Testimonial letter from Andrew M. Junker

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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 Andrew M. Junker. It is "Exhibit A-1016" in the Noles collection.

The original letter was handwritten. The image below links to a pdf file of the original letter. It has 2 pages.

July 18, 1983

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to make a plea for allowing Bagwan Shri Rajneesh to remain in our country. I consider it a special honor that I might have an impact on the course of our great nation by encouraging you to allow such an exceptional person as Bagwan Shri Rajneesh to live in the USA.

To add credibility and importance to my plea I fall back upon mu position as a lead scientist for the United States Air Force in the basic research area of human brain function. I am employed as a civil servant working for the Air Force Aero Medical Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB Ohio. My job is director of a program designed to explore the utility of brain EEG signals for man-machine interfacing. I am a recognized expert in the area of human operator technology. I have published numerous papers, I have been invited to speak at NATO scientific meetings, I have received the Air Force award for scientific achievemnt and I was recently sent back to school by the Air Force to study control theory, neurophysiology and statistics.

It was while I was back at school that I first encountered the writings of Mr Rajneesh. At that time his writings provided the added inspiration I needed to successfully complete a very difficult course of study.

Since then I have read many of his other writings which have all had a positive impact on the course and success of my research program. Thus I conclude that if his writings can have such a constructive impact on my work and myself, his presence in Oregon and in the USA should be positively inspiring to many others in the great tradition of our Nation.

From a nationally economic perspective I also feel we would be wise to allow Mr. Rajneesh to remain in this country. I have met a number of young people who are followers of Mr Rajneesh. Many of them are recent college graduates eager to become productive members of our society, but because of our current economic conditions find it difficult to do. Through the structure surrounding Mr Rajneesh they have found a way. If Mr Rajneesh is forced to leave this country, I am afraid that many of his followers will leave too thus depriving us of one of our most important resourses; the young creative minds of this country.

Finally, last but not least, I recently had an opportunity to visit a Rajneesh center, Sambodhi, in Essex, Mass. I was most impressed with the high quality of organization, cleanliness and concern for the individual I found there. Also there was a strong interest in interfacing with the surrounding community. After obscrving what a positive influence the Sambodhi group has on its members and the surrounding communities, I can only conclude that the presence of Mr Rajneesh and Rajneeshpuram will have an equally positive, if not greater, effect on its members and this country.

In summary, I believe we are indeed fortunate to have such a valuable resource as Mr Rajneesh living in our country and I believe we should do as much as possible to encourage him to remain in the United States.

Sincerely,
[signed]
Andrew M. Junker
139 E. Davis St
Yellow Springs Oh
45387


(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.)