The relationships between emotions, thought, character structure, the body, and “biophysical” political orientation according to orgonomic theory

[“Orgonomy” is a study of energy functions in nature, including how these energy functions may govern human psychology and physiology. This field of study was founded by the psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich, who lived from 1897–1957. Reich and his colleagues and followers during and since his death have conducted and continue to conduct experimental laboratory and clinical research on an energy theory which Reich named “orgone energy.“]

"...CHARACTER STRUCTURE...appears as the sum total of the relationship between the orgonotic energy system and the sensory-motor system which has to perceive the plasmatic currents, to execute the energy discharges and coordinate all energy functions into an orderly, total, unitary functional system: 'orgonotic system.' (Reich, W. 1949. Character Analysis. Translated by Theodore Wolfe. New York: Orgone Institute Press. Pages 458-459, emphasis in original)

Here are some applicable passages from Konia on the relationships between emotion, thought, character, and biophysical political orientation:

Konia, C. (2004). Applied Orgonometry II: The Origin and Function of Thought. Journal of Orgonomy 38/1: 100-111:

"The perception of excitation gives rise to contact. Thinking originates from the perception of bodily sensations and emotions. The brain integrates the various elements of bodily contact that give rise to thought. Logical reasoning is derived from sustained contact with organ sensations and emotions....The communication of thought through speech involves the integration of the organs of the speech apparatus with the whole organism....There is a distinction between ideas and cognition. 'Idea' is a more inclusive term that denotes the numerous ways in which organ sensations and emotions are sensed. For example, it is possible to have a musical idea (for a composer), a visual idea (for an artist), a mathematical idea (for a mathematician), or a cognitive idea or thought (for a scientist)." (Page 101)

"Reich....separated the function of perception from that of consciousness. He noted that consciousness appears as a higher function that develops much later than perception. Furthermore, he stated that the degree or clarity of consciousness depends on the biophysical integration of the innumerable elements of perception into one single experience of the self. This process of integration begins at birth and is sufficiently developed at around one year of age when the component sensorimotor systems of the organism become organized and the young child begins to move in a unitary fashion. It is at this time that consciousness first appears." (Page 103)

"Reich's bioelectric experiments into the origin of emotion and sensation...provide a clue to the understanding of thought. By showing that pleasurable emotion and sensations are accompanied by a positive deflexion, and anxiety and other dysphoric feelings are accompanied by a negative deflection of the recording electrode at the skin's surface, he provided strong evidence that emotions and sensations originate in the body....pleasurable thoughts and feelings correspond to outward, unimpeded movement and anxious thoughts and feelings to inward movement." (Page 103-104)

"Since thinking is a function of consciousness, the same bioenergetic functions that underlie consciousness must also govern thinking. UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, EXCITATION FROM ORGAN SENSATIONS AND EMOTIONS THAT TRAVEL ROSTRALLY IS PERCEIVED IN THE BRAIN IN THE FORM OF THOUGHTS AND OTHER IDEAS....THE INTEGRATION OF THE PERCEPTUAL FUNCTION IN THE BRAIN IS THE REASON THAT THOUGHT SEEMS TO ORIGINATE IN THE HEAD AND NOT IN THE ENTIRE ORGANISM. Thoughts originate from the transformation of emotional and sensory EXCITATION into PERCEPTION in the brain. (Pages 104-105, emphasis on original)

“This functional understanding of the origin of thought makes comprehensible many clinical observations. For example, mobilization of emotions and sensations contained in the muscular armor is often followed by thoughts and memories related to them. The perception of emotions and sensations resulting from bodily movement enhances thought process. [Footnote: "...inhibition of motor impulses can also give rise to thoughts."] A thought has therapeutic significance only AFTER expression of emotion that gave rise to it. Conversely, thoughts presented before the expression of emotion have little therapeutic value and often function as a resistance to therapy." (Page 104-105, emphasis in original)

"Many questions are raised about thought that can only be explored with the knowledge of biological orgone energy functions. First, why does energy become concentrated in the brain, giving rise to consciousness and it's various functions, such as thinking, memory and orientation? The answer requires an understanding of the ORGONOMIC POTENTIAL, which is the tendency of orgone energy to move from areas of lower to higher energy charge. We know that the brain has the highest metabolic rate of any organ, and therefore a capacity to maintain an energy charge greater than the rest of the organism. Thus, energy is drawn into the brain according to the orgonomic potential from lower to higher concentrations, giving rise in humans to both consciousness and thought. The integrative function of the brain is also based on the orgonomic potential.

     Second, what accounts for the abstract quality of thought? Unlike the physical nature of all other orgonotic phenomena, the energy of thought is perceived to be manifested in an abstract or non-physical manner. [Footnote: "The abstract quality of thought accounts for why it can be easily distorted into mechanism and mysticism."] As emotions and sensations flow upward from the torso through the neck into the brain, the cross-section of the organism is progressively narrowed. Because of the narrowing of the neck, a 'bottleneck' occurs. Energy flowing through the tissues of the body must necessarily become more concentrated. This results in a QUALITATIVE change in the perception of energy from physical to abstract." (Pages 105-106, emphasis in original) 

"The self or the environment can be sensed from any one of the three layers of the bioemotional structure, either separately or in combination. These include the core, the destructive secondary layer, and the façade....Ideas of guilt and sadism are direct perceptions of armor. When thoughts are expressed from the middle or superficial layer they are distorted. These distortions constitute the 'defense mechanisms,' such as rationalization, projection and displacement..." (Page 107)

Konia, C. (2004). Applied Orgonometry Part III: Armored Thought. Journal of Orgonomy 38/2, Pages 90-100:

"...the formulation that ideas originate from the perception of emotions and sensations in the body is based on the clinical observation that therapeutic improvement occurs when emotional expression from the body PRECEDES the ideas associated with it. Conversely, expressing ideas before emotional expression functions as a resistance and leads to a therapeutic impasse. Once energy contained in the armored musculature is expressed emotionally, ideas specifically related to the emotional expression emerge. This clinical finding supports the view that ideas are perceived in the brain but originate from the bodily sensations and emotions." (Page 92, emphasis in original)

"Psychic contactlessness is a biophysical state and corresponds to the psychological concept of the unconscious, since it involves a disturbance in consciousness." (Page 94)

"Somatic contactlessness occurs in the somatic biopathies....In this condition there is either an absence of excitation or a block of the perceptor (receptor site). As a result, the involved organ is sequestered from total organismic functioning. The lack of organismic integration leads to the disease state." (Pages 96-97)

"When expansive and contractive impulses are equal and opposite an energetic stalemate occurs, giving rise to obsessive (repetitive) thoughts." (Page 97)

"The sensation of guilt originates from the direct perception of muscular armor. Self-reproaching and self-critical thoughts originate from the armor." (Page 97)

"Delusions of persecution and infidelity originate from sensations and emotions from the pelvis..." (Page 98)

"The schizophrenic individual is in a contracted state. Delusions of grandiosity originate when the schizophrenic with an oral unsatisfied block experiences a reactive, expansive state to overcome an underlying contraction." (Page 98)

"Flight of ideas and euphoria in manic individuals originate from an oral unstable block. Paucity of thought and pessimism originate from an oral repressed block." (Page 98)

"Thinking to the orgonometric left [DH: towards the deeper, more foundational functions in nature, the “CFPs” or “common functioning principles” which govern the more superficial functions— this has nothing to do with the political left or right but is simply a reflection of the way the functions are graphed in diagrams] leads to greater determinism, unification and integration ('associative thought'). Thinking to the orgonometric right [DH: towards the more superficial variations of the CFP function] leads to greater freedom, specialization and differentiation ('dissociative thought'). In armored thinking, one direction of thought tends to predominant over the other in a rigid, one-sided fashion....Liberals think in the direction of greater freedom. Conservatives think in the direction of greater determinism. The inability of individuals of the left and of the right to think in the opposite direction, the CFP in the case of liberals and the variations in the case of conservatives, is the characterological basis for sociopolitical ideology." (Pages 99-100)

[DH: The orgonomic conceptualization of “biophysical” political orientation is not based on political ideology, but rather is based on a conceptualization of how the person functions in their emotions and character, which is thought to determine their way of thinking and not the other way around. These inborn biophysical political orientations are therefore thought to be natural phenomena, in other words “liberal” and “conservative” are thought to be natural and not necessarily pathological variations, although they do have pathological versions; in other words, there are armored versions of liberal and conservative versus unarmored, natural versions. Furthermore, an individual who is “biophysically conservative” may not necessarily have a conservative political ideology and a person who is “biophysically liberal” may not necessarily have a liberal political ideology. This is because the sociological influences around them may make them adopt a political ideology which is different from what their essential individual nature is. These functions of biophysical political orientation are thought to be based on the natural emotional structure of an individual, which is thought to be deeper functionally than their manner of thinking. There is evidence from contemporary conventional studies of political biology to support this kind of conceptualization of politic orientation as having a deep biological component. This kind of mainstream biopolitical research also provides evidence for associations between personality traits [which are known to be at least 40% inborn] and political belief, and also evidence for an inborn component to political orientation. And if this is true with humans, perhaps it is also true that there are “liberal and conservative” individual animals, even liberal and conservative amoeba, as a colleague of mine once suggested!]