Testimonial letter from Ir. C. J. Hoedeman
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 Dr. Ir. C. J. Hoedeman. It is "Exhibit A-896" 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.
 July 11, 1983 To Whom It May Concern: As a scientist for the past 25 years, I am in possession of several degrees in engineering, computing science and also a postgraduate degree in nuclear physics. At my University, Imperial College, London, Dr. Fritjof Capra, a fellow student, wrote a best selling book, The Tao of Physics. The book points at the parallels between the ancient concepts in religon and the most modern findings in advanced physics. This book helped to prepare me in appreciating the towering stature of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. His teachings are of the deepest and profoundest significance and at the same time they are wonderfully practical. The effect in practical terms has been a transformation in my whole outlook on life - much more loving, much more peaceful and at ease, much more harmonious with existence as it is. His scholarship coupled to his rare insight in the true meaning hidden in the scriptural heritage of many different religious traditions have resulted in a vast outpouring of inestimable value - a great and unique contribution to the arts and sciences. In my view, and above all in my experience, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is a religious teacher and scientist of the greatest standing. [signed] |
(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.)
