permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

from digg.coom

50 years after his death, supporters promote scientist's work

By Jerry Harkavy, Associated Press Writer  |  November 3, 2007

RANGELEY, Maine --It was 50 years ago that physician-scientist
Wilhelm Reich, best known for his discovery of a purported cosmic
life force associated with sexual orgasm, died in federal prison, his
books burned and his equipment destroyed by the government.

Ridiculed at the time, the European-born psychiatrist is today
largely forgotten and his work on what he called orgone energy
remains outside the scientific mainstream.

But a small number of scientists and other believers are working to
advance his studies -- and resurrect his reputation.

"Personally, I think it's going to be a long time before all of his
work is understood and recognized," said Reich's granddaughter,
Renata Reich Moise, a nurse-midwife and artist in the coastal town of
Hancock.

Reich died on Nov. 3, 1957, in a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa.,
where he was sent for ignoring an injunction obtained by the Food and
Drug Administration that outlawed his orgone energy accumulator.

The 50th anniversary of his death is being marked by a major
exhibition on Reich and his work that opens Nov. 15 at the Jewish
Museum in Vienna, the city where he attended medical school, began
his psychiatric practice and studied under Sigmund Freud.

In New Jersey, the American College of Orgonomy, which provides
training and research support for physicians and others interested in
Reich and his legacy, scheduled a conference and dinner to coincide
with the anniversary.

Also this month, archives comprised of nearly 300 boxes of Reich's
unpublished papers that were placed in storage at the Countway
Library at Harvard Medical School will become available to
researchers for the first time.

Before going to prison, Reich directed in his will that the
scientific papers, journals and diaries only be opened 50 years after
his death.

He also specified that his laboratory at the 175-acre site he dubbed
Orgonon that overlooks Rangeley Lake be converted to a museum.

In Rangeley, where Reich spent his latter years, scientists and
doctors from the U.S. and Europe gathered this summer for a
conference that explored the prospects of seeking FDA approval for
clinical trials of orgone accumulator blankets to treat burn victims.

Reich is described by the American Psychoanalytic Association as "one
of the most brilliant, creative and controversial of the pioneering
analysts." He was the first to focus on character analysis rather
than neurotic symptoms. He linked a healthy sex life, which he called
"orgastic potency," to emotional wellness, believing that failure to
discharge sexual energy resulted in neurotic disorders.

His more controversial work came after he veered away from
psychotherapy into laboratory experiments in Norway that led to the
discovery of what he called "bions" -- basic life forms that gave off
orgone energy.

After moving to the U.S. just before the start of World War II, he
focused on isolating and collecting that energy and went on to test
its effect on cancer.

His orgone accumulators eventually caught the attention of the FDA.

After an investigation, the agency branded the devices consisting of
alternating metallic and nonmetallic materials a fraud and in 1954
sought an injunction in U.S. District Court in Portland. Reich
refused to appear in court, triggering a default judgment and order
that his books and accumulators be destroyed.

He was sentenced to two years in prison for contempt of court. He
served only eight months before he died of a heart attack. In
accordance with his wishes, Reich was entombed above ground at
Orgonon, with a bronze bust of him perched above the tomb.

The Wilhelm Reich Museum, located in a modernistic fieldstone
building atop a hill, has on display an orgone accumulator, which
Reich believed could charge the body with essential life energy,
heightening vitality and potentially helping to heal disease.

There is also a cloudbuster, a futuristic-looking device he designed
to try to change the weather by altering concentrations of orgone
energy in the atmosphere.

Critics seize on some of his more unconventional ideas in deriding
him as a quack. But supporters say he was a brilliant man whose ideas
warrant further exploration.

The FDA's injunction, supporters say, had a chilling effect on his
work that persists even today. That's a shame, Moise said, because
she believes there's merit in the orgone accumulator blanket, which
her mother used in her medical practice.

Moise has tried it herself to heal burns.

"It's not crazy. It actually works," she said.

Even as the anniversary-related events rekindle memories of Reich and
his theories, some of his supporters worry that they are in a race
against time.

The challenge, they say, is to keep his work alive and advance it
through new studies and experimentation at a time when Reich is not
being taught in either medical schools or physics classes.

Kevin Hinchey, who is writing a book about Reich's work in the U.S.,
said most of the doctors and scientists who've taken an interest in
Reich's life are baby boomers.

"If something dramatic isn't done to bring his work before the
medical and scientific community, I really wonder what's going to
happen when the baby boomers die. There's not a lot of younger people
who are reading Reich."
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On the Net:
Reich Museum: http://www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org
American College of Orgonomy: http://orgonomy.org