Nations are bio-social systems. Like individual organisms, they pulsate by expanding and contracting. When not threatened by external danger, they expand. When threatened, they contract. The coronavirus is a threat to the American Nation and, as a response, it has contracted socially and economically. The social response to the coronavirus is a rise in mass anxiety and social retreat. The economic response is a biophysical contraction accompanied by a state of fear and a sharp reduction in the economic activity.
Because of the pre-existing social and economic overly-expanded state of America, the public’s reaction to the coronavirus threat is greatly exaggerated. People are overly anxious and, as a result, have a need to understand what is happening and to be comforted. They look for answers from the government that are dependent on their individual character structures. Because it is impossible to know what will happen in the future, some overreact to the point of panic. To relieve their panic people function as groups and become more out of touch with themselves.
What is most important in times of crisis is to focus on and maintain one’s biological work function, whatever it is.
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Neither Left Nor Right
The Emotional Plague
Charles Konia, M.D. 
Interestingly in Germany all the red/green moonbat agenda about gender, global warming, equality, „racism,“ “sexism,” antiblablabla etc. just evaporated. The contraction annulled the over-expansion (“warming”!) and an ideological “cooling” set in.
Thank you.
I’m finding isolation in California a gift for focusing on my writing.
My son in China said, “Quarantine for an introvert is Heaven.”
You’re welcome.
I’ve been reading the two articles you wrote a few years ago about Orgonometry. I want to find more recent writings to find out if more functions have been added to the branching tree schemata you have constructed. The articles changed my whole worldview. The root of phenomenon is the Or gone Streaming. And the phenomena such as hormones and hormone receptors aren’t just happenstance interactions of protein combinations as the materialists want to believe. They literally have perception. It makes me wonder where is the actual line between living and nonliving? I’ll have to read more on the Bion experiments too.
Hello Caleb, I wrote a paper a few years ago that you might find interesting. It attempts to summarize various aspects of orgonometry as manifested in the clinical situation. I am a medical orgonomists and a clinical associate of the ACO. I’m going to try to copy a PDF of the paper here, I’m not sure whether it will work:
Orgonotic Functions in the Clinical Situation- The Bioenergetic Unity of Psyche and Soma.pdf
I guess that didn’t work, if I can figure out a different way to post it here I will. Or if you want to give me your email number, I can send it to you. My email is . (Don’t forget the “v”).
.
Hmm, apparently if you write an email address it does not get posted. my email is my name, with no capital letters, at gmail.com. My name is written davidvholbrook.
My mother suffers of asthma hypertension and emphysema. Are these three different aspects from the same armor (thorax)?
Hypertension as a result of chronic sympathetic nervous system tone in the thorax. Asthma is a parasympathetic nervous system reaction to underlying sympathetic nervous system tone. Emphysema involves tissue damage to the lungs, most commonly in reaction to cigarette smoking. I’m guessing it probably has an armoring aspect, I don’t recall. Dr. Robert Dew wrote a series of articles in some of the early issues of the Journal of Orgonomy. One of them is on pulmonary diseases.
Dew
The Biopathic Diathesis — Vol. 2 No. 2
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part III. Ulcerative Colitis) — Vol. 3 No. 2
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part II) — Vol. 3 No. 1
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part IV) — Vol. 4 No. 2
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part V. Intro To Pulimonary Biopathies) — Vol. 6 No. 1
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part V: The Pulmonary Biopathies) — Vol. 6 No. 2
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part VI: Hyperthyroidism) — Vol. 7 No. 1
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part VII: Gastrointestinal Peptic Ulcer) — Vol. 7 No. 2
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part VIII: Headache) — Vol. 8 No. 2
A Case of Manic-Depressive Character — Vol. 9 No. 1
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part IX: Hypertension) — Vol. 10 No. 2
The Biopathic Diathesis (Part X: Obesity) — Vol. 12 No. 2
The Appropriation and Distortion of Orgonomy (Part 1) — Vol. 14 No. 1
The Appropriation and Distortion of Orgonomy (Part II) — Vol. 14 No. 2
The Reich Blood Test — Vol. 15 No. 2
The Appropriation and Distortion of Orgonomy (Part III) — Vol. 15 No. 2
The Appropriation and Distortion of Orgonomy (Part IV) — Vol. 16 No. 1
The Biopathic Diathesis — Vol. 37 No. 1
The Biopathic Diathesis: Obesity — Vol. 38 No. 1
The Biopathic Diathesis: Hyperthyroidism — Vol. 38 No. 2
The Biopathic Diathesis: Headache — Vol. 39 No. 1
Here’s the paper, but unfortunately the diagrams did not copy:
Orgonotic Functions in the Clinical Situation: The Bioenergetic Unity of Psyche and Soma
David Holbrook, M.D.
INTRODUCTION
“No matter whether we release emotions from the character armor by way of ‘character-analysis,’ or from the musculature, by way of ‘vegetotherapy,’ in either case we cause plasmatic excitations and motions. What moves is essentially the orgone energy….In every case, whether we produce memories, dissolve defense mechanisms or muscular spasms, we work on the orgone energy of the organism.” (Reich 1949, page 359, emphasis in original.)
“…CHARACTER STRUCTURE…appears as the sum total of the relationship between the orgonotic energy system and the sensory-motor system which has to perceive the plasmatic currents, to execute the energy discharges and coordinate all energy functions into an orderly, total, unitary functional system: ‘orgonotic system.’ (Reich 1949, Pages 458-459, emphasis in original)
“When a character inhibition would fail to respond to psychic influencing, I would work at the corresponding somatic attitude. Conversely, when a disturbing muscular attitude proved difficult to access, I would work on its characterological expression and thus loosen it up.” (Reich 1942, pages 241-242
“One can already hear people saying that orgone therapy is nothing but ‘work with the hands on the muscles’ or ‘letting the patient breathe’; or that man suffers from ‘tensions’….It is not a matter of ‘muscles’ or of ‘breathing’ or ‘tension,’ but it is a matter of understanding IN WHICH WAYS COSMIC ORGONE ENERGY CAME TO FORM PLASMATIC MOVING SUBSTANCE, AND IN WHICH WAYS COSMIC ORGONOMIC FUNCTIONS ARE PRESENT AND ACTIVE IN THE HUMAN ANIMAL, in his emotions, in his thinking….[and in] the interrelations between emotional processes and living matter and the orgone energy field…around it. THIS is what matters, not a muscular tension.” (Reich 1949, page 449, emphasis in original)
“The question often arises, which aspect of the armor, psychic or somatic, does the therapist deal with first? The answer depends on which function is most ON THE SURFACE. In other words, which aspect of the armor is the patient in contact with? To illustrate, when an oral block manifests as a fear of speaking, does the therapist first mobilize the oral and cervical segments physically (somatic intervention) or focus on the fear behind the inhibition (psychic intervention)? Stated in this manner, the answer is clear: Addressing the patient’s fear mobilizes the ocular segment and, because the upper segments are mobilized BEFORE the lower ones, it is imperative for the therapist in the situation to focus on the psychic aspect of the armor first….Focusing on the psychic or somatic defenses of the patient increases energy movement. This leads to an increase in orgonotic charge. With sufficient buildup of charge, energetic discharge in the form of emotional expression or vegetative reaction follows….” (Konia 1989, Pages 243-244, emphasis in original)
Medical orgone therapy works with both the psychic and somatic aspects of armor:
(Konia 1989, pages 244)
[Note: Subsequent to Konia’s writings about psyche and soma in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, the status of psyche and soma as functions has been questioned by Konia and Harman (“It turns out that PSYCHE and SOMA are neither structures nor functions. Psychic processes are those that involve the whole organism, and somatic processes are those that involve the parts.”) (Harman, 2006, pages 123-124, emphasis in original) Since these two sentences are the only published commentary (that I know of) on this question, and since Konia’s published writings to date refer to psyche and soma as functions, I will continue in this article to refer to them as functions.]
It’s important to understand that both psychic and somatic functions each involve all or almost all of the functions in the equation of contact:
Take for example, sensation and emotion, functions in the realm of perception that play a major role in biological processes (“Functions identical to emotion and sensation occur at all degrees of biological integration from the simplest to the most complex levels” Konia 2001, page 81). Both sensation and emotion have psychic and somatic aspects, as do their related functions spinning wave and pulsation, which are in the realm of excitation:
“…thoughts originate from sensation and emotion which are heterogenous variations of the perceptual function….It is through the perception of radial movement of bioenergetic excitation that we experience emotion.” (Konia 2001, page 81)
(Konia 2005, page 65)
“It is through the perception of longitudinal movement of bioenergetic excitation that we experience sensation.”
(Konia 2001, page 81)
(Konia, 2005, page 66)
“…these two directions of energy movement can be perceived (‘sensed’) in the brain as thought.”(Konia 2005, page 66)
“The radial movement that gives rise to an emotion is pulsatory (core-periphery). It’s motor and sensory components flow through the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The longitudinal movement is in the form of a spinning wave motion of orgone energy. It corresponds to the dorsal flow of energy through the sensory fibers of the central nervous system (CNS).” (Konia 2001, page 82)
This psychosomatic-energetic relationship even extends into the human sociopolitical realm:
“The classification of an individual on the sociopolitical spectrum appears in large part to be determined by which component of thought, radial or longitudinal, predominates. In conservatives, the radial component (emotion) predominates over the longitudinal component (sensation)”(Konia 2001, pages 81-82)
Pulsation and spinning wave are homogeneous functions in a relationship of attractive opposition, meaning that they mutually reinforce each other, similar to the way the core (pulsation function) and the arms (spinning wave function) of a hurricane are mutually reinforcing. (paraphrase of Konia 1998, pages 72-73)
“….mobilization of emotions and sensations contained in the muscular armor is often followed by thoughts and memories related to them. The perception of emotions and sensations resulting from bodily movement enhances thought process.” (Konia 2004, page 104-105, emphasis in original)
What is being described in the above passages is the fact that not only are bodily functions energetically-based, but so are psychic functions, such as thoughts. The orgone therapist’s interventions have an energetic basis, whether the therapist is using verbal techniques to work on the patient’s character, or somatic techniques to work on the patient’s body. This means that both character-analytic and somatic interventions are biophysical in nature.
“…the psyche (‘mind’) is identical to THE UNITARY ENERGY FUNCTIONS OF THE ORGANISM IN THE PERCEPTUAL REALM….the soma (“body”) corresponds to LOCAL OR COMPONENT FUNCTIONS OF THE ORGANISM.” (Konia 1998, pages 74-75, emphasis in original)
“The perception of excitation gives rise to contact.” (Konia 2004, page 100)
Both psychic and somatic functions each have perceptual and excitatory aspects:
“The perceptual and excitatory functions….co-exist with the functions subsumed by the term psyche (whole function) and soma (component functions) of the organism. Psychic and somatic functions are based on the functions of perception and excitation. Accordingly, IT IS POSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN PSYCHIC CONTACT AND SOMATIC CONTACT AS DISTINCT FUNCTIONS BELONGING TO THE WHOLE AND COMPONENT FUNCTIONS OF THE ORGANISM, RESPECTIVELY. (Konia 1998, page 75, emphasis in original)
“In both the psychic and somatic biopathies a pulsatory disturbance exists in the function of excitation. There is, in addition, a perceptual disturbance. Together, these disturbances account for the condition of contactlessness that accompanies all biopathic states. THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF SOMATIC BIOPATHIES IS BASED ON A DISTURBANCE OF CONTACT INVOLVING COMPONENT FUNCTIONS OF THE BIOSYJTEM. THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF THE PSYCHIC BIOPATHIES IS BASED ON DISTURBANCES OF CONTACT INVOLVING THE WHOLE ORGANISM.” (Konia 1998, page 77, emphasis in original)
“Somatic contactlessness occurs in the somatic biopathies….”(Konia 2004b, page 96):
(Konia 2004b, page 96)
“In this condition there is either an absence of excitation or a block of the perceptor (receptor site). As a result, the involved organ is sequestered from total organismic functioning. The lack of organismic integration leads to the disease state.” (Konia 2094b, pages 96-97)
The function of the orgone therapist is to help the patient establish psychic and somatic contact with himself. Once there is a contact, then healthy orgonotic streaming can occur.
“STREAMING INDICATES THE PRESENCE OF CONTACT BETWEEN THE PERCEPTUAL AND EXCITATORY FUNCTIONS. Without streaming…thought processes are…distorted in the direction of mechanism or mysticism.” (Konia 1998, page 71, emphasis in original)
As described in the opening passages of this article, the energetic process of contact can be facilitated by either verbal or nonverbal interventions by the therapist, working in either the psychic or somatic domains. Words, especially the contactful words of a qualified medical orgone therapist who is aware of and in contact with orgonotic functions in both himself and the patient, are bioenergetically active and can therefore have both psychic and somatic effects.
“…words originate from the perception of organ sensation.”(Konia, 1983, page 233)
The contactful use of words in medical orgone therapy is sometimes confused with the phenomenon of defensive intellectualization:
“According to the common view, the function of the human intellect…is absolutely antithetical to the affect. This view overlooks two things; first, the intellectual function is itself a vegetative activity, and second, the intellectual function may have an affect charge no less intensive than any purely affective reaction….The intellect, then, can work in both of the basic directions of the psychic apparatus, toward the world or away from it; it can work in the same direction as a vivid affect, and it may be in opposition to it. That is, there is no mechanistic, absolutely antithetical relationship between intellect and affect, but again, a functional relationship.” (Reich 1949, page 312).
The medical orgone therapist uses his “orgonotic sense” to aid him in perceiving both himself and the patient:
“THE ORGAN SENSATION OR ‘ORGONOTIC SENSATION’ IS A TRUE SIXTH SENSE. Besides the abilities to see, hear, smell, taste, touch, there existed unmistakably in healthy individuals a SENSE OF ORGAN FUNCTIONS, an ORGONOTIC SENSE….the orgonotic sensations and organ perceptions seem to constitute a great part of what is called the EGO or the SELF…” (Reich 1949, pages 456-457, emphasis in original)
“Psychic contact occurs when there is orgonotic streaming, the CFP of the paired variations, psychic perception and psychic excitation.” (Konia 1998, page 75)
(Konia 1998, page 75)
“Somatic contact is based on orgonotic streaming involving local or component functions, the CFP of the paired variations of somatic perception and somatic excitation.” (Konia 1998, page 76)
(Konia 1998, page 76)
“Orgonotic contact results from the fusion of the percipient, the perceptual function, and the excitant, the excitation function” (Konia 2008, page 30):
(Konia 2008, page 30)
“This general fusion operation is the basis of every living function. It is the basis of psychic as well as somatic contact.” (Konia 2008, page 30)
(Konia 2008, page 30)
(Konia 2008, page 33)
(Konia 2008, page 34)
As I stated at the outset of this article, both psychic and somatic processes each involve all or almost all of the functions depicted in the equation of contact, including not only functions in the realm of relative motion, such as spinning wave and pulsation (including the variations of pulsation: expansion and contraction), but also functions in the realm of coexistent action, such as lumination and attraction (and the variations of attraction: association and dissociation).
“THE EMOTIONAL FUNCTION IN GENERAL AND THE BIOSEXUAL FUNCTION IN PARTICULAR CONSIST OF BOTH VARIATIONS OF ORGONOTIC EXCITATION, RELATIVE MOTION AND COEXISTENT ACTION.” (Konia 2000, page 58, emphasis in the original)
“Relative motion consists of COMPONENT functions of an orgonotic system. Examples include the motions of the organ systems of the body. Coexistent action consists of WHOLE functions. Examples include memory, immunity, genetics, etc.” (Konia 2000, pages 58-59, emphasis in the original)
Note the parallel with Konia’s statement that “…soma (‘body’) corresponds to LOCAL OR COMPONENT FUNCTIONS OF THE ORGANISM…” and that “…the psyche (‘mind’) is identical to THE UNITARY ENERGY FUNCTIONS OF THE ORGANISM IN THE PERCEPTUAL REALM.” (Konia 1998, pages 74-75, emphasis in original)
The functions of coexistent action and its variations attraction and lumination are involved in many phenomena that were partially intuitively understood before the advent of orgonometry, though in a distorted way:
(Konia 2011, page 5)
We have seen that thought involves the functions of perception and its variations sensation and emotion, as well as the function of relative motion and its variations pulsation and spinning wave. In addition, thought involves the function of coexistent action and it’s variation attraction:
“…thoughts are partly based on the brains high orgonotic charge which attracts the energy of emotions and sensations from the body. The attraction function is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for ideation. It only allows for the state of conscious arousal. Attraction is the common functioning principle of its variations association and dissociation:” (Konia 2004a, page 108)
(Konia 2004a, page 108)
“Additionally, ideation requires the operation of association and dissociation….The qualitative properties of thought refer to its form and content these are determined by its orgonometric Direction, either towards the left (common functioning principal, CFP) or toward the right (variation) these two directions or basic to all thought. In thinking towards the orgonometric left, the associative function predominates. In thinking towards the orgonometric right the dissociative function predominates. [Footnote: “In association, two thoughts arising from the perception of two separate organ sensations are associated. The emphasis is on the COMMON Origin of the two ideas. A sense of harmony or familiarity may be experienced. In art and literature, the associative function of ideas and imagery is the basis for symbolism and metaphor. In dissociation, the emphasis is on the
DIFFERENCE two ideas. A sense of unrelatedness or unfamiliarity may be experienced.”] (Konia 2004a, page 109)
(Konia 2004a, page 109)
“In general, thoughts originating from the radial excitation of energy (emotion) move in the direction of the CFP and thoughts originating from the longitudinal excitation of energy (sensation) move in the direction of the variations….Concepts are organized thoughts that belong in two general categories, associative and dissociative. The following table provides some examples:” (Konia 2004a, pages 109-110)
(Konia 2004a, page 110)
“In pathological thinking, one form of thought becomes chronic and predominate over the other.” (Konia, 2004a, page 110)
“Thinking to the orgonometric left leads to greater determinism, unification and integration (‘associative thought’). Thinking to the orgonometric right leads to greater freedom, specialization and differentiation (‘dissociative thought’). Thinking to the orgonometric left leads to greater determinism, unification and integration (‘associative thought’). Thinking to the orgonometric right leads to greater freedom, specialization and differentiation (‘dissociative thought’). In armored thinking, one direction of thought tends to predominant over the other in a rigid, one-sided fashion….Liberals think in the direction of greater freedom. Conservatives think in the direction of greater determinism. The inability of individuals of the left and of the right to think in the opposite direction, the CFP in the case of liberals and the variations in the case of conservatives, is the characterological basis for sociopolitical ideology.” (Konia 2004b, pages 99-100)
It seems to me that one could say that thoughts also involve the lumination function, given the fact that this function is involved in dream formation [see below], and given that “both thoughts and dreams originate from the perception of excitation of emotions and sensations and are integrated into a whole as the psychic realm.” (Konia 2007, page 53)
Harman (2007, 2009) and Konia (2007) have described orgonotic functions occurring during sleep and dreaming. Their descriptions help us to further understand and appreciate the nature of the psychic and somatic orgonotic functions involved, functions which are active in both the sleeping and waking states, although in somewhat different ways:
Harman states that, “…sleep involves necessary processes of the autonomic nervous system that cannot take place during waking life”(2007, page 9). “In sleep, the plasmatic system [DH: the autonomic nervous system, vascular system, endocrine system, and immune system (Konia 1993, 1994)] in general, and the autonomic nervous system in particular, establish and maintain their predominance over the brain. This process includes an increase in the level of parasympathetic excitation and in overall motility, which expands the organism….orgonotic charge is reorganized so as to enable a higher level of functioning. This includes a reorganization of muscular and character armoring” (Harman, 2007, page 7). “Much of the restructuring that occurs after medical orgone therapy dissolves sympatheticonia happens during sleep.” (Harman, 2007, page 8). “In dreams…basic functions of contraction and expansion are integrated…” (Harman, 2007, page 8).
“…Most of the individual’s waking state is determined by the perception of relative motion.” (Konia 2007, page 54). Sleep is “…the state in which the organism acts in the realm of Coexistent Action, as opposed to Relative Motion.” (Harman 2007, page 9).
Konia explains that, “The dream consists of psychic (whole) and somatic (component) elements….Both thoughts and dreams originate from the perception of excitation of emotions and sensations and are integrated into a whole as the psychic realm, from which the psychological meaning of the dream appears. Dream images arise from component functions and usually do not contain meaning until they become integrated into a whole function….In the dream state there is an absence of motor activity and the muscles are in a state of flaccid paralysis. As a result, muscular armor is reduced or absent and this allows for the perception of psychic material that is not available to the waking mind. “(2007, pages 53-54).
“Tentatively, we can say that in non-REM sleep the brain serves the function of visualizing muscular armor while the orgonotic charge is readjusted in the musculature….This enables the organism to more fully expand and enter REM sleep.” (Harman 2007, page 7)
“In most armored individuals sleep serves to reinforce and maintain armoring. To the degree that conflicted motor activity remains unbound in the musculature and unexpressed in social life (for example in the excitatory schizophrenic), then increasing charge is not tolerated and REM sleep is experienced as traumatic.” (Harman, 2007, page 8).
“Visualization of Coexistent Action (Attraction and Lumination) is necessary for the perception of the plasmatic system in REM sleep”(Harman 2007, page 7).
“Within a single orgonotic system, attraction and lumination of two components occurs simultaneously (for example, the simultaneous occurrence of an organ sensation and its corresponding dream image).” (Konia 2000, page 57)
Konia elaborates: “Orgonotic attraction and lumination” [functions which are in the realm of coexistent action] “occur in both states of consciousness” [the waking and dreaming states] “as demonstrated most clearly in the sexual function of the waking state and the dream function of the sleep state. Both function to regulate the organism’s energy economy.” (2007, pages 56-57).
Perhaps the most dramatic illustration of the functional unity of psyche and soma is in the relationship between sex and love:
“The inner make-up of the love function determines every single feature in every single other activity of the individual…” (Reich 1953/1956, page 42)
“…ORGASTIC POTENCY IS THE ABILITY TO FOCUS TEMPORARILY THE ENTIRE AFFECTIVE PERSONALITY ON THE GENITAL EXPERIENCE…” (Reich 1927/1980, page 32, emphasis in original). Later, Reich would describe orgastic potency in more energetic and physiological terms as: “…the CAPACITY FOR THE SURRENDER TO THE FLOW OF BIOLOGICAL ENERGY WITHOUT ANY INHIBITION, the capacity for COMPLETE DISCHARGE OF ALL DAMNED-UP SEXUAL EXCITATION through INVOLUNTARY PLEASURABLE CONTRACTIONS OF THE BODY” (Reich 1942, page 79, emphasis in original)
Of course, orgonomy essentially began with Reich’s discovery of the function of the orgasm, which led to the discovery of the central role of the function of pulsation to life processes. It should not be surprising then that other functions besides pulsation are also active in sex and love:
“There are two corresponding components to sexual feeling, emotional and sensory. The perception of radial movement [DH: pulsatory aspect] of sexual excitation gives rise to the emotional component of sexual feelings. The perception of the longitudinal movement [DH: spinning wave aspect] of sexual excitation gives rise to the sensory component.” (Konia 2005, page 66)
“Biosexual excitation is associated with attraction of two orgonotic systems and lumination of their orgone energy fields.” (Konia 2000, page 51)
CONCLUSION
My purpose in this paper has been to attempt to integrate and present a large amount of material, mostly by Konia, pointing to the bioenergetic unity of the psychic and somatic functions, in the hopes that this will help us to appreciate, in the words of Reich at the beginning of this article, that “no matter whether we release emotions from the character armor by way of ‘character-analysis,’ or from the musculature, by way of ‘vegetotherapy,’ in either case we cause plasmatic excitations and motions. What moves is essentially the orgone energy….In every case, whether we…dissolve defense mechanisms or muscular spasms, we work on the orgone energy of the organism.”
REFERENCES
Harman, R. 2006. Introduction to Orgonotic Contact Part I. JO 40/1: 118-125
Harman, R. 2007. The Autonomic Nervous System and the Biology of Sleep (Part I). Journal of Orgonomy 41/1: 7-49.
Harman, R. 2009. The Autonomic Nervous System and the Biology of Sleep (Part II). Journal of Orgonomy 42 (2).
Konia, C. 1983. For The Record: Orgonotic Functions of the Brain, Part III. Journal of Orgonomy 17/1: 101-112.
Konia, C. 1989. Orgone Therapy Part IX: The Application of Functional Thinking in Medical Practice. Journal of Orgonomy 23/2: 237-247,
Konia, C. 1993. The Plasmatic System, Part I: The Immune Function. Journal of Orgonomy 27/1: 24-47.
Konia, C. 1994. The plasmatic system, Part II: The Endocrine System. Journal of Orgonomy 28/2: 4-22.
Konia, C. 1998. Orgonotic Contact Part I. Journal of Orgonomy 32/1: 61-81
Konia, C. 2000. Orgonotic Contact Part II. Journal of Orgonomy 34/2: 50-59
Konia, C. 2001. The Biophysical Basis of Sociopolitical Thought. Journal of Orgonomy 35/1: 80-87.
Konia, C. 2004a. Applied Orgonometry II: The Origin and Function of Thought. JO 38/1: 100-111.
Konia, C. (2004b). Applied Orgonometry Part III: Armored Thought. JO 38/2, Pages 90-100.
Konia, C. 2005. Applied Orgonometry IV: Mysticism. JO 39/2: 60-69,
Konia, C. 2007. Applied Orgonometry V: The Function of Dreams. Journal of Orgonomy 41/1: 50-57.
Konia, C. 2008. Orgonotic Contact IV: The Stream of Life (Part 1). Journal of Orgonomy 42/1: 26-35.
Konia, C. 2011. Applied Orgonometry V: The Mechanistic-Mystical Distortion of Nature. Journal of Orgonomy, 44/2: 3-6.
Reich, W. 1927/1980. Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Reich, W. 1942. The Function of the Orgasm. New York: The Noonday Press.
Reich, W. 1949. Character Analysis. New York: Orgone Institute Press.
(Reich, W. (1953/1956). The Murder of Christ. New York: Pocket Books
APPENDIX: ADDITIONAL PASSAGES OF INTEREST
“The predominant source of excitation for…[the] thinking [of conservatives] originates in the vegetative centers in the biological core. These centers are located in the tissues of the autonomic nervous system. This accounts for the presence of core contact in their thinking and is the reason that muscular defenses predominate in conservatives. The use of this form of defense occurs because energy moving radially from the core to the periphery must pass through the voluntary musculature. In liberals, thinking originates primarily from the perception of the longitudinal component of energy movement. Since this movement corresponds to excitation moving from sensory nerves of the central nervous system to the brain, this accounts for their predisposition to use intellectual defenses. The biological core is not a major part of the system and therefore core contact with the voluntary musculature is either weak or absent. In extreme cases, those on the sociopolitical extremes, the transformation of emotion and sensation into each other is complete.” (Konia 2001, page 82)
“…the word FEELING…pertains not only to EMOTIONS but also to SENSATIONS as well as IDEAS.” (Konia 2001, page 84, emphasis in original)
“The perception of excitation gives rise to contact. Thinking originates from the perception of bodily sensations and emotions. The brain integrates the various elements of bodily contact that give rise to thought. Logical reasoning is derived from sustained contact with organ sensations and emotions….The communication of thought through speech involves the integration of the organs of the speech apparatus with the whole organism….There is a distinction between ideas and cognition. ‘Idea’ is a more inclusive term the denotes the numerous ways in which organ sensations and emotions are sensed. For example, it is possible to have a musical idea (for a composer), a visual idea (for an artist), a mathematical idea (for a mathematician), or a cognitive idea or thought (for a scientist).” (Konia 2004a, page 101)
“…the integration of the excitatory sensory impulses within the reticular system constitute the objective (somatic) basis for the subjective (psychic) aspect of consciousness. Penfield arrived at the same conclusion.” (Konia 2004a, page 102, emphasis in original)
“UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, EXCITATION FROM ORGAN SENSATIONS AND EMOTIONS THAT TRAVEL ROSTRALLY IS PERCEIVED IN THE BRAIN IN THE FORM OF THOUGHTS AND OTHER IDEAS….THE INTEGRATION OF THE PERCEPTUAL FUNCTION IN THE BRAIN IS THE REASON THAT THOUGHT SEEMS TO ORIGINATE IN THE HEAD AND NOT IN THE ENTIRE ORGANISM. Thoughts originate from the transformation of emotional and sensory EXCITATION into PERCEPTION in the brain….Any form of ideation, including thought, can be expressed orgonometrically in the following equations:” (Konia 2004a, page 104)
(Konia 2004a, Page 104)
….mobilization of emotions and sensations contained in the muscular armor is often followed by thoughts and memories related to them. The perception of emotions and sensations resulting from bodily movement enhances thought process.” (Konia 2004a, page 104-105, emphasis in original)
“We know that the brain has the highest metabolic rate of any organ, and therefore a capacity to maintain an energy charge greater than the rest of the organism. Thus, energy is drawn into the brain according to the orgonomic potential from lower to higher concentrations, giving rise in humans to both consciousness and thought. The integrative function of the brain is also based on the orgonomic potential. (Konia 2004a, page 105-106)
“THINKING IS A FUNCTION OF SENSING. Through thinking an individual ‘makes sense’ of his or her internal and external environments.” (Konia 2004a, page 106, emphasis in the original)
“The self or the environment can be sensed from any one of the three layers of the bioemotional structure, either separately or in combination. These include the core, the destructive secondary layer, and the façade….Ideas of guilt and sadism are direct perceptions of armor. When thoughts are expressed from the middle or superficial layer they are distorted. These distortions constitute the ‘defense mechanisms,’ such as rationalization, projection and displacement…” (Konia 2004a, page 107)
“Emotions and sensations originate from every segment. Therefore, any segment, either singly or in combination, can give rise to thought. Since energy is concentrated in segments containing erogenous zones, ideas originating from these segments are more intense. This is especially true of the pelvic segment. The following table relates some of the types of thinking and behavior to their segment of origin:”
(Konia 2004a, page 107)
[Footnote: “The functions of inhibition and facilitation constitute the neurophysiological (somatic) basis for the antithetical cognitive (psychic) functions of dissociation and association.” (Konia 2004a, page 108)]
“There are quantitative and qualitative properties of thought. The quantitative properties refer to intensity and depend on the level of excitation contained in the emotion and sensation that produced the thought. For example, a minimum quantity of charge is necessary before energy can be perceived and developed as a thought.” (Konia 2004a, page 109)
“…in hysteria….emotion (a whole function) is transformed into a component function.” (Konia 2004b, page 95)
(Konia 2004b, page 95)
“In hysterical dissociation, rational thought is ‘dissociated’ from consciousness. The sensation from which the thought originates, is transformed into emotion…” (Konia 2004b, page 96)
(Konia 2004b, page 96)
Character Analysis, Wolfe translation:
“Reich identified…the STREAMING MOVEMENT of orgone energy….[as the] common functioning principle of the perceptual and excitatory functions…” (Konia 1998, page 66)
“….The following lines of reasoning support the formulation that the spinning wave…is the paired function of pulsation…Emotions are based on the subjective perception of the RADIAL movement of energy. Pleasure is experienced with expansion while anxiety and other dysphoric emotions are experienced with contraction. Sensations, on the other hand, are based on the LONGITUDINAL movement of energy. [Footnote: “Energy movement radially, manifested in movement of the autonomic nervous system, is experienced as emotion. Energy movement longitudinally, manifested in movement of the central nervous system, is experienced as sensation.”] (Konia 1998, pages 72-73, emphasis in original)
“In atmospheric physics, the early stages of development of hurricanes occur with intense energetic atmospheric CONTRACTION, which manifests as a low pressure system. This event is followed by the development of cyclonic (spinning wave) activity. The degree of cyclonic activity, angular wind velocity, corresponds to the intensity of the atmospheric contraction (measured by the drop in barometric pressure).” (Konia 1998, pages 72-73, emphasis in original)
Regarding the role of dreams in MOT, Baker stated that, “Dreams are unimportant in the therapy until one reaches the pelvis, although they can be useful to indicate the progress and trend of therapy.”(Baker, 1967, page 225). “A patient’s dreams often indicate his trend before it becomes evident in actual living. His functioning improves in dreams before he can achieve the improvement in reality. “(Baker, 1967, page 216).
REFERENCES:
Baker, E. 1967. Man In The Trap. New York: Collier Books.
Konia, C. 1998. Orgonotic Contact Part I. Journal of Orgonomy 32/1: 61-81
Konia, C. 2001. The Biophysical Basis of Sociopolitical Thought. Journal of Orgonomy 35/1: 80-87.
Konia, C. 2004a. Applied Orgonometry II: The Origin and Function of Thought. JO 38/1: 100-111.
Konia, C. 2004b. Applied Orgonometry Part III: Armored Thought. JO 38/2, Pages 90-100., Pages 90-100.
If I send you the PDF via email, the diagrams will be included.
My email is mailtocaleb at gmail
I suggest that you read “Before the Beginning of Time” by Jacob Meyerowitz. The book can be obtained from the American College of Orgonomy.
Can you send to me the article as PDF?
My email is eugenio.camanzi@Yahoo.com
Best regards
Eugenio Camanzi
Okay, I sent it to you.
Hi David. My email is mailtocaleb at gmail
OK, I sent it. If anyone else wants to copy, I’d be happy to email one to them.
Could you please send me the PDF at khaly.dia@gmail.com.
Thank you in advance
OK, I sent it.
I would like a copy, David. Thank you.
The blog software apparently won’t let someone write their email address in a comment. My email is davidvholbrook and it’s a gmail address. Don’t forget the ”v”. Email me and I will email you the PDF.
Also to me if you like. Thank you in advance!
Okay, I need your email. You can email it to me or post it here.
My email is . Don’t forget the “v”. Email me so I’ll have your email, and I will send you a copy.
The blog software apparently won’t let someone write their email address in a comment. My email is davidvholbrook and it’s a gmail address. Don’t forget the ”v”.
It’s davidvholbrook at gmail
😉
Re: “Before the Beggining of Time”
I will get that book. My thoughts on these ideas, based on what I’ve read here and there about the Boom Experiments, Orgonometry, and Planetary Motion are that life is an eternal process in the Universe. You can look to the eternal past and eternal future, and there will always be life. I know that not everyone will agree with me but it makes sense to me. I even think it is reasonable to believe that humans emerged many times in many places and will continue to do so. The evidence you have found to show how perception and excitation, pulsation and spinning wave, etc., are all paired functions, seems to support the idea of intentionality. With this train of thought gmthere is a tendency to lean towards mystical thinking, or suggestions that there is a divine blueprint. The materialists would want to call it a tendency of matter. All I can say is that there is a natural direction that the Universe seems to “want” to go in.
What you call “natural direction” is what Reich called the ergonomic potential, the tendency of orgone energy systems to go from lower to higher potential. The opposite of this is the mechanical potential, from higher to lower energy potential. The orgonomic potential exists in realms, living as well as in non-living nature.
I think a close paraphrase of Reich’s view is that nature has no “purpose” or “goal,” but simply functions. I don’t have the citations at this moment, I believe the best place to look would be Ether, God and Devil. I think the closest thing one could say about “wanting” is that nature “wants” to function, but I think even that phrasing is probably not correct. Functions do have consequences and nature does move in certain directions mandated by nature’s laws. But that is simply functioning, not wanting. I think wanting is a feature of animate nature; although even inanimate nature can at least partially be predicted to do certain things, have certain tendencies. So where is the exact line between that and “wanting”? Anyway, that’s my take. I’m certainly not saying I have the ultimate say on the matter.
Oops, didn’t see Dr. Konia’s reply before I sent my comment. As usual, Dr. Konia describes things in a much simpler and more precise and pithy way!
Very nice analysis Dr. Holbrook of a natural (non-voluntarily controlled) function and a desire, as it is a tricky demarcation. I am thinking of evolution. Over billions of years life has evolved and one can invoke the purely mechanistic ideology of “evolution”, but one perhaps cannot leave out “desire.” How does a “fish” beget “legs” or “wings” over the millions of years? Is it purely by “mutation” or did the primitive animal notice the dry land and desired to reach it? I think originally, desire was not instinctual, but a need to improve life quality (higher orgonomic potential), and played an important role in evolution. The above invokes parts of teleology, which is something that Reich disliked, but functionalism is open-ended.
Interesting.
Don’t you think that in a biosocial system like the American one, where 28 million people don’t have health insurance, if coranavirus infects these people, without insurance, there would be millions of deaths? In Italy, the health system is the first advanced on the planet, as it guarantees its citizens through taxes that no one should be left at the mercy of the disease. So this social massacre compared to America should not be generated, precisely because every citizen is guaranteed health care.
Thank you for educating us about the functional similarities between a biological organism and a state Dr. Konia, as these are necessary tools of knowledge. However, just as a human can react to stimuli in a healthy or armored way, so can a country. A more rational approach to this crisis would be to NOT make it a crisis and treat it medically sound such as the South Koreans, Russians and Germans are doing. They are testing, quarantining the sick, BUT not shutting down the country and life goes on as normally as possible with a minuscule amount of dead.
As you have stated many times, a proper diagnosis is necessary for a positive treatment outcome. What would be the social diagnosis for how America is reacting? Hysterical, ocular, anal, because that is what I am afraid of. A more reasonable approach is needed and I include the link below for an intelligent counter-argument.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/wayne-allyn-root-mr-president-follow-the-south-korean-model-to-defeat-coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR1dXfqf3WWD7udAa144aG7SfoluwlmX1_dOMy3XBOXd-FZuMEONuvsD4xw
Thanks for that article, Ed! Astounding! I posted it on Facebook and LinkedIn and sent it to my friends. Very important stuff! Here are the main excerpts just to make it easy for people to take a look:
Coronavirus: South Korea only quarantined of the sick
“In a nation of 51 million (almost exactly the size of California), South Korea has had under 9000 cases and under 100 deaths.” That’s an infection rate of 0.02% and the mortality rate amongst those infected of 1.1%.
“CDC predicted over 1,000,000 cases of Ebola in Africa just a few years back. The actual number? Under 30,000. These are guesses on a computer screen. And hysterical, worst-case guesses.”
“Two places the same size, yet the Governor of California is expecting a million deaths in California versus under 100 deaths in South Korea? And Governor Newsom is shutting down the state and California’s economy based on those wild, worst-case guesses?”
“My idea from day one was to put those already sick; the elderly; those with compromised immune systems; and those at highest risk, in quarantine for one to two months.
But ask and encourage everyone else- the young, healthy, business owners and their employees, to carry on and live life. Those at least-risk should be asked to keep their businesses open, keep the economy going, go out to eat, keep your community’s small businesses, in business. So, the sick, elderly and at-risk population has something to come back to in 1 to 2 months.”
“I dare you to ask all those now laid off, jobless or with shuttered businesses, if they’d be willing to risk getting sick, or even risk a small chance of dying, if they could get their business or job back. I’m betting the answer from a vast majority would be an emphatic YES! Let’s put the heroes of the American business world to work!
The healthy need to go on living. We need to keep commerce going. Because someone has to pay the bills and taxes, or our nation will be in ruins- even if we beat this monster.
Then I found out yesterday from Dr Oz, a brilliant breath-of-fresh-air guest on my national radio show, this is almost exactly the plan carried out in South Korea. The sick and at-risk were quarantined. Everyone else went to work. No businesses were closed. No economy was ever shut down.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/wayne-allyn-root-mr-president-follow-the-south-korean-model-to-defeat-coronavirus/
Apparently Germany and Russia, due to low infection rates, were not closing businesses but now will be (Germany) or might be (Russia).
Apparently the counter-argument is that South Korea was very actively testing much earlier than we were. From what I understand, this is the big theme on the left being used to blame the Trump administration. I don’t know enough about that counter-argument to evaluate how valid it is.
Here is a very statistically detailed analysis of COVID19 from a factual and not projected basis. A long read, but written to be easily understood without need to be statistically savvy.
Summary: Hysterical panic.
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/covid-19-evidence-over-hysteria
Ed
I also came across this article and I am comfortable with stats and numbers. It has been very reassuring to have access to this kind of data along with the many insightful and straight forward articles over the last 10 days pointing out the two ongoing pandemics (i.e. Covid-19 and its by product, the covert EP attack). The current situation is a clear example why I believe it is necessary to distinguish between the micro and macro in the social realm. Focusing on and learning how to deal with and prevent the transmission of the EP from the individual to the micro and then to the macro might eventually lead to a methodology to prevent a recurrence of what we are witnessing today. Lone voices alone will never be enough. The EP has successfully established itself in the macro and until we learn to fight it in that realm, all the lone voices in the world won’t be enough to remove it until it removes itself on its own terms (i.e. self destruction which would mean destruction to much of the health that remains in our society)
Ive reposted this from James DeMeo’s Facebook page.
Dr Konia, David Holbrook, or others on here: thoughts?
“Trump and other world leaders have listened to a bunch of power-drunk medical quacks pushing shaky and error-ridden virus theory, to advise on this China corona thing for too damn long. Just under 500 mostly very old and already sick people dead in the USA, identified as “Covid-19 infected” by bogus testing methods with very high levels of false positives. And from that, they want to order entire states and nations into solitary confinements, shut down the entire world economy, crush down any expressions of human touch, contact and decency, and send people and businesses into bankruptcy and despair. After which will come a spate of mandatory tests and vaccines, all apparently to be paid from the public treasury. It is a disgusting and frightening situation, this bonding between government and conventional medicine, that is unfolding in every bad way thinkable. There is such a thing as Medical Fascism, a serious form of Emotional Plague, and today it is running wild and unrestrained, coupled with the plagues of political power-drunkenness and pharmaceutical greed. Now, THAT is a far more deadly kind of plague, the emotional plague, spreading across the land, which can only be halted by a serious dose of truth and fact, which we are NOT getting from the mainstream news media, nor especially from the mainstream and power-drunk sectors of the medical profession.”
Briefly, I think we are all trying to distinguish the border between fact and hysterical fear. One thing is for sure, though. There is a pandemic of fear and paralleling the viral pandemic. The pandemic of fear may turn out to be far more dangerous than the virus, I’m not sure. and it is definitely noticeable that the pandemic of fear and the strategy of “sheltering in place“ is devastating to people’s work function; and work function is related to the overall organismic functioning of individuals. It’s part of the orgonomic triad: love, work and knowledge
The first consequence of widespread fear that I see is that people begin policing each other. So now your friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc expect you to use hand sanitizer 100 times a day, get vaccinated, etc, etc. So the draconianism gets implemented horizontally on the lower end of society, rather than from the top down. However, I have heard that in the UK they have already told people to remain in their homes, and shops are only allowed to sell “essentials”. So there’s a combination of top-down control and horizontal policing going on. At least some people are maintaining some sanity.
Elliott,
There are hundreds of clear eyed rational writers posting articles about the irrationality of shutting down society over a contagious cold, super flu, flu (whatever it turns out to be). The major problem is that the greater social realm (along with every major social institution) has been infected with emotional plague characters and emotional plague activity and behavior for decades and the infection has reached all levels of society.
The discovery of the emotional plague in the 20th C and Dr. Konia’s books and writings on the subject are necessary but not all what is needed to stop armored human life from unfolding in ways that we are witnessing right in front of our eyes today.
The biggest concern for me is that there has not been one social institution, group of respected professionals, sports league, organization etc that has stood up to the assault on every aspect of healthy human life (love, work and knowledge). Only lone voices have spoken out. That is a reflection of how well the EP is operating today in our society.
When Trump said that he would drain the swamp during his campaign and rescind the policies that were in place which supported political correctness, he was obviously not fully aware of what he would be facing and did not have the capacity and support to accomplish this. He has done the best he could but the emotional plague’s raison d’etre is to survive by attacking healthy life while remaining hidden. Like any virus or bacteria it is 100% devoted to this. On the other hand healthy life tends to avoid places infected with the emotional plague.
Until healthy life learns to deal with the problem of the emotional plague (obviously through the knowledge that flows from orgonomic functionalism) before it is entrenched in society, the EP will always have the advantage of being more devoted to its survival than its only true competitor (bio-emotional health).
From where I stand, there is no possible way to stop the current outbreak of emotional activity in the form of irrational policies that continues to shut down most healthy human activity regardless of the cost (emotionally, financially etc). It will have to play itself out. Once the virus is contained and life returns to normal (whatever that may be), the damage can be assessed and then maybe some rationality can be inserted in the “post mortem” dialogue. From an individual stand point, Dr Konia’s advice in the last line of this post can be helpful to everyone ( What is most important in times of crisis is to focus on and maintain one’s biological work function, whatever it is).
Taking care of one’s emotional health and being supportive to loved ones who may not fully understand what is really going on, in times like this, is a challenge but vitally important.
Steven Diab, well put.
I decided to go on a walk today on a trail which goes alongside a freeway. I saw a girl walk off the trail, throw her jacket over the fence, then climb over and walk up to the freeway. It was very odd and I didn’t understand why she was crossing the road instead of using the walking bridge. Then she stood by the road and I thought perhaps she was going to hitch a ride. It was at this point I realized she was very young, perhaps 10 or 11 and that this situation was too strange. Her skin was dark, like a Native American. A woman with dark skin was also coming up the trail, so I thought it might be her mother so I asked, “Do you know her?”
“No”. Now the girl was walking into oncoming traffic in the freeway, and cars were stopping for her and pulling over to watch the bizarre situation. She crossed over the grass in the middle to the other side of the freeway, and at this point a pickup truck driver who saw the situation drove across the grass to the other side where she was.
I was looking at all the cars pulled over, trying to see if the situation was going to get handled without my involvement since there were already so many people stopped watching.
But since nobody was actually getting out of their car, just watching, I went ahead and climbed the fence and walked slowly across the road so the oncoming traffic would be forced to slow down.
When I reached the grass in the middle, the girl was on her way back across to my side. I held her jacket she had abandoned, and said, “come on, put your jacket back on, it’s cold out here.”
She said, “I don’t trust anybody anymore.”
At this point the guy in the pickup was crossing back across the grass again. I looked in his direction, and said to the girl, “he’s a good guy.”
She said, “I don’t trust anybody.”
I said,.”But he’s a good guy. Here put your jacket on at least. It’s really cold.”
She said, “I don’t care about being cold, I want to die.”
Now the pickup truck was here, with two guys. The passenger came out and around to the girl then grabbed hold of the girl’s arm to keep her in place.
I thought this was kind of unnecessary at the moment since I was engaging her verbally, and could react quickly if she started walking again. However it was not out of order.
The driver was calling the police and in the meantime the other man and I were talking to the girl. She said she had just ran away from her foster home, climbing out of her window. I told her that I too was in foster home and that I ran away too. She said she ran away 50 times. I said that if she runs away, sometimes they will move you to a different foster home and sometimes it can be better.
She said ahe likes the foster home she’s in, but she just doesn’t want to cause any more pain to her foster parents.
I tried to reassure her that her foster parents are adults and that this is what they signed up for, so don’t worry about them. This is a point I brought up a few more times as we waited for the police.
She said she doesn’t want help from anybody, she just wants to die. She said the “voices told her that everybody would be happier if she died.”
“What voices?” we asked. The voices in her head. The man holding her arm said, “those voices don’t know what they’re talking about”
Then the man started telling her that she is one of God’s children and that God loves his children, and he loves her. It seemed to me that his reassurances at this moment weren’t having really any effect.
I said, If you had good voices, they would tell you…”
I couldn’t think of anything to fill the blank at this moment, so I left it hanging right there. She said, “I did have good voices but they killed them.”
Then she started naming the voices that had been killed, “They killed Clara, they killed….”
At this point the police had finally arrived. The cop came and the girl said to the cop, “I don’t want to be a part of this world anymore.”
He said, “sweetheart, you’re way too young to feel that way.”
They put her in the car, and then the two guys and I filled in the cop on the details we saw. Apparently, when she was out of my sight for a few moments before I climbed the fence, she was almost hit by a semi-truck: they said it was a very near miss.
The two guys were telling the cop about the things the girl said, saying she said her parents had molested her (I did not hear this. They might have talked to the girl before I climbed the fence.)
When they mentioned the “voices” the girl hears, they remarked that the girl is “fucked up”.
“She’s fucked up!” They said.
The cop said we were free to go. They didn’t need us to stick around and give detailed statements or anything.
So off we went.
I can say this: whoever is involved with this girl might have good intentions and everything, but it really seems like this girl has nobody around that empathize with her. No contact so to speak. But she did not seem out of touch or anything. I made eye contact with her, and she’s “all there” so to speak. I’m not really put off by her remarks about voices. The other two men were alarmed by that statement, but she actually seemed pretty “there” to me. I just think that nobody engages her, and she probably gets isolated a lot, and she has so much energy that she can’t be coupes up, and whatever the foster parents and schools are doing to “contain” her are causing her a lot of turmoil. It’s hard to assess the whole situation from the sidelines, but that’s what I’m getting.
And I’m guessing she hasn’t been to school in awhile, because schools have been shut down to corona virus. Thus might have compounded the feelings of isolation and turmoil. What if she’s been stuck in one bedroom since her last school day?
I remember when I was a kid, I got grounded a lot and couldn’t go outside. And even at school, more often than not, I was in trouble for something and had to sit inside while everybody else got to go outside and play. I despise them for that to this day. And if I came across one of the teachers who used to keep me in all the time back then today… Well…
Anyways… This story is an example of my thoughts on the Emotional Plague.
Caleb, what a remarkable story and how right you are and how compassionate you were. You’ve got it totally right, that’s the plague. Very moving. We see this kind of thing as psychiatrists and medical orgone therapists. Sometimes we are able to help. As Dr. Konia once said to us in our clinical seminars when we discuss cases, “The emotional plague is our patient.“
This simple human story stands in such sharp contrast to all the political discussion.
In response to Steven’s comment: “ The current situation is a clear example why I believe it is necessary to distinguish between the micro and macro in the social realm.”
Steven, I’ve always been puzzled by your reference to this. As far as I can tell, the connection between the micro and macro realms was very clearly established by Reich. Put quite simply, the emotional plague is caused by orgasm anxiety. That is the connection between the macro and micro.
In our current situation, I think that what is most likely happening is that we are experiencing an emotional plague reaction from the left caused by mass orgasm anxiety induced by the worldwide economic expansion triggered by Trump. This is an emotional plague attack on the work function.
Dr Holbrook
Years ago I took a rough inventory of the following:
1) The bio-emotional health of the world since Reich’s life work and discoveries
2) The bio-emotional health of the U.S. since the transformation from a relatively healthy authoritarian society to anti-authoritarian society (emotional plague outbreak)
3) The estimated amount of individuals who were attracted to the science of Orgonomy and who had a relatively rational and healthy understanding of orgonomic functionalism
I also did a review of the people (mostly the trained orgonomists of all stripes) who had been a part of the ACO during its 52 year existence.
From this I summarized that a two prong solution was needed to have any chance (as great as the odds might be against it working) of slowing down the advance of the EP in our society. The obvious one which was out of my hands was ensuring the long term survival of the ACO and the second was something my good friend and I have worked on for the last several years. We have been looking at the ways and methods used by the emotional plague (i.e. plague characters and the “natural’ way the plague spreads among armored humans in modern society) and are trying to imagine and devise in the short term practical ways in which the wealth of knowledge that flows from orgonomic functionalism could be used to inhibit the spread EP and the resulting destruction to healthy life.
Orgonomy as it exists in its undistorted form today thanks to Dr Baker and the ACO is in no position to directly affect change in the greater social realm (i.e.the macro where the plague continues to gain ground). It can only hope to continue to attract more individuals (through public education and therapy) and hope that some of those individuals will eventually be able to “secure a beachhead” (as Dr Konia has written) for the ACO and the science of Orgonomy.
From our work, my friend and I have developed a couple of concepts that we think may help in the ongoing fight between healthy life and the spread of the EP 1) the distinction between the micro and macro in the social realm 2) understanding how prime “social agreements” like political correctness (which supports anti-authoritarian society) get established. And once they do, how do you extract or replace them.
Our concepts do not necessarily have any connection to what you wrote in your response with regards to Reich’s words on the micro and the macro.
OK, I don’t see how your concepts of the micro and the macro don’t have any connection to Reich’s words on the micro and macro: for example, Reich’s micro being orgasm anxiety—which Reich points out causes the general “contact anxiety” (see below)—and Reich’s macro being the concept of the emotional plague. In what way is your concept of the micro and macro different from Reich’s? And is your concept of the micro and macro a functional concept? To be honest, I fear that it is a mechanistic concept. I don’t mean any criticism in saying so, I’m just wondering.
On “contact anxiety“:
Reich, W. 1956. The Medical DOR-Buster. CORE V7 N3-5, Pages 97-113. Rangeley, Maine: Orgone Institute Press.
“The better the result in the withdrawal of energy from rigidities, muscular armor, symptoms, the more alive and mobile became the organism, until the ‘contact anxiety,’ in the genital sphere, ‘orgasm anxiety,’ emerged as the last major obstacle to the establishment of the equilibrium in the organismic energy household.” (Pages 98-99)
Reich, W. (1949). Character Analysis, 3rd ed. Translated by Theodore P. Wolfe, M.D. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
“General psychic contactlessness is only the general reflection of orgasm anxiety, that is, fear of orgastic contact…” (Page 325, italics in original)
“The core of the fear of genuine, immediate psychic contact with people and the world in general is the fear of orgastic contact.” (Page 326, italics in original)
You write, “ Orgonomy as it exists in its undistorted form today thanks to Dr Baker and the ACO is in no position to directly affect change in the greater social realm (i.e.the macro where the plague continues to gain ground).”
I disagree quite strongly. I don’t see how anything but orgonomy is going to lead people to orgonomy. True, the ACO has not yet been successful in affecting significant change in the wider social realm, although clearly that is what Dr. Konia is attempting to do in his books and on this blog. But I think the reason why the ACO has not yet been able to affect significant change in the social realm is because we have not yet figured out how to make CONTACT with the wider social realm.
Those of us who are interested in orgonomy or who are practicing orgonomists have many different conversations about various problems in the world and about how to solve these problems, both in individual life and in family life and also in the wider social realm. Sometimes we create complicated theories about all that. But the reality is, it’s actually not that complicated. Usually, the answer is quite simple: contact. Now, the answer is quite simple, but implementing the answer—that’s the difficult part. I think the reason for that is that what is hardest is to see is what is right in front of our faces. As Einstein said, the fish will be the last to discover water. I think we suffer from that difficulty at the ACO: how to communicate Reich’s work to the world in simple, every day language that anyone can understand without really knowing anything about orgonomy. We have not yet achieved that goal. What it will require is for us to be able to speak in simple terms that still communicate a functional understanding, but in a manner that will lead people closer to the more sophisticated understanding to be found within the orgonomic literature. We have to create a bridge.
This has parallels to how orgonomic therapy works: contact requires starting at the surface of the patient’s psyche, not leaping into the depths right away. We have to find a similar way to make contact with the wider social realm.
The knowledge is there, as far as I’m concerned. Do you disagree? I think the only problem is finding a way to create a bridge between orgonomic knowledge and the masses. I do not believe that creating that bridge requires a whole new set of concepts and terminology. Am I wrong?
Dr Holbrook
I appreciate the feedback and constructive criticism. I will try to respond to your questions and points as best I can.
1) Micro / Macro
Not sure if our concept of micro and macro will turn out to be mechanistic or functional.
In your reference to Reich and genital anxiety (micro). In this example the micro refers to the individual and the macro is the social realm. Am I correct?
2) Your strong disagreement to my somewhat controversial statement about the ACO not being in a position to directly affect change in the greater social realm.
In no way to I mean to disrespect the work done by the ACO. I have personally benefited beyond what I could have ever hoped for. I am just trying to be realistic. The problem is not with the ACO or orgonomy. There is not a simple answer but I think the problem of dealing with an outbreak of the emotional plague in the greater social realm presents many more challenges than dealing with it in a small group of people. The method used to help individuals in therapy or dealing with some emotional plague behavior that might crop up from time to time at the ACO or in any other group of people still applies but may not be sufficient to deal with an outbreak in the greater social realm. This does not mean that a new technique has to be mechanical or mystical but just one that has not yet been developed using functional thinking.
3) In response to your last paragraph. I do not think that bridging the gap requires a whole new set of concepts but maybe one or two concepts that to date have not been thought of. As far as terminology is concerned I think you are wrong. It pains me to write that because it is the one area that I disagree with Dr. Konia. I question myself on this matter often. For all of Dr. Konia’s contributions to my life through his writings am I really sure about this position? I am pretty sure that in order to bridge the gap to secure a beach head an intermediary language will need to be developed. Not one that distorts in any way functional thinking but one that can reach an ever increasingly out of touch environment.
If it should turn out that I have erred in my thinking and that my ideas do not help in solving some of the problems mentioned above the cause is worth the effort.
Well, maybe we are not as far apart as we imagined. “Intermediate language“ is basically what I was talking about.It’s just that when I hear “micro and macro,” I honestly wonder how that is any different than what we are already talking about. But if you are talking about some sort of intermediate language that serves as a bridge between technical orgonomic language at every day language, then I don’t see any harm in that.
“ In your reference to Reich and genital anxiety (micro). In this example the micro refers to the individual and the macro is the social realm. Am I correct?” Yes.
Wow. Thank you for your summary. I see it now.
I think that the “shelter in place“ strategy in response to the coronavirus pandemic worldwide probably makes sense, although I can’t honestly say I’m 100% sure. But I do think that this strategy, which involves shutting down most of the world’s businesses, at least may overlap with an emotional plague attack on the work function, caused by orgasm anxiety induced in liberals by the worldwide economic expansion triggered by Trump. Work, knowledge, and love are all core processes.
An additional thought: there may be some kind of biophysical inevitability to what is happening. Clearly, the pandemic is inducing a massive worldwide contraction. I think that is a very important fact, functionally speaking. The world has been in an over-expanded, contentious, pathologically spinning wave sort of state for a long time. To me, political ideology, for example, is a spinning wave sort of thing. Everyone has ideas, ideas, ideas (sensation/spinning wave); but nobody can actually make contact and get along (integration of spinning wave with pulsation, which in health are in a state of attractive opposition). True contact involves an integration of excitation and perception, but also of all functions, including spinning wave and pulsation. The functions of spinning wave and pulsation have been out of balance in the world.
And now we have this massive contraction. But I think an important thing to point out is that what is significant is not just that there is a contraction occurring; what is significant is that hopefully there is a shift to pulsation itself, with contraction being only the first step of the process.
Another place one sees the pathology of a hyper-spinning-wave state in the world is in the rampant out-of-contact mechanical sexuality that has become split from love so badly that it actually antagonizes and damages the love function. Dr. Konia has observed that love and sex in health are in a state of attractive opposition. Sex and love are related to spinning wave and pulsation, in that order. In 2016 I wrote an article (unpublished) called Love and Orgasm Anxiety in a Case of Paranoid Schizophrenic Character. I think it’s the finest thing I’ve ever written (available from me in PDF form!). The article addressed the issues of love and orgasm anxiety in a patient, and the difficulty the patient was having with integrating spinning wave (sexual excitation) and pulsation (love) in his relationship psychically, but also somatically, in the genital embrace. The reason I mention this here is because it is another example, this time on an individual rather than a societal level, of problems with the integration of spinning wave and pulsation.
I don’t know exactly how to fully integrate all this, but it strikes me that addressing the split between sex and love (spinning wave and pulsation) is at the heart of the enterprise of clinical orgonomy, and also of social orgonomy! What has struck me and concerned me for a long time now is how easily Reich has been distorted and misinterpreted as advocating “sex“ as the cure to everything, when in fact he made it clear that he was talking about genital love, not loveless sex (“fucking,“ in his word). After all, he said that love, work and knowledge are the wellsprings of life, not sex, work and knowledge. Genitality is a state where pulsation (love/emotion) and spinning wave (sex/sensation/thought) are integrated.
Hi,
can you send to the file Love and Orgasm Ansiety?
my e-mail is eugenio.camanzi@yahoo.com
I read Dew’s article on hypertension. I don’t know if my mom suffered from hypertension when she was young but she never smoked for which I don’ t known why she suffers of enphysema. Is it still useful to measure renin?
Best regards
Eugenio Camanzi
I don’t know.
Thank you for your comments here, Dr. Holbrook. They ring true with my organ sensation, but they expand my understanding with new integration. I hunger for the big picture, the orgonomic “left.”
A few years ago, I got frustrated seeing that so much of my thinking and writing was relying on technical words and concepts. I didn’t want that. I put aside the orgonomic literature and immersed myself in classical English literature, underlining phrases or passages that rang true with me organismically. These were the writers’ intuitions of life processes or cosmic functions, but usually in simple language. I often wrote in my books, collecting the simple vocabulary that resonated with me internally. Simplicity felt like a lifeline. Like finding gems. Now, it warms me to read that the College is also thinking about or looking for “intermediate language.” That search has been enriching for me, if I’m accurately understanding what you mean. Thank you for sharing what you have written here.
Thanks, Mary Lou. I like what you write about going back to English literature and trying to find things that resonate. And we agree that it’s absolutely vital that we need to find “Intermediate language“ (Steven Diab’s useful term). I have done that throughout the 20 years of my private practice. I do not keep issues of the Journal of Orgonomy in my waiting room; I do not identify myself as an Orgonomist. I am concerned it would be too much for people. I am also concerned about a plague response.
They need a bridge. As I wrote before, it all boils down to contact, how to make contact with people in everything we do. Of course, a lot of that has to do with listening instead of lecturing; meeting people where they are, not where we are.
On the other hand, personally I also feel we desperately need places where we can talk to each other using “orgonomic language.” And I think it’s important that we never stop referring back to Reich. True contact means being adept at integrating in both directions: to the orgonometric left (is that what you meant by orgonomic left?) towards the CFPs; and towards the orgonometric right—the variations and details.
There is no one deeper (“to the left”) than Reich. He laid the foundation and we need to continually go back to that foundation and not lose touch with it, to continually check to see whether our current concepts (to the “right”) are in line with the foundation (“the left”) that he laid down. And the most difficult task is the intermediate language that we need to connect the two. I think that the task of accomplishing that requires people who are exceptionally talented both in functional and conceptual thinking but also in the use of language.
If we think Reich was wrong in some way we need to discuss that openly. We few (I’m tempted to quote Shakespeare’s Henry V: ”We few, we happy few…”) who have some kind of knowledge of orgonomy need to develop our ability to translate the deeper terms and concepts into everyday language, without diluting or straying from or avoiding the deeper knowledge.
Well put David Holbrook.
At first I thought I understood the Cops, but then I looked up the Wikipedia on Spinning Wave, and it’s description was incomprehensible to me. But I think I am beginning to get an idea of what it is, and your analogy yesterday clarified it even more.
Also, I have read some of the work by Baron Carl Reichenbach, discussing observations he made of somnambulists. He documented his observations and posited a force which he called “Od Force”, which has positive and negative polarities. Sometimes it seemed like he conflated “lack of Od” as being synonymous with “negative Od”, however I think he meant that “negative Od” was a charge in and of itself. He said only people with nervous derangement can detect it. He personally could not detect it, so he based his conclusions on observations of somnambulists. He said od is generated by chemical processes like metabolism and decomposition, and that it has effects primarily on the nervous system. Positive od would cause cramps, and negative Od would cause sleepwalking.
I think most people reading his material would at first assume that he was observing or gone, but I am not quite sure.
Dr. Holbrook, could send me the PDF of your article, Love and Orgasm Anxiety in a Case of Paranoid Schizophrenic Character, when you have a chance, please?
Love, work, and knowledge derive from the core. Anything that interferes with any of these functions also interferes with the others.
“Thus, the organism acquires a fear of excitation….It usually shows itself as a generalized fear of any kind of vegetative sensation or excitation or the perception of these.”
Reich, W. (1942/1971) The Function of the Orgasm. Translated by Theodore P. Wolfe. New York, The Noonday Press:
“If sexual excitation is checked, there is a vicious circle: the checking increases the stasis of excitation, and the increased stasis diminishes the ability of the organism to decrease it. Thus, the organism acquires a fear of excitation, in other words, sexual anxiety. The sexual anxiety, therefore, is caused by an external frustration of instinctual gratification, and is anchored internally by the fear of the damned-up sexual excitation. This is the mechanism of orgasm anxiety. It is the fear of the organism–which has become unwilling to experience pleasure–of the overpowering excitation of the genital system. Orgasm anxiety forms the basis of the general pleasure anxiety, which is an integral part of the prevailing human structure. It usually shows itself as a generalized fear of any kind of vegetative sensation or excitation or the perception of these. Since joy of living and orgastic pleasure are identical, general fear of life is the ultimate expression of orgasm anxiety.” (Page 136)
I think this is Reich’s best passage describing the way in which orgasm anxiety is connected to pleasure anxiety and also interferes in general with the ability of people to function, to get excited about anything, and even to perceive things. As he states in another passage I sent, it literally causes “contact anxiety“! And all biological functions involve not only psychic ( psychological) contact, but also somatic contact, which is necessary for the proper functioning of the immune system!
The assault on the work function, a side effect of the apparently rational need to mitigate the speed of the spread of the coronavirus, is causing a very large contraction which affects people in every way, and in my opinion includes, most likely, an effect on their ability to mount a proper immune response to the virus!
And expanded version of what I just now posted above:
Here is another attempt on my part to functionally integrate what is happening as a result of the coronavirus.
Love, work, and knowledge derive from the core. Anything that interferes with any of these functions also interferes with the other two functions. They all interact and depend on each other. For example, something that interferes with the work function will also interfere with the love and knowledge function because the organisms overall capacity for excitation and perception (contact) will be interfered with.
Reich basically described all of psychology, physiology, and sociology as being a function of the degree of free movement or lack of free movement of orgone energy. Thus, when we are talking about psychology or physiology or sociology or politics, we are actually talking about orgone energy functions.
This passage shows how Reich perceived the link between genital love and knowledge:
“TO TOUCH THE TRUTH IS THE SAME AS TO THE TOUCH THE GENITALS. Therefrom stems the “TOUCH-IT-NOT” of anything serious, crucial, life-saving, of anything leading toward true self-reliance.” Reich, W. (1953/1956). The Murder of Christ. New York: Pocket Books, page 250, emphasis in original.
Here’s an example of how Reich saw social logical processes as biological add linked with the free movement or orgone energy:
“What is meant here by freedom is the genuine freedom of personal and social development, the freedom from the fear of life, from economic suppression of any kind, from reactionary inhibitions of development; in brief, the free self-determination of life. We should not have any illusions about it: There is at work, in the masses, a reactionary, murderous, development-inhibiting force which brings to ruin again and again all the efforts made by the fighters for freedom. This reactionary force in the masses expresses itself in a general fear of responsibility and fear of freedom. These are no moral judgments. This fear is deeply rooted in the biological constitution of man of today.” Reich, W. 1946. The Mass Psychology of Fascism. Third, revised and enlarged edition. Translated by Theodore Wolfe. New York: Orgone Institute Press. chapter 10, section 2 (“The Biological Miscalculation in the Human Struggle for Freedom”), Part 3, pages 283-284, italics in original.)
Here below Reich shows the connection between love (genital love) and the overall capacity of the organism to become excited or even to perceive:
“If sexual excitation is checked, there is a vicious circle: the checking increases the stasis of excitation, and the increased stasis diminishes the ability of the organism to decrease it. Thus, the organism acquires a fear of excitation, in other words, sexual anxiety. The sexual anxiety, therefore, is caused by an external frustration of instinctual gratification, and is anchored internally by the fear of the damned-up sexual excitation. This is the mechanism of orgasm anxiety. It is the fear of the organism–which has become unwilling to experience pleasure–of the overpowering excitation of the genital system. Orgasm anxiety forms the basis of the general pleasure anxiety, which is an integral part of the prevailing human structure. It usually shows itself as a generalized fear of any kind of vegetative sensation or excitation or the perception of these. Since joy of living and orgastic pleasure are identical, general fear of life is the ultimate expression of orgasm anxiety.” (Reich, W. (1942/1971. The Function of the Orgasm. Translated by Theodore P. Wolfe. New York, The Noonday Press, page 136)
I think this below is Reich’s best passage describing the way in which orgasm anxiety is connected to pleasure anxiety and also interferes in general with the ability of people to function, to get excited about anything, and even to perceive things. As he states in another passage, it literally causes what he refers to as “contact anxiety“:
“The better the result in the withdrawal of energy from rigidities, muscular armor, symptoms, the more alive and mobile became the organism, until the ‘contact anxiety,’ in the genital sphere, ‘orgasm anxiety,’ emerged as the last major obstacle to the establishment of the equilibrium in the organismic energy household.” (Reich, W. 1956. The Medical DOR-Buster. CORE V7 N3-5, Pages 97-113. Rangeley, Maine: Orgone Institute Press, pages 98-99)
All biological functions involve not only psychic (psychological) contact, but also somatic contact, which is necessary for the proper functioning of the immune system.
The assault on the work function, a side effect of the apparently rational need to mitigate the speed of the spread of the coronavirus, is causing a very large contraction which affects people in every way, and in my opinion includes, most likely, an effect on their ability to mount a proper immune (lumination) response to the virus!
Hi, Dr. Holbrook,
Thank you for your Love and Orgasm Anxiety paper. It got right to the heart of the topic. I found much that was relevant personally and professionally. A schizophrenic patient of mine has reported a pattern that now I recognize as fear of the freedom of movement, an aspect of orgasm anxiety. You’ve brought a lot together in this article. And I like that “Truth is full, immediate contact between the Living that perceives and Life that is perceived.” And that truth… stirs up the deepest emotions. It relies on organ sensation.
I’d like to reciprocate. Have you seen my Rat Catcher’s Daughter in the JO? (46/2) I also have an unpublished article on the emotional plague in a community, Evil is Lawful. Let me know if you’d like it some time. Right now, I’m writing the sequel of Rat Catcher.
Hi, Mary Lou; thanks for the feedback. I did read your Rat Catcher article, very good. And yes, I would like it if you would send me the Evil Is Lawful article, Thanks.