Testimonial letter from Josette Wingo
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 Josette Wingo. It is "Exhibit A-612" 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.
 Joseffe Wingo TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN As a writer, I appreciate the effort that has gone into Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s production of more that three hundred and fifty books. My name is Josette Wingo. I am a professional writer currently involved in finishing a memoir of the WAVES who served in World War II, of which I was one. I have known about Bhagwan for six years, during which time I have participated in his workshops at his ashram in Lucerne Valley California, at Utsava in Laguna Beach and at the Shravan Center here in Los Angeles. I have read many of his books and heard almost as many of his vidoe tapes. There is no question in my mind that he is a great teacher. I find myself returning again and again to his books, for inspiration and understanding and encouragement . I cannot think of him as being non-functional because he has embraced Silence. I have his books on my shelves, his tapes on our cassette deck, his protegees and trainees available at the centers. So many people have learned so much from his teachings and will continue to do so, should we be so fortunate as to keep him with us. America has always prided itself on its receptivity to plurality, both in religion and in living philosophies. I should be saddened to think that the premises by which I lived these last sixty years have been negated. I raised my children by these precepts. I cannot think that any bureaucratic regulation can supercede these basic AMERICAN values. I would hope that anyone would consider the danger to our American life more fundamental than the possibilities of any possible harm to the body politic that might ensue from permitting Bhagwan to stay here. 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.)
