PhilDick and Wilhelm Reich

December 31, 2000:

"Well, he does make mention in the letter of being a Hugo Award winner,
so he's at least under the impression that someone beyond the realm of
SF fandom would consider that important and a marker of, what, literary
importance? I'm not sure Wilhelm Reich was as important as he seems to
have thought he was (can someone diagram that sentence for me?--my head
hurts ). These guys seem to get swallowed up in their own little
subcultures and see the greater reality refracted through them.
Politicians are particularly susceptible to this disorder. Have you ever
met a politician who didn't think that passing the right law would solve
any and all problems? The real similarity between the two has to do with
alien visitations. I'm sure you know about Dick's pink light experience.
Reich built a UFO observation station on top of a mountain in Maine (I
strongly suspect this is what Ruppelt is talking about in his _Report on
Unidentified Flying Objects_) in response to what he saw as alien
interest in his "DOR" (dangerous orgone energy) experiments. These
consisted of basically exposing people to nuclear radiation and
attempting to cure the effects using his own brand of vegetotherapy. The
point is that both of them attempted to involve the authorities in their
(delusional?) experiences. What interests me is that both of these guys
were basically anti-establishment and yet in the throes of their mental
confusion they ran to the closest available major authority figure. It's
as if they realised how bizarre their experiences were and they wanted
some kind of higher confirmation to reassure themselves."

--
Steve Franklin
http://www.lordbalto.com/