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Help us maintain the legacy of Wilhelm Reich by making a tax-deductible donation.

August 2010 Update
From
The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust
& The Wilhelm Reich Museum

We thank you for your continual interest and support. For newcomers to our e-mail Update list, none of the names on this list—nor the names of any Museum visitors, conference attendees or bookstore customers—are shared with any other individuals or organizations. If at any time you wish to be removed from this list, please let us know.

Our previous Update (from April 2010) as well as all previous updates, dating from March 2004, available online. You can access them through the Updates option at the top of this page or via the Quick Links along the left side of the page. These Updates (49 of them) provide the best contemporaneous accounts of the Trust's ongoing activities over the past six years.

This Summer at Orgonon
Invitation to Speak in Brazil
Coming Soon: Our New Website
In Discussion: Reich's Books on Kindle
Our June Lecture & Benefit in New York
First Article Drawing Upon Unpublished Archival Material
Man's Right to Know Now "Officially" on YouTube
Children's Discovery Room
Book Sales
Renting Our Cottages
Enjoy the Rangeley Lakes Region
We Have Speakers Available

A QUOTE FROM REICH

"The man of science has a hard road. He must prove his every claim, he must carry on arduous research, must deliberate, recognize his mistakes, screen vicious criticism, understand and refute false theories. He cannot use force. In his struggle against the plague he is without weapons. The mystic has an easy road. No one demands that he prove his claims."

              Journal entry – May 10, 1943
              (American Odyssey, p. 180) 

THIS SUMMER AT ORGONON

As we reported in our March and April Updates, we opted not to have our annual summer conference this year in order to focus on more pressing issues regarding Reich's legacy and the Trust. (This is only the second time in over thirty years that we haven't had a conference--the other time was in 2008 when we held a small Archive Workshop to look, for the first time, at some of the more sensitive materials in The Archives of the Orgone Institute.

During the week of July 12th a small group of supporters met to discuss critical concerns and questions about the future and survivability of Reich's legacy into the next generation, concerns and questions that transcend all individual and organizational interests and boundaries.

And when we discuss Reich's legacy, we define his legacy as Reich himself defined it and not as someone else describes or "interprets" that legacy. In Reich's own words:

• "Changing basically the care of infants and children to prevent armoring and its concomitant diseases."
  
  
• "Utilizing the orgone energy accumulator as a tool of scientific and medical efficacy."
  
  
• "Utilizing the technology of the medical DOR-buster and the cloudbuster to shift and change energy potentials in the living organism and the atmosphere, creating a new kind of medicine and weather modification."

Over the next few days our discussions, ideas and strategies were guided by a specific purpose statement: "To make Wilhelm Reich's legacy alive, relevant, accessible and usable to a newer and younger audience in ways that encourage practical applications of Reich's scientific and medical work, so that the positive impact of Reich's legacy will benefit human health and the health of the planet for generations to come."

With these thoughts in mind, we looked carefully at all of the indicators, numbers and other metrics available to us by which we assess serious interest in Reich's legacy today:

• The detrimental effects of the prevalent "official" narrative of Reich as a scientific and medical charlatan, and of orgonomy as "pseudo-science".
  
  
• The detrimental effects of the prevalent distortions and misunderstandings about the orgone energy accumulator, Reich's principal scientific and medical tool.
  
  
• The detrimental effects of distortions and misunderstandings about Reich on the Internet that are posted by his detractors and his so-called admirers.
  
  
• The general absence today of Reich's books in American bookstores.
  
  
• The dwindling book sales and dwindling royalties as documented by our publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (more details further in this Update)
  
  
• The lack of significant numbers of young people attending conferences, lectures and workshops about Reich, no matter what organization is sponsoring these events.
  
  
• The absence of Reich in American colleges, universities, or any scientific and medical curricula.
  
• Minimal effort in placing articles about Reich in peer-review publications.
  
  
• The continual emphasis on therapy, with little attention paid to orgonomic research, i.e. bion experiments, Reich Blood Tests, orgone energy accumulators, responsible weather research, etc.
  
  
• Minimal interest from scholars and researchers in Reich's archives at the Countway Library at Harvard University since these materials first became accessible in November 2007.
  
  
• Lack of significant funding resources for anything regarding Reich's legacy.

All of these indicators lead to the obvious question that everyone interested in Reich's legacy should be asking: "How specifically is Reich's scientific and medical legacy going to survive into the next generation as anything other than therapy and wishful conversation?"

We'll have more thoughts in later updates about some of the ideas and strategies that came out of our discussions in July.  

INVITATION TO SPEAK IN BRAZIL

The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust has been invited to deliver two talks in Brazil this October at the Second Congress of Core Energetics & First International Congress on Wilhelm Reich (II Congresso em Core Energetics & I Congresso Internacional Wilhelm Reich).

This three-day event will take place on October 30th, 31st, and November 1st (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) in Atibaia, a small city outside of São Paulo.

Representing the Trust will be Kevin Hinchey whose first talk, "The Legacy of Wilhelm Reich, M.D." will be given on Saturday, October 30th. His second talk, "The Opening of the Archives of Wilhelm Reich, M.D." will be delivered on Sunday, October 31st.

This invitation came from Monica Borine, who attended our 2009 Summer Conference at Orgonon, "From the Archives of the Orgone Institute". Monica is the Director of INIC (Institute of Integral Consciousness and Extension Education) and of ICEB (Institute of Core Energetics of Brazil). She is a clinical psychologist with degrees and post-graduate work in Mental Health Assessment, Neuropsychology, Yogatherapy, Core Energetics and Clinical Hypnosis.

Monica first contacted us in May 2010, inviting presentations by both Mary Higgins and Kevin Hinchey (Museum Director and Associate Director respectively, and board members of the Trust). In her invitation to us, Monica wrote: "We believe that this event will stimulate interest in Wilhelm Reich and also our ties of friendship and collaboration with Orgonon. It is very important that the legacy of Wilhelm Reich is maintained and preserved over the new years."

Unfortunately, Mary Higgins' busy workload and schedule—including editing our new manuscript for Farrar, Straus & Giroux—will preclude her from traveling to Brazil to speak.

Among some of the other presentations of the three-day conference are: "Revisiting the Research Methodology of Reich: The Scope and Applicability of Functional Orgonomy," "The Place of the Body in Psychotherapeutic Practice," "Thinking of Research with Concepts of Wilhelm Reich: Masters and PhDs in São Paulo University," and, from Monica Borine: "Corpo and Conscience" and "Contact With Space, UFOs and Emotional Plague." The complete conference brochure is available online.

This is the Trust's second international speaking invitation to come from someone attending our 2009 Summer Conference, for which we are deeply appreciative. The first invitation came from Greece, asking us to deliver talks in Thessaloniki and Athens this past March.  

COMING SOON: OUR NEW WEBSITE

We'll let you know as soon as our new website is up and running. The website's new homepage and overarching banner will be for the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust, under which there will be links to The Wilhelm Reich Museum; to our online Bookstore; to substantial excerpts from Reich's published books, research journals and bulletins; to information about Reich's archives (i.e. The Archives of the Orgone Institute); to other new content.

Because the Internet is rampant with so much inaccuracy and distortion about Reich and his legacy (from both his admirers and detractors), a more robust website—featuring primary materials and factually accurate information--is more essential than ever.  

IN DISCUSSION: REICH'S BOOKS ON KINDLE

In a recent conversation with our publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux, we were told that FS&G has entered into agreements with Kindle, one of the leading e-book providers, to make many of FS&G's titles available on this digital platform. FS&G asked us if we'd like to have Reich's titles available on Kindle, to which we eagerly replied, "Yes, of course!" We'll have more details for you as they develop.  

OUR JUNE "LECTURE & BENEFIT" IN NEW YORK

Every autumn from 2002 and 2006, and again in 2008, we hosted an evening benefit for The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Endowment Fund at the Williams Club in Manhattan. These benefits featured presentations by various speakers about current projects that addressed Reich's life and legacy. And they helped raise much-needed income for our Endowment Fund, which is more critical today than ever.

This year, with the abrupt closing of the Williams Club, we held our lecture and benefit at the Princeton Club in New York City, which had been the venue for our celebration of Reich's 100th birthday in 1997. Our June 11th evening event featured the following presentation:

We introduced Professor Strick with the following remarks:

Today, 53 years after Wilhelm Reich's death and 3 years after the accessibility of Reich's Archives at the Countway Library of Medicine, one of the major focuses of The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust has been to offer our assistance in any we can to bonafide scholars and researchers working on projects that are targeted to newer audiences, wider audiences, younger audiences, and perhaps most important, to peer-review audiences in academia, medicine and science.

Jim Strick's current book-in-progress about Reich's bion experiments on the origins of life meets all of these criteria. At the risk of embarrassing Jim, it's our opinion that this project may be the single most valuable and potentially transformative scholarship about Reich today.

Reich's bion experiments, begun in his laboratory in Oslo in the 1930s, are the very cornerstone of orgone energy research. It is these experiments that bring Reich into the realm of cellular and cancer research; that lead to the discovery of biological orgone energy in January 1939 in specific bion cultures; that will provide the basis for Reich Blood Tests as diagnostic tools; and that will culminate in the development, over time, of an orgone energy accumulator, first as a scientific instrument and later as a medical tool.

Jim Strick is the only person today working on a book that explores the scientific, social and political context of Reich's bion experiments. And Jim's credentials as a tenured professor and a published science historian of books and peer-reviewed articles are well known in the academic world.

Ten years ago, Harvard University Press published Jim's first book entitled Sparks of Life – Darwinism and the Victorian Debates Over Spontaneous Generation. And in 2004, Jim was the co-author with Steven Dick, the chief historian of NASA, of The Living Universe—NASA and the Development of Astrobiology which was published by Rutgers University Press.

The value of a book about Reich's bion experiments on the origins of life, authored by a bonafide science historian and published by a university press, cannot be underestimated.

Jim Strick is currently an Associate Professor of Earth & Environment, and of Technology & Science at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And, as if his plate wasn't full enough, he has just begun his three-year tenure as Department Chair at Franklin & Marshall.

Professor Strick's audience was an appreciative and enthusiastic one, and his lecture was followed by a lively question and answer period. We'd like to thank everyone who attended this event, as well as those who could not attend but sent a donation to the Trust. And of course, many thanks to Professor Strick for his outstanding presentation.  

FIRST ARTICLE DRAWING UPON UNPUBLISHED REICH ARCHIVAL MATERIAL IS NOW IN PRINT

"Wilhelm Reich's Early Writings on Work Democracy: A Theoretical Basis for Challenging Fascism then and Now," by Philip W. Bennett, PhD, has been published in the March 2010 issue of Capitalism. Nature. Socialism (CNS). CNS is an international quarterly sponsored by the Center for Political Ecology and published by Taylor and Francis, a major academic publishing house centered in London.

At our 2009 Summer Conference, From the Archives of the Orgone Institute, Dr. Bennett discussed some of his archival research for this article in a presentation entitled "Reich's Unpublished Work Democracy Papers." Below is the abstract for his published article:

ABSTRACT

Most people know of Wilhelm Reich's ideas on work democracy from reading the final section of his 1946 edition of The Mass Psychology of Fascism. But prior to this book's publication, Reich wrote two pamphlets, "The Natural Organization of Work in Work Democracy" (1939) and "Further Problems of Work Democracy" (1941). Both were written in German and had very limited circulation. Following his death in 1957, Reich's papers—i.e. The Archives of the Orgone Institute—were sealed for fifty years. They became available to scholars in November of 2007 and include English translations of these two early pamphlets. In this essay I explore their content in detail, situating Reich's thinking in the wider context of anarchist theory, and I lay the foundations for a further examination of the development of Reich's thought on work democracy. [link] 

MAN'S RIGHT TO KNOW NOW "OFFICIALLY" ON YOUTUBE

The Trust recently opened a YouTube account to post our 28-minute biographical video, Man's Right to Know. We encourage all of you on Facebook to please post this link on your pages in an effort to create a viral awareness of factual, intellectually honest information about Reich and his legacy. And we hope that everyone else will forward our YouTube link to any friends or colleagues who you think might be interested.

For years, people have posted Man's Right to Know--or portions of it—on their own websites for their own purposes, a violation of copyright law. Unfortunately, violations like this are so prolific that there's little we can do to. We hope that our posting of Man's Right to Know, with our accompanying written statement (see below) will drive more people to accurate information and bookstore materials on our website.

Here is the accompanying statement to our YouTube posting:

Man's Right to Know is a factually accurate introduction to the life and work of Wilhelm Reich, M.D. (1897-1957), an Austrian psychiatrist, research physician and scientist. This 28-minute introduction was produced by the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust which was created by Reich himself in his Last Will & Testament in March 1957. (www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org/about.html)

The Trust's major responsibilities include:

• Working with New York publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux since 1960 to publish Reich's books, i.e. currently 22 titles representing two dozen languages. These books, as primary materials, are the best resources for reading, studying and understanding Reich's legacy as documented in Reich's own words and not in someone else's.
  
  
• Operating the Wilhelm Reich Museum since 1960 in Rangeley, Maine at Orgonon, the name Reich gave his 175-acre property. Orgonon was Reich's home, laboratory and research center in the 1940s and 1950s.
  
  
• Managing Wilhelm Reich's archives—i.e. The Archives of the Orgone Institute —which are located at the Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard University, one of the world's premier medical libraries. In November 2007, 50 years after Reich's death, these archives became accessible to scholars and researchers.

Man's Right to Know was produced in 2002 as the opening video exhibit of the Visitor's Tour of the Wilhelm Reich Museum. Read the Trust's remarks about this production at: www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org/mrtk.html. For additional factual biographical information about Wilhelm Reich, M.D., please consult the brief biography of Wilhelm Reich on this website.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Although many people have already posted Man's Right to Know on their websites, Man's Right to Know is not affiliated with any other website, individual or organization. Nor does Man's Right to Know endorse or represent any products, statements or claims made by these websites, individuals or organizations.

We will continue to sell DVDs of Man's Right to Know in our museum bookstore and online. The visual and audio quality of these DVDs is far superior to the YouTube version.  

CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY ROOM

At the Orgone Energy Observatory, which houses the Wilhelm Reich Museum, our Discovery Room for children has been a big hit for years. It's a place where adults can park their children while they themselves take the museum tour. And we've taken great care to populate the Discovery Room with games, toys, and natural science exhibits and hands-on materials for the children's enjoyment.

To promote the Discovery Room and the Museum to local residents and summer tourists, the Museum set up at a table at the Rangeley Lakes Region Logging Museum's Annual Logging Festival on July 23-24. This annual festival traditionally draws hundreds of vacationers and locals to its two days of exhibits, competitions, children's games, music and food. And we're happy to report that our Museum table enjoyed a steady stream of visitors. Our thanks to Ron Haines, president of the Logging Museum, for generously allowing us to piggyback on his museum's terrific annual event.  

BOOK SALES

Our April 2010 Update included information about foreign publications of Reich's titles. On the following pages are the book sales from July to December 2009 as reported by our publisher Farrar Straus & Giroux (FSG), plus book sales from the Wilhelm Reich Museum bookstore (WRM) for all of 2009. Since Reich's books rarely appear in American bookstores anymore, we're assuming that most FS&G sales are generated through Amazon.com, with FS&G royalties to the Trust for the last six months of 2009 amounting to approximately $3,000. The WRM figures reflect sales in our bookstore at Orgonon, as well as online PayPal sales through our Museum website.

• AMERICAN ODYSSEY (1999)
  4 copies (FS&G), 2 copies (WRM)
  
  
• BEYOND PSYCHOLOGY (1994)
  18 copies (FS&G), 6 copies (WRM)
  
  
• THE BIOELECTRICAL INVESTIGATION OF SEXUALITY AND ANXIETY (1982)
  66 copies (FS&G), 10 copies (WRM)
  
  
• THE BION EXPERIMENTS ON THE ORIGIN OF LIFE (1979)
  53 copies (FS&G), 9 copies (WRM)
  
  
• THE CANCER BIOPATHY (1973)
  131 copies (FS&G), 14 copies (WRM)
  
  
• CHARACTER ANALYSIS (1963)
  261 copies (FS&G), 9 copies (WRM)
  
  
• CHILDREN OF THE FUTURE (1983)
  60 copies (FS&G), 7 copies (WRM)
  
  
• COSMIC SUPERIMPOSITION / ETHER, GOD AND DEVIL (1973)
  129 copies (FS&G), 15 copies (WRM)
  
  
• EARLY WRITINGS (1975)
  7 copies (FS&G), 4 copies (WRM)
  
  
• THE FUNCTION OF THE ORGASM (1961)
  313 copies (FS&G), 6 copies (WRM)
  
  
• GENITALITY (1980) [published in 1927 as Die Funktion des Orgasmus]
  11 copies (FS&G), 3 copies (WRM)
  
  
• THE INVASION OF COMPULSORY SEX MORALITY (1971)
  53 copies (FS&G), 6 copies (WRM)
  
  
• LISTEN, LITTLE MAN! (1965)
  351 copies (FS&G), 19 copies (WRM)
  
  
• THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM (1969)
  113 copies (FS&G), 5 copies (WRM)
  
  
• THE MURDER OF CHRIST (1966)
  115 copies (FS&G), 12 copies (WRM)
  
  
• PASSION OF YOUTH (1988)
  9 copies (FS&G), 7 copies (WRM)
  
  
• PEOPLE IN TROUBLE (1976)
  56 copies (FS&G), 7 copies (WRM)
  
  
• RECORD OF A FRIENDSHIP: CORRESPONDENCE OF WILHELM REICH AND A. S. NEILL (1981)
  3 copies (FS&G), 5 copies (WRM)
  
  
• REICH SPEAKS OF FREUD (1967)
  no figure available (FS&G), 3 copies (WRM)
  
  
• SELECTED WRITINGS – AN INTRODUCTION TO ORGONOMY (1960)
  no figure available (FS&G), 15 copies (WRM)
  
  
• THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION (1962)
  64 copies (FS&G), 2 copies (WRM) 
  
  

A PERFECT WAY TO SUPPORT US – RENTING OUR HOUSEKEEPING COTTAGES AS YOUR GETAWAY SPOT

Are you looking for a peaceful, reasonably priced get-away? And did you know that it can be found right here at Orgonon?

Our two furnished housekeeping cottages offer quiet, seclusion and access to the shores of Dodge Pond, with a private dock for each cottage. And because these cottage rentals have become a substantial source of income for the Trust, what a perfect way to express your support in a practical way for all that we do.

Please take a look at the descriptions of our cottages.

The smaller cottage that we call "Bunchberry"--after the prolific, indigenous bunchberry plant--was originally built by Wilhelm Reich as a study in the 1940s. At that time, while in the Rangeley area, he resided at his cabin on Mooselookmeguntic Lake several miles to the west, and would retreat to this study at the abandoned farm property he bought in 1942 and which he named "Orgonon." Later, this study was expanded to become the home of Orgonon's first caretaker, Tom Ross, and his family.

The other cottage, which we call "Tamarack"--after one of our native trees--was built a few years after Bunchberry, is substantially larger, and provided living quarters for Reich and his family. In his writings and voice recordings, Reich refers to it as the "Lower Cabin" because of its location near Orgonon's south property line.

Both cottages have monitor and electric heat. In addition, Tamarack has a large stone fireplace and Bunchberry has a wood-burning stove. Wood is provided for both cottages. Bunchberry sleeps four while Tamarack sleeps eight. Both have complete kitchen facilities and linens. Children's furniture is available. Pets are welcome. Each cottage has DirecTV and a DVD player.

And did we mention that you can hear the hauntingly beautiful call of the loons who live on Dodge Pond? Bunchberry is available year-round. Tamarack is available year-round except for a four-week period from mid-June to mid-July when it is donated to the Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine. For more information, call (207) 864-3443.  

A PERFECT WAY TO ENJOY THE RANGELEY LAKES REGION

Both cottages are located on the west shore of Dodge Pond with convenient access to all that the Rangeley Lakes Region has to offer:

• Next to snowmobile trail ITS 89.
  
  
• 3.5 miles to Rangeley Village, where there is ample dining and shopping.
  
  
• Easy access to the six Rangeley Lakes—Rangeley, Mooselookmeguntic, Cupsuptic, Upper Richardson, Lower Richardson, Umbagog—plus the Kennebago River and Cupsuptic River.
  
  
• Less than 10 miles to the Appalachian Trail.
  
  
• 10 miles to the Saddleback Mountain Ski Area.
  
  
• Four-season outdoor recreation: hiking, swimming, boating, fishing, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling.
  
  
• Snowshoeing, sledding and cross-country skiing on the Orgonon property.
  
  
• Deer, moose and many small animals frequent the area.  
  
  

WE HAVE SPEAKERS AVAILABLE

Are you planning an event or are you part of an organization where you'd like to hear more about the life and legacy of Wilhelm Reich? Or more about The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust or The Wilhelm Reich Museum? The Trust has available speakers to address your group. For more details, please contact us at: wreich@rangeley.org.

UNTIL NEXT MONTH

Please share this Update with colleagues, friends, and family who may be interested in the life and legacy of Wilhelm Reich and the good works of The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust and The Wilhelm Reich Museum. Thank you again for your friendship and support.