Geburtstag: 24. März 1897
Todesdatum: 3. November 1957
Wilhelm Reich war ein österreichisch-US-amerikanischer Arzt, Psychiater, Psychoanalytiker, Sexualforscher und Soziologe. Reich fand Zusammenhänge zwischen psychischen und muskulären Panzerungen und entwickelte die Therapiemethode der Psychoanalyse zur Charakteranalyse und diese zur Vegetotherapie weiter. Letztere gilt als Grundlage für verschiedene später begründete Körperpsychotherapien.
Seine parallel dazu durchgeführten mikrobiologischen Forschungen führten ihn zur „Entdeckung des Orgons“, einer „primordialen“ Energie, deren Existenz außerhalb von Reichs Schülerkreis nicht anerkannt wurde und auch heute nicht anerkannt wird. Wikipedia
Christusmord, Übers. aus dem Englischen von Bernd A. Laska. Olten und Freiburg/Br.: Walter-Verlag 1978 (Engl. Orig.: The Murder of Christ, Orgone Institute Press, Rangeley ME/USA 1953)
"It is the BASIC EVASION OF THE ESSENTIAL which is the problem of man." - The Murder of Christ - The Emotional Plague of Mankind. Noonday Press, 1966. p. 4 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=SebYAAAAMAAJ&q=essential
Rede an den kleinen Mann, Fischer Taschenbuch 6777, Frankfurt/M., Juni 1984, S. 11 (Deutsche Erstausgabe; zuerst ersch. in engl. Übersetzung: Listen Little Man, New York: Orgone Institute Press 1948)
ähnlich:
"Liebe, Arbeit und Wissen sind die Quellen unseres Daseins. Sie sollen es auch regieren." - Motto auf dem Vorsatzblatt der meisten deutschen Ausgaben von Reichs Büchern, die ab 1966 ("Die Sexuelle Revolution". Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt/M.) erschienen. Erstmals gedruckt in englischer Sprache in "The Function of the Orgasm", Orgone Institute Press, New York 1942.
Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They should also govern it." - books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=azIEAQAAIAAJ&q=well-springs
November 1935) — Die Sexualität im Kulturkampf, Kopenhagen: Sexpol-Verlag 1936, Vorwort, S. XVI
Rede an den kleinen Mann, Fischer Taschenbuch 6777, Frankfurt/M., Juni 1984, S. 79 (Deutsche Erstausgabe; zuerst ersch. in engl. Übersetzung: "Listen Little Man", New York: Orgone Institute Press 1948 )
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Sexualität im Kulturkampf
Motto auf dem Vorsatzblatt der meisten deutschen Ausgaben von Reichs Büchern, die 1966 und später erschienen, zitiert in "Die Sexuelle Revolution". Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt/M 1999, 15. Auflage, ISBN 3-596-26749-8, S. 7, erstmals veröffentlicht in "Die Funktion des Orgasmus" 1927
Variante: Liebe, Arbeit und Wissen sind die Quellen unseres Lebens. Sie sollen es auch regieren.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Vorwort zur revidierten Neuauflage, die zunächst 1945 in englischer Übersetzung unter dem Titel "The Mass Psychology of Fascism" erschien, zitiert nach der deutschen Ausgabe "Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus", Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1971, S. 15.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Listen, Little Man!
Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Kontext: You beg for happiness in life, but security is more important to you, even if it costs you your spine or your life. Your life will be good and secure when aliveness will mean more to you than security; love more than money; your freedom more than party line or public opinion; when your thinking will be in harmony with your feelings; when the teachers of your children will be better paid than the politicians; when you will have more respect for the love between man and woman than for a marriage license.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Section 3 : Work Democracy versus Politics. The Natural Social Forces for the Mastery of the Emotional Plague.
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Ch. 10 : Work Democracy
Kontext: For a decade, the politics of the European dictators was unrivalled. In order to comprehend the essence of politics, one only has to remember that it was a Hitler who, for many years, was able to keep the world breathless. Hitler as a political genius was a magnificent unmasking of the essence of politics in general. With Hitler, politics reached the peak of its development. We know what were its fruits and what was the reaction of the world. In brief, I believe that the twentieth century, with its gigantic catastrophes, ushers in a new social era, an era free of politics. It remains to be seen what part politics will play in the eradication of the political emotional plague and what part the consciously organized functions of love, work and knowledge.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Preface to the Third Edition (August 1942)<!---->
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933)
Kontext: In its pure form, fascism is the sum total of all irrational reactions of the average human character. To the narrow-minded sociologist who lacks the courage to recognize the enormous role played by the irrational in human history, the fascist race theory appears as nothing but an imperialistic interest or even a mere "prejudice." The violence and the ubiquity of these "race prejudices" show their origin from the irrational part of the human character. The race theory is not a creation of fascism. No: fascism is a creation of race hatred and its politically organized expression. Correspondingly, there is a German, Italian, Spanish, Anglo-Saxon, Jewish and Arabian fascism.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Preface to the Third Edition (August 1942)
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933)
Kontext: In the strictly Marxist sense, there is not even in Soviet Russia a state socialism but a state capitalism. According to Marx, the social condition "capitalism" does not consist in the existence of individual capitalists, but in the existence of the specific "capitalist mode of production", that is, in the production of exchange values instead of use values, in wage work of the masses and in the production of surplus value, which is appropriated by the state or the private owners, and not by the society of working people. In this strictly Marxist sense, the capitalistic system continues to exist in Russia. And it will continue to exist as long as the masses of people continue to lack responsibility and to crave authority.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Listen, Little Man!
Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Kontext: You are different from the really great man in only one thing: The great man, at one time, also was a very little man, but he developed one important ability: he learned to see where he was small in his thinking, and actions. Under the pressure of some task which was dear to him he learned better and better to sense the threat that comes from his smallness and pettiness. The great man, then, knows when and in what he is a little man.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Listen, Little Man!
Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Kontext: "What right do you have to tell me things?" I can see this question in your apprehensive look. I hear this question from your impertinent mouth, Little Man. You are afraid to look at yourself, you are afraid of criticism, Little Man, just as you are afraid of the power they promise you. You would not know how to use this power. You dare not think that you ever might experience your self differently: free instead of cowed; open instead of tactical; loving openly instead of like a thief in the night. You despise yourself Little Man. You say: "Who am I to have an opinion of my own, to determine my own life and to declare the world to be mine?" You are right: Who are you to make a claim to your life?
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Listen, Little Man!
Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Kontext: You are different from the really great man in only one thing: The great man, at one time, also was a very little man, but he developed one important ability: he learned to see where he was small in his thinking, and actions. Under the pressure of some task which was dear to him he learned better and better to sense the threat that comes from his smallness and pettiness. The great man, then, knows when and in what he is a little man.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Preface to the Third Edition (August 1942)
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933)
Kontext: If, by being revolutionary, one means rational rebellion against intolerable social conditions, if, by being radical, one means "going to the root of things," the rational will to improve them, then fascism is never revolutionary. True, it may have the aspect of revolutionary emotions. But one would not call that physician revolutionary who proceeds against a disease with violent cursing but the other who quietly, courageously and conscientiously studies and fights the causes of the disease. Fascist rebelliousness always occurs where fear of the truth turns a revolutionary emotion into illusions.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Section 3 : Work Democracy versus Politics. The Natural Social Forces for the Mastery of the Emotional Plague
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Ch. 10 : Work Democracy
Kontext: It is an essential part of our social tragedy that people, like farmers, the industrial workers, the medical profession, etc., influence the social process not only by their work, but also — and even predominantly — by political ideologies. For political activity hampers objective, rational activity; it splits professional organizations into warring ideological groups; it disorganizes the industrial workers: it restricts the work of the physician and harms the patients, etc. In brief, political activity prevents precisely what it pretends to achieve: peace, work, security, international cooperation, objective expression of opinion, freedom of belief, etc.
Archives of the Orgone Institute; quoted in "The New American Medicine" in Journal of The Mindshift Institute (2002) http://mindshiftinstitute.org/Article_New_American_Medicine.htm
Kontext: I am well aware of the fact that the human race has known about the existence of a universal energy related to life for many ages. However, the basic task of natural science consisted of making this energy usable. This is the sole difference between my work and all preceding knowledge.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Section 3 : Work Democracy versus Politics. The Natural Social Forces for the Mastery of the Emotional Plague;
Variant translation: Under the influence of politicos, the masses blame the powers that be for wars. In the first world war it was the munition magnates, in the second the Psychopath General. This is shifting the responsibility. The blame for the war belongs only and alone to the same masses of people who have all the means of preventing wars. The same masses of people who — partly through indolent passivity, partly through their active behavior — make possible the catastrophes from which they themselves suffer most horribly. To emphasize this fault of the masses, to give them the full responsibility, means taking them seriously. On the other hand, to pity the masses as a poor victim means treating them like a helpless child. The first is the attitude of the genuine fighter for freedom, the latter is the attitude of the politico.
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Ch. 10 : Work Democracy
Kontext: Under the influence of politicians, masses of people tend to ascribe the responsibility for wars to those who wield power at any given time. In World War I it was the munitions industrialists; in World War II it was the psychopathic generals who were said to be guilty. This is passing the buck. The responsibility for war falls solely upon the shoulders of these same masses of people, for they have all the necessary means to avert war in their own hands. In part by their apathy, in part by their passivity, and in part actively, these masses of people make possible the catastrophes under which they themselves suffer more than anybody else. To stress this guilt on the part of masses of people, to hold them solely responsible, means to take them seriously. On the other hand, to commiserate masses of people as victims, means to treat them as small, helpless children. The former is the attitude held by genuine freedom-fighters; the latter the attitude held by the power-thirsty politicians.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Section 2 : The Biological Miscalculation in the Human Struggle for Freedom
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Ch. 10 : Work Democracy
Kontext: Only a work democracy can create the foundation of genuine freedom. Long experience in sociological disputes leads me to expect that a great many people will take offense at the disclosure of this miscalculation. It makes the highest demands on people's will to veracity; it puts a heavy burden on everyday living; it places all social responsibility on those who work, be it in the factory, in the office, on the farm, in the laboratory, or wherever.
General Survey
The Function of the Orgasm (1927)
Kontext: Nature and culture, instinct and morality, sexuality and achievement become incompatible as a result of the split in the human structure. The unity and congruity of culture and nature, work and love, morality and sexuality, longed for from time immemorial, will remain a dream as long as man continues to condemn the biological demand for natural (orgastic) sexual gratification.
— Wilhelm Reich, buch Die Massenpsychologie des Faschismus
Preface to the Third Edition (August 1942)
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933)
Kontext: If, by being revolutionary, one means rational rebellion against intolerable social conditions, if, by being radical, one means "going to the root of things," the rational will to improve them, then fascism is never revolutionary. True, it may have the aspect of revolutionary emotions. But one would not call that physician revolutionary who proceeds against a disease with violent cursing but the other who quietly, courageously and conscientiously studies and fights the causes of the disease. Fascist rebelliousness always occurs where fear of the truth turns a revolutionary emotion into illusions.
