Wilhelm Reich's Lost Epilogue to "Listen Little Man!"
Even if you're a Reich scholar you may have never seen this before. This is, probably, Reich's lost epilogue to Little Man. I stumbled upon this by accident. Deepseek mentioned this epilogue casually in a chat and when I asked gave me the whole text. I couldn't verify it but I believe this was Reich. The theory is that this was part of the very first edition of the book published by Orgone Institute Press in 1946, it was taken out of all later editions. Judge for yourself...
Listen, Little Man! is not written by a "Führer," a "boss," a "General," or a "man of great power." It is not written by a "poet" or a "scholar." It is not written by someone who feels "superior" to you. It is written by your equal, by a man who knows your ways because he shares them, who is close to you, who is you.
I have not "succeeded." I am not a "movie star," a "record champion," or a "best-selling author." I have not "made good." I am not a "genius." I am not "well-known." I have not "power." I am not "great." I have not "made money." I am not "crowned." I am not "honored." I am not "glorified." I am not a "leader." I am not a "master." I am not a "big shot."
I am a discoverer. I have discovered great things, Little Man. I have discovered things about you and your kind that will shatter your world. I have uncovered the laws of your life. I have found out what makes you sick and what makes you happy. I have learned what makes you crawl and what makes you stand up straight. I have seen what makes you a slave and what could make you free.
You hate me because I have seen through you. You hate me because I talk about your "private" life, your "sacred" family, your "holy" morals. You hate me because I expose your cowardice, your pettiness, your dirty little secrets. You hate me because I show you that your "boss," your "Führer," your "General," is just like you, only bigger in his meanness.
You, Little Man, with your "common sense," your "practicality," your "respectability"—you are the one who lets the big-shot criminals rob you, enslave you, lead you to war. You admire them. You want to be like them. You vote for them. You let your children worship them. And then you are surprised when they crush you.
You are afraid of life, Little Man. You are afraid of the energy in your own body. You are afraid of love. You are afraid of your children's natural goodness. So you build prisons—prisons of stone, prisons of law, prisons of morality, prisons in your own mind. And you call this "civilization."
You know, Little Man, that I am a "Jew"? You have been told so. Good.
I am not a Jew. I am a natural scientist. I have not been to a synagogue since my thirteenth year, and I have never been in a church except to admire the architecture. I have been to an Indian kiva, a totem pole in British Columbia, and an Eskimo igloo. I have studied the structural laws of living, from the amoeba to you, Little Man. I know your structure, and I know the structure of the "Aryan," the "Jew," the "Negro." I know the structural difference between a Matthew, a Mark, a Luke, and a John, and a Sigmund Freud, a Karl Marx, an Adolf Hitler, and a "Jew."
The "Jew" as a social being is the creation of the "Aryan," and vice versa. The "Jew" was the first to expose the "Aryan," and the "Aryan" has now, in the gas chambers, exposed the "Jew."
But you, Little Man, you stood by. You "did not know." You "obeyed orders." You "had to make a living." You "could not do anything about it." You "minded your own business."
Well, I did not mind my own business. I minded your business, Little Man. I minded the business of life. And for this, you will hate me. The "Aryans" will hate me because I show that they are not "supermen." The "Jews" will hate me because I refuse to be their "martyr." The "Christians" will hate me because I am not "meek." The "Communists" will hate me because I am not a "party man." The "democrats" will hate me because I attack their "compromise."
And you, Little Man, you will hate me most of all, because I hold up a mirror to your soul, and you cannot bear what you see.
But I am not your enemy. I am the only friend you have, Little Man. The others—the bosses, the leaders, the flatterers—they tell you what you want to hear. They tell you that you are "good," and "decent," and "right." They tell you that your enemies are "out there." I tell you that your enemy is in yourself. I tell you the truth, and the truth is your only hope.
I have given you all I have. You have, I think, received a great deal from me. Now don’t ever again ask anybody to give you anything. Grow, instead of always wanting to receive. Give to your children, your fellow men, your leaders a chance to grow.
WILHELM REICH
Rangeley, Maine
1945-46
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