Testimonial letter from Michael Maardt

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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 Michael Maardt. It is "Exhibit A-1056" 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.

Copenhagen, 1983.07.20.

To whom it may concern,

I, Michael Maardt, studied from 1970 until 1981 officially at The Institute of Sociology, University of Copenhagen. During this period I also studied at the university in Frankfurt and at the university in Bremen, both in West-Germany. My theoretical and personal search for deeper answers to the mysteries in life led me fortunately to some books of a so-called guru from India.

These books were characterized by such an excellent and brilliant way of thinking, that my interest immediately was raised. Of course, in the beginning with the natural skepticism of an academic thinker from our western culture.

At the end of my period at the university the author of these books, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, became still more important for my work, and particuraly indispensable in my personal life. My final dissertation, written in 1980, was in its theoretical parts based on the profound existential and philosophical insights of this unique person, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Not only as a spiritual leader, i.e. as a loving and intelligent man, but also as a very intelligent thinker, I consider Rajneesh as a person with abilities, that - if recognised in their origianl and true context - could be much more helpful to the world in solving many of those great problems, we as a species are facing at the end of this century. Unfortunately Rajneesh is often seen and judged through the superficial and sensational interests of the mass media. A deeper research in his books shows an exceptional understanding of the human nature, and especially he gives methods of solving psychological problems without pills, drugs etc.

May I remind you of a man, walking on our earth 2000 years ago, who talked against the established beliefs af that time. He was finally murdered because of this. We should have learned something from this. We shouldn't judge and condemn too quickly. In the coming decades of human history, the teaching and knowledge of Rajneesh, that now is more or less hidden in the books of Rajneesh, i.e. hidden to the public, might very well be very helpful in our endeavours of solving the great worldwide psychological, sociological, economic and spiritual problems, we right now are facing.

Through this letter I hope Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is given permission to live and work in your free country, The United States of America.

Yours Sincerely
[signed]
M.A. Sociology , Michael Maardt, Sadelmagerporten 4-507, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark.
[notary stuff]


(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.)