"Drop the mask of cultivation"

Wilhelm Reich was a sexual radical thinker, and believed in the unparallel significance of sex; he stated that sexual pleasure is the ultimate measure of human happiness. He came up with the theory of the ‘id’; instinctive drives and impulses which meant people were obsessed with sex. He also used the term ‘super ego’, which relates to the subconscious; you could be talking to someone or sitting in a lecture, but are you really listening/engaging? Who knows the thoughts that are really going on inside of your head?

Reich believed that the unconscious forces inside the mind were good, and it was their suppression by society that distorted them and made people dangerous. He believed that the underlying energy was sexuality and if this was released then human beings would flourish. Freud, on the other hand, wanted to keep these kinds of sexual feelings in; he believed that they had negative effects on human beings, whereas Reich embraced them and wanted them to be set free. Reich linked sexuality and politics by speaking of sexual repression as a principal weapon of political domination; he attempted to synthesise Marx and Freud into one. He was fixed upon a single idea of the orgasm, and elevated it to a universal principle which explained everything. Reich used terms such as orgone energy; a repression visible in the body (an orgasm is not possible if a person is depressed) which he believed permeated all living things, and orgiastic potency; the ability to surrender to the flow without any inhibition.

Reich also claimed there were three layers of the human mind:

1. Surface level – polite, compassionate, responsible
2. Second layer – cruel, sadistic, rapacious – the “unconscious”
3. Third layer – biological core – honest, loving

I guess Reich believed that we all have a ‘mean streak’ somewhere within us, with or without realising it, and that it can override our ‘surface level’ of politeness and compassion; perhaps he linked this second layer to a lack of orgasms or sexual thoughts due to suppression by society.