Ola Raknes - A Rare Aptitude For Communication

A Rare Aptitude For Communication

Out of all that he wrote, it was the article from 1953 whose title in English was "The Orgonomic Concept of Health and its Social Consequences"D that Raknes himself valued most highly. It presents a comprehensive psychological and biological perspective of the term health and has garnered praise from many directions and has also been translated into many languages. Many people have nevertheless asserted "Liv og religion" ("Life and Religion") to be Raknes' best article, originally a lecture given to the 4th Nordic Psychologist Meeting in 1956 and which deals with the living, the very feeling of being alive. It has been described as "a wise man's integrated understanding of what he has encountered in life, but also an encompassing, non-confessional faith." (Dannevig, 1975) Characteristic of his seemingly rock solid grasp of language as a tool for the conveying of thoughts, Raknes, being a lifelong proponent of the radical Nynorsk language, presented his speech in an "impeccable, pure in style and somewhat conservative Riksmål (a very conservative variant of the Bokmål language) in consideration of the Danes." (Dannevig, 1975)