Art&Energy in Health Care

As previously mentioned, Reich's research work in the clinical field led him to identify a form of energy present in living systems and which he called orgone, thus laying the foundations of Western energy medicine, a medicine that goes well beyond the simple biochemical and mechanical processes of the body. Although you can find texts online or in some books that support the uncertainty, lack of evidence or even pure madness behind the definition of orgone energy, Reich's research work followed a clear logic that I summarize in the following phases:

• Starting from Freud's libido. Deepening of psychoanalysis, in particular Freud's theory of libido, of which Reich wanted to investigate the biological foundation. Among the psychoanalyzed patients, Reich observed that those who remained healthy were mostly those who had a satisfying sexual life with their partner. The other patients mostly had relapses. Reich began to support the function of orgasm as balancing all the organismic functions.

• Bioelectric currents at the basis of emotional flows. Reich deepened his research in the field of sexuality precisely because of the basic function it has in the development of neurosis when it does not develop in a healthy way. He carried out experiments during which he proved that there were changes in electrical potential while the person was experiencing a situation of pleasure (increase) or discomfort, stress or anxiety (decrease). These studies confirmed the observation that contraction in the human body leads to a contraction at the energetic level and therefore of the vitality of cells and tissues. These measurements, although electrical in nature, did not convince him that bodily energy was exclusively electrical in nature since the very slight voltages he recorded could not explain the strength of emotional and sexual energy in human beings. In particular, this could be observed in patients who had mental disorders that made them fall into a catatonic state; in unblocking the emotional tension they often experienced very strong experiences of anger and sadness, after which the muscles relaxed and breathing became deeper. Starting from the observation of this alternation between expansion and contraction and hypothesizing that it was a general principle of living things, Reich wanted to study the behavior of other organisms without a nervous system.

• The discovery of bions. To do this he devoted himself to the observation of amoebas in which he immediately noticed this phenomenon of expansion (extension of the pseudopodia towards the surrounding environment when it is pleasant) and contraction (of the cell membrane when the surrounding environment is hostile). When Reich, to do further experiments on amoebas, asked for a culture at the University of Oslo, he discovered that he could directly produce cultures of amoebas simply by leaving some grass to macerate for a few weeks and this because, according to the theory of the time, amoebas were formed from spores present in the air or on the leaves of grass. However, Reich wanted to meticulously observe the entire process of formation of the amoebas and discovered that before the formation of the amoebas, the grass disintegrated into blue-green vesicles and that these vesicles after a few days grouped together forming a membrane inside them. They continued to pulsate after a while the first amoeba was formed. The essential question remained as to why this happened. To avoid any contamination from outside Reich sterilized the entire preparation, but he soon noticed that the disintegration into vesicles (which he later called bions) occurred even more rapidly. The bions emitted a pulsating blue light and their aggregation led to the development of single-celled organisms. Reich went on to examine what happened if instead of the grass one used powdered mineral substances or lifeless substances always using the same procedure of boiling, sterilizing or bringing to incandescence to avoid contamination. The production of bions occurred anyway. Were these bions with their blue light charged with vital energy?

• Properties of bions. Reich noticed how the observation of these bions irritated his and his collaborators' eyes despite the habit of observing for long hours under the microscope. Furthermore, objects in the vicinity of the cultures such as rubber gloves were charged with electrostatic energy, the films spontaneously clouded and all the air in the room appeared "heavy" and, if observed in total darkness, sparkling and pulsating luminous phenomena could be noticed. In order to better observe the luminous phenomena, he built a completely dark box lined inside with metal walls (the idea was to isolate the radiation of the culture inside it) and equipped with a magnifying glass.
  In fact, he was able to observe various optical phenomena, but the great surprise was that when he removed the bionic culture from the box, the optical phenomena continued to be present. It was then that he dismantled the box and reassembled it, noting that the same phenomena returned to form. In reality, there was no way to eliminate those phenomena. He then wondered if the particular structure of the box had anything to do with the light phenomena.

• Construction of the first orgone accumulator. Reich thus arrived at building the first accumulator of the newly discovered form of energy to which he later gave the name of orgone, repeating the stratification of the first observation box several times, that is, alternating wood fiber panels with sheet metal or steel wool. And this led him to define one of the first laws of orgone energy, that is, that metals attract and repel orgone energy, while organic materials (wood, wool, etc.) attract and retain it. So that an alternation of the two by placing metal on the last internal layer and organic material on the last external layer creates an energy flow towards the inside.

• ORAC and Reich's blood test. It wasn't long before Reich, to evaluate the effects of this vital energy, began to experiment with the ORAC (ORgone ACcumulator) by placing laboratory mice with cancer inside it, discovering some beneficial effects that they derived from it. From this he moved on to experiment with the ORAC on people with cancer. He also observed the blood of the same people as well as the mice under the microscope, discovering how the red blood cells of these samples quickly acquired distorted shapes and disintegrated faster than the blood of healthy people. The red blood cells not only broke down faster but also disintegrated into bions and some other small dark particles that he called T-bacilli (from Tod: death). He discovered that the more the T reaction (the breakdown into T bacilli) exceeded the B reaction (the breakdown into bions), the more it demonstrated the degeneration of the person being examined. This resulted in a blood test that could reveal an early stage of the cancerous process.

 

Returning to the beginning of Reich's research, namely his studies on the function of sexuality in the development of neurosis, Reich was able to observe how important the energetic pulsation and its balance are in the different stages of development of the human being in order to maintain an optimal state of health. He later discovered that the function of orgasm (tension-charge-discharge-relaxation) was actually applicable to all living things including atmospheric phenomena and went on to define most of the peculiarities of this form of energy.

James DeMeo, a leading expert in orgone biophysics research in his book “The Orgone Accumulator Handbook” reports: “Orgone energy is a cosmic life energy, the fundamental creative force long known to people in contact with nature and hypothesized by biologists and scientists, today repeatedly objectified and demonstrated by scientific criteria… Orgone energy charges and radiates from all living and non-living substances… Orgone can be seen, felt, measured and photographed. It is a real physical energy and not a metaphorical or hypothetical force. Orgone also exists in free form in the atmosphere and in empty space. It is excitable, compressible and spontaneously pulsatile, capable of expansion and contraction… Orgone is strongly attracted to living things, to water and to itself… It can be registered with specially modified Geiger counters… In the living world the functions of orgone energy are at the basis of all major life processes; the pulsation, flow and charge of biological orgone energy determines the movements, actions and behaviors of protoplasm and tissues, as well as the “force” of “bioelectric” phenomena. Emotion is the flow and ebb, the charge and discharge of orgone within the membrane of an organism, just as time is the flow and ebb, the charge and discharge of orgone in the atmosphere…”

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See also