Man's right to know, to learn, to inquire, to make bona fide errors, to investigate human emotions must, by all means, be safe, if the word "freedom" should ever be more than an empty political slogan.
Interpretation
True freedom encompasses the right to gain knowledge and understand emotions, without fear of repercussions.
In this quote, Wilhelm Reich emphasizes the fundamental rights associated with genuine freedom. He argues that for freedom to have real significance beyond mere political rhetoric, individuals must be allowed to explore knowledge and emotions, to learn and make mistakes in the process. This exploration is essential to the human experience and is integral to the concept of freedom itself.
In practice
In a speech advocating for educational reform, one might quote Reich to stress the importance of allowing students to explore their emotions and make mistakes.
Full sexual consciousness and a natural regulation of sexual life mean the end of mystical feelings of any kind. In other words, natural sexuality is the deadly enemy of mystical religion. The church, by making the fight over sexuality the center of its dogmas and of its influence over the masses, confirms this concept.
The working masses of men and women, they and they alone, are responsible for everything that takes place, the good things and the bad things. True enough, they suffer most from a war, but it is their apathy, craving for authority, etc., that is most responsible for making wars possible. It follows of necessity from this responsibility that the working masses of men and women, they and they alone, are capable of establishing lasting peace.
I know that what you call 'God' really exists, but not in the form you think; God is primal cosmic energy, the love in your body, your integrity, and your perception of the nature in you and outside of you.
You think the end justifies the means, however vile. I tell you: the end is the means by which you achieve it. Today's step is tomorrow's life. Great ends cannot be attained by base means. You've proved that in all your social upheavals. The meanness and inhumanity of the means make you mean and inhuman and make the end unattainable.
There is no proof. There are no authorities whatever. No president, Academy, Court of Law, Congress or Senate on this earth has the knowledge or power to decide what will be the knowledge of tomorrow. There is no use in trying to prove something that is unknown to somebody who is ignorant of the unknown, or fearful of its threatening power. Only the good old rules of learning will eventually bring about understanding of what has invaded our earthly existence.
The fact that political ideologies are tangible realities is not a proof of their vitally necessary character. The bubonic plague was an extraordinarily powerful social reality, but no one would have regarded it as vitally necessary.
The fact that we are living does not mean we are not sick.
One day/_x000D_ One day I waited for myself/_x000D_ I said to myself Guillaume it's time you came/_x000D_ So I could know just who I am/_x000D_ I who know others.
Most of God's people are contented to be saved from the hell that is without; they are not so anxious to be saved from the hell that is within.
Let's worship Divinity, but understand the divinity we worship is beyond our comprehension.
A developed country is one that allows all its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment
And homeless near a thousand homes I stood, And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food.
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