Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 11:32:51 -0500
From: Christopher G Caruso <ccaruso@sas.upenn.edu>
Subject: Re: Reich & conspiracy theories
To: orgonomy@jefferson.village.virginia.edu
Sender: owner-orgonomy@jefferson.village.virginia.edu

Shawn P. Wilbur wrote:
>
> Anyway, there is already a "problem" in Reich's work which might make us
> wary of the association - the "too-muchness of orgonomy" that Reich talks
> about in the opening pages of _Ether, God and Devil_. Reich was
> recognized as a rapid and mobile thinker. As a one-time "crazy
> Bergsonian" he must have labored under some concern about the effects of
> that speed. At the same time, he seems to have been very rigorous about
> not claiming too much for this too-rapid work. The harshness of the end
> of his career is perhaps the result of an enforced "rashness" - as
> outside pressures forced him to prematurely come to terms with all that
> he had at play in his work and life. Also, it seems clear that from the
> beginning Reich was juggling potentially conflicting ideas in his work.
> The list of influences (again in _Ether, God and Devil_) is stunning for
> the number of internal conflicts it suggests. To have been a serious
> materialist on the model of Engels (particularly the late,
> "natural-scientific" Engels) and to have taken seriously the work of
> Bergson and Semon (and those together) would have at least involved
> bucking strong currents in contemporary opinion - very strong in the   
> marxist environment, which seems to have molded Reich's style in many
> ways.
> 
> These conflicts are in many ways what drew me back and more deeply into
> Reich's work. For me, the later work hovers between the bravest sort of 
> scientific/philosophical work and a delusional system. Reich was clear
> enoug, i suppose, that it would be up to others to sort things out...
> 
> -shawn

You are right about the effects of Reich's speed on his work, Shawn.  It
is clear from reading "Record of a Friendship," Reich and Neill's letters
to each other, that Reich simply did not take the time that would be
needed to shepherd his ideas through the normal critical apparatus of the  
scientific establishment of the time.  Now, this has had mixed results.   
Certainly, Reich could have spent most of his life patiently waiting for
the scientific community to confirm his electrical skin response
researches (which they since have) and his bion experiments.  He would
have had a frustrating time, no doubt, but I do believe that his work,
especially with bions, would have benefited greatly by the engaged
criticism of biologists.  Reich's impatience and incredible drive led him
not to choose that route.

In reading Reich's letters to Neill, it seems as if Reich was so
skeptical that scientists would take him seriously, that it became a
sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.  He was so sure that they would not   
understand that he really didn't give them a chance to.  Now, this isn't to
say that Reich didn't meet with irrational and unfair responses from many of
the scientists that he did try to reach out to.  It does show something about
Reich's priorities though.

If Reich had patiently sorted out all of the implications of his bion work,
he may never had discovered atmospheric orgone energy.  Reich's drive to
greater and greater achievement and discovery gave him something of a
distaste for working out the petty details of his theories.  He _did_
leave it to others to fill in the (fairly substantial) blanks.

Thus, we are left with a brilliant and inspiring mess, that has yet to be   
sorted out.

Though, it is that breadth that makes Reich so exciting a thinker, and it
is all of those spaces that make Reich such a fertile source for further   
research.


-- 
Chris Caruso                Check out: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~ccaruso/
ccaruso@sas.upenn.edu                  http://www.rc.org/
Philadelphia, PA  USA                  http://www.mcs.com/~jdav/league.html



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