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Orgone (/ˈɔːrɡoʊn/OR-gohn)[1] is apseudoscientific[2] concept variously described as anesoteric energy or hypothetical universallife force. Originally proposed in the 1930s byWilhelm Reich,[3][4][5] and developed by Reich's student Charles Kelley after Reich's death in 1957, orgone was conceived as theanti-entropic principle of the universe, acreative substratum in all of nature comparable toMesmer'sanimal magnetism (1779), to theOdic force (1845) ofCarl Reichenbach and toHenri Bergson'sélan vital (1907).[6] Orgone was seen as a massless, omnipresent substance, similar toluminiferous aether, but more closely associated with living energy than with inert matter. It could allegedly coalesce tocreate organization on all scales, from the smallest microscopic units—called "bions" in orgone theory—to macroscopic structures like organisms, clouds, or even galaxies.[7]
Reich argued that deficits or constrictions in bodily orgone were at the root of many diseases, most prominentlycancer, much as deficits or constrictions in the libido could produceneuroses inFreudian theory. Reich founded the Orgone Institute ca. 1942[8]to pursue research into orgone energy after he immigrated to the US in 1939; he used it to publish literature and distribute material relating to the topic for over a decade. Reich designed special "orgone energy accumulators"—devices ostensibly collecting orgone energy from the environment—to enable the study of orgone energy and to be applied medically to improve general health and vitality.[3] Ultimately, theU.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) obtained a federal injunction barring the interstate distribution of orgone-related materials because Reich and his associates were making false and misleading claims. But an associate of Reich violated the injunction, and a judge later sentenced Reich to jail and ordered the banning and destruction of all orgone-related materials at the institute.[4]
Reich denied the assertion that orgone accumulators could improve sexual health by providingorgastic potency.[9]
TheNational Center for Complementary and Integrative Health lists orgone as a type of "putative energy", writing that "putative energy fields (also called biofields) have defied measurement to date by reproducible methods. Therapies involving putative energy fields are based on the concept that human beings are infused with a subtle form of energy. This proposed vital energy or life force is known under different names in different cultures, such as qi ... prana, etheric energy, fohat, orgone, odic force, mana, and homeopathic resonance".[10]
After Reich's death, research into the concept of orgone passed to some of his students, such as Kelley, and later to a new generation of researchers. An Institute for Orgonomic Science was founded in New York in 1982, dedicated to the continuation of Reich's work; it publishes a digital journal and collects corresponding works.[11] However, there was no empirical support for the concept of orgone inmedicine or the physical sciences,[12] and research into the concept concluded with the end of the institute.
Nevertheless, Stefan Muschenich, a psychiatrist in Germany keen to discover an empirical basis for the orgone hypothesis, did publish some positive results in the 1980s and 90s.[13]
The concept of orgone belongs to Reich's later work after he immigrated to the US. Reich's early work was based on theFreudian concept of thelibido, though influenced by sociological understandings with which Freud disagreed but which were to some degree followed by other prominent theorists such asHerbert Marcuse andCarl Jung. While Freud had focused on asolipsistic conception of mind in which unconscious and inherently selfish primal drives (primarily the sexual drive, or libido) were suppressed or sublimated by internal representations (cathexes) of parental figures (thesuperego), for Reich libido was a life-affirming force repressed by society directly. For example, in one of his better-known analyses, Reich observes a workers' political rally, noting that participants were careful not to violate signs that prohibited walking on the grass; Reich saw this as the state co-opting unconscious responses to parental authority as a means of controlling behavior.[14] He was expelled from the Institute of Psycho-analysis because of these disagreements over the nature of the libido and his increasingly political stance. He was forced to leave Germany soon after Hitler came to power.[15]
Reich took an increasinglybioenergetic view of libido, perhaps influenced by his tutorPaul Kammerer and another biologist,Otto Heinrich Warburg.[16] In the early 20th century, whenmolecular biology was in its infancy,developmental biology in particular still presented mysteries that made the idea of aspecific life energy respectable, as was articulated by theorists such asHans Driesch. As a psycho-analyst, Reich aligned such theories with the Freudian libido, while as a materialist, he believed such a life force must be susceptible to physical experiments.
Reich wrote in his best-known book,The Function of the Orgasm: "Between 1919 and 1921, I became familiar with Driesch's 'Philosophie des Organischen' and his 'Ordnungslehre'… Driesch's contention seemed incontestable to me. He argued that, in the sphere of the life function, the whole could be developed from a part, whereas a machine could not be made from a screw… However, I couldn't quite accept the transcendentalism of the life principle. Seventeen years later I was able to resolve the contradiction on the basis of a formula pertaining to the function of energy. Driesch's theory was always present in my mind when I thought about vitalism. The vague feeling I had about the irrational nature of his assumption turned out to be justified in the end. He landed among thespiritualists."[17]
The concept of orgone resulted from this work in the psycho-physiology of libido. After Reich migrated to the US, he began to speculate about biological development and evolution and then branched into much broader speculations about the nature of the universe.[6] This led him to the conception of "bions," self-luminescent sub-cellularvesicles that he believed were observable in decaying materials and presumably present universally. Initially, he thought of bions aselectrodynamic or radioactive entities, as had the Russian biologistAlexander Gurwitsch, but later concluded that he had discovered an entirely unknown but measurable force, which he then named "orgone": a neologism probably formed from the Greek rootorg- "impulse, excitement" (as inorg-asm), plus the Greek neutral suffix-one (as inozone).[18][6]
For Reich, neurosis became a physical manifestation he called "body armor"—deeply seated tensions and inhibitions in the physical body that were not separated from any mental effects that might be observed.[19] He developed a therapeutic approach he calledvegetotherapy that was aimed at opening and releasing this body armor so that freeinstinctive reflexes—which he considered a token of psychic well-being—could take over.
Orgone was closely associated with sexuality: Reich, following Freud, saw nascent sexuality as the primary energetic force of life. The term itself was chosen to share a root with the wordorgasm, which both Reich and Freud took as a fundamental expression of psychological health. This focus on sexuality, while acceptable in the clinical perspective of Viennese psychoanalytic circles, scandalized the conservative American public even as it appealed tocountercultural figures likeWilliam S. Burroughs andJack Kerouac.
In some cases, Reich's experimental techniques do not appear to have been very careful or include precautions to remove experimental bias.[20] Reich was concerned with experimental verification from other scientists.Albert Einsteinagreed to participate, but thought Reich's research lacked scientific detachment and experimental rigor, and concluded that the effect was simply due to the temperature gradient inside the room. "Through these experiments I regard the matter as completely solved," he wrote to Reich on 7 February 1941. Upon further correspondence from Reich, Einstein replied that he could not devote any additional time to the matter and asked that his name not be misused for advertising purposes.
Orgone and its related concepts were quickly denounced in thepost-World War II American press.[21] Reich and his students were seen as a "cult of sex and anarchy", at least in part because orgone was linked with the title of his bookThe Function of the Orgasm, and this led to numerous investigations as a communist and denunciation under a wide variety of other pretexts.[22] The psychoanalytical community of the time saw his approach to healing diseases as quackery of the worst sort.[23] In 1954, the USFood and Drug Administration obtained an injunction to prevent Reich from making medical claims relating to orgone, which prevented him from shipping "orgone devices" across state lines, among other stipulations.[24] Reich resisted the order to cease interstate distribution of orgone and was jailed, and the FDA destroyed Reich's books, research materials, and devices at his institute relating to orgone.[5][24][25][26]
Somepsychotherapists andpsychologists practicing various kinds ofbody psychotherapy andsomatic psychology have continued to use Reich's proposed emotional-release methods and character-analysis ideas.[27][28][29]
Dušan Makavejev opened his 1971 satirical filmW.R.: Mysteries of the Organism with documentary coverage of Reich and his development of orgone accumulators, combining this with other imagery and a fictional sub-plot in a collage mocking sexual and political authorities.[30] Scenes include one of only "ten or fifteen orgone boxes left in the country" at that time.[31]
The 2025 first-person shooter video gamePsycho Patrol R references Reich's ideas. In the game's setting, orgone has been scientifically verified and is used as a power source for advanced technologies.[32]
[...] Reich claimed as his great discovery, made in 1939, that at the heart of all matter is a hitherto unknown energy that he called 'orgone'.[...] Three years later he founded the Orgone Institute, where the 'science' of orgonomy would be studied.
[orgone is] a useless fiction with faulty basic premises, thin partial theory, and unsubstantiated application results. It was quickly discredited and cast away.
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