Testimonial letter from Gesine Schaffer
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 Gesine Schaffer. It is "Exhibit A-895" 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.
 Gesine Schaffer TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN With this letter I want to give my support to Rajneesh Shree Bhagwan’s application to stay in this country permanently. I want to emphasize that I am not a disciple or follower of Bhagwan, A Sannyassin, as they are called, and I have no intention of becoming one. I believe that Rajneesh Shree Bhagwan has much to offer to all people as a philosopher, psychologist and teacher, not just to those who become disciples. I am at present a graduate student in an APA approved doctoral program in Clinical Psychology at a Massachusetts University, and I am just completing the Master's level. My professional goals are to become an educator, researcher and liscensed clinical psychologist. I became familiar with the teachings of Rajneesh Shree Bhagwan initially through his writings, and finally also through personal contact with his disciples in his Massachusetts Ashram in Essex. His teachings are far reaching and wise, and I am particularly impressed by their solid foundation in world religion, philosophy, and psychology. His message of love of self, and love of others is the universal message of the ages. In this modern world, filled with stress and anxiety, his Ashrams provide a place for respite and reorganization for anyone who wants to take advantage of the offer. This has been invaluable to me, this occasional retreat from an extremely hectic and demanding lifestyle. At no time have I been asked to become a disciple, nor have I ever been questioned as to my thinking or my intentions. I always havebeen welcomed straightforwardly and lovingly. His preaching does not include coercion, force, or even persuasion. It would indeed be a pity for this country to loose so valuable a teacher, philosopher and preacher of common sense. Please consider to allow him to stay here permanently. 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.)
