Testimonial letter from David Charles Burr
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 David Charles Burr. It is "Exhibit A-1731" 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 4 pages.
 The University of Western Australia TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am writing in support of the application of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh for United States residency. Enclosed is a brief curriculum vitae of myself, outlining my qualifications. I should also point out that although my research specialization is in visual perception, my teaching duties in the Psychology Department require me to be conversant with the literature on most areas of psychology, including therapy. Judged strictly from an academic point of view, Rajneesh's writings are formidable. He has tackled almost all the fundamental issues of psychology and philosophy, casting them in a new light and giving them a new direction. In true academic style he questions many of the basic premises of philosophy and religion, and presents original and interesting alternatives. His challenging basic ideas and accepted dogma may be at first disquieting, but this is to be expected: the same reaction was elicited by the works of Freud, on whom classical psychiatry is now almost exclusively based. Rajneesh does more than merely preach his theories. He has developed many practical techniques that aid personal growth and inner understanding, which are now being put into practise in many therapy centres throughout the world (not only in those who profess to follow Rajneesh). I have not visited his new centre in Oregon, but I did meet him and witness his work in Poona. In my opinion his growth programme of meditation and group therapy, based on a combination of both traditional Eastern techniques and on modern Western psychology, is perhaps the most successful programme of its kind. I understand, and indeed share, your reservation in granting residency to Rajneesh, in the light of the recent hoard of religious crackpots and self acclaimed gurus. However, I sincerely believe that Rajneesh is a special case, and shares nothing in common with other supposed gurus. Nor do I believe that he will be a subersive influence on American youth. His followers here in Perth integrate well with the rest of society, are well liked and highly industrious. Indeed in the midst of a bad economic recession they have founded several successful businesses, giving employment to some fifty people. I believe that in the future, after Rajneesh's philosophies have survived the test of time, America will feel proud to have welcomed him as a citizen. Yours faithfully |
(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.)
