These companion volumes, long out of print, are now presented together for the first time so that the reader may better grasp their essential unity. In Ether, God and Devil, Wilhelm Reich describes the process of functional thinking and reveals how the inner logic of this objective thought technique led him to the discovery of cosmic orgone energy. In Cosmic Superimposition, Reich steps beyond the character structure of man to an understanding of how man is rooted in nature. The super-imposition of two orgone-energy systems which is demonstrable in the genital embrace is revealed as a common functioning principal that exists in all of nature. Concluding this work, Reich returns to the human sphere "to ponder about the greatest riddle of all: the ability of man to think, and by mere thinking to know what nature is and how it works."

2019 Reprint of 1949 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. Originally published in the Annals of the Orgone Institute, Number 2, 1949. In Ether, God and Devil, Reich describes his process of thinking--which he called orgonomic functionalism--and shows how the inner logic of this objective thought technique led him to the discovery of the cosmic orgone energy. According to Reich, "The cosmic orgone energy was discovered as a result of the consistent application of the functional technique of thinking. It was these methodical, rigidly-controlled thought processes that led from one fact to another, weaving--across a span of about twenty-five years--seemingly disparate facts into a unified picture of the function of nature; a picture which is submitted to the verdict of the world as the still unfinished doctrinal framework of Orgonomy." Wilhelm Reich, (from Chapter One of Ether, God and Devil)

These companion volumes, long out of print, are now presented together for the first time so that the reader may better grasp their essential unity. In Ether, God and Devil, Wilhelm Reich describes the process of functional thinking and reveals how the inner logic of this objective thought technique led him to the discovery of cosmic orgone energy. In Cosmic Superimposition, Reich steps beyond the character structure of man to an understanding of how man is rooted in nature. The super-imposition of two orgone-energy systems which is demonstrable in the genital embrace is revealed as a common functioning principal that exists in all of nature. Concluding this work, Reich returns to the human sphere "to ponder about the greatest riddle of all: the ability of man to think, and by mere thinking to know what nature is and how it works."

Every culture has its own word for this nothing. Synonymous with the idea of absolute space and time, the ether is an ancient concept that has continually determined our definition of environment, our relations to each other, and our ideas about technology. It has also instigated our desire to know something irrepressibly beyond all that. In Ether, the histories of mysticism and the unseen merge with discussions of the technology and science of electromagnetism. Joe Milutis explores how the ideas of Anton Mesmer and Isaac Newton have manifested themselves as the inspiration for occult theories and artistic practices from Edgar Allan Poe’s works to today. In doing so, he demonstrates that fading in and out of scientific favor has not prevented the ether, a uniquely immaterial concept, from being a powerful force for material progress. Milutis deftly weaves the origins of electrical science with alchemical lore, nineteenth-century industrialism with yogic science, and network space with dreams of the absolute. Linking the ether to phenomena such as radio noise, space travel, avant-garde film, and the rise of the Internet, he lends it an almost physical presence and currency. From Federico Fellini to Gilles Deleuze, Japanese anime to Italian Futurism, Jean Cocteau to NASA, Shirley Temple to Wilhelm Reich, Ether traverses geographical boundaries, spiritual planes, and the divide between popular and high culture. Navigating more than three hundred years of the ether’s cultural and artistic history, Milutis reveals its continuous reinvention and tangible impact without ever losing sight of its ephemeral, elusive nature. The true meaning of ether, Milutis suggests, may be that it can never be fully grasped. Joe Milutis is assistant professor of art at the University of South Carolina. His writing has appeared in such publications as ArtByte, Wide Angle, Film Comment, and Cabinet.

For Cosmic Kitty, living in Joy-Ville is peaceful, loving, and full of friends, but unlike her neighbors, she craves adventure. She has a special relationship with nature, especially the sun and moon. However, she is also a soul on a mission to visit other places and other planets. When she has a chance to visit another dimension, she finds herself in a parallel universe that mirrors her own. But in this version of her home, she is not that nice. Cosmic Kitty (or Katherine as she is known in this new world) is actually the playground bully! Using mindfulness techniques, Cosmic Kitty must face herself and find ways to cope with this new world and then find her way home. Along the way she discovers what she always knew deep down that she has a great deal of help from many unusual and divine places!

"Listen, Little Man! "is a great physician's quiet talk to each one of us, the average human being, the Little Man. Written in 1946 in answer to the gossip and defamation that plagued his remarkable career, it tells how Reich watched, at first naively, then with amazement, and finally with horror, at what the Little Man does to himself; how he suffers and rebels; how he esteems his enemies and murders his friends; how, wherever he gains power as a "representative of the people," he misuses this power and makes it crueler than the power it has supplanted.Reich has us to look honestly at ourselves and to assume responsibility for our lives and for the great untapped potential that lies in the depth of human nature.