Testimonial letter from Audrey Soderburg

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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 Audrey Soderburg MFA. It is "Exhibit A-275" 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 one page.

July 22, 1983

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I wish to wholeheartedly express my support of the efforts underway to insure the continued presence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the United States. My name is Audrey Soderburg. I hold a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting (Minor Sociology-Art History) with a Lifetime Junior College Teaching Credential from the University of California at Santa Barbara. I taught at the college level from 1967 through 1978; having worked as a Teaching Assistant at UCSB for 2 years, and as a Lecturer in Art at U.S.I.U. (Cal Western Canpus) for 3 years, and as an Instructor in Art at Santa Barbara City College for 6 years. I also taught adult ed. courses at UCSB Extension Division and S.B.C.C. Adult Ed. I am currently enrolled in graduate school at the Fielding Institute working towards the Ph.D, degree in Clinical Psychology. I have been a psych intern at Planned Parenthood, for 6 months, at the Santa Barbara Night Counselling Center for one year, and at Santa Barbara County Mental Health for the past year and four months - where I will continue.

I have had the misfortune to contract Multiple Sclerosis within the last 5 years. I credit my successful management of this disabling illness, in large measure, to the spiritual and philosophical growth and awareness that I have achieved as a result of my continued readings of the works of Rajneesh and listening to his voice on tape. I welcome this opportunity to express my deep appreciation for what I have learned from Bhagwan.

I have been seriously troubled by the superficial and sensational treatment of Rajneesh and his work in the press of the United States. I worry that lawmakers and legislators, who are entrusted with the weighty responsibility of determining his desireability as a resident of the United States, will be swayed by the irrelevant interpretation of Bhagwan’s work by the U.S. media. I am concerned that the intellectual content of his work will be totally missed by individuals who have not studied the teachings in his original words. The true spiritual importance of Rajneesh’s message can not be discerned with any cursory examination of second hand interpretations - careful study of his original message is required. This is no different from saying that an understanding of the Koran or the Bible can only be the result of careful detailed study of these texts.

I sincerely hope that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh will be permitted to remain as a permanent resident of the United States. Despite the fact that my physical limitations make it difficult or impossible for me to journey to Oregon to visit Rajneeshpuram - I gain much spiritual comfort knowing that Rajneesh is living safely in the United States. I pray that this will continue.

Sincerely,
[signed]
Audrey Soderburg
Box 4216, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93103


(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.)