Testimonial letter from Bernard Gunther
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 Bernard Gunther PhD. It is "Exhibit A-1743" 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.
 Bernard Gunther, Ph.D. To Whom It May Concern: I am one of the people who began the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. I have written seven books (two on Bhagwan Rajneesh) which have sold a total of well over one million copies. I have lectured and given workshops on psychology and religion all over the world and am the director of the feature film: "Come To Your Senses." In my many journeys I have come to personally know many great beings including: Aldous Huxley, Fretz Perls, Abraham Maslow, Joseph Campbell, Virginia Satir, Alan Watts, Paul Tellich, B.F. Skinner, Ida Rolf, J. Krishnamurti, John Lilly, and Buchminster Fuller. Although each of these individuals were outstanding in one way or another, none of them impressed me as totally as has Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Not only am I amazed by the depth of Rajneesh’s knowledge and erudition, but by his incredible energy and presence. Not only by what he says and does, but the poetry of his movement and expression. After years of searching I had finally been able to experience a fully realized soul. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is a person of extraordinary ability. A giant in his practical understanding of philosophy, psychology, therapy, and religion. A vast resource of wisdom, creativity, and inspiration. An incredible asset to our free society. I unequivocally recommend that he be given a permanent visa and allowed to remain in the United States. 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.)
