I apologize for the third post in a row: But also, does anyone know about this "Riechian Therapy" done in the private sessions with Michael. I will do some research on that as well and post it asap.

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Nietzsche
does anyone know about this "Riechian Therapy" done in the private sessions

Reichian Therapy is based on the work of the convicted quack nutbar Wilhelm Reich.
[skepdic.com]

There is a old documentary about Reichian Therapy, and because it is involved with alleged "orgone energy", (which does not exist) and with orgasms, it becomes highly sexualized, and completely bizarre, even insane. There are videos of Reichian Therapy where people are moaning and writhing with eachother, I guess to get in touch with their energies? Who knows.
Its a bunch of quackery that was trendy in LSD and druggie circles in the 1960's for a while.

There is a link to a 786 page FBI file on Wilhelm Reich at the link below.

[skepdic.com]

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Reich died on November 3, 1957, in the Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was sent for criminal contempt. The criminal charge was levied because Reich refused to obey an injunction against selling quack medical devices such as the Orgone Accumulator and orgone "shooters," devices which allegedly could collect and distribute orgone energy, thereby making possible the cure for just about any medical disorder except, perhaps, megalomania and self-delusion.

Reich employed an unusual therapeutic method. He used touch to accompany the talking cure, taking an active role in sessions, feeling his patients' chests to check their breathing, repositioning their bodies, and sometimes requiring them to remove their clothes, so that men were treated wearing shorts and women in a bra and panties. These methods caused a split between Reich and the rest of the psychoanalytic community.

Last I heard. Michael’s private sessions are now in the past. He probably stopped doing “Privates” around the time the internet exposed the naked sessions. Michael has used the methods described above and added a few of his own. Most people are instructed to take their clothes off, remaining in their undergarments in these sessions. Some taking everything off, leaving them extremely vulnerable.

If anyone feels comfortable discussing the specifics of their envolvement in RW and/or what they did to remove themselves from the organization, I would be most grateful for the insight.

Thank you.

Wasn't NIETZSCHE the philosopher who wrote 'THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA' (which Hitler issued a copy of to every soldier in the German army)? If I'm not mistaken, the whole HUMAN POTENTIAL movement was profoundly influenced by NIETZSCHE's notions of RELIGION WITHOUT GOD and DEATH OF GOD theology. Isn't NIETZSCHE a cult hero? Maybe I misinterpeted his philosophies, and if so, I apologize, but I have to question the motives of someone that would choose a screen name such as NIETZSCHE on a web site such as this...

Cult-ivator:

No flaming per the rules.

Sorry. But I think my post was more educating than flaming.

The most effective way of assessing Nietzschean philosophy is to go directly to the source material. Walter Kaufman, a Nietzschean translator and scholar (who incidentally happens to also be Jewish, like myself) is an excellent resource for information on Nietzsche, especially in relation to the Nazi appropriation of "Zarathustra"...

Below are two quotes that I think speak volumes about this very topic.

First, here is a quote about "blind allegiance"... which I think is applicable to the "Human Potential Movement" aspect of Cult-ivator's post...

"The pupil and apostle who, blinded by the authority of the master and by the piety he feels toward him, pays no attention to the weaknesses of a teaching, a religion, and soon usually has for that reason more power than the master. The influence of a man has never yet grown great without his blind pupils. To help a perception to achieve victory often means merely to unite it with stupidity so intimately that the weight of the latter also enforces the victory of the former. "
(From Human, All Too Human, sec. 122)

Second, and perhaps most profound, is a quote taken directly from a letter from Nietzsche to his sister Elizabeth, who is largely responsible for the Nazi's use of Nietzsche and his writings...

"You have committed one of the greatest stupidities—for yourself and for me! Your association with an anti-Semitic chief expresses a foreignness to my whole way of life which fills me again and again with ire or melancholy. … It is a matter of honor with me to be absolutely clean and unequivocal in relation to anti-Semitism, namely, opposed to it, as I am in my writings. I have recently been persecuted with letters and Anti-Semitic Correspondence Sheets. My disgust with this party (which would like the benefit of my name only too well) is as pronounced as possible."
– Friedrich Nietzsche, Letter to His Sister, Christmas 1887


I would argue that Nietzsche is markedly opposed to any form of Nationalism or Anti-Semitism.... and I would recommend that anyone interested in any form of Philosophical inquiry, read the primary sources and make up their own mind.

As ambiguious (no spell check) as his writings are, my interpretation of his preachings are about dominating and even injuring the weak, the lesser, without guilt and without objection. Prey on whatever you can get away with preying on. To me, that is very cult-like.

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Cult-ivator
As ambiguious (no spell check) as his writings are, my interpretation of his preachings are about dominating and even injuring the weak, the lesser, without guilt and without objection. Prey on whatever you can get away with preying on. To me, that is very cult-like.

While I think it is unfair of you to attack someone for using Nietzche as a handle, there are many problematic aspects of his philosophy.

Most significantly, at a time when millions of Americans were risking their lives to end slavery, a movement coming out of a straight line from the Enlightenment, French and American Revolutions, AND instilled with a Christian purpose, Nietzche was openly celebrating slavery and condemning both Christianity and the Enlightenment. That is what I find appalling about him, though he is a virtual quote machine, with some of the best one-liners of all time, which largely explain his appeal.