Testimonial letter from Peter M. Schmidt
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 M. Schmidt. It is "Exhibit A-1499" 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 M. Schmidt TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I studied graphics and painting at high schools of the arts in Hanover and Braunschweig and continued my training with Professor Haussner In Vienna, Austria. During a phase of deepest depression I left Germany a few years ago, as well as my occupation as a graphic artist and painter. I felt an absolute need to save myself from a grey world of pictures which often came out of neurosis. And I met Bhagwan. His representations of Eastern and Western religions, his knowledge of philosophy and art, gave me an opportunity to experience a totally new vision. His humorous sincerity in his lectures opened my ears and heart, in the same way, to his message. Now, a few years after my first meeting with Bhagwan, I again find the courage to paint, and a new religious life-affirmative attitude gives me strength for my artistic creations. With deep gratitude I’m joyful about every meeting with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and see myself as a disciple of a religious teacher who creates with far-sightedness and love, a space for the positive-halves inside of us, to live In a colorful world. [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.)
