A Meditation on Reich’s Concept of “Organ Sensations” (part 2 of 4)
Objectivity is not only the basis of science, but of health for anyone in general. A living connection to the world around us is indicative of a more alive individual, whose physiology is based on spontaneous inner movement, and an active meeting of the outer world. Our “subjective” experiences, for a healthy individual, are actually objectively grounded in nature:
But, along with mechanical, there are also fundamentally different types of organ sensations, the inner emotions, which have nothing mechanical about them. We experience the blue of the sky, a sunset, the stars, the green colors of spring, the undulations of a hilly landscape, etc. in a way that is peculiarly tinged by emotion. This experience is a psychic reality. Mechanistic science is not concerned with this side of nature; neither with the experiences nor with the corresponding natural processes taking place outside the organism. For some inexplicable reason, mechanistic science was denied access to these functional areas where only aesthetic, religious, moral, and artistic judgments were and still remain valid. The physical knowledge that the red of a sunset and the bluish violet color of the sky before sunrise are the result of certain mechanical vibrations does not in any way affect the fact that we experience nature as we do, and it has absolutely nothing at all to do with the natural process itself. It encompasses only the mechanical, but not the functional and emotional side of such processes. Goethe, in his role as scientist, was perfectly aware of this.
Another example comes from Reich’s clinical work with schizophrenics, where he derived his understanding of how a distorted worldview is the result of blocked organ sensations:
During this session, the prospects of her therapy had become clear: The more and better contact she made with her plasmatic, bio-energetic streaming sensations, the less the fear of the forces would be. This would also prove my contention that the “forces” in schizophrenia are distorted perceptions of the basic orgonotic organ sensations.
At a more general level, many of my patients suffer from this generalized phenomenon, including the pervasive issue of the “occular block” which is part of what makes it impossible for an objective healthy connection to reality:
Our patient showed this peculiar symptom in an especially clear manner. When the “forces” came close, her eyes would become veiled, the expression would become one of looking into the far distance, and, in addition, the eyeballs would turn sharply upward when the “melting” organ sensations became very strong. I decided to concentrate my attention on this symptom, and, if possible, to remove it, since it seemed to be the main mechanism by means of which she “went off.”
- A Meditation on Reich’s Concept of “Organ Sensations” (part 1 of 4)
- A Meditation on Reich’s Concept of “Organ Sensations” (part 3 of 4)
Perhaps you can do a series of meditations on explaining the “inexplicable”!
“For some inexplicable reason, mechanistic science was denied access to these functional areas where only aesthetic, religious, moral, and artistic judgments were and still remain valid.”
“Man or Matter” by Ernst Lehr is the long answer – want to try the short answer?
I guess if I can accomplish six impossible things before breakfast, it should be a piece of cake to explain the inexplicable by lunch time!