Customer Reviews

The Function of the Orgasm: Discovery of the Orgone

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book focuses on the function of orgasm as an important PART of "healthy" love making. The issues discussed are timeless and at the same time not given the proper importance in our everyday life. Why? The author gives his opinion which is informed by the biological, psychological and social scientific domain.

Nothing to do with the endless numbers of books that come up when one puts in the keyword "orgasm" in any search machine...
It's not about trying to improve your orgasm or trying improve your sex-skills or trying to become that lover that will be able to seduce every female. On the contrary, based on the function of orgasm which is parallelised with that of relaxation it discusses how through, not trying, but SURRENDERING to the function of orgasm one can let go, may unblock muscular and character armouring in that experience, and perhaps unexpectedly but naturally come to a new way of perceiveing life.

Despite the fact that it may be necessary for the reader to be slightly familiar with Reich and his terminology (or psychoanalysis in general) I undoubtedly recomend it to someone who wonders why humanity looks blocked, stressed and cannot let matters go. Why humanity is afraid to surrender to nature and thus discover its function and power, instead of persistently trying to conquer it...

I am afraid I cannot resist to reply to a previous reviewer. Yes, one may say that this book briefly says "Make love, not war", like everyone college freshman says.
"Make love, not war". Simple stuff, nothing new, we know the possible biological, psychological and social threads that turn acts of love to acts of war and if we look around us we can see that humanity has turned this knowledge into lived-life, humanity's life is in harmony with nature...
I don't think so...

This is my first exposure to Reich, and what he has to say is more relevant today than ever. It's easy to be misled by the title and think its about having more sex, but nothing could be further than the truth. He explores the direct relationship between neuroses (and most of society is neurotic to varying degrees as a result of being raised in an authoritarian manner) and the inability to surrender completely to the the full bio-energetic pleasure of complete orgasm. If you have studied any Tantra you may be aware that what most of us call orgasm is only a genital sneeze, in terms of the possibility available. Thus, we are cut off from the totality of what we are and this is expressed in the energetics of our experience of orgasm, and ultimately, how we live our lives. He also explores the evolution of fascism under these constraints, and how it propogates itself through society. Frightening stuff, particularly in light of current world politics. All in all, a fascinating read, slowed only by old terminology. My only disappointment was the lack of exposition of his therapeutic techniques, other than it appears he is the first to use the breath in healing. This book will open your mind to new ways of thinking about the relationships between our selves, our culture and our politics.

Reich is one of the most misunderstood, attacked, and ignored psychiatrist/scientist in our history. He was persecuted for his ground-breaking work on two continents: first in Europe, then in America.

Reich told us--the door is open and the way out of the trap is clearly marked, yet few people are either willing or able to follow the path to freedom.

The trap: our physic-somatic armoring from head to toe, the chronic muscular tension we experience daily linked to our psychological states of fear, obsession, anxiety, depression, and on and on. Since a very early age our parents, society and every repressive assault on our natural instincts has bound us up in a suit of armor that keeps us from ever fully knowing ourselves and experiencing true unbridled pleasure. For without the experience of true pleasure, we will never know true work: creative, meaningful, and self-regulating. Pleasure and work are two sides of the same coin--you cannot have one, without the other. Reich called this imbalanced state: the emotional plague, bringing about the worst perversions and atrocities imaginable to humankind.

The Function of The Orgasm is the cornerstone of Reich's research. It can be a tough read, but worth it. Those searching for who Reich was and what he did will find this book the core of that quest.

"Top 1000" reviewer Timothy W. Lieder wrote (see his uninformed review below) that he only read half of this book and that Reich recommended "more orgasms". I seriously doubt that Timothy W. Lieder even read a quarter of the book.

In fact, Reich never, ever, argued for MORE orgasms. Quite the opposite. Anybody even vaguely familiar with Reich's work understands that quality of discharge, not quantity, is sought. It seems best to ignore reviews written by those who haven't even read the book. You end up with distorted content.

Anyway, if you don't already have a copy of this book, you might as well stop reading this review and order it, read it, and come up with your own opinion.

Very well done. Extraordinary thinking and revolutionary well before its time. A masterpiece of insight into the human condition. It is not surprising that this work would ignite very strong emotions since it cuts to the deapest level of the conscious and unconscious mind, to the basic elements of the human organism.

The premise that human being are sexualy repressed by institutions, individuals, economic, and political systems an as a means of control and domination and that the resulting internalized energy manifests itself in emotional and physical illnesses in the individual is not such a far fetched idea today as it was at the time Reich puplished this work.

Reich does not advocate a free for all sexual life style, quite contrary. He is talking and encouraging a healthy sexual life style based on mutual respect and unconditional love. Not a manipulative, controlling, and dominating relationship driven by self interest.

It has been said that there is nothing in this work to go by. That there are no solutions. That is not the case. He clearly describes the harmfull consequinces of this repression and thereby gives the reader examples of what not to do. Modern research has validated much of his work and any one who has the interest and an open mind can see, on an almost daily basis, what our sexual repression leads to in human behavior.


Enough said, good book, excellent ideas, and much food for though.

Wilhelm Reich was many things in his lifetime- a student of Freud, a political activist, a research scientist, and an inventor. His work was decades ahead of its time and is finally being rediscovered and reevaluated by the public. If, like me, you are interested in Reich and his work, you might want to check out a novel called We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. it draws heavily on Reich's theories, particularly Listen Little Man and The Mass Psychology Of Facism. It's a great introduction to Reich's work and the entire novel draws heavily on his theory. It's very interesting watching an author explore his theories in a fictional setting. Well worth reading.

Reich argued that the unreleased psycho-sexual energy could produce actual physical blocks within muscles and organs, and that these blocks act as a body armor preventing the release of pent up sexual energy. The centerpiece of Reich's theory is that an orgasm is one way to break through what he called this psychosomatic armoring.

Like Freud (to whom Reich was apprenticed as one of his brightest protégés), Reich recognized why the human body reacts so badly to being trapped in a straitjacket of society's sexual rule-making. This book is Reich's key to how the straitjacket might be unlocked and about how both the body and the mind can again be released and returned to the same kind of normal sexual freedom found in any other normal animal.

In important ways, Reich's theory of "psychosomatic armoring" which eventually led to his much more radical, "Vegetotherapy," was a continuation of the Freudian drama by other means. It is about how attempts to control the sex urge at the societal level (which are almost always seen as very crude, and often brutal to the point of being draconian), has impacted both halves of the self - the mind as well as the body. It turns out that while the mind might willingly go along with having its sexual impulses socially adjusted against itself for the long-term benefit of society, the body reacts rather badly to it.

In his Vegetotheraphy, Reich makes the radical claim that a person's entire character, not just his individual symptoms, could be looked at and treated as a neurotic phenomenon that could be mapped back to unresolved sexual feeling. And even more radically, it suggested that the pent-up sexual feelings and impulses could be physically measured throughout the body. Among his more daring experimental results of this suggestion was to devise a machine to do just that, measure pent-up sexual energy.

What seems to have cooked Reich's goose was that he allowed his theories to wander and bleed over into politics. He was an avowed Marxist and tried to connect his sexual theories to his Marxist beliefs. Well, he should not have done that because the late thirties and the rise of Fascism in Germany was a bad time to be caught doing that and also be a Jew. Plus, he also apparently had a bad habit of giving his female patients "in-office organismic sex therapy," which did not go over well with law enforcement authorities.

Despite his political, professional and mental troubles, his contributions to advancing Freud's theories deserve both a reassessment and a revisit. Those interested in doing so, cannot do better than this book - although his "Mass Psychology of Fascism" is more readable and a more coherent whole, it does not however, get fully into all of the psychological connections that this book does. Five Stars.

This is very complex & detailed book from 1920s when Reich was branching away from Freud, developing his new theory of how 'Orgone energy' flows in sexual life & orgasm. He promoted orgasm is healthy for people's happiness & needing to clear up repressed emotions, fears & unmet needs for loving themselves & mates, etc. He found the 1920s Communists sexually repressed, like the German/Austrians, no surprise? His language is very serious & a new psychology from discovering the bodies vibrations he calls 'streaming' that's healing bodies he promoted for decades, while doing lab research measuring how it flows in people having sex. Now ecstasy & bliss are encouraged with spiritual practices.

Then in 1960s Masters & Johnson did different sexual lab testing & therapy in US beginning a trend & branch of healing loving relationships with physical sexual support. They expanded on Reich, more gently promoting sexual love & orgasm in the new popular 'sexual revolution'. Reich's book "The Sexual Revolution' 1949 was very positive, psychological & visionary a decade before 1960s when US newage 'sexual revolution' began with R&R, sexual freedom, free love, wild dancing, sex jokes, contraception & nudity in our very repressed, abused & denied generation of us desperately needing love. Then hot sex was most exciting & taboo secret thrills & orgasm was the best part. The anti-sexual morals still prevail in public now as nudity is illegal, & prostitution & drugs are epidemic with go-go & pole dancing are teasing soft sell & raw porno also on internet.

The energy that flows in our bodies during orgasms Reich exposed in '20-30s is explained in a new book "The Functions of the Orgasms" by Michel Odent MD. He relates orgasm to the natural hormones, & 'oxitocin' that flows during birth, sexual ecstasy & nursing babies naturally feeling pleasure of birthing & bonding. We also can feel the love during: massage, dancing, sunbathing, free play, acupuncture, meditation, singing, hotubing, & some herbs triggering hormonal balancing. So 2 or 3 of Reich's books promotes sexual freedom & explores the orgasmic energy, we call 'Chi, Prana or Loving bliss, etc' flowing thru our bodies now. [Total Orgasm - Jack Rosenberg; & "The Way to Vibrant Health' & 'Bioenergetics" by *Alex Lowen MD; & The Functions of the Orgasms: The Highways to Transcendence' Michel Odent MD. *Lowen MD, was trained by Reich in '50s)

Not as interesting a book as Mass Psychology of Fascism, which itself wasn't a great book. I found the biographical details the most interesting, in which Reich recounts the developments in psychoanalysis during the 1920s. Obviously, if people have healthy sex lives then they are likely to be more balanced people. However, the process of "character armoring" is more complex than this book suggests, I think. Licensed mass murder;: A socio-psychological study of some SS killers, (Columbus Centre series) features interviews with convicted SS killers and the making of a psychopath seems to be more complex than Reich's explanations. The good points he does make, e.g. the mechanizing effects of military training and the explanation of how fascism thrives when a desire for freedom is coupled with a general inhibition of natural sexuality are not really elaborated on. The overall message is that mental and muscular rigidity is bad and that if someone is raised to believe that they should display self-control, "grin and bear it" and grit their teeth through life, then their spirit will be crushed and they will behave like a well-behaved puppet. I would have found Reich's findings here more interesting if they had just been summarised and presented as an extra chapter of Mass Psychology of Fascism.

Reich relates his experiences trying to heal his many patients' psychological problems and how his observations led him to develop the theory of the orgone. Any magician would benefit by a thorough understanding of the orgone as discovered by Reich.