seem so receptive, so accepting yet firm where the central themes of his work were in jeop-
ardy. Recalling Reich in the summer of 1948, one cannot help but wish that his environment
had provided more of the support and peace that was in evidence during the First
International Orgonomic Conference. Although he often said he could work alone, that he
needed no recognition, it was equally true that people were important in his lifetime and that
their responses buoyed his spirit.
I have commented at some length on Reich’s excellent contributions and demeanor
during the conference. However, he can be faulted quite severely in one respect: he did not
really facilitate a similar quality from others. He invited good questions and comments, and
was always generous with praise for contributions. Yet he reacted so sharply to what he con-
sidered to be poor questions or comments that participants often censored their valuable as
well as their hostile or banal reactions. A discussion led by Reich might consist of a few com-
ments from others, to which Reich would then respond with mini-lectures. He rarely invit-
ed a more general discussion. For all his emphasis in therapy on expressing negative feelings,
there was little room for doing so in conferences. Reich could not, or perhaps would not,
expose himself to the same material outside therapy.
Inevitably, no strong group could be sustained in this atmosphere. And however
understandable Reich’s position, it also reflected his own need to control events around him.
The group atmosphere was authoritarian, in Kurt Lewin’s sense of the term. Most of the
lines of communication were between Reich and students, little between student and stu-
dent. Reich further contributed to the intensity by insisting on a high degree of profession-
al secrecy among co-workers. Reich once commented on his failure to build up a viable
organization along work-democratic lines, adding: “If that should continue, it would reflect
a problem in me.”^30 It did continue and it did indeed reflect his own problem.
One of Reich’s chief preoccupations during the summer of 1948 was the orgone
energy motor. * During the following summer, these fears were heightened when an assis-
tant,William Washington,who had been working on the motor, did not appear at Orgonon
as scheduled.
I had met Bill, who was black, in the fall of 1944 at the University of Chicago,
where we were both freshmen. He was especially interested in mathematics and physics, but
had a wide-ranging knowledge in many realms. Although he talked extremely little, he always
330 Myron SharafFury On Earth
*Reich never published the design for the orgone energy motor and I no longer remember the details of the
experimental set-up or its operation. I do recall that it involved the use of an accumulator attached to a wheel; con-
centrated orgone energy was triggered by a small amount of electricity, an amount insufficient to rotate the wheel
without the accumulator. I also recall that when the wheel was rotated entirely by electricity, it had a steady grind-
ing motion.When powered by the combination of orgonotic and electrical energy, it ran smoothly and quietly; but
its speed varied depending upon the weather more rapidly on dry, clear days, more slowly when the humidity was
high. During this summer, Reich was extremely excited about the motor and envisioned its industrial applications.
He also expressed considerable concern that the “secret” of the motor might be stolen, which may have con-
tributed to his reluctance to publish the details.