Testimonial letter from Jim Garrison

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 Jim Garrison. It is "Exhibit A-50" 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 3 pages.

EAST WEST REACH
Please reply to:
9 Marion Close
Cambridge CB3 OHN
United kingdom
18 July 1983

To Whomever it may concern,

As my resume Indicates, I am a professional writer with a background in history, psychology, philosophy, theology and linguistics. I am not the type of person who is unduly swayed by other people or Impressed by the superficial.

Bhagwan was the first person I came across who challenged both the acuity of tr.y intellect and the feelings of my heart, I have heard literally hundreds of his discourses and been in close association with numerous of his disciples for the past five years, I have met one or two people who have used his teachings as an excuse for personal Indulgence but everything I have heard him say directly and I have witnessed from the overwhelming majority of those who follow him are things which have moved me by their clarity of insight and passion of being.

As an American citizen who travels often and extensively throughout the United States, I am horrified by the prevailing permissiveness of our society - the blatant drug abuse among the young and adults alike, the gross violence and sexuality in the television programs, and the incessant crime that plagues our cities. America is a nation of people searching for meaning and purpose but finding it mostly in mass consumerism and the acquisition of money.

Bhagwan is one of those rare human beings who seems to consistently personify freedom for the poeple who meet him. He has a following of people from around the world, particularly in Western Europe and the U.S. He speaks to where people are and empowers them to go where they need to go. He never coerces, manipulates or threatens. He simply is himself and the compassion he radiates Inspires the sense of authenticity of those who come to him.

I urge you to open up to Bhagwan all the time he needs in the United States. Our country needs him. The question is not whether you should let him stay or not. ^hat you surely must do. The deeper question is what you can do to keep him in the United States because as long as he is with us the people around him will prosper. Even a superficial look at what his community has achieved in Oregon is ample evidene of that.

Kindest Regards,
[signed]
Dr JIm Garrison

50 Guildford Road, London sw8 2BU,UK Telephone 01-720 2648 or (022.3) 350917


(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.)