Reich, Kelley, Osho
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich (March 24, 1897 – November 3, 1957) was an Austrian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry. He was the author of several influential books, including Character Analysis (1933), regarded as an important contribution to psychoanalytic theory, The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), an analysis of the effect Adolf Hitler was having on the German people, and The Sexual Revolution (1936), an examination of the suppression of sexuality by the state. His writing influenced a generation of intellectuals, and his work on muscular armor – the reflection in the body of character disorders – shaped innovations such as Fritz Perls's Gestalt therapy, Alexander Lowen's bioenergetic analysis, and Arthur Janov's primal therapy.
From the 1930s onwards, he became an increasingly controversial figure; from 1932 until four years after his death no publisher other than his own would publish his work.
Toward the late 1930s Reich began to treat patients outside the limits of psychoanalysis's restrictions. He first presented the principles of what he called vegetotherapy – which involves the patient physically simulating the effects of certain emotions in the hope of triggering them – in a paper called "Psychic contact and vegetative current" in August 1934. He went on to develop the technique between 1935 and 1940. He began to sit next to his patients, rather than behind them, and would touch them, both to increase awareness of tension and contraction, and to relieve it.
From a psychoanalytic point of view, this undermined the position of neutrality in which the analyst is a blank screen onto which the patient projects his desires, loves, hates, and neuroses. Reich wrote that the psychoanalytic taboos reinforced the neurotic taboos of the patient, and that he wanted his patients to see him as human. He would press hard on their "body armor," his thumb or the palm of his hand pressing on their jaws, necks, chests, backs, or thighs, aiming to dissolve their muscular, and thereby characterological, rigidity. This dissolution of the body armor, he wrote, brought back the repressed memory of the childhood situation that had caused the repression. If the session worked as intended, he wrote that he could see waves of pleasure move through their bodies, a series of spontaneous, involuntary movements. Reich called these the "orgasm reflex."
More about Wilhelm Reich on Wikipedia.com >
From the 1930s onwards, he became an increasingly controversial figure; from 1932 until four years after his death no publisher other than his own would publish his work.
Toward the late 1930s Reich began to treat patients outside the limits of psychoanalysis's restrictions. He first presented the principles of what he called vegetotherapy – which involves the patient physically simulating the effects of certain emotions in the hope of triggering them – in a paper called "Psychic contact and vegetative current" in August 1934. He went on to develop the technique between 1935 and 1940. He began to sit next to his patients, rather than behind them, and would touch them, both to increase awareness of tension and contraction, and to relieve it.
From a psychoanalytic point of view, this undermined the position of neutrality in which the analyst is a blank screen onto which the patient projects his desires, loves, hates, and neuroses. Reich wrote that the psychoanalytic taboos reinforced the neurotic taboos of the patient, and that he wanted his patients to see him as human. He would press hard on their "body armor," his thumb or the palm of his hand pressing on their jaws, necks, chests, backs, or thighs, aiming to dissolve their muscular, and thereby characterological, rigidity. This dissolution of the body armor, he wrote, brought back the repressed memory of the childhood situation that had caused the repression. If the session worked as intended, he wrote that he could see waves of pleasure move through their bodies, a series of spontaneous, involuntary movements. Reich called these the "orgasm reflex."
More about Wilhelm Reich on Wikipedia.com >
Charles R. "Chuck" Kelley
CHARLES R. (CHUCK) KELLEY, PH.D. was a philosopher of science, an explorer and engineer of the life force, and an applied experimental psychologist. He was a student of Wilhelm Reich, and after Reich’s death in 1957 he published THE CREATIVE PROCESS, America’s only scientific periodical devoted to furthering Reich’s work at that time. By the late sixties he developed his own system of Radix® Education in Feeling and Purpose, and he and his wife Erica ran a retreat center in California until 1987, offering residential programs and training professionals from around the world.Apart from his reputation in the personal growth field, Kelley served as a professor and scholar on the faculties of universities including North Carolina State University, New York University and the University of Illinois, and was Chief Scientist with a firm of human factors engineers, during which time John Wiley & Sons published his MANUAL AND AUTOMATIC CONTROL (1968, out of print). As a Visiting Scientist in Europe under sponsorship of the NATO Division of Scientific Affairs, he addressed topics such as “Man and Technology” and “Mechanism and Mysticism” to audiences in England, France, Italy and Germany. He was made a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the Masters and Johnson Institute. He was elected a Diplomate in Sexual Research, Certified by the American Board of Sexology, and a member of numerous body/mind organizations.
Kelley retired as Director of the Radix Institute in 1987 but continued to apply himself to the study of the life force, especially as it influenced human behavior through the muscular armor. He published his last book, LIFE FORCE:The Creative Process in Man and in Nature in December 2004, and taught Radix sessions until the day of his death on April 30th, 2005.
More about Kelley on the Kelley-Radix website >
Kelley retired as Director of the Radix Institute in 1987 but continued to apply himself to the study of the life force, especially as it influenced human behavior through the muscular armor. He published his last book, LIFE FORCE:The Creative Process in Man and in Nature in December 2004, and taught Radix sessions until the day of his death on April 30th, 2005.
More about Kelley on the Kelley-Radix website >
Osho - A Contemporary Mystic
Osho (formerly Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) teaches meditation not as a practice but as a way of life. He is a mystic who brings the timeless wisdom of the East to bear upon the urgent questions facing men and women today. He speaks of the search for harmony, wholeness, and love that lies at the core of all religious and spiritual traditions, illuminating the essence of Christianity, Hassidism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Tantra, Tao, Yoga, and Zen. Osho’s vision is of a new man.
Osho speaks on virtually every aspect of the development of human consciousness. His talks cover a staggering range – from the meaning of life and death to the struggle of power and politics, from the challenges of love and creativity to the significance of science and education. He belongs to no tradition.
To know oneself is to know all. And that is the only thing I emphasize; no belief, no dogma, no creed, no church, no religion. By a simple process of inner observation you come to realize yourself... Truth is within – seek not elsewhere.
Osho is a striking modern-day example of the millennia-old Eastern tradition of enlightened Masters. In the East, enlightenment is described as the state of ultimate and total consciousness or awareness, as attained by Gautama Buddha, Socrates, and others.
The function of a Master is to provoke consciousness in others, frequently by unexpected or apparently irrational acts and behavior; and to provide an environment in which a disciple can experience meditation for himself. It is therefore with a very different perception that we must view such a man’s life, as our standard criteria simply do not apply.
History tells of Bodhidharma entering the Emperor’s court with a shoe on his head or of Japanese Zen Masters planting trees upside down. Such acts can only be understood within the context of the Master’s constant efforts to bring his disciples into the Now, into meditation, and ultimately, to enlightenment. Osho is such a Master.
Osho was born December 11, 1931, in Kuchwada, a small village in the state of Madhya Pradesh, central India. He became enlightened at the age of 21 on March 21, 1953, while majoring in philosophy at D.N. Jain College in Jabalpur.
In 1966 Osho left his post as a professor of philosophy at the University of Jabalpur to devote himself to the raising of human consciousness. A powerful and passionate debater, he traveled widely in India, speaking to large audiences and challenging orthodox religious leaders in public debates and began to address gatherings of 50,000 to 100,000 in the open-air maidans of India’s major cities, using the name of Acharya Rajneesh. Four times a year he conducts intense 10-day meditation camps. During these camps he introduced his revolutionary meditation technique, Dynamic Meditation, which begins with a period of uninhibited movement and catharsis, followed by a period of silence and stillness.
Most traditional meditation techniques require one to sit still and silent. But Osho understood that for most of us accumulated stress in our body/mind makes that difficult. Before we can enter our inner silent spaces, we need to let go of our tensions. Over the years Osho designed many more such active meditations, lie Kundalini Meditation, Nataraj Meditation, Nadabrahma Meditation, and others. These active meditation techniques have been used by psychotherapists, medical doctors, teachers, and other professionals around the world.
In 1974 Osho moved to Pune (then Poona) where an ashram was established so that Osho would be able to focus his attention on the seekers he had started to initiate. He made it clear that his Neo-Sannyas or discipleship – a path of commitment to self-exploration and meditation – does not involve renouncing the world. Seekers from around the world started arriving and Osho, who was known at this time as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, gave a 90-minute discourse nearly every morning from 1974 to 1981, alternating every month between Hindi and English. His discourses offer insights into all the major spiritual paths, including yoga, Zen, Taoism, Tantra, and Sufism, as well as word teachers such as Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu, and other mystics. These discourses have been collected into over 300 volumes and translated into every major language of the world.
Additionally, the commune offered a wide variety of therapy groups combining Eastern meditation techniques with Western psychotherapy. Therapists from all over the world were attracted, and by 1980 it had become an international community with a reputation as the world’s finest growth and therapy center, with 100,000 people passing through the ashram gates each year.
In 1981, Osho traveled to the US where his American disciples purchased a 64,000-acre ranch in the central Oregonian high desert and invited him to visit. The city of Rajneeshpuram was incorporated and provided services for 5,000 residents. It became the largest and most controversial spiritual community ever pioneered in the US, and a target for many politicians who made inflammatory speeches against it.
In September 1985, Osho’s personal secretary and several members of the commune’s management suddenly left, and a whole pattern of illegal acts they had committed was exposed. Osho invited law enforcement officials to investigate the crimes committed by the group, but the authorities saw this as a golden opportunity to destroy the commune entirely. Federal and local officials arrested Osho at gunpoint without warrants and held him without bail for 12 days.
Fearing for his life, attorneys agreed to an Alford Plea on two out of 35 charges brought against him by a federal grand jury in secret session. (According to the rules of the plea, the defendant maintains innocence while saying that the prosecution could have convicted him.) Osho was fined $400,000 and deported from America. The US Attorney in Portland, Charles Turner, later publicly conceded that the government was intent on destroying Osho’s commune.
Over the next two years, the government of 21 countries denied Osho entry or deported him after arrival. In 1986 Osho returned to India and later to the ashram in Pune where he started giving discourses again. Quickly the ashram fills again with seekers from all over the world.
In early 1989 Osho stopped using the name “Bhagwan” and accepted the address “Osho,” which derived from ancient Japanese. His health declining, he stopped giving talks in August and instead began to make daily appearances for evening darshan, sitting in silence while music was played. “That which cannot be said has to be experienced. This is a geat experience of getting into an inner, meditative space.”
Osho left his body on January 19, 1990. Just before his departure from the body, he said, “Never speak of me in the past tense. My presence here will be much greater without the burden of my tortured body.”
Today, more than 20 years later, his words are proved true. Thousands upon thousands of disciples and visitors come to the Pune ashram (now called Osho International Meditation Resort) and other Osho centers around the world. His talks, spoken over 30 years, recorded on audio and video, and published in hundreds of books are more popular than ever. In 2009, for example, three and a half million of his books were sold worldwide.
His active meditations, are recognized around the world as is his insight into meditation, Tantra, Zen, relationships, and all aspects of life. His work was not a religion but a way of life, a method of revealing and living our full potential, from birth to death.
This text used with permission from Osho Viha Information Center
Osho speaks on virtually every aspect of the development of human consciousness. His talks cover a staggering range – from the meaning of life and death to the struggle of power and politics, from the challenges of love and creativity to the significance of science and education. He belongs to no tradition.
To know oneself is to know all. And that is the only thing I emphasize; no belief, no dogma, no creed, no church, no religion. By a simple process of inner observation you come to realize yourself... Truth is within – seek not elsewhere.
Osho is a striking modern-day example of the millennia-old Eastern tradition of enlightened Masters. In the East, enlightenment is described as the state of ultimate and total consciousness or awareness, as attained by Gautama Buddha, Socrates, and others.
The function of a Master is to provoke consciousness in others, frequently by unexpected or apparently irrational acts and behavior; and to provide an environment in which a disciple can experience meditation for himself. It is therefore with a very different perception that we must view such a man’s life, as our standard criteria simply do not apply.
History tells of Bodhidharma entering the Emperor’s court with a shoe on his head or of Japanese Zen Masters planting trees upside down. Such acts can only be understood within the context of the Master’s constant efforts to bring his disciples into the Now, into meditation, and ultimately, to enlightenment. Osho is such a Master.
Osho was born December 11, 1931, in Kuchwada, a small village in the state of Madhya Pradesh, central India. He became enlightened at the age of 21 on March 21, 1953, while majoring in philosophy at D.N. Jain College in Jabalpur.
In 1966 Osho left his post as a professor of philosophy at the University of Jabalpur to devote himself to the raising of human consciousness. A powerful and passionate debater, he traveled widely in India, speaking to large audiences and challenging orthodox religious leaders in public debates and began to address gatherings of 50,000 to 100,000 in the open-air maidans of India’s major cities, using the name of Acharya Rajneesh. Four times a year he conducts intense 10-day meditation camps. During these camps he introduced his revolutionary meditation technique, Dynamic Meditation, which begins with a period of uninhibited movement and catharsis, followed by a period of silence and stillness.
Most traditional meditation techniques require one to sit still and silent. But Osho understood that for most of us accumulated stress in our body/mind makes that difficult. Before we can enter our inner silent spaces, we need to let go of our tensions. Over the years Osho designed many more such active meditations, lie Kundalini Meditation, Nataraj Meditation, Nadabrahma Meditation, and others. These active meditation techniques have been used by psychotherapists, medical doctors, teachers, and other professionals around the world.
In 1974 Osho moved to Pune (then Poona) where an ashram was established so that Osho would be able to focus his attention on the seekers he had started to initiate. He made it clear that his Neo-Sannyas or discipleship – a path of commitment to self-exploration and meditation – does not involve renouncing the world. Seekers from around the world started arriving and Osho, who was known at this time as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, gave a 90-minute discourse nearly every morning from 1974 to 1981, alternating every month between Hindi and English. His discourses offer insights into all the major spiritual paths, including yoga, Zen, Taoism, Tantra, and Sufism, as well as word teachers such as Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu, and other mystics. These discourses have been collected into over 300 volumes and translated into every major language of the world.
Additionally, the commune offered a wide variety of therapy groups combining Eastern meditation techniques with Western psychotherapy. Therapists from all over the world were attracted, and by 1980 it had become an international community with a reputation as the world’s finest growth and therapy center, with 100,000 people passing through the ashram gates each year.
In 1981, Osho traveled to the US where his American disciples purchased a 64,000-acre ranch in the central Oregonian high desert and invited him to visit. The city of Rajneeshpuram was incorporated and provided services for 5,000 residents. It became the largest and most controversial spiritual community ever pioneered in the US, and a target for many politicians who made inflammatory speeches against it.
In September 1985, Osho’s personal secretary and several members of the commune’s management suddenly left, and a whole pattern of illegal acts they had committed was exposed. Osho invited law enforcement officials to investigate the crimes committed by the group, but the authorities saw this as a golden opportunity to destroy the commune entirely. Federal and local officials arrested Osho at gunpoint without warrants and held him without bail for 12 days.
Fearing for his life, attorneys agreed to an Alford Plea on two out of 35 charges brought against him by a federal grand jury in secret session. (According to the rules of the plea, the defendant maintains innocence while saying that the prosecution could have convicted him.) Osho was fined $400,000 and deported from America. The US Attorney in Portland, Charles Turner, later publicly conceded that the government was intent on destroying Osho’s commune.
Over the next two years, the government of 21 countries denied Osho entry or deported him after arrival. In 1986 Osho returned to India and later to the ashram in Pune where he started giving discourses again. Quickly the ashram fills again with seekers from all over the world.
In early 1989 Osho stopped using the name “Bhagwan” and accepted the address “Osho,” which derived from ancient Japanese. His health declining, he stopped giving talks in August and instead began to make daily appearances for evening darshan, sitting in silence while music was played. “That which cannot be said has to be experienced. This is a geat experience of getting into an inner, meditative space.”
Osho left his body on January 19, 1990. Just before his departure from the body, he said, “Never speak of me in the past tense. My presence here will be much greater without the burden of my tortured body.”
Today, more than 20 years later, his words are proved true. Thousands upon thousands of disciples and visitors come to the Pune ashram (now called Osho International Meditation Resort) and other Osho centers around the world. His talks, spoken over 30 years, recorded on audio and video, and published in hundreds of books are more popular than ever. In 2009, for example, three and a half million of his books were sold worldwide.
His active meditations, are recognized around the world as is his insight into meditation, Tantra, Zen, relationships, and all aspects of life. His work was not a religion but a way of life, a method of revealing and living our full potential, from birth to death.
This text used with permission from Osho Viha Information Center