Testimonial letter from Leonard Orr

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 Leonard Orr. It is "Exhibit A-627" 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 13, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: My name is Leonard Orr. I am a United States citizen and college graduate. I started a movement teaching conscious breathing which is also called rebirthing, which today reaches ten million people. I also started a fundamental movement teaching people to be successfully self-employed called the Money Seminar. This information has reached over one million people through my seminars, tapes and books, which have been published by my students. The two most popular books are Moneylove by Jerry Gillies and Money Is My Friend by Phil Laut, a Hawaii Business School graduate. In my opinion, Rajneesh is an exceptional and outstanding person. His continued presence is desireable in the U.S.A. for several reasons: 1. His books and teachings uplift and inspire people. 2. His books and ideas support freedom of thought and freedom of religion. 3. His movement supports ecological awareness. 4. He stimulates personal integrity. 5. His living example exemplifies leadership. 6. His presence and perspective in our democracy supply a valuable balance. I don’t agree with all the methods that are used at his ashram; however, he does give people permission to be themselves. Please feel free to contact me for further information. In truth, simplicity and love, [signed] Leonard Orr Campbell Hot Springs P. 0. Box 224 Sierraville, CA 96126 (916) 994-8984

(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.)