Orgone, Reich and Eros : Wilhelm Reich's Theory of Life Energy

Orgone energy is an idea which was proposed and promoted in the 1930s by psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, who originated the term to describe a universal life force. Reich, originally part of Sigmund Freud's Vienna circle, believed that Freud's concept of libido had an actual biological basis, and developed a therapeutic practice that was ostensibly designed to open up this bodily energy in the belief-following Freud-that healthy psychological state derived from uninhibited libidinal flow. This biophysical theory eventually developed into the concept of orgone (a word coined from the same root as "organism" and "orgasm"): which Reich saw as a massless, omnipresent substance, similar to luminiferous aether, but more closely associated with vital, living energy than inert matter. Orgone would coalesce and create organization on all scales, from the smallest microscopic units-called bions in orgone theory-to macroscopic structures like organisms, clouds, or even galaxies. Reich believed that many diseases, and particularly cancer, were caused by deficits or constrictions in the flow of orgone in the body, and developed specially designed "orgone accumulators" which supposedly charged the body with orgone collected from the atmosphere. Reich created the Orgone Institute after immigrating to the US, and pursued research into orgone energy for more than a decade, publishing his own work through the institute and producing orgone accumulators and related devices for distribution. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eventually obtained a federal injunction barring the interstate distribution of orgone-related materials, on the charge that Reich and his associates were making false and misleading claims. When Reich violated the injunction he was jailed, and all orgone-related equipment and literature owned by Reich and his associates were destroyed.