Testimonial letter from Peter Farwer
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 Peter Farwer. It is "Exhibit A-234" 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.
 Peter Farwer To Whom It May Concern: I have just come back from Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, U.S.A, where I took part in the Second Annual World Celebration and where I met Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh for the first time. It was a unique experience: I am sure that I encountered a true sage who Is about to change the consciousness of millions of people. So far I had been acquainted to Bhagwan through some of his books. He had impressed me by his wide range of knowledge, particularly in the fields of the arts and sciences. He also combines elegant simplicity of style with very original and deep insights. But when I met him personally in Rajneeshpuram I felt that Bhagwan does much more than informing people: he transforms those who are open to him. I am a technical engineer and got my degree from the Technical University of Hannover/Germany and the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. After I worked for the town planning department of Glasgow/ Scotland I am now in charge of the development and maintenance of the main road system of the State of Hamburg. Long term planning is necessary and involves all kinds of research: population growth, economical development, cultural behavior patterns, etc. In other words, the human being is at the center of what I am doing as a technical engineer. And it is very important for me to deepen my understanding of the human being, his physical and psychological needs. The improvement of the environment, which we all want to achieve, depends on the development of human consciousness. This is where Bhagwan comes in: by his teachings and his modern meditation techniques, he increases awareness and makes people more considerate. Within the administration of the State of Hamburg the awareness is growing that the spiritual needs of the people are an important aspect of town planning which hitherto had been almost exclusively influenced by material considerations. While a university student I enjoyed a scholarship by the German Catholic Church (Deutsche Bischofskonterenz). That’s why I was involved in various church activities. I also took special courses in theology and philosophy. Something was missing: I was engaged in religious activities but I did not have religious experiences. When I met Bhagwan I found what I was looking for -for me he is a living source of truth. [signed] |
(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.)
