Friday, March 11, 2016

The Orgasm Biopathy: Breakthrough to the Biological

A preliminary excursion into biology, inspired by from the chapter "The Breakthrough to the Biological" in The Function of the Orgasm by Wilhelm Reich. Drawings done on my iPad; the two diagrams are from Reich.

Life must be rooted into the physical. Early attempts relied on teleological or metaphysical language to make sense of something so eminent. Some more current biological explanations explain life in an abstract rational language based on reflection, while life from a phenomenal perspective operates intuitively. 

It is true that inclusive fitness is what determines the fate and characteristics of species, while not caring much for the individual. But this is known in hindsight. Living things do not occupy their time with such unforeseeable consequences . 

Sexuality for the individual is not exclusively concerned with reproduction or even genital pleasure early on. Sexuality is the qualitative expression of pleasure from the quantitative expansion of the body and its internal content into the environment. Sexuality involves the physical processes of the whole body. It is the purpose of every organism; not in a teleological way, but from the continued activity of life. I see this conception of sexuality not at odds with the traditional view of sex being for the propagation of the species, but as the complementary psychology of individual sexuality.

"Procreation is a function of sexuality, and not vice versa. Sexuality can no longer be regarded as an unfortunate concomitant of the preservation of the species." Wilhelm Reich 

Reproduction and the primacy of genital copulation are not the original impetus for sexuality for the individual, as this develops later in life. Sexuality is a lifelong process from the very beginning of life. It is a biological process of expansion and discharge into the environment from the built up energy of the body. It can be described as a transfer of electrical potential energy into the mechanical energy of bodily motion. Success in this endeavor continues the growth and development of the individual. The health of mind is related to sexual health.

The orgasm's function is the continuation of the individual organism which comes to serve reproductive functions. The orgasm services the expansion of living things by making such effort pleasurable by not only providing relaxation after a release of tension, but by delivering greater pleasure for greater stores of tension. The orgasm is life in its most potent immediate form. The expression of the "will to power."

Higher potential energy-> greater kinetic energy. A highly charged current will flow to less charged one; flow from first to second. Static electrical energy is converted into current energy. Equalization takes place. Equalization presupposes a difference in potential energy.

"Since the concentrations and structures of the membranes are not homogeneous, differences develop in the tensions at the border surfaces, and, simultaneously, differences in potential of varying energy." Wilhelm Reich

Muscles discharge as energy in the body is in constant motion from places of higher to places of lower potential. Atoms have a fixed quantum of electrical charge; depending on their position atoms cations or anions, having positive or negative charge.

There is a four part formula for the orgasm: mechanical tension, electrical charge, electrical discharge, mechanical relaxation. 

Tension- sexual organs fill up with blood; build up of potential electrical energy
Charge- transfer of mechanical to electrical energy; electrical excitation sent to brain
Discharge- muscular convulsion discharges electrical charge, release/flow of fluids. 
Relaxation- flowing off of body fluids to areas of lower pressure, towards exterior. Drive towards equalization. 

Something that expands in all directions forms a sphere. As internal pressure increases, surface tension of the exterior resists this expansion.


















Two things can happen. The sphere can burst, like a balloon. Or the accumulated charge from the fluid tension can be discharged. 
If the body or body part remains in one piece, then the shape will become serpentine while expelling material, becoming more linear as the discharge must go in one direction to avoid bursting. 
Biology shows us how the function of the orgasm is observable among the most simple organisms and common life processes

Mitosis, the division of the cell, reflects this process at the most basic level. The cell is limited in size because the membrane must keep what is inside inside. As the inside grows, internal pressure and surface tension increase. To avoid bursting, the cell shape becomes a little wavy, like the serpentine pattern, but with one trough. The energy can be discharged into the separation of another cell rather than a continuation of the pattern which changes the shape of the cell, which requires constant effort.
The single cell amoeba sustains itself by moving the edge of the membrane to where food is, by distributing the body fluid cytoplasm to areas of the membrane edge, creating pseudopods to move in a particular direction. 
The bladder expels fluid from the body after expansion, increased internal pressure and surface tension. The trail of urine approaches a line the more fluid is being expelled and more effort is being used. 
Organisms are not homogeneous in structure. Differences develop in surface tension on the surface, and the quantities of potential energy inside the body. Energy is distributed unevenly, produced and built up internally. Organic bodies can expand and contract. 


The Inorganic is homogeneous; energy is evenly distributed on the surface, no internal production or build up of energy. The entire body is rigid in structure. 

Muscular armoring makes our orientation to the world rigid, inorganic. Our body still attracts and builds up energy, but does not allow free movement or release. The muscles constrict the flow of fluids like blood in order to prevent the expression of sexuality. Just as when we try to hold in urine when the bladder becomes full to prevent the visible release of what is inside to the exterior. External excitation is reflected or kept inside. 

The twin drives of sexual pleasure and anxious pain can be mapped onto the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. The parasympathetic nervous system aims outward towards pleasure and expansion. The sympathetic nervous system draws inward, exciting the body against external threats. 

Sympathetic- "fight or flight" and homeostasis, basic living functions. Eye dilation, sweating, adrenaline. 

Parasympathetic-"Feed and breed" or "rest and digest." Body at rest, after eating. Crying, peeing, digesting. 

Pain and suffering are related to a build up of tension, but which doesn't lead to expansion for the organism or a pleasurable discharge for the organism. Discharge takes effort to do, rather than being a lessening of tension. Internal pressure increases, to the point where the energy can only be released by external pressure. 

Repression of sexual energy puts one under the control of others for tension reduction. The release of energy built up into internal pressure can only be pleasurable if given an outlet to where there is lower pressure. This is what an organism does naturally, according to its physical constitution. It is unnatural to go against the functioning of the body, which aims outward, and instead increasing tension without release for a pleasurable end. 

When tension and energy are increased without controlled release, the pressure turns inward. The individual turns away from the world and aims to avoid an increase of personal expansion.

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