Text: REICH'S CONTACT WITH SPACE by Alison Davidson "There is no proof. There are no authorities whatever. No president, Academy, Court of Law, Congress or Senate on this earth has the knowledge or power to decide what will be the knowledge of tomorrow. There is no use in trying to prove something that is unknown to somebody who is ignorant of the unknown, or fearful of its threatening power. Only the good old rules of learning will eventually bring about understanding of what has invaded our earthly existence." The invasion that Reich refers to in his introduction to CONTACT WITH SPACE is the invasion of earth by intelligences from outer space. Very few copies of this remarkable book were made available, and Reich's extraordinary experiences during this turbulent period have been swept under the carpet by 'orthodox' orgonomy. To speak openly of UFO experiences still invites ridicule or polite smiles of disbelief. Consider then the atmosphere of the mid 1950's when Reich was not only claiming the existence of space visitors, but carefully documenting his battle with these 'invaders', while developing his now well-known cloudbusting techniques. Reich termed the space craft Ea - 'E' standing for 'Energy', 'a' for alpha or primordial. Ea also represented 'Enigma'... "Ea is a new event without precedent in our lives," he writes. "Humanity, with the exception of a few philosophers, had no idea of the possibility of visitors from outer space. Earthman had not developed any view, method or scientific tool to cope with the problem. In addition he has developed in his offspring a character structure and a kind of thinking which obstructs the approach to the new fact by way of ridicule, slander and outright threat to the existence of the pioneer of space engineering. Therefore our new approach must start from scratch, as if no science existed at all." Reich's ability to 'start from scratch' had characterized his revolutionary approach to psychoanalysis early in his career, long before he left the restrictive climate of Europe to pursue his ideas in 'free' America. He is best known for his research into the fundamental life-energy and for his controversial methods of sex therapy. His greatest contribution to real science was his discovery (or re- discovery) of what he called 'orgone', the life energy at the very roots of existence. Blockages in the free flow of this energy in the individual caused 'character armoring' which inhibited the spontaneous expression of joy and pleasure in life. The nature of this cosmic energy, depending on circumstances, functioned either as a 'life giving, life furthering, and reproductive force (OR), or in the absence of such conditions, turns into a killer of Life (DOR)." During his orgonomic research Reich was able to measure this orgone energy and he successfully treated many patients in the orgone accumulator, a specially layered box wherein the life-energy was concentrated. It was this unorthodox method of treatment which brought down the wrath of the Food and Drug Administration upon Reich, an attack which finally secured his imprisonment, and death, in a federal penitentiary. "Orgone energy does not exist," the FDA officials said to the Judge. Having declared that Cosmic Energy did not exist, it was obvious that its discoverer must either be a "quack" or a "lunatic". That, after all, is the rationale of orthodox, mechanistic science chained to its conceptions of a dead universe. For Reich, the Universe was very much alive and his approach to scientific research was functional, taking into account the subjective perceptions and emotions of the researcher. After all, he writes, "Classical knowledge may all be wrong, such with the perfect Copernican circles, the ellipses of Kepler, the empty space of Einstein, the airgerms of Pasteurian bacteriologists, the atomic nature of the Universe, etc. To see new things from scratch, to expect the impossible to be true, belongs to the emotional equipment of the true pioneering scientist." "We shall no longer hang on to the tails of public opinion or to a non- existent authority on matters utterly unknown and strange. We shall gradually become experts ourselves in the mastery of the knowledge of the Future." THE FIRST CONTACT "From the historic Oranur Experiment of 1951, Reich knew that nuclear radioactivity had a deleterious effect upon the living sea of energy in which we all live. From the observations made of the reaction of a milligram of radium put inside an Orgone Energy Accumulator, Reich knew that there was an antagonistic relationship between the energy of life (Ether, Prana, etc...) and the manmade nuclear energy so recently unleashed upon the planet. The effect of the nuclear 'irritant' seemed all out of proportion to the physical amount of radioactive material. The distance of this irritating and wildly exciting Orgone anti-Nuclear effect seemed to reach much farther than the actual radioactivity of the nuclear material would indicate. Perhaps, Reich reasoned, the Orgone Energy was a continuum; and this anti-nuclear reaction of the life energy (Oranur) extended and perpetuated itself in a chain reaction fashion far beyond the original limits of the nuclear radiation." (1) The development of the Cloudbuster was a response to the aftermath of the Oranur Experiment. Around Reich's Oranur laboratory near Rangeley, Maine, the atmosphere became polluted with DOR (Deadly Orgone Radiation). The black and bleak DOR clouds were remarkably similar to what would later be called air pollution or smog. These clouds were present even in the midst of sunshine, and where they gathered the atmosphere felt 'suffocating', the sky seemed to lose its sparkle and animals and humans felt lethargy and other symptoms of malaise. Not only were the DOR clouds a noxious presence, but a black powdery substance poured down onto the area, a substance that Reich came to directly associate with the presence of Ea in the skies above Rangeley. It was here that UFOs began to appear, big yellow and reddish pulsating 'stars' which were easily discernible from the planets and bluish colored fixed stars. Previous to this Reich had no experience with UFOs and had never studied the subject. Now he was faced with a direct confrontation. Some nights there would be 3 or 4 Ea hanging in the sky above Orgonon. They would make the atmosphere black, but by mobilizing the cloudbuster Reich was able to clear the air and make the sky blue again. It was under these peculiar conditions that the 'Spacegun' came into existence, and the war with Ea began. "I made actual contact by way of the cloudbuster with luminous objects in the sky on May 12, 1954...During this hour men on earth saw for the first time in the history of man and his science two "Stars" to the west fade out several times when cosmic energy was drawn from them." "Easy contact was made on that fateful day with what obviously turned out to be a heretofore unknown type of UFO. I had hesitated for weeks to turn my cloudbuster pipes toward a "star", as if I had known that some of the blinking lights hanging in the sky were not planets or fixed stars but SPACE machines. With the fading out of the two "stars", the cloudbuster had suddenly changed into a SPACEGUN...what had been left of the old world of human knowledge after the discovery of the OR energy 1936-40 tumbled beyond reprieve. Nothing could any longer be considered 'impossible'. I had directed drawpipes, connected with the deep well toward an ordinary star, and the star had faded out four times." Reich had first hesitated on using the spacegun on the Ea, considering the possibility of them being some kind of American craft, but the situation became so intolerable with the noxious OR influence, that he finally decided to. He found the power of the Oranur Spacegun tremendous due to the sensitivity of the OR energy ocean. The energy equilibrium of Ea could be disturbed or even put out of order by withdrawing energy from it directly. The affected Ea seemed at first to struggle, pulsating erratically, then shrink and even fade out completely. But the space visitors seemed to be retaliating by increasing the DOR pollution in the vicinity. "There was no doubt left as to the purposefulness of the activities of Ea: Energy was being drawn from the planet, with the consequences known now, 1956, far and wide as 'DOR-emergency'; decay of vegetation, the crumbling of granite rock, a feverish atmosphere. OR energy laws, mostly unknown to us earthmen, were used technically in the Ea operations." A detailed report on the Ea problem was forwarded to the American Air Force who appeared to be 'burningly interested' in the subject, but not particularly surprised. To further test the correlations between Ea and the desert forming DOR, Reich and the cloudbuster crew made their preparations to go to the fully developed desert, and the OROP Desert Expedition was underway. SURVEY ON Ea A simple chart Reich made to differentiate between stars and UFOs hovering high in the sky. Certain facts about the appearance of the UFOs such as their noiselessness, their shimmering lights, sometimes bluish in appearance, rotating discs underlying their motion, fell into place with some of the facts Reich knew well from cosmic OR functioning: The 'CORE MEN' (CORE = COSMIC ORGONE ENGINEERS), as he came to call them, apparently were thoroughly conversant with the laws of functioning in the cosmic OR energy ocean. They used cosmic OR energy in propelling their machines. Their 'blue lights' were in agreement with the blue color characteristic of all visible OR functions, sky, protoplasm, Aurora, sunspots, the color of OR lumination in vacor tubes, etc. The CORE MEN were obviously riding their space ships on the main OR energy streams in the Universe. Just as space is not empty, light does not 'come down to us from the stars and the sun'. It is an effect of lumination in the OR energy envelope of the planets. It is a local phenomenon. Therefore, there is theoretically no limit to speed in cosmic space, and the Ea were able to achieve tremendous speeds. DEADLY ORGONE RADIATION Driving across country to Arizona where the expedition would make its base, Reich closely observed the atmospheric conditions. DOR tended to concentrate over cities and became more pronounced as they entered the desert regions. Here it was observed to sink down into the valleys and hover low over the landscape like a ceiling. The tops of distant mountain ridges were seen to project clearly above the DOR shell, like islands above the ocean, and on these peaks the primal vegetation was still alive; while the lower vegetation, covered by the low-lying DOR blanket, died off, leaving only desert in the valleys - especially in the areas near atomic testing sites. Reich described the mountain ranges as being "eaten out", gnawed at by DOR as if a monster were feeding on the rock itself. The DOR functions were characterized by "a silent, invisible and inaudible gnawing away and insidious consumption of the life force of a host or organism." "The process of disintegration of trees and whole forests is due to progressive DOR prevalence in the atmosphere. A slight DOR prevalence causes dryness, dryness in turn increases DOR. Thus, in a vicious circle, the water-hunger grows together with diminishing precipitation. The process is slow and not easily discernible. Not much is known about its secret attrition of life." "It has great significance for the mastery of our future, that DOR surplus causes deserts in the landscape as it does in the organism. Desert souls will enhance desert development; and desert development will increase DOR or staleness in human emotions." DOR is hungry for nourishment, for water, for oxygen. As the DOR increases it vampirizes its host, in this case the abundant life energy indigenous to the planet. Reich observes that "the pestilential character shows the same type of behavior. He saps juicy, emotionally rich people, deprives them of their strength, akin to the behavior of a tapeworm, within the host victim. The pestilential character thrives on the energy loss in the victim, but in the end he perishes with the host. From here to sociological conclusions regarding the secret dynamics of political dictatorship is only a logical step: from here, too, a bridge can be built toward understanding the connection between desert development on our planet and visitors from outer space. These visitors are using fresh cosmic energy for their locomotion and pour the slag, DOR, into our atmosphere. Whether this is being done on purpose or by accident does not matter as far as the effects upon life are concerned." Reich foresaw the complete destruction of life upon mother earth looming on the horizon, unless DOR energy could be reverted again into OR or Life Energy. OROP DESERT Ea (1954-55) "Life holds only a narrow wedge as its own domain in the infinite vastness of cosmic energy." The desert around Tucson Arizona was chosen for Operation OROP, one of the hottest and oldest deserts (25,000 years) of the U.S. There was no primary vegetation growing; there had been no rain for five years. By October, 1954, the base was operating. It was not the primary objective of the expedition to "make rain over rainless desert". Reich had no ambition to impress anyone with rain making. Rather he wanted to find the borderline where their artificial efforts at a new atmospheric technology could end "and be replaced by the self-regulatory, self-sustaining laws that governed the behavior of cloud formation, rain cycles, cosmic energy metabolism in the atmosphere, etc, as they do in the living organism." He had observed that the living organism apparently metabolizes freshly taken in OR energy into DOR, which is expelled in the form of CO2, urine, feces and sweat. In the healthy organism the energy equilibrium between the charge and the discharge was easily maintained, however, during sickness more OR seemed to change into DOR. Thus, Reich concluded, a prevalence of DOR would be a basic feature of all disease. Subjectively Reich and his co-workers experienced the DOR atmosphere in the desert as oppressive and irritating, with the blinding heat seeming to draw the juice and life energies out of their bodies. "Thus, having seen and felt the desert, Expedition OROP proceeded to begin cloudbuster operations, in order to find out whether such a climate could be changed." "With cloudbusting operations, much DOR was removed and fresh Orgone Energy was brought in from the Southwest (along the Galactic Orgone Stream). The immediate result was a freshening of the atmosphere and environment: gone was the parching dryness and gone was the blinding whiteness of the sky. Rainmaking was not the goal; in fact, noticeable results occurred prior to any rain falling on the dry, sandy desert floor. By November, the barren desert north of Tucson began to turn green with a fine growth of new grass! In December, the greening of the desert had spread to cover an area 40 to 80 miles from Tucson with new grass up to one foot high! This happened without any rain falling, due solely to the fresh atmospheric Life Energy and attendant moisture from the Pacific Ocean, 250-400 miles to the Southwest."(1) The arrival of denatured Radium (ORUR), from the Oranur experiment at Rangeley dramatically increased the effectiveness of the cloudbusting operations. "While the clearing of the atmosphere had previously been done by drawing off the DOR clouds into a lake, now, within a few seconds, using ORUR material, the sky cleared and became blue...The change in the atmosphere was immediately felt by all observers. Even dirty steel-gray, DOR-affected rain clouds seemed to fill up and become white in a brilliant, formerly dull, stale atmosphere." However, Ea were also observing the operations. Whenever the familiar pulsating craft were seen in the sky, the rain clouds disappeared and severe DOR infested the atmosphere, making conditions extremely unpleasant for the crew. If the Spacegun was not used, the atmosphere became unbearable. One operator at a Spacegun was paralyzed by DOR while drawing from an Ea. Reich wrote: "There was no escape from the fact that we were at war with a power unknown to man on earth." But the ORUR was found to be extremely effective in combatting the Ea menace. "One could now reach far into space with ORUR: the range was limitless theoretically, since the OR energy ocean is endless and most sensitive to stimuli as demonstrated by the processes of dawn, dusk, and our actual operations over vast stretches of space." Another DOR-creating problem was atomic testing within the desert region. Reich was later to consider the possibility of immunizing the atmosphere against atomic explosions, much as living systems are immunized against infection. By creating a highly 'orurized' atmosphere, he reasoned, the DOR energy from atomic blasts or from Ea could be siphoned off. It was noticed that during the ORUR operations, there were 'coincidentally' many publicly announced postponements of atomic tests. It became apparent to Reich that although there was moisture in the atmosphere, the lack of actual rainfall around Tucson was due to a DOR barrier somewhere west of the experimental site in Arizona, preventing the clouds and moisture flowing in from the Pacific. The barrier was found to exist on the Sierra mountain divide, where a concentration of DOR was breaking up and dissolving the rain clouds coming in from the west. By March 1955, continuous DOR removal operations were set up just to the west of the divide. Within two weeks the barrier was breaking up with a black precipitate form of DOR ("Melanor") falling to the ground and turning the white sand dark. By the end of March rain began to occur in the desert. The breaking of the DOR barrier had accomplished the full breakthrough of fresh OR energy into the desert basin. The expedition was successful. The atmosphere had undergone a radical change, breaking a five year drought and turning completely barren desert land into green pasture again after thousands of years. It proved conclusively to Reich that desert development was clearly and doubtlessly reversible, that through a new kind of orgone technology, humanity could convert life-destroying energy back into life-sustaining energy. Winding up his affairs, Reich left the desert in April 1955. It was to be his last major operation. Within two years he was to die in prison, destroyed by a system that could not tolerate the free expression of live-giving energy. But the Enigma remains... REFERENCES: (1) 'The New Age' by Klark Kent, The Journal of Borderland Research, May-June 1987. CONTACT WITH SPACE by Wilhelm Reich, Core Pilot Press, New York, N.Y. 1957. THE WILHELM REICH MUSEUM, PO Box 687, Rangeley ME 04970. FURY ON EARTH by Myron Sharaf, St. Martin's Press, New York. 1983. This article first appeared in Borderlands Magazine. Reprinted courtesy of the author. © Alison Davidson.

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