Testimonial letter from Alberta R. Montgomery
This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.
This letter is from Alberta R. Montgomery RN. It is "Exhibit A-339" in the Noles collection.
The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has 2 pages.
 HUGH WHISLE(?) Ph.D. To Whom It May Concern: I am writing in support of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s application to remain in this country as a permanent resident. I am a registered nurse who graduated from the Presbyterian/ University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 1963, and received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois in 1967. Since that time I have received specialized training both as a critical care practitioner and in the area or psychiatric nursing. My clinical experience since 1967 has included 7 years of acute coronary care nursing and 7 years of psychiatric counseling in both in-patient and community settings. I spent one year in foreign travel and study in Central and South America with my husband, an electrical engineer. I am currently employed on an in-patient psychiatric unit of Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver, CO, and as a staff therapist with a group private counseling practice. My first contact with Bhagwan two and a half years ago was through my association with a professional colleague, Stephen Kaufman, M.D., a board certified psychiatrist. We were both employed by Centennial Mental Health Center in Colorado at that time. With his encouragement and under his clinical supervision I began using Rajneesh techniques he had brought back from his studies in India in conducting group therapy sessions with chronically mentally ill clients. The results were remarkable, and completely unexplained by my studies of the Western psychological scholars from Freud to Carl Rogers and A.H. Maslow. Since then I have continued my studies of Bhagwan’s work through his many lectures on tape, reading his books, practicing his meditation techniques, and visiting Rajneeshpuram, Oregon on two occasions. In my professional experience Bhagwan’s work continues to make a unique and valuable contribution to our understanding of the workings of the human mind and the dynamics behind the persistence of human misery and mental illness. The intensive Counselor Training Course offered by the Rajneesh International Meditation University for individuals working in the field of psychology and stress management is unmatched anywhere in the world to my knowledge as a resource for a profession where "Burnout" has reached epidemic proportions, and which has one of the highest suicide rates of any group in the country. Frankly we need all the help we can get! And now an individual has appeared who is not only willing, but able to show modern physicians how to heed the ancient exhortation: "Heal Thyself". We are indeed privileged that a person of the caliber of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has honored this country by requesting permission to reside permanently in the United States, giving us ready access to his broad understanding and skills in so many fields. I respectfully suggest it would be a big mistake to ask him to leave the country. We desperately need what he has to offer. Throwing him out makes about as much sense as killing the goose who is laying the golden eggs. I would encourage any who question his purposes in being here to visit the Ranch at Rajneeshpuram, and experience first hand for themselves what is happening there. Bhagwan welcomes visitors. I was well received and treated like a member of the family during my two recent visits to the Ranch. Thank you for your consideration of His request, and for this opportunity to contribute my input into the process. Sincerely, |
(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)
