that cancer cells formed in the same way, and supposedly produced a motion picture in which cancer cells did indeed develop from the breakdown of living tissue. Reich felt certain that this "biopathy" was the result of sexual repression.Continuing his cancer research, Reich developed the orgone accumulator (ORAC), which was intended to produce a concentration of orgone energy. The device itself was simply a large box constructed by alternating layers of metal (preferably iron) and organic material, often wood.

He experimented with the ORAC by keeping both healthy mice and mice with cancer in the accumulator and comparing their lifespans with control mice which were not kept in the ORAC. Reich found that even the mice with cancer lived longer than the controls who had not been kept in the ORAC.

Reich continued his accumulator experiments, moving on to work with humans. He found that the ORAC helped cure a variety of ailments. These ailments were assumed to be due to a lack of energy within the organism which the ORAC replaced. Subjects who already had high levels of orgone energy were not able to tolerate the accumulator.Believing that orgone energy might be used to combat nuclear radiation, Reich undertook what would be called "The Oranur Experiment." As part of the procedure, 1 mg. of radium in a lead container was repeatedly placed in a 20-fold accumulator in a metal-lined room. The results of this experiment were disastrous: the mice died and the laboratory had to be evacuated.The Oranur Experiment led to Reich's discovery of what he termed "deadly orgone" (DOR), which was supposedly the result of the interaction between nuclear radiation and orgone energy.

DOR has been described as a toxic, black, lusterless substance which carries a high charge and is attracted to water and oxygen.In order to combat DOR, Reich developed the cloudbuster, an instrument consisting of five hollow pipes grounded in water. Reich believed that this "cloudbuster" was able to draw DOR out of the atmosphere and into the water. He later modified this device for use on humans. The modified instrument, the medical DOR-buster, was intended to moved energy which was blocked by muscular contractions (see "character armor" in the glossary) in order to release the energy and pent-up emotions from his patients.

Reich became increasingly concerned about what he believed to be an increase of DOR in the atmosphere coming from outer space. After several UFO sightings, Reich became convinced that space ships were responsible. He felt it was his responsibility to combat these DOR-producing space invasions with the use of cloudbusters, fearing that the excess DOR was causing the increase in the development of desert conditions in the United States.

A majority of the information on this page was distilled from Baker, 1968.
http://speck.myweb.uga.edu/theory.html

Contrary to what some of you may believe, I have a very suspicious mind regarding those theories which are less than mainstream. (I should imagine that there are plenty of those reading this blog whom will be suspicious of me, and quite frankly, I don't blame them!) Though I am suspicious by nature (I guess that's human nature) - I do try and keep an open mind.

It's like my belief in God. My relationship with God is something I have had to work at - even though I'd always had faith - I feel in the past I lacked belief. The more I have come to understand God, the more I have come to understand the way God works. And sure, there have been times where I have had my faith tested, and so much so, that I have looked upon the world and have struggled to find any works of God there. Is this normal? I certainly hope so. With perseverance though, the more I have learned to trust God, then consequently, the more I have come to believe in God.

I was watching a TV programme where the comedian Billy Connolly is being interviewed by his wife, Pamela Stephenson. Pamela just happens to be a clinical pyschologist, so the discussion was highly intimate regarding Billy's outlook. There was something Billy said that really struck a chord with me - the whole room practically resonated. He said something along the lines of "there is no such thing as disliking something - only things which you don't yet get." And that's it. There's just all this stuff that I don't get yet.

The more I have learned about the somewhat irrelevant luminiferous aether, the more I understand it is highly relevant to everything going on around me. What I try to do is not so much hang my faith on something, but more suspend my disbelief in something that I don't fully understand. I leave the door open.

I don't know much about the "orgone theory". It seems orgone is another name Reich had for the aether. But I think the "oranur experiment" could be interesting. The experiment is describing an interaction between radioactive emissions and the aether. The following is taken from"A Skeptical Scrutiny of the Works and Theories of WILHELM REICH - As related to The Oranur Experiment" by Roger M. Wilcox. The first paragraph is part of a report made by Reich.

"At 16:30h when I came down to the lower laboratory, the air was sticky and heavy. The background count ran up to 80 CPM 50 feet away from the Ra-needle, and amounted to several hundred CPM on the outside of the walls of the OR room. The workers were immediately ordered out of the hall. The inside of the OR room was unbearably charged. The walls felt 'glowing' 10 to 16 feet away from where the Ra needle was located. The portable survey GM meter 'jammed' when I approached the 20x accumulator." — The Oranur Experiment, First Report, p. 281 [emphasis in original]

After that, all hell broke loose at Orgonon. Removing the radium needle to a garage 150 feet away, and airing out the whole building with the orgone room in it, failed to remove the "high orgone charge"; the OR building still felt "active" four months later, when Reich wrote The Oranur Experiment, First Report. This despite the fact that the slightly-elevated background radioactivity count in the building came back down to normal almost immediately after the radium was removed. "Everybody" could feel the heaviness of the air, the oppression, the pulling pains here and there in the body, headaches and nausea whenever they stepped into the OR building. Even 50 feet away from the building, everybody experienced a salty taste in their mouths.

Observers developed conjunctivitis, had cold shivers and hot flashes, got mottled skin on their palms, felt pressure in their cheek bones and around their eyes, became nauseous, lost their appetite and felt weak (even to the point of losing their balance), and had all manner of ill symptoms. Reich called this litany of maladies "Oranur sickness," and attributed it not to the radium itself, but to the radium having changed the once-beneficial orgone energy in the accumulator room into Deadly ORgone, or DOR.
http://home.netcom.com/~rogermw2/Reich/oranur.html

Did the oranur experiment really happen? Quite simply, I don't know. But it's possible. I can't help but notice that Roger Wilcox has a field day pulling Reich's experiment apart. Imagine what would happen if he was to lay his eyes upon the theoretical heresay to be found throughout this blog - the poor guy would get giddy!

I spotted the following news story at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. I don't know if the ray-gun is related to the oranur experiment in any way, shape or form, but I love to stir up a bit of intrigue....

January 30, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A bacterial cocktail that transforms jet fuel into useless jelly. A chemical spray that turns enemy soldiers into homosexuals. A ray gun that shoots invisible beams of heat, dispersing crowds in a few seconds.

Science fiction? Not entirely. All three are concepts for so-called nonlethal weapons considered by the U.S. Defense Department.

For years, the Pentagon has spent millions of dollars to develop a new generation of weapons it calls nonlethal or less lethal, to reduce casualties in war.
No international rules govern the use of electromagnetic weapons like the Silent Guardian.

The bacterial cocktail and since-derided “gay spray” remained on the drawing boards.

But the ray gun was actually developed and this month, the Pentagon demonstrated it to journalists in the United States. Its name is Silent Guardian.”Developed by the Raytheon Corporation, the “gun” looks like a satellite dish.

Burning Sensation

It can be mounted on a truck and it works by firing off beams of high energy for up to 500 meters. Anyone in the path of the beams is zapped with an instant burning sensation that forces a retreat.

Physicist Juergen Altmann, of Germany’s Dortmund University, says the weapon works on a similar principle to microwave ovens.

"You know about microwave ovens. There, you use microwaves for heating," Altmann says. "This is a system where one uses so-called millimeter waves, where the wavelength is much shorter, so that the radiation penetrates into flesh and skin for a tenth of a millimeter -- 0.4 millimeters -- and heats only there, instead of being like a microwave oven, where [the waves] penetrate several centimeters."
http://www.rferl.org/content/Article/1074378.html