Testimonial letter from Pietro Somaini
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 Pietro Somaini. It is "Exhibit A-299" 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.
 PIETRO SOMAINI To whom it may concern: After my studies of medicine at the University of Zurich and after working as a medical assistant I opened my own practice as a general practitioner in Zurich two years ago. As we treat a lot of patients coming from the poorer parts, many young people, outcasts and desperate people, their problems as well as the more hidden problems of the so-called normal patients have clearly shown me the psychological and existential roots and origins of so many diseases. I have recognized that the average medical doctor is very poorly trained and qualified to do more than help on a surface level. Rather than to really heal or help people to heal themselves and to go to the root cause of illness, he gets rid of symptoms with the aid of drugs. This insight has made me look for a more effective and thorough vision of what man really is and how he functions on the level above the meterialistic. I heard about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his vision of man and healing from friends, and I began to get acquainted with his ideas. I visited this year's world celebration in Rajneeshpuram and was impressed by the climate of love and of mental and spiritual health among these people. Although I am not a sannyasin, a close disciple of Bhagwan, I must admit that the effect of his presence and of the "Buddhafield" he creates has a healing and transforming effect on so many neuroses or disturbances in the balance of body, mind and soul - an effect which goes past the common medical understanding. It seems to me of utter importance for the whole mankind that this extraordinary experiment at Rajneeshpuram may continue and that Bhagwan be allowed to stay in the USA. This country has always shown generosity and interest in real progress, and it should keep up its tradition to shelter the pioneers in any field of humanity and human growth. [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.)
