Testimonial letter from Patricia Kyle-Bennett
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 Patricia Kyle-Bennett. It is "Exhibit A-1191" 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 5 pages.
 Patricia Kyle-Bennett Re: Residency Permit for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh As a preface, please allow me to introduce myself and tell you a little something about me. I am Patricia Rosemary Bennett; a native of California, born in San Francisco, of parents of Irish and Irish/Indian ancestry. I attended Catholic elementry and high schools, graduating from St. Vincent’s High School and continuing my education at San Francisco State University where I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968, in Theatre Arts. From 1970 through 1975 I attended graduate school at San Jose State University where I completed 95 graduate semester units in the fields of Theatre Arts, Literture, Political Science, Social Science and Psychology. I hold a California Lifetime Secondary Teaching Credential, issued by the State of California, allowing me to teach in the abovecited areas. My social background may be considered as interesting. My father was an uneducated but sensitive Irish/Indian from the South who earned his living primarily as a cab driver for San Francisco Yellow Cab until he was able to purchase his own cab and permit to operate in San Mateo. My mother is the youngest of ten children of Irish immigrant parents. She completed approximately 11 years of school and found employment with the federal government as a typist. Neither parent was particularly spiritual, intellectually curious or ambitious. Their concerns dealt mostly with survival and whatever excess energy they had they spent on having a good time with each other. I grew-up in San Francisco’s "Mission District" where I encountered much economic deprivation, social injustice, ignorance and general negativity while being subjected to the "code" of the "gangs" — a code one followed in order to survive the growing-up process. My parents’ supervision of my activities was minimal while my curiosity was unbounded — consequently, my adventures were many (not all "healthy"). I was an only child and because of this one would think that I was indulged and very much loved and cared for. I was not indulged and the love and care I received was not evident to me because of my parents’ preoccupation with other things. I was a very spiritual child and accepted the Catholic Church’s teachings of unworthy-ness, sin and guilt — I was a lonely and confused child because I wanted to "belong" but there was no group of peers or any individual around who was like me. Consequently, I developed feelings of hostility, paranoia and isolation which I covered up with a veneer of toughness or buffoonery — my phylosophy was "if you can’t make them laugh, you can make them cry", or, "everyone will love you if you make them laugh". I know now that my life has not been unique — but it has not been "typical" either. Because of these emotional/personality traits which I had no insight into at the time I have fought authority on all fronts from — the political to the domestic. My ex-husband has suffered as well as my children, parents, friends, co-workers and society in general. Until approximately 1977, when I first was introduced to Bhagwan’s teachings the only thing that gave me any sense of satisfaction or self-worth was acting. I am a professional actress, holding cards in SAG, AFTRA and Equity, however my career is not, at this time, a commercially successful one. As you can imagine, the acting profession, as well as your profession, is fraught with frustration. For a time prior to 1976 approximately, I had been on welfare because of a medical condition for a number of years and was now better. While pursuing an acting career I was also attempting to establish a business career of some type. Again I met with frustration and rejection because either I was too well educated or had no "marketable" skills. After months of menial office jobs I met a woman who trained me on some word processing equipment and word processing has become my "profession" while I still attempt to further my acting career. Word processing has been both a blessing and a curse, yet it has provided me with a living wage. It was about this time during the summer of 1977 that I was introduced to the philosophy of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. As a result of that memorable weekend in August of 1977 myself and my life began to change. As I said I have always been spiritual — I am very well acquainted with the philosophical theories of the Catholic Church and upon investigation found unsatisfactory for my particular needs; I investigated the Jewish religion, became a "Jew" and so raised my children; and at an earlier time in my life studied Zen, however, at that time I was not introspective enough to fully value its teachings. Now, however, I began to read Bhagwan’s works and practice his meditations and it was as if a cloud passed away from the face of the sun. Living became less painful for me, not that the pain one experiences while living disappeared but that pleasure and love entered my range of perceptions and balanced or lessened the weight of the pain I had always lived with. My personality lightened — I was neither as hostile nor as much of a baffoon as before. My relationship with my children, which was authoritarian and selfish, as well as on the road to ruin, became more loving and less self-indulgent on my part because I now had the some self-knowledge and energy that I lacked before because I had been so bound by my own unhappiness and so I could begin to give them the support and understanding they needed instead of indulging myself in my own misery. I no longer was condescending toward word processing as a livelihood and began to take great pride in the skill and knowledge I began to display (I have now been with the same employeers for a little over five years) and my coworkers began to accept me as one of them because I was slowly letting loose of that defensive facade I had so carefully constructed for so many years. I could go on for pages about the change that has taken place in me — and consequently in the world around me, because it is my belief that one’s influence on the world is a reflection of what one feels about one’s own self — love yourself so that you may love the world and in return the world loves you. You can exchange the word "love" for "positive energy" or some other word — it is not, however, the word that counts — it is the effect that is manifested by that "positive energy" and in my case the manifestation of my more positive and loving nature has created a much more beautiful life. I am not anywhere near perfect or totally happy, loving and positive at this point in my life — but I am on the road to becoming or "being" this total energy and I owe it to one man, Bhagwan Shree Rajineesh — his writings, his meditations and his great love. I have visited him at the ranch in Oregon twice and each time I have come away with more love and more self-awareness. I have never received from any one person or group of people the love and total acceptance of me, as a person, as a manifestation of God, of divine love, as I have received from him. My feelings for and about Bhagwan are not exceptional nor unique. Everyone I have met who has met him has felt this great love he gives to the whole world. And this brings me to the crux of this rather long, ego-centered letter, and that is . . . I sincerely beg you, do not deny this exceptional man a resident visa. In this age where there is so much of the negative around us can we deny entry to one who is all positive and loving? Can we deny that this man is exceptional? A man who has had more works published than Walt Whitman or Hemmingway or David Frost or Neil Simon even? A man who is non-violent and a lover of peace as was Ghandi? A man who has saved at least as many from madness as did Freud during his lifetime? And can we deny that this man means salvation to many of us who were lost and wanting before knowing him? I know what the nearness of Bhagwan means to me. I have great peace knowing he is safe in this country, free from political or religious persecution and that I have access to his presence when I need it, as I, like you, are free to visit the ranch whenever we feel the need. So again, I implore you, please allow this man who is the personification of all that is good, holy, creative, and positive remain here in the United States — for my personal benefit and for the benefit of all who love him. Thank you for your kind attention. 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.)
