Testimonial letter from Barbara A. Thompson
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 Barbara A. Thompson. It is "Exhibit A-1093" 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.
 BARBARA A. THOMPSON To Whom It May Concern: I have been a resident of Oregon all of my life, growing up in Portland, and receiving a B.S. degree from Oregon State College in 1957, and a Masters of Science degree from Oregon College of Education, in 1973. I have done a great deal of post graduate work, and am about to receive a clinical membership in the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, of which I am presently an Associate Member. I have read close to one hundred of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s books, and am delighted that he is residing in our country. I am immensely interested in the arts and sciences, and in my estimation he us one of the most artistic and intelligent writers that I have had the pleasure to read. In the area of the arts, Bhagwan Shtree Rajneesh encourages creativity in each individual, emphasizing the importance of each of us finding our creative channel. He helps one realize that creativity does not have to come from the typical ways that we have been conditioned to believe are creative, such as music and art, although he feels that these are splendid expressions. Rather, he teached people to be creative in every way, even when one is doing the simplest of tasks, and that when one love’s one’s work, creativity happens naturally. As a counselor, it is my opinion that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is unsurpassed in the field of Social Science. He has been inspirational to my work, by helping me deal with the complexities of life, such as stress, anxieties, and relationship difficulties, and therefore, I have been able to help others Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh teaches the importance of people being responsible, and that an important part of responsibility is work. He encourages parents of young children to allow their offspring to learn various kinds of skills, and by participating in life, in such a way, they are challenged. We need leaders of this calibre, showing us by their teachings and modeling, how the combination of responsibility and compassion can help Americans become stronger and more loving. One of Bhagwan’s contributions to mankind is in reminding us of the necessity of living a balanced life. He has been dedicated to working with people’s life force and body energies, always maintaining that each person is unique and requires an individualistic approach towards transormation of their energy. His books often relate how once a person’s intrinsic needs are met, there arc no limitations of what can be accomplished as far as fulfillment of one’s potential. As someone who has gone through most of her life, constatly questioning, and wanting answers to those questions, Bhagwan Shtree Rajneesh represents for me, a peacefulness and serenity, and above all, acceptance of the present moment. His writings have enabled me to trust life and its insecurities and uncertain-ities, letting go, and not controlling outsomes, more than anyone I have ever studied, and this is one of the greatest gifts one can give another For this, I am grateful, and recommend that he receive the highest honors, possible, in the area of arts and sciences. 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.)
