Τα παιδιά του μέλλοντος

by Wilhelm Reich, Ρούσσος Βρανάς (Μεταφραστής)

In this gathering of his writing on children, Reich demonstrates the impact of the environment of the infant, showing how it can warp the child's development. He points particularly to how disastrous the exclusion of genitality is to the child.

Genres: Psychology, Education, Sexuality

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Wilhelm Reich (24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was a Jewish Austrian-American doctor of medicine, psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. Author of several influential books, he became one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry.

Reich was a respected analyst for much of his life, focusing on character structure, rather than on individual neurotic symptoms. He promoted adolescent sexuality, the availability of contraceptives and abortion, and the importance for women of economic independence. Synthesizing material from psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, economics, sociology, and ethics, his work influenced writers such as Alexander Lowen, Fritz Perls, Paul Goodman, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, A. S. Neill, and William Burroughs.

He was also a controversial figure, who came to be viewed by the psychoanalytic establishment as having gone astray or as having succumbed to mental illness. His work on the link between human sexuality and neuroses emphasized "orgastic potency" as the foremost criterion for psycho-physical health. He said he had discovered a form of energy, which he called "orgone," that permeated the atmosphere and all living matter, and he built "orgone accumulators," which his patients sat inside to harness the energy for its reputed health benefits. It was this work, in particular, that cemented the rift between Reich and the psychoanalytic establishment.

Reich, of Jewish descent and a communist, was living in Germany when Adolf Hitler came to power. He fled to Scandinavia in 1933 and subsequently to the United States in 1939. In 1947, following a series of critical articles about orgone and his political views in The New Republic and Harper's, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began an investigation into his claims, winning an injunction against the interstate sale of orgone accumulators. Charged with contempt of court for violating the injunction, Reich conducted his own defense, which involved sending the judge all his books to read, and arguing that a court was no place to decide matters of science. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and in August 1956, several tons of his publications were burned by the FDA. He died of heart failure in jail just over a year later, days before he was due to apply for parole.

Reviews

[Aurore Henze · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book before, but with three children I find myself coming back to it every few years. One of Reich's most accessible books for laymen, his first few pages-hit you right in the core and leave you feeling many different emotions. One thing is for sure, you will never look at children the same again and your realize-immediately, that you, yourself was once..and still is- an infant longing to be loved and close to your mother. I consider this book part of my "big" three that I recommend to my own clientele.
1. Children of the future

2. Summerhill School

3. You Are Your Child's First Teacher

Are a much needed trio for todays-emotional plague- which is worse, in so many ways-than it was during Reich's time. I also like his use of Blakes quote on Children of the Future- little did they know, society still rests on the abyss.

Draw back- this edition is editted by Higgins, the Wolf translation- is much much better....

[Esa Ruoho · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We live in a community of people not so that we can suppress and dominate eachother or make each other miserable but so that we can better and more reliably satisfy all life's healthy needs." Wilhelm Reich, "Children of the Future", page 221

[Blake Callens · Rating 1 out of 5]

The most hubristic book of quack "science" I have ever read, and the most nefarious, in that its victims are children. That a book like this - which claims that a mystic power of "orgone bioenergy" can be inculcated in an infant by placing them in a box made of nothing more than wood and metal - is almost universally praised here shows the mass hysteria of our postmodern society, through its worship of self-actualization; that Reich's explicit goal was to sexualize prepubescent children, shows its utter depravity.

The author's dogmatic adherence to the Rousseauian myth of the natural man serves as the basis for endless, supposed "eureka" moments littered throughout the book. There is no footnote that is not self-referential, no qualification, for these pseudo-scientific statements. Every expectation from society inhibits the true development of the child, who is able to completely self-regulate. When a mother has followed Reich's teaching, from the time of her daughter's birth, and her then teenage daughter is not interested in having promiscuous sex with other teenagers, it is proof that the mother failed to follow the instructions correctly. "Healthy" children should be taught by their parents and public school teachers to have "genital love relationships" with each other from the youngest age.

The most frightening thing is that my used copy of this book had a stamp on the inside cover for the physician's office it previously resided in.

[David]

Brilliant.

[Skip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. An eye opener that will never be adhered to.

[G]

I'm skeptical of orgone quackery but Reich makes many important observations on our societal conception of health qua obedience to oppressive social structures, primary vs. secondary/imposed/perverse human "nature", need for undoing the nature/culture divide, why so many attempts to improve the human condition have failed, etc.

It's still interesting even if the nature of these investigations is not properly scientific.

[Luca Pelorosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lettura impegnativa. Soprattutto per le competenze di base sull'argomento che mi sto costruendo. Devo ammettere però che nonostante sia per me una lettura "impegnativa" pone un sacco di semi per le mie conoscenze future.

A prescindere dal mio interesse personale sull'argomento, mi sono fatto l'idea che possa essere utile come lettura per chi ha figli o voglia avere figli.

[Nilay Aslan · Rating 3 out of 5]

İ just wished to read more details in the beginning of the book about OİRC and the cases. otherwise loved the different point of view about parenting, their own character and its effects on Children..

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that certainly makes you question many of the things you've been taught before. For those of us who grew up in more conservative, traditional or patriarchal societies, or even societies where stressed out mothers rarely expressed their love by physical embrace this book might give many insights.

The more I read Wilhelm the more i think that in between mad scientist and genius.lately i am inclined to think he was latter.

In words of Reich, "The fundamental question is: Can hypocrites, moralists, and weaklings solve the problems of life for young people? Our reply is: No. For as long as the laws for living are written and imposed by weaklings, hypocrites, and impotent individuals, the mass of young people cannot hope to find a solution to their sexual problem, which is one of the most burning ones affecting them."

[Edward Garfred · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a long story of how ended up with this book, 'cause the world has made it very difficult to know what every humans right know about their sexuality and sensual living. This book would definitely fill in the blanks of your so far understanding of why there a some much contradiction within oneself in realising the true nature of life and what is being constantly distorted about it in the name of moral, culture, religion and unethical science driven by profit or selfish interests...