Testimonial letter from Leith Taylor

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 Leith Taylor. It is "Exhibit A-734" 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 2 pages.

262 Eigth Avenue
Inglewood
Western Australia 6052

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN :

I am an Australian citizen, well-known in my country for my work in theatre, for which I have won 'Best Actress' awards. I have also worked in many other countries in television, radio, theatre and film.

I have a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma in Education from the University of Western Australia, a Diploma in Dramatic Art from the Drama Studio, London, and a Masters Degree in Drama Therapy from the California State University, Los Angeles, where I recently won an 'Honours Award' for best Theatre Arts graduate student.

I am also well-known for my work in the community which includes drama and creativity workshops (especially for adolescents and delinquents), and television programs for migrants. I have just been studying under a prestigous travel fellowship which was awarded to me in order to continue my studies and expand my skills.

Several years ago I came across the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. After reading his books, listening to his lectures and having him talk to me personally - on such subjects as acting, role playing, masks, drama in life and so on - the whole quality of my work and my life changed.

His insight into the acting process led me to incorporate many of his methods and techniques into my work - on stage and off. As a result, my work as an actress improved, broadened, deepened - and my career flourished. My life was enriched beyond words.

Bhagwan's extraordinary knowledge and understanding of both psychology and the arts enabled him to foresee and strongly advocate the use of the various art forms as effective tools for personal growth and awareness. His inspiring words on the subject were instrumental in my choosing to share my skills more directly with others through workshops and to finally train as a drama therapist. At the present time I am the only person with such qualifications in my country and one of few throughout the world. The Creative Arts Therapy movement - the basis for which Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had talked about for years - is still only just developing.

In the past year I have visited Rajneeshpuram in Oregon on several occasions, and have personally and professionally observed the remarkable work happening there. The silent communion with Bhagwan and the inspiration of his continuing work there has motivated me to return to Australia and open a Creative Arts Center. The Center will provide courses designed around Bhagwan's teaching and philosophy so that through drama, dance, art, music and other creative activities, others can explore, release and experience artistic excellence as the natural expression of the healthy, happy, individual.

In my work and my studies I have become familiar with a wide range of books and literature on the subjects of creativity, the arts in therapy and many areas of psychology. I recently completed a comprehensive thesis on the innovative subject of "Drama Therapy & Actor Training” from which I drew heavily on the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. In my opinion they are more profound and insightful as anything to be found anywhere.

He is a religious teacher, scholar, spiritual leader and an inspiration of extraordinary ability and remarkable depth. I only wish my country had the rare privilege of his presence.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
Leith Taylor


(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.)