Testimonial letter from Marilyn Jackson and Jack D. Jackson

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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 Marilyn Jackson and Jack D. Jackson. It is "Exhibit A-172" 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.

Jack D. Jackson architect Rt. 1 Box 1940 Lopez island, Washington 98261 (206) 468-2253
July 23, 1983

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

This letter is written in support of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as a man of exceptional talents in religion and philosophy. We have read several of his publications and found them to be thoughtfully and artistically written.

We are personally acquainted with several of Bhagwan’s followers and know them to be dedicated to his teachings and philosophy as found in his recordings and publications. They are kind, gentle individuals who believe in the force of love and the enjoyment of the gift of life. They are intelligent and fully conscious of their decision to follow Bhagwan. Although we do not personally choose their style of living, we think it is certainly acceptable and desirable in our multicultural and multireligious country to allow these people to pursue their personal view of life. The positive, non-violent force Bhagwan gives to his followers through his personal presence, his teachings and writings brings an enrichment to our country’s culture.

I am a librarian and my husband is an architect. We have worked in universities for many years and recognize exceptional talents in people, Bhagwan should certainly be considered in this respect. Your consideration of his potential contribution to this country is appreciated.

Sincerely,
[signed]
Marilyn Jackson, M.A., M.L.S.
[signed]
Jack D. Jackson, B. Arch., M. Arch.


(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.)