Should I pursue this course?

Iron

Dagobah Resident
As some of you know, I mentioned somewhere else that I was attending post-grad level classes about Wilhelm Reich derived techniques of releasing emotional armour.

But, as time passed, some concerns grew in myself.
The people who give out the classes are well meaning, but I feel a odd "air" there. They think of Reich as the most important source of knowledge, and seem to pay not much attention to other works. Then again is a psychology class, with specific goals, I cannot hope they have the same integrative vision of this forum. I have a feeling that I dont need these people, that I can read the books and inform myself, and extract whatever is useful, if there is anything. But I wonder if this is just narcissism or my predator trying to give me a hard time, steering me away from something meaningfull.

Another thing that worries me, is that they want me to pay using pre dated checks, and in past classes they took one of the checks and cashed it too soon. Since I borrowed the check from my mother, it generated a unpleasant situation.
This time the checks would be mine, and if cashed early would leave me in serious trouble.

Im in doubt about what to do. Actually Im tempted to not do these classes anymore, but Im afraid I would be losing precious knowledge...

On another note, the hardwork of years, and recently the last few months in special, has paid off - Im finally graduated, and now I am a master student.
With my new paycheck I can finally buy books from Red Pill and donate for the cause, which makes me very happy!
 
Perhaps you could always go back to and through the material if there comes a time in which you doubt or need refreshed. I keep a list of most of the books that I read for that reason. I also sometimes have to cover and recover material several times in order for it to soak in.
 
Maybe you can attend these classes later? (next semester?) There are some red flags, but who knows, maybe you can use some time to think about it without the pressure of having to attend right now.
 
Iron said:
On another note, the hardwork of years, and recently the last few months in special, has paid off - Im finally graduated, and now I am a master student.
With my new paycheck I can finally buy books from Red Pill and donate for the cause, which makes me very happy!

Congratulations, Iron :)

Iron said:
As some of you know, I mentioned somewhere else that I was attending post-grad level classes about Wilhelm Reich derived techniques of releasing emotional armour.

But, as time passed, some concerns grew in myself.
The people who give out the classes are well meaning, but I feel a odd "air" there. They think of Reich as the most important source of knowledge, and seem to pay not much attention to other works. Then again is a psychology class, with specific goals, I cannot hope they have the same integrative vision of this forum. I have a feeling that I dont need these people, that I can read the books and inform myself, and extract whatever is useful, if there is anything. But I wonder if this is just narcissism or my predator trying to give me a hard time, steering me away from something meaningfull.

Another thing that worries me, is that they want me to pay using pre dated checks, and in past classes they took one of the checks and cashed it too soon. Since I borrowed the check from my mother, it generated a unpleasant situation.
This time the checks would be mine, and if cashed early would leave me in serious trouble.

Im in doubt about what to do. Actually Im tempted to not do these classes anymore, but Im afraid I would be losing precious knowledge...

Regarding the classes, it looks like you're doing a good job of observing reality IMO. If you feel that there is something off, you're most probably onto something I would think... The fact that somebody means well doesn't necessarily mean that the advice is actually good for you. And didn't the C's say that false knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge?

The way the organisers have dealt with your payment sounds dishonest to me, so if they lie to you concerning money, one could question the information content in their classes...

Maybe you can gather a bit more information before you decide one way or the other, fear of missing out on something is probably not the best foundation for making decisions?
 
Iron said:
As some of you know, I mentioned somewhere else that I was attending post-grad level classes about Wilhelm Reich derived techniques of releasing emotional armour.

But, as time passed, some concerns grew in myself.
The people who give out the classes are well meaning, but I feel a odd "air" there. They think of Reich as the most important source of knowledge, and seem to pay not much attention to other works. Then again is a psychology class, with specific goals, I cannot hope they have the same integrative vision of this forum. I have a feeling that I dont need these people, that I can read the books and inform myself, and extract whatever is useful, if there is anything. But I wonder if this is just narcissism or my predator trying to give me a hard time, steering me away from something meaningfull.

For what it's worth, I think you need to pay attention to your discomfort here and consider removing yourself from the situation.


iron said:
Another thing that worries me, is that they want me to pay using pre dated checks, and in past classes they took one of the checks and cashed it too soon. Since I borrowed the check from my mother, it generated a unpleasant situation.
This time the checks would be mine, and if cashed early would leave me in serious trouble.

That alone would make me disconnect. Something is not above board here.


iron said:
Im in doubt about what to do. Actually Im tempted to not do these classes anymore, but Im afraid I would be losing precious knowledge...

What do you see about it that is 'precious' - what you've written here so far seem contrary to that, so I'm wondering what the 'hook' is?


iron said:
On another note, the hardwork of years, and recently the last few months in special, has paid off - Im finally graduated, and now I am a master student.
With my new paycheck I can finally buy books from Red Pill and donate for the cause, which makes me very happy!

Good news! :)
 
The people who give out the classes are well meaning, but I feel a odd "air" there. They think of Reich as the most important source of knowledge, and seem to pay not much attention to other works.

In my experience this seems unfortunately to be the case with most of the 'alternative' people; they find something useful and different, like Reiki or Yoga, and then they shut off their brains for any new input because the answers to everything lies in e.g. Reiki.

Don't get me wrong, I practise bodywork, yoga and Reiki, and find them quite useful-but there's so much more to learn! Of course, a lot depends on the teacher. My teacher in Reiki and bodywork is very open minded, and we often discuss many other topics - from UFO:s to psychopathology-and no one is suggesting that Reiki is a solution to those problems.

So, I would say that you are right to be concerned about your teachers if they think that Reich is the solution to everything. Reich was a corageous pioneer of the body-mind connection (at least in the West), but it was just the beginning. A lot has been learned since then by other researchers.

Maybe you could just learn the basics of 'vegetotherapy', and then move on?
 
anart said:
For what it's worth, I think you need to pay attention to your discomfort here and consider removing yourself from the situation.

Yes.. Im just being carefull to not confuse genuine discomfort, with the predator trying to undermine my efforts.

anart said:
iron said:
Another thing that worries me, is that they want me to pay using pre dated checks, and in past classes they took one of the checks and cashed it too soon. Since I borrowed the check from my mother, it generated a unpleasant situation.
This time the checks would be mine, and if cashed early would leave me in serious trouble.

That alone would make me disconnect. Something is not above board here.

They claimed it was their secretary's mistake, however she still works there.

anart said:
iron said:
Im in doubt about what to do. Actually Im tempted to not do these classes anymore, but Im afraid I would be losing precious knowledge...

What do you see about it that is 'precious' - what you've written here so far seem contrary to that, so I'm wondering what the 'hook' is?

After I started learning psychology for real with this forum, and numerous other threads that opened after that first exposure, I realized what people had said to me for years: I have somewhat of a gift to learn and understand human behaviour and motivation. And I began to realize also the extent of my own wounded soul.
So, I were looking for some place to learn more of the pillars of body work, mainly I expected to learn more about the "why Baha works so well" by learning more about were it all began, or better, was rediscovered, here in the west.

I dont know... ever since I discovered Reich, I admired his work. However I realize that he is not the demigod his followers try to make of him. I gotta reflect about what you asked.

anart said:
iron said:
On another note, the hardwork of years, and recently the last few months in special, has paid off - Im finally graduated, and now I am a master student.
With my new paycheck I can finally buy books from Red Pill and donate for the cause, which makes me very happy!

Good news! :)

Yeah, they are! I had contributed sporadically for the cause in past, and Im really happy of being now in a position to help a little more.
 
Aragorn said:
The people who give out the classes are well meaning, but I feel a odd "air" there. They think of Reich as the most important source of knowledge, and seem to pay not much attention to other works.

In my experience this seems unfortunately to be the case with most of the 'alternative' people; they find something useful and different, like Reiki or Yoga, and then they shut off their brains for any new input because the answers to everything lies in e.g. Reiki.

Don't get me wrong, I practise bodywork, yoga and Reiki, and find them quite useful-but there's so much more to learn! Of course, a lot depends on the teacher. My teacher in Reiki and bodywork is very open minded, and we often discuss many other topics - from UFO:s to psychopathology-and no one is suggesting that Reiki is a solution to those problems.

So, I would say that you are right to be concerned about your teachers if they think that Reich is the solution to everything. Reich was a corageous pioneer of the body-mind connection (at least in the West), but it was just the beginning. A lot has been learned since then by other researchers.

Maybe you could just learn the basics of 'vegetotherapy', and then move on?

To learn the basics of vegetotherapy was the initial goal.
Another thing that concerns me that there are constant remarks that Reich must be put in the proper light or people would not understand, and that "the material is too hard to understand alone" and that implicitly "only they" understand the keys.

They say that the other groups working with Reichian methods are misguided, and spend a good deal of the classes sometimes merely as if defending and justyfing Reich, as if they were trying to prove constantly that the method is really superior, and you need proper guidance to understand, all the while being kinda misterious in delivering this guidance.

Every now and then is mentioned some principle that seems to work like a "teaser". They mention the principle en passant, and avoid direct explanations of the method saying it is advanced.
Also, when I direct question them for the supposed "evidence" of what Reich claimed, they either say that they "soon will show" or they avoid.

I think I spent far too much time with you guys and now I want to see evidence wherever its available. :)

EDIT : English correction
 
Iron said:
Another thing that concerns me that there are constant remarks that Reich must be put in the proper light or people would not understand, and that "the material is too hard to understand alone" and that implicitly "only they" understand the keys.

They say that the other groups working with Reichian methods are misguided, and spend a good deal of the classes sometimes merely as if defending and justyfing Reich, as if they were trying to prove constantly that the method is really superior, and you need proper guidance to understand, all the while being kinda misterious in delivering this guidance.

Every now and then is mentioned some principle that seems to work like a "teaser". They mention the principle en passant, and avoid direct explanations of the method saying it is advanced.
Also, when I direct question them for the supposed "evidence" of what Reich claimed, they either say that they "soon will show" or they avoid.

I think I spended far too much time with you guys and now I want to see evidence wherever its available. :)

Sounds to me like a group of people who have co-opted his work to benefit themselves and, in that, are controlling the flow of information in order to make more money. It's one of the oldest scams in the book - and really unfortunate. I'd look for either another source teaching it or work on my own, but that's just me and my standards are exceedingly high after being around this network for so many years. If you think you can still get something out of it, then I can see why you'd stay - but definitely keep your eyes open, because all indications are that the students there are being taken for a bit of a ride...
 
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