Testimonial letter from Bennett Lee Hoffman
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 Bennett Lee Hoffman. It is "Exhibit A-868" 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 3 pages.
 7/20/83 To Whom It May Concern, I am writing this letter in order that I might go on record in support of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s being granted permanent resident status in the United States. My "CV" is attached, but I will briefly summarize the credentials detailed therein. My undergraduate degree was awarded from the University of California in Santa Barbara in the field of Combined Social Sciences with a cumulative GPA of over 3.5. I was on the Deans List several times, and won various academic awards. I did my graduate work at West Georgia College, in Carrolton Georgia, in the field of Humanistic Psychology. This program was instituted by Abraham Maslow of Brandeis University, the founder of the Humanistic School of Psychology, referred to in psychological literature as the "Third Force." I graduated with honors with a GPA of 3.9 . Since my graduation in 1978 I have been working as a psychotherapist, and teaching in psychology at Essex Community College in Baltimore Md. The courses that I instruct, and the type of therapy that I practice allow me to comment with more knowledgability on the value of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s teachings and writings than many of my colleagues in other branches of psychology. And I can unequivocably state that these writings represent some of the most profound insights into the function of the human psyche as any I have encountered in my extensive study of this subject. But more than this, they are written with a sense of relevance to the present time. When I read passages of Bhagwan Rajneesh’s to my students in class, their interest invariably perks up and the room becomes absolutely silent but for the sound of my voice. I know of no other author I can say that about. He writes with such clarity and simplicity about the most complex of topics. I was delighted to find that he was coming to the United States in the hopes that I might one day visit with him, and have been absolutely horrified, ashamed and embarassed at the manner in which he has been branded the head of an "outlandish cult" by the press who have had even less personal experience with him than I have. But I recognized that one of the functions of the press has been to sensationalize the news, so I wrote it off. Then, to find administrators of my country responding in the same fashion made it imperative that I write this letter. Baghwan Shree Rajneesh’s contributions to the fields of psychology and philosophy are immense. In a time of increasing overspecialization in every discipline, the simplicity and basic truths brought to light in his writings are like a glimmering shaft of light penetrating an ever darkening forest. To not allow this most penetrating intellect the security and nurturing our great country has to offer, while opening the doors to others would not only be a shame, but a disgrace. His teachings like so many brilliant theorists who have come before him generate the tension of inner thought that is vital to the growth of the individual and the life of our academic institutions. We should be delighted he has applied for resident status, and hope that he remains. 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.)
