Testimonial letter from Gwendolyn J. Sereno

From The Sannyas Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

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 Gwendolyn J. Sereno MA. It is "Exhibit A-218" 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.

Rajneeshpuram, OR 97741

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I am a counseling psychologist with both B.A. (1969) and M.A. (1973) in Psychology from Bowling Green State University and over 13 years of richly varied, successful experience working with psychiatric patients, university students and personnel, juvenile delinquents, retarded adults, business executives, persons facing death, families, married couples and groups. I am also an experienced consultant with such groups as New England Telephone, the Maine Department of Criminal Justice, and Maine Office of Drug Abuse Prevention and Hospice of Maine.

As a professional in these capacities I have had the opportunity to learn from a wide variety of people and situations. The initial quest that began my career (how to alleviate suffering among people and to increase joy) and the natural enthusiasm with which I pursued this quest have also lead me to many teachers, writers, researchers and practitioners in the human arts and sciences.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh stands head and shoulders above even the most brilliant thinkers on the human condition - both past and present. His understanding of the total human being - body, heart and mind -as well as the social and cultural conditions facing man today is stunning. His experiments in group therapy, meditation techniques for modern man, and community living are masterpieces of creative genius and the most effective tools I have ever observed in working with myself or others.

My thesis research extending over two years as an M.A. candidate was a study of creativity and its fostering, and was supported by a National Science Foundation Grant. I am familiar with the development of the National interest in Creativity (which truly exploded after the launching of Sputnik) and the research which has since been pursued.

The teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in creativity, again, stand head and shoulders above any that I have come across in my extensive research. The city of Rajneeshpuram, in every detail, stands as proof of the inspirational level as well as the practical nature of this man’s religious teachings. In this phase, where his talking has ceased, the reality of his teaching is there for everyone to see.

Surely, the healthy environment as well as the beauty, the freedom, the enthusiasm and energy of our young country has drawn Bhagwan here. And, yes, we are fortunate to have drawn such a genius to share his discoveries with us. Let us welcome him so that the nation may be enriched by his wisdom.

Sincerely,
[signed]
Gwendolyn J. Sereno, M.A.


(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.)