In the orgonomy literature, specifically literature that has been written by Dr. Wilhelm Reich, we come across  the term “sex politics”.

Sexual oppression and authoritarian systems, according to orgonomic theories, are two inseparable entities and one can not exist without the other. Fascistic and dictatorial regimes therefore would not exist without the sexual oppression of the masses and without the anti-sexual upbringing of children and adolescents. Hence the political movements that revolve around sexual freedom gains significance in establishing democracy in society and in orgonomic literature is called sex politics. All oppressive regimes must also sexually oppress  the masses, otherwise they would not survive.  A generation that grows without the denial of embracing love and by the inclusion of sexual satisfaction in their lives, will grow healthy and will not submit to authoritarian fascistic regimes. Recent history witnesses such sex political movements in Europe and USA.  These movements are spreading to different corners of the world and continue to be met with reactionary forces that are harshly fighting to suppress them.

Today we see political movements and political struggles for freedom and democracy parallel with the struggle for sexual liberation.  This matter has been well described in The Sexual Revolution written by Dr. Wilhelm Reich some seventy years ago.  Although other books of Dr. Wilhelm Reich also reflect aspects of the political struggle for sexual freedom, it is described most extensively in the book The Sexual Revolution.

Dr. Reich in The Sexual Revolution describes sex politics by giving many examples. Here we will use one example given by Dr. Wilhelm Reich.  Although some 70 years have passed from the initial publication of the first edition of this book, similar events are present today around the world, of course far more viciously wherever dictatorship is ravaging.  In this book, Dr. Reich under the topic of revolutionary youth states the following:

Courtesy of the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust:

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“In the Russo-Turkish republic of Azerbaijan the revolution had claimed an enormous number of victims.  It is true that the laws were changed by the revolution, that the economic foundation was restructured, that religion had been declared a private matter of the individual, but ‘under the newly built roofs, the old cruel discipline of the harem was still raging.‘   Girls were sent to religious institutions; they were forbidden to learn how to read and write, for a literate girl might establish contact with the outside world by writing a letter, she might escape from the institution, and bring disgrace down on her family.  Girls were their fathers’ serfs.  When they were sexually mature, they became serfs of their husbands, who  they were not allowed to select themselves, whom they had never even seen prior to marriage.  Women and girls were not allowed to show their faces to a man; fully veiled, they looked through the window on to the street. They were carefully guarded on the rare occasions when they were allowed to go outside. they were not allowed to work any more than they were permitted to read a book or a newspaper. It is true that they were legally entitled to divorce, but they did not know it. Although the knout had disappeared from Russian jails, women in the harem were still being beaten. These women had to give birth unaided because there were no midwives or women physicians, and to show oneself to a male doctor was forbidden by their religion, which they practiced in secrecy.

In the middle of the 1920’s, Russian women founded a central women’s club which organized education. Gradually, education spread.  The schoolrooms became crowded and girls listened to white-haired teachers (young men were not permitted to teach). Thus, many years after the outbreak of the social revolution, the “revolution of mores” began. These girls learned that there were countries with a coeducational system where women engaged in sports, went to the theater unveiled, attended meetings and took an active role in them, and generally participated in the life of their time.

This sex-political movement became widespread. Fathers, brothers, and husbands felt their interests were threatened when they learned what was being discussed in the women’s club. They circulated the rumor that the club was a whorehouse. As a result, it became dangerous to visit it. According to a report by Balder Olden, girls who attended had been scalded with hot water and had dogs set on them. Even in 1923, girls who wore sports shirts that exposed arms and legs risked death. Hence it is understandable that even the idea of a love relationship outside of marriage was far from the thoughts of even the most courageous women. In spite of all, there were many girls who, within themselves, had broken with tradition and were determined to take up the fight for the sexual liberation of young women.  They were exposed to incredible martyrdom. They were of course immediately recognized; public opinion considered them lower than prostitutes, and none of them could ever expect that a man would marry her.

In 1928, the twenty-year-old Sarila Haliliva ran away from home, called meetings, and proclaimed the sexual emancipation of women.  She went unveiled to the theater; she addressed  the women in the clubs; she walked around in a bathing suit at the beach and in sports arenas.  Her father and brothers held court over her, condemned her to death, and cut her up alive.  This happened in 1928, eleven years after the outbreak of the social revolution. Her murder provoked a tremendous upsurge of the sex-political movement among women.  Her body was taken away from her parents and was placed in the club, where an honor guard of boys and girls guarded it day and night. Girls and women streamed in droves to the club.  Sarila’s murders were executed, and since then neither fathers nor brothers have dared to take similar measures against women’s and youth movements.

Balder Olden describes these events as a general cultural movement. More concretely, it was unquestionably a sex-political upheaval which, for the first time, stimulated the cultural consciousness of women and girls.  By 1933, 1,044 girls were studying at the university; there were 300 midwives as well as 150 women’s and girls’ clubs, which produced many writers and journalists.  The chairman of the Supreme Court was a woman; another woman presided over a Soviet commission.  Women were trained as engineers, doctors and airplane pilots. Revolutionary youth had won it’s right to live.”

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Sex political movements are important political movements that inevitably leads to democracy in society and physical and emotional health in individual. From our point of view, from orgonomic point of view, these political movements should be supported by all who prefer democracy over dictatorship and health over sickness.

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In 2007 a middle age woman came to see me.  She told me that she was feeling very tense, never could relax, she said she never felt happy.  She was feeling as if her head was exploding.  The bright point of her life was her young daughter.  She was well educated, nice and kind and compassionate towards her.  She was proud of her daughter and said that she was very supportive and appreciative of her.

She was an immigrant and came to the United States at age 18 years old.  Among other things she told me she said when she arrived to the United States, she was greeted by her brother and was living with her brother and brother’s wife.  She did not feel welcomed there by her sister in-law.  Her sister in-law was unhappy by her presence at their home and by different ways implied that she wished her to leave.  Under that circumstance she was introduced to a man by a relative.  She said that by the coaxing and encouragement of her relatives and pressure by different family members in spite of her reluctance and doubts she married him. Her marriage was significantly influenced by her desire to leave her brother’s home as soon as she could.  She described her marriage as an unhappy one and stated that her husband was unpredictable and was demanding, harsh, rude and insulting toward her and toward her parents and relatives.  She was feeling sad and angry with him and guilty because she could not make her parents happy as she wished to.  She felt helpless, alone and could not invite them to their home and make them proud of her.  She said she stayed in this marriage for the sake of her daughter.  She said that in front of her relatives and friends she often had to find excuses to justify her husband’s behavior.  Later on husband had a nervous breakdown and was unable to work.  This was another burden for her.  She now not only was trying to find an excuse to justify her husband’s behavior but also had to try to make up stories to pretend as if her husband was working to avoid relatives gossip.  She did not want to subject herself to the gossip of family and friends.  She herself, however, continued her school and progressed and found a job and eventually became an office manager and was earning a good salary.  She was supporting the home both financially and in other aspects of house affairs.

After giving this information to me, she then with some hesitation and trepidation said that she in order to relieve her tension and anxiety, leaves her home and goes shopping.  She said shopping gave her some relief.  Later in the session I found out that she had episodes of shoplifting as well and she felt deeply embarrassed and ashamed of this behavior.  She said that she picks up things that she often does not need.  Later on I found out that because of these habits she also had been arrested several times.  She was ordered by the Court to seek psychological treatment.  She also had attended certain classes and programs, recommended by the Court for this behavior.  She said that she was given fines and ordered to perform community service as punishment in lieu of detention and was ordered psychiatric treatment in the past for which she sought treatment and received suggestions and medications.  She had followed all these therapeutic suggestions but now she was again in trouble. I found out that now she again was under prosecution for shop lifting for the fourth time.  She was dreading the prospect of imprisonment but the possibility of imprisonment was high because of previous similar offenses.  She was a respectful woman, an office manager with a responsible job supervising many financial transactions and was respected in her community and in her church.  When she saw me in the first session, she already had an attorney.  In subsequent sessions I learned that she changed her attorney and eventually found an attorney and later on found another attorney and she was hoping that with consultation and retaining two attorneys she would have better chances to avoid imprisonment.  She was referred by the attorneys to see a psychologist who was familiar with court proceedings and necessary reports in such matters.  She paid a heavy price to her lawyers and psychologist for reports.

Her mental status examination during the initial visit was unremarkable for any thought disorder.  She was a middle aged woman properly and neatly dressed, age appropriately groomed and initially came across friendly and pleasant.  As the interview progressed she started to show some anxiety and had episodes of crying spells.  She wanted to know why in spite of her awareness of wrongness of stealing and legal consequences of it she was still unable to resist her impulse and had to face the embarrassment and dangers of such a behavior.

Before discussing the treatment and outcome of it in this particular patient, let us review some of the contemporary definitions, concepts and descriptions of this condition, which is called kleptomania.

Kleptomania in the diagnostic and statistical manual of psychiatry DSM IV is defined under the category of impulse control disorder.  Under the diagnostic features, the DSM IV defines kleptomania as follows:

“The essential feature of kleptomania is the recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal items even though the items are not needed for personal use or for the monitory value.  The individual experiences rising subjective sense of tension before the act and feels pleasure gratification or relief in committing the act.  The stealing is not committed to express anger or vengeance, is not done in response to a delusion or hallucination and is not better accounted for by conduct disorder, manic episode, or antisocial personality disorder.  The objects are stolen despite the fact that they are typically of little value to the individual who could have afforded to pay for them and often gives them away or discards them.  Occasionally the individual may hold the stolen objects or surreptitiously return them.  Although individuals with this disorder will generally avoid stealing when immediate arrest is probable, they usually do not preplan the act or fully take into account the chance of apprehension.  The stealing is done without assistance from or collaboration with others.  The individuals with kleptomania experience the impulse to steal as egodystonic and are aware that the act is wrong and senseless.  The person frequently fears apprehension and often feels depressed or guilty about the theft.  The disorder may cause legal, family, career and personal difficulties.  The kleptomania appears to be much more common in females.”

In the psychiatric text book 8th edition of Kaplan and Sandok, kleptomania is defined and described as; “The essential feature of kleptomania is a recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal objects not needed for personal use or for monitory value.  The objects taken are often given away and returned surreptitiously or kept hidden.  People with kleptomania usually have the money to pay for the objects they impulsively steal.  Like other impulse control disorders, kleptomania is characterized by mounting tension before the act, followed by gratification and easing of tension with or without guilt, remorse, or depression during the act.  The stealing is not planned and does not involve others.  Although the thefts do not occur when immediate arrest is probable, people with kleptomania do not always consider their chances of being apprehended, even though repeated arrest leads to pain and humiliation.  Those people may feel guilt and anxiety after the theft, but they do not feel anger or vengeance.  Furthermore, when the object stolen is the goal, the diagnosis is not kleptomania, in kleptomania the act of stealing is itself the goal.”

In psychiatry text books, the etiology of kleptomania, like many other psychiatric illnesses is described in a vague manner.  In the textbook of psychiatry it states:  “The symptoms of kleptomania tends to appear in times of significant stress, for example losses, separation and ending of important relationships.  Some psychoanalytic writers have stressed the expression of aggressive impulses in kleptomania, others have discerned libidinal aspects.  Those who focus on symbolism see meaning in the act itself, the objects stolen and the victim of the theft.  Kleptomania is often associated with other disturbances, such as mood disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and eating disorder.  It is frequently associated with bulimia nervosa, in some reports nearly 1/4 of patients with bulimia nervosa met the diagnostic criteria of kleptomania.”  Under the biological factors, the book states that brain disease and mental retardation have been associated with kleptomania, as they have with other disorders of impulse control.  Focal neurological aspects, cortical atrophy and enlarged lateral vesicles have been found in some patients.  Disturbances in monamine metabolism, particularly of seratonin have been postulated.

As one can see there is no meaningful description of the etiology of this illness in the textbooks of psychiatry and this is not only specific for kleptomania but many other psychiatric disorders.  This disorder is attributed to a wide variety of postulations.  However, this is not the case in Orgonomy and Reichian approach – We will discuss theories and treatment approach in Orgonomy later – for now I will return to describing the client who was suffering from kleptomania and inconsistencies in contemporary psychiatric theories.

The description of kleptomania in the DSM IV, as well as its description in psychiatric text books as the reader may recognize is vague.  In the DSM IV as well as in text books of psychiatry kleptomania is described as a recurrent failure to resist the impulse to steal items, even though the items are not needed for personal use or for monetary value.  The text book definition and description of it is also similar.  However, neither DSM IV nor psychiatric text books describe the origin of the impulse.  The text books and DSM IV descriptions do not say where and why this impulse appears in a person.  Science and scientific thinking dictates that every impulse must have an origin and must have energy attached to it.  Neither of these characteristics of an impulse has been dealt with in contemporary medicine, psychiatry or psychology.  The impulse is vaguely defined without description of its characteristics, qualities and its origin.  This shortcoming is not limited to the description of impulses in kleptomania, but it exists in all other psychiatric illnesses as well. Medicine, psychiatry and psychology have avoided dealing with energetic aspects of such impulses and source of its emergence.  From our point of view that is the reason why the pathologic process, the development of these illnesses are poorly understood and treatment of psychiatric illnesses has been hindered.  A recent article in the March 1st issue of New Yorker Magazine titled, “Head Case” by Lewis Menand pointed to disappointing results in psychiatric treatments, is an example of this hinderance.  A similar article titled, “The Assault on Freud” was also published in Time magazine November 29th, 1993 regarding disappointing results in psychoanalysis.  On the contrary, Orgonomy deals head on with the matters of impulse and energy.  Orgonomy considers these impulses, i.e.: impulse to steal as a secondary impulse or drive, the distortions of primary healthy impulses which is distorted because of armoring of the organism.  The theory which has been developed in Orgonomy is based on the experimental work of Dr. Reich and also based on clinical observations and treatment trials, which proves itself applicable in clinical work.  Our theoretical approach to these impulses is that the impulses originate from the core of the organism, which we regard to be autonomic ganglions in the center of the organism and propagates toward the periphery in a pulsetory manner.  As a consequence of persistent outer and environmental inhibitions against expression of natural primary impulses, sexual and aggressive impulses, mechanism of armoring sets in, which permanently prevents expressions of anger, rage, and sexual emotions.  The original healthy impulses then split and get distorted and manifest themselves with different neurotic and anti-social manifestations.  Schematically in Orgonomy this process is explained as the following schema (courtesy of the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust):

Our treatment approach is based on these schemas.  Ideally the clinician who is conducting the treatment, will need to acquire the knowledge experience and skills of psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy as well as psychiatric orgone therapy. In restoring the orderly flow of the energy in the organism, to loosening up and removing the armoring and establishing the organismic capacity to express primary and undistorted drives, the clinician finds himself working as an electrical engineer restoring the proper energy flow in the human organism.  The ideal psychiatric orgone therapy treatment is considered complete when the armoring is resolved and orderly flow of energy is restored in the body.  In such a case patients become capable of expressing primary unadulterated and undistorted impulses as he or she wishes to.  Parallel with it, the patient develops sexual potency, potency to love and have genital embrace, be affectionate and in the final stages of treatment develop full orgastic potency.  The patients who achieve such a level of health as Dr. Reich has described, attains qualities of Jesus Christ, incapable of lying and incapable of harming.

However, achieving such a level of health is not always possible.  In fact psychiatrists and clinicians conducting psychiatric orgone therapy rarely are able to resolve the armor of a patient which is heavily ingrained throughout their lives to achieve full orgastic potency.  We often have to content ourselves with resolution of armor to a certain extent.  By some resolution of armoring, the patient senses relief and some normality is brought to their lives.

The treatment of this patient started and progressed based on principles of psychiatric orgone therapy, with recognition that stealing impulse was a distortion of patient’s ability to express her primary impulse of anger, rage and sexual drives.  The treatment of this patient lasted one year with an average of one session every week.  In this vignette I do not intend to explain step by step the treatment process, which has been described in this journal by Dr. Reich with annotation and in other Orgonomy literature by Dr. Reich as well as by Dr. Herskowitz.  I only will mention some cardinal points and developments that happened during this treatment process.

I began the treatment of this patient from the most superficial and conspicuous feature of the patient, her facial expression as is customary in psychiatric orgone therapy.  Her excessive politeness and apologetic and pleasant appearance was the surface manifestation.  This was a feature that had been with her since childhood, she all her life was trying to please others, trying to avoid any confrontation, but at the same time this apologetic and agreeable mask was the mask that was hiding her anger, rage and sadness.  As treatment progressed the patient recognized this attitude, events in her life that caused this attitude were expressed by the patient.  She recognized her fear of expressing anger, which started from the relation with her own parents and later on with her brother’s wife and then with her husband.  She gained insight on her inability to express anger.  By the techniques specific to psychiatric orgone therapy her excessive pleasantness, politeness and appeasing attitude was uncovered from her facial expression.  She became able to express her anger and frustration toward different people including her husband that she all along was fearful of.  Attaining this ability and insight surprisingly translated itself to actions in her life and at her home.  She became capable of speaking up against her husband, she even threatened her husband to throw him out and divorce him and to her own surprise, the husband complied and suddenly changed his attitude.  She gained power that she all along longed for.  She also dared to talk about the oppressive environment that she grew up in since her teenage years.  By her ability to express her anger and speaking up against her husband a significant change happened in her life.  She became more relaxed and more expressive.  During this time with the help of her attorneys she completed her legal obligations properly and became free of legal threats.  She also lost the impulse to steal or commit other transgressions, such as frequent traffic violations that she used to do.  Several months later she was invited by her relatives to return to her country of origin.  She accepted the invitation and went to visit her relative.  For a while she kept contact with me and as of the last I knew about her, her condition was stable and she did not have impulses to steal.  She, while in treatment, told me with horror that she was assigned to attend programs and saw many people who were attendees of those programs for numerous times without improvement, becoming revolving doors in institutions.

This is one example of thousands, who suffer from such illnesses but because of a poor understanding of the illness by present day psychiatry and psychology, they remain poorly treated, constantly struggling with their impulse, which continues to seek reappearance and ruins their potential to live, work and love.  Dr. Herskowitz, in a speech he gave in commemoration of the 50th year of Dr. Wilhelm Reich’s death in Rangely Maine said: “I lived long enough to know that life is too short to be wasted with sickness.”

As described earlier we consider the psychiatric orgone therapy complete when armoring is widely resolved and the patient develops orgastic potency.  In the case, which was described, although some resolution of armoring took place, but because of the patient’s departure to her country of origin and interruption of the treatment process , armoring was not adequately resolved.  In such cases there is always the danger of reemergence of unhealthy and pathologic impulses as a consequence of redevelopment of the armor.  Therefore, we cannot in confidence claim a successful completion of treatment in this case.  Nevertheless, considering the educational value and theoretical discussion of it, its presentation was judged to be worthy.

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Recently an email was circulating on the internet with the title of “Your Religion is Not Important.”  The e-mail was a description of a brief dialogue between a Brazilian theologist Leonardo Boff and the Dalai Lama.  The content of the email was the following:

In a round table discussion about religion and freedom in which the Dalai Lama and myself were participating I maliciously asked him, “Your holiness, what is the best religion?”  I thought he would say, “Tibetan Buddhism” or the “Oriental religions much older than Christianity.”  The Dalai Lama paused, smiled and looked me in the eyes which surprised me because I knew of the malice contained in my question.  He answered, “the best religion is the one that gets you closest to God.  It is the one which makes you a better person.”  To get out of my embarrassment with such a wise answer, I asked;  “What is it that makes me better?”  He responded, “Whatever makes you more compassionate, more sensible, more detached, more loving, more humanitarian, more responsible and more ethical.  The religion that will do that for you is the best religion.”

In orgonomy all above mentioned qualities are desirable, however we consider the best religion, the best social structure, the best teacher, the best leader the one that unfolds self regulation in the human structure.

Reich talked about self regulation extensively.  In orgonomy self regulation is defined as:  the capability of the organism to regulate himself not because of fear of punishment, but because of its effect on his happiness.  The person who’s psychological structure is governed by self regulation does not act on his desires if it is not going to make him happy. We will describe this type of psychological structure in the following pages.

When Dr. Reich initially discovered the character armoring and found a treatment approach to resolve this armored condition he described the emergence of a core in the human organism which was free of antisocial motives.  In The Function of the Orgasm he says the following, [courtesy of The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust]

I overcame my reserve towards the patients actions and discovered an unexpected world.  At the base of the neurotic mechanism, behind all the dangers, grotesque, irrational fantasies and impulses, I discovered a simple self evident dissent core.  I found it without exception in every case where I was able to penetrate to a sufficient depth….  Psychoanalysis had unquestionably accepted the absolute antithesis between nature, (instinct, sexuality) and culture, (morality, work, and duty) and had come to the conclusion that “living out of the impulses” was at variance with cure.  It took me a long time to overcome my fear of these impulses.  It was clear that the asocial impulses which filled the unconscious are vicious and dangerous only as long as the discharge of biological energy by means of natural sexuality is blocked.  When this is the case, there are basically only three pathological outlets;  Unbridled, self destructive impulsiveness (addiction, alcoholism, crime due to a feeling of guilt, psychopathic impulsiveness, sexual murder, child rape, etc).  Instinct – inhibited character neurosis  (compulsion neurosis, anxiety hysteria, conversion hysteria); and the functional psychosis (schizophrenia, paranoia, melancholia, or manic depressive insanity.  I am omitting the neurotic mechanisms which are operative in politics, war, marriage, child rearing etc.  All of which are consequences of the lack of genital gratification in masses of people.

With the ability to experience complete genital surrender the patients personality underwent such a total and rapid change that initially I was baffled by it.  I did not understand how the tenacious neurotic process could give away so rapidly.  It was not only that the neurotic anxiety symptoms disappeared – the patients entire personality changed.  I was at a loss to explain this theoretically.  I interpreted the disappearance of symptoms as the withdrawal of sexual energy which had previously nourished them.  But the character change itself eluded clinical understanding.  The genital character (healthy, mature character) appeared to function according to different hitherto unknown laws.  I want to cite a few examples by way of illustration.

Quite spontaneously the patients began to experience the moralistic attitudes of the world around them as something alien and peculiar.  No matter how tenaciously they might have defended pre marital chastity beforehand, now they experience this demand as grotesque.  Such demands no longer had any relevancy for them;  They became indifferent to them.  Their attitude to their work changed.  If until then they had worked mechanically, had not demonstrated any real interest, had considered their work a necessary evil which one takes upon oneself without giving it much thought, now they became discriminating.  If neurotic disturbance had previously prevented them from working, now they were stirred by a need to engage in some tactical work in which they could take a personal interest.  If the work which they performed was such that it was capable of absorbing their interest, they blossomed.  If however, their work was of a mechanical nature, then it became an almost intolerable burden.  In such cases, I had a hard time mastering the difficulties which arose.  The world was not attuned to the human aspect of work.  Teachers who had been liberal, though not essentially critical of educatioal methods, began to sense a growing estrangement from, and intolerance of, the usual way of dealing with children.  In short the sublimation of instinctual forces in one’s work took various forms, depending upon the work and the social conditions.  Gradually, I was able to distinguish two trends.  (1), a growing immersion in the social activity to which one was fully committed;  (2), a sharp protest of a psychic organism against mechanical, stifling work….

Thus, I learned the important rule that not everything unconscious is asocial and that not everything conscious is social.  On the contrary there are highly praise worthy, indeed culturally valuable attributes and impulses which have to be repressed for material considerations just as there are flagrantly asocial activities which are socially rewarded with fame and honor.  The most difficult patients were those who were studying for priesthood.  Inevitably there was a deep conflict between sexuality and the practice of their profession.  I resolved not to accept anymore priests as patients.

The change in sexual sphere was just as pronounced.  Patients who had felt no qualms in going to prostitutes became incapable of going to them once they were orgastically potent.  Wives who had patiently endured living with unloved husbands and who had submitted to sexual acts out of, “marital obligation” could no longer do so.  They simply refused;  They had enough.  What could I say against such behavior?  It was at variance with all socially dictated views, for instance the conventional arrangement whereby the wife must unquestionably fulfill her husbands sexual demands as long as the marriage lasts, whether she wants or not, whether she loves him or not, whether she is sexually aroused or not.  The ocean of lies in this world is deep!  From the point of view of my official position it was embarrassing when a women correctly liberated from her neurotic mechanisms began to make claims upon life for the fulfillment of her sexual needs, not troubling herself about morality.

After a few timid attempts I no longer ventured to bring up these facts in the seminars or in the psychoanalytic associations.  I feared the stupid objection that I was imposing my own views upon my patients.  In this case, I would have had to retort that moralistic and authoritarian influencing by means of ideologies lay not on my side, but on the side of my opponent….  I no longer had a clear conception of relation of the psychic structure to the existing social system.  The change in the patients attitude with respect to this moralistic code was neither clearly negative nor clearly positive.  New psychic structure appeared to follow laws which had nothing in common with the conventional demands and views of morality.  It followed laws that were new to me of which I had no inkling prior to this.  The picture which these laws offered when taken all together corresponded to a different form of sociality.  They embraced the best principle of official morality e.g. that women must not be raped, and children must not be seduced.  At the same time they contained moral modes of behavior which though slightly at variance with conventional conception, was socially un-impeachable.  One such attitude, for instance, was that it would be abase to live a chaste life due to external pressure, or to be faithful solely for reason of marital obligation….  The attitude that it is unsatisfying and repulsive to embrace a partner against his or her will appeared to be un-assailable, even from the strictest moralistic point of view.  Yet, it was incompatible with the legally protected demand of, “marital obligation”  This other form of morality was not governed by “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not”, and  it developed spontaneously on the basis of demand of genital gratification.  One refrained from an un-gratifying action not out of fear, but because one valued sexual happiness.  These people abstained from sexual act even when they felt a desire for it, if the external or internal circumstances did not guarantee full gratification.  It was as if moralistic injunctions had been dispensed with and replaced by a better and more tenable guarantee against antisocial behavior.  They were guarantees which were not incompatible with natural needs, indeed they were based precisely on principals which foster the joy of life.  The sharp contradiction between, “I want” and “I must not” was eliminated.  It was replaced by something which might almost be called a vegetative consideration; “True, I would very much like to, but it would mean little to me;  It would not make me happy.”  This was an entirely different matter.  Actions were carried out in accordance with self regulating principles.  This self regulation, in turn brought with it a certain amount of harmony because it eliminated the obviated struggle against an instinct which, though inhibited, was constantly obtruding itself.

From an orgonomic point of view, from the point of view of the principles set forth by Dr. Wilhelm Reich, the best religion, the best teacher, the best social structure, would be the one that promotes self regulation in its followers.  A principle that functions in the individual not by the doctrine of “thou shalt not” or “thou shalt” but by a principle of genuine happiness and full gratification.  A religion which uncovers the potential of  self regulation will also inevitably make it’s followers independent of it.  As Aristotle said, “The best teacher is one who makes his students independent of him.”  The same can be said for the best religion.

History of Orgone Therapy, by Dr. Harry Lewis