BY Matthew Appleton

The Fulcrum, Issue 93 September 2024

The Pioneering Work of William Garner Sutherland & Wilhelm Reich

In the first half of the twentieth century two men from very different disciplines dared to follow their own paths of enquiry that took them into a realm of natural functioning beyond that of  the prevailing mechanistic model of nature. Through experiential and experimental means, they discovered a palpable and measurable life energy at work in the human body and  throughout the natural world. Although this life or bio-energy had been known and utilised by  ancient and indigenous cultures for millennia and was still used medically in traditional  Eastern traditions, such as acupuncture or pranic healing, its existence proved extremely controversial in twentieth-century Europe and America.

These two men were William Garner Sutherland and Wilhelm Reich. Sutherland, an osteopath, developed the cranial concept, which was to become the basis of our present-day work as craniosacral therapists. Reich, a medical doctor and psychoanalyst, shifted from the  talking cure to working directly with the body to release repressed emotions. The term armouring in relation to the somatic holding back of aliveness through muscular tensions comes from Reich, the progenitor of modern-day body or somatic psychotherapy. As far as I  know, neither man was aware of the other’s work, yet a brief outline of their life paths and discoveries show remarkable similarities. It is beyond the scope of this article to look at the  ways in which the work of Sutherland or Reich can inform and expand upon the work of the  other. Having trained in both traditions and utilised aspects of each in my work as a therapist, I have no doubt that there is great benefit to be had from such cross-fertilisation. However,  the intention here is simply to show that they both are talking about the same life energy and  come to the same essential conclusions about how it functions as a biological energy in living systems and as a cosmic energy throughout nature. The differences that do exist,  which I have not explored in this article, are simply to do with differences in emphasis, arising out of their respective professions as osteopath and psychoanalyst, rather than any essential contradiction.¹

My hope is that drawing attention to how Sutherland and Reich complement and reinforce  each other’s work will inspire the reader to explore further.

Similar Paths & Complementary Discoveries

Sutherland (1873-1954) began his career as a student of Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathy. Reich (1897-1957) began his career as a student of Sigmund Freud, the founder  of psychoanalysis. Their personal enquiries into the nature of life led them both to the discovery of a specific life force at approximately the same time – during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Sutherland called this life force the breath of life, Reich called it orgone.

This life force is active within the fluids of the body. Sutherland describes it as a fluid within a  fluid. Reich wrote, Every living organism is a membranous structure containing a quantity of  orgone energy in its body fluids; it constitutes an ‘orgonotic system’.² Sutherland differentiated the breath of life as, something that does not mix [with the physical fluid], something that has potency as the thing that makes [the fluid move]. Reich made the same differentiation, … we distinguish between two kinds of pulsatory movements in living matter: the pulsatory movement of orgone energy in the organism, and its effect, the pulsatory mechanical movement of body fluids.³

The breath of life/orgone energy expressed itself as a subtle pulsation. Sutherland called it  primary respiration, Reich called it orgonomic pulsation.

It also expressed itself as a longitudinal fluctuation. Sutherland talked about the Tide and Reich described protoplasmic streaming.

Sutherland and Reich both stressed the importance of the free flow of the potency of the  breath of life/orgone energy as essential to physical health and emotional well-being. The potency of the Tide, writes Sutherland, is what we have to consider – something that has  more power in the reduction of membranous articular strains of the cranium than any force  you can safely apply from the outside.⁴ According to Reich, a positive, giving attitude in life is  possible only when the organism functions as a total unit, only when the plasmatic excitations with the corresponding emotions can freely pass all organs and tissues.⁵

Both saw this life force as a specific biological expression of a larger force that was  ubiquitous throughout nature. The same Intelligence that governs the tides of the ocean, governs the rotation of the earth, the sun, the moon, and all the planets.⁶ (Sutherland)

The same energy that guides the movements of animals and the growth of all living  substances, indeed also guides the stars⁷. (Reich)

Both describe the larger field from which the breath of life/biological orgone was metabolised as fluidic in nature. Where is that cerebrospinal fluid?, asks Sutherland, Is it only in my body?  No. It is in each and every one of your bodies. There is an ocean of cerebrospinal fluid in this room.⁸ It would be absurd to consider that Sutherland was talking about the  physical cerebrospinal fluid. He is clearly referring to the larger energetic field. This ocean of the primordial energy of the universe, states Reich, is the source of the single eruptions into single living lives…⁹

Both felt that their discoveries were essentially of a spiritual nature and both were quick to  point out that what they meant by spiritual was not some otherworldly dimension but a  creative force at work in nature. According to Sutherland, I don’t mean the spirit world, no! I mean the SPIRITUAL…¹⁰ I know that what you call ‘God’ actually exists, writes Reich, but in a different way from what you think: as the primal cosmic energy in the universe, as the  love in your body, as your honesty and your feeling of nature in you and around you.¹¹

Both recognised that a deep stillness underlay the motion of life. One of Sutherland’s  favourite quotes to his students was ‘Be Still and Know’, a contraction of the biblical quotation Be still and know that I am God, from Psalm 46, verse 10. This emphasis on stillness enabled Sutherland to palpate even more subtle levels of primary respiration and to come  into deeper contact with the spiritual essence that he had long felt to be at work in the human body.

Reich did not emphasise stillness as much as Sutherland but the following passages reveal  his instinctive grasp of a silent presence as a vast wellspring of potential. The waves emerge  from the ocean [of primordial orgone energy] and return to it. They cannot exist or come  about without the ocean. The depth of the ocean does not enter into the making of a ripple  [i.e. life form] at all. Still, without he ocean there are no ocean surface ripples, and the depth  of the ocean is active even in the littlest ripple… The stillness of the ocean of human living was mistaken by the ripples for non-existence of an ocean at all.¹²

Both described this life force as having light properties. Just for a moment, says Sutherland,  think of your body being formed from… glass. That you are a glass house through which this breath of life may be reflected. Not even touching your house, your glass house, but being  reflected through and through. See that sun reflecting itself upon the moon and then see the reflection from the moon all through the ocean. Reflection that does not touch the moon, that does not touch the ocean, but lights them up. Makes a beautiful picture. Light. Liquid  light! ¹³

Orgone energy, states Reich, ‘emits’ or ‘develops light’, or, expressed differently, it functions  in such a manner that our visual sense perceives light; it luminates.¹⁴ The silent, calm glow  of living Life, he says, cannot ever be destroyed by any means. It is a basic manifestation of  the very energy that makes the universe run its course. The glow is in the dark night’s sky. It  is the silent quiver in the sunlit sky that makes you forget bad jokes. It is the calm glow in 
the love organs of the glowworms. It hovers over the treetops at dawn and dusk, and it is in  the eyes of a trusting child…¹⁵

During their later years, both became focused on working with babies and children as a form  of preventative medicine. Lecturing in 1948, Sutherland began to refer to the subject of ‘bent  twigs’. I am sure you are familiar with the quotation, ‘As the twig is bent, so the tree inclines’.  In other words, the osseous tissue may become bent way back in the prenatal stage, with  resulting irregularities which must be taken into consideration in diagnosis of cranial lesions… some of these things occur prenatally, natally and postnatally.¹⁶

His wife Adah writes, From the depths of his heart Dr. Sutherland stressed, ‘These little “bent  twigs” are all-important!’… [He] felt a compelling urge to observe and analyse a greater  variety of pathological conditions in infants and children than his local practice offered. The  only solution was to go where these opportunities were to be had. He explained to me, ‘This is research I must go into as thoroughly as possible. For a while it will mean more outgo than income and it isn’t going to be easy, but it must be done.’ ¹⁷

In January 1950 Reich wrote to A.S. Neill¹⁸ … I returned to New York at the end of November, and swiftly chose from a list of about 120 physicians, educators, nurses, social  workers, psychologists, etc., about 40 of the best-suited people, and began to establish an Orgonomic Infant’s Research Centre for the STUDY OF HEALTH and not of sickness. We  must finally get away from pathology and start our work with the healthy child.¹⁹

Both felt deeply connected with the natural world and during the last years of their lives lived away from the busyness of the city. Sutherland moved to Pacific Grove in California, a setting with deer roaming about and raiding gardens, with quail in the brush, with gulls, frogs, migrating waterfowl, spouting whales, barking seals, the husky voice of the foghorn, the  cheerful lighthouse beam in the night hours, churning surf, veils of drifting fog – a composite design we had known existed somewhere. Now we were in the midst of it, and it was home. And home was a friendly little house christened the Fulcrum. His wife Adah wrote, Dr. Sutherland knew that a fulcrum is a still point; a place of rest.²¹

Reich founded ‘Orgonon’ in Rangeley, Maine, converting an abandoned farm to become both a home and workplace. The farm was part woodland and part meadow… The hill which  Reich thought would be the ideal site for a future observatory had a beautiful view of the mountains and lakes.22 Over the years Reich built an observatory platform, research laboratories and student accommodation, which were home to a number of  international conferences.

Both died with their work largely ignored by their professional colleagues and the world at  large.

Conclusion

This brief review of the similarities between the work of Sutherland and Reich shows such  clear correlations that it would be hard to dismiss them as simply coincidence. It is my  contention that these discoveries open us to a field of scientific discovery that has been too  quickly dismissed by the world at large in favour of a mechanistic approach to health,  whereby individual symptoms are treated without regard to the whole person. The holistic view inherent in the discoveries of Sutherland and Reich sees the organism as a whole with  a dynamic life energy that has an innate ability to heal and is interconnected with nature and  its surroundings through the medium of a universal life energy. Rather than harness the healing potential of life energy, the current mainstream focus on individual symptoms often  suppresses the organism’s capacity for self-healing by the use of mechanistic and pharmaceutical means. This drives disease processes deeper into the organism, where they manifest as chronic health issues.23 I would also argue that our attempt to mechanistically dominate our own nature is a reflection of the broader ecological crisis that has arisen from  our attempt to dominate the natural world around us. Our embodied experience of being interconnected with the rest of nature is more than just an idea; it is the spiritual experience  to which both Sutherland and Reich referred.

The bioenergetic basis of health and disease enables us to work with the living wisdom of the body in ways that are beyond the remit of the current mainstream medical paradigm. This  does not mean we need to reject the many benefits of mainstream medicine, but we can give the discoveries of Sutherland and Reich the serious consideration they deserve as pathways to healing ourselves and our relationship with the wider continuum of nature. Whether we  describe this life energy as orgone, potency, the breath of life, biodynamic forces or  whatever, we are able to access the deeper current of life that is our heritage as living beings in a living world. The exclusion of life energy research from mainstream science has historical roots that are beyond the remit of this article but can be found in the battle between  materialism and vitalism in the nineteenth century. The dominant materialistic worldview that  emerged out of this conflict is a dying paradigm that is rapidly proving itself inadequate to the  needs of the present day. It has alienated us from nature and our own living depths. Our work with clients enables them to reconnect with these depths, and further research into the nature of life energy, both in its biological and universal functions, could renew our interconnection
with the natural world, offering new possibilities for the future.

References

1. 1. In respect of this, Reich’s emphasis on sexuality and social reform brought him into conflict with the authorities in ways with which Sutherland did not have to contend.
   2. Reich, Wilhelm. The Cancer Biopathy (p.30). Vision. 1973
   3. Reich, Wilhelm. Ether, God and Devil/Cosmic Superimposition. (p.205) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. New York. 1973
   4. Sutherland, Wiliam Garner. Teachings in the Science of Osteopathy (p.31) Rudra Press.  1990
   5. Reich, Wilhelm. Character Analysis 3rd Enlarged Edition (p.385). Noonday. New York.  1961
   6. Sutherland, William, Garner. Contributions of Thought (p.203) Sutherland Teaching Foundation. 1967
   7. Reich, Wilhelm. Ether, God and Devil/Cosmic Superimposition (p.94)
   8. Sutherland, William Garner. Teachings in the Science of Osteopathy. (p. 169)
   9. Reich, Wilhelm. The Murder of Christ. (p.147) Noonday Press. New York. 1972
   10. Sutherland, William Garner. Ibid. (p.204)
   11. Reich, Wilhelm. Listen Little Man (p.25). Orgone Institute Press. 1948
   12. Reich, Wilhelm. The Murder of Christ. (p.83)
   13. Sutherland, William Garner. Contributions of Thought. (p.206)
   14. Reich, Wilhelm. Ether, God and Devil/Cosmic Superimposition (p. 153)
   15. Reich. Ibid (p.146)
   16. Sutherland, William Garner. Ibid. (p.144)
   17. Sutherland, Adah. With Thinking Fingers (pp. 69-70) The Cranial Academy. 1962
   18. The founder of Summerhill School. See Appleton, Matthew. A Free Range Childhood. Self-Regulation at Summerhill School. Gale Centre Publications. 2002
   19. Reich, Wilhelm & Neill, A.S. ‘Record of a Friendship. The Correspondence of Wilhelm Reich  and A.S. Neill’ (p.269) Victor Gollancz Ltd. London. 1982.
   20. Sutherland, Adah. With Thinking Fingers. (pp.91-92)
   21. Sutherland, Adah. Ibid (p.50)
   22. Ollendorff Reich, Ilsa. Wilhelm Reich. A Personal Biography (p.68) Elek. 1969
   23. See my articles ‘Holism and the Laws of Nature in the Healing Process’, The Fulcrum, issue  74, 2018 and ‘Across the Generations,Through the Shadows’, The Fulcrum issue 75, 2018

Further Information
Organisations that have or are doing ongoing research in the field of Reich’s works:
www.orgonomicscience.org
www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org
www.wilhelmreich.gr/en
www.orgonomy.org
www.orgonelab.org/cart/naturalenergy.htm

Matthew Appleton lives and works as a craniosacral therapist and psychotherapist in Bristol. In his therapeutic practice, he specialises in working with babies and children and supports  adults with pre- and perinatal trauma. A member of the International Society of Prenatal and  Perinatal Psychology and Medicine and co-founder of Conscious Embodiment Trainings, he has more than twenty years of experience lecturing and facilitating workshops internationally.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the CSTA.