Make some bions this week

What are bions? According to Wilhelm Reich they are the elementary material of life — the half-way point between living and nonliving things. According to others, they don't exist. But if they did, you could make them.

Wilhelm Reich had a long and varied career, if not a celebrated one. During his time, he worked in a lot of different fields. He was a student of Freud's, and worked in psychotherapy. He developed the theory of orgastic potency, which focused on releasing the emotions and having good orgasms. Although that sort of thing was en vogue at the time, Reich didn't get on very well in the field, partially due to his insistence on having his patients undress and get massaged.

His next fascination was biochemistry. After some research, he announced that he had discovered bions. Bions were the most basic component of life. They were visible, bright blue, when he heated up solutions made from such things as egg whites, grass, metal, and gelatin. When poured on top of solids, a solution containing bions, Reich claimed, would create bacteria. Others countered that those solids were probably already coated with bacteria, but Reich carried on.


It wasn't long before Reich started injecting bions into mice. Some died, but occasionally he saw traces of orgone. Orgone was a cosmic life force, and Reich also saw it when he looked up in the sky through a contraption he called an "organoscope." Few followed up on this, and so as you can see, orgone theory is rich with potential discovery. If you want to spend the weekend straining egg whites and making "bions," have a look at a couple of recipes. Otherwise, just eat some orgone-free turkey.

Top Image: Luc Viatour.

[Via The Bion Experiments]