Q. What is functional thinking?
A. Functional thinking is thinking according to the way nature functions.
Q. Who discovered functional thinking?
A. Functional thinking was discovered by Wilhelm Reich M.D.
Q. What is the importance of functional thinking?
A, Functional thinking provides a way to integrate all the natural sciences into a unified body of knowledge.
Q. What is the difference between functional thinking and ordinary thinking?
A. Ordinary thinking is either mechanistic or mystical.
Q. What is mechanistic thinking?
A. Mechanistic thinking is thinking about nature as if it were a machine.
Q. What is mystical thinking?
A. Mystical thinking is thinking as if there was a purpose to nature.
Q. What’s wrong with thinking mechanistically and mystically about nature?
A. Since nature does not operate like a machine and since it has no purpose, mechanistic/mystical thinking cannot provide a satisfactory understanding of how nature operates. Furthermore, erroneous mechanistic/mystical thinking often has destructive consequences.
Q. How does mechanistic/mystical thinking work?
A. When mechanistic thinking fails to provide a satisfactory understanding of nature, mystical thinking enters to provide a purpose to what is left to be understood.
Q. What is an example of mechanistic/mystical thinking?
A. An example is the statement: The heart pumps blood in order to bring oxygen to the tissues of The body. First, the heart is compared to a mechanical pump. Then, a purpose is given to explain why the heart pumps blood.
Q. What is the functional understanding of this example?
A. The function of biological pulsation defines the goal of bringing oxygen to the tissues.
Q. Where can I learn more about functional thinking?
A. The American College of Orgonomy gives a course on functional thinking to qualified students.
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Charles Konia, M.D. 
Reich also said, ” any system that propounds the autonomy of the pyschic is mystical no matter what it calls itself”.
The most common form of mysticism is to think there can be mental or emotional phenomena apart from a physical body. Any belief in gods, devils, ghosts, spirits, or any other kind of non-physical living beings is mystical.
On the other hand, mechanistic thinking denies the very existence of feelings and emotions except as purely subjective phenomena, unobservable and therefore outside the realm of science.
Mechanists think orgonomy is mystical, and mystics think orgonomy is too mechanistic.
Almost all modern science is mechanistic, with the sole exception of ecology, which is the only form of mainstream science that empolys functional thinking. Or, in other words, is the only functional science with mainstream acceptance.