Testimonial letter from Richard Douglas Cain

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 Rev Richard Douglas Cain. It is "Exhibit A-65" 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 2 pages.

REV. R.D.CAIN CHAPLAIN CHURCHILL COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE CB3 ODS telephone 0223-61200 20 July 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN My experience as a clergyman in the Church of England has been very varied - down-town parish priest, missionary and, finally, 18 years in two British Universities. My undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Anthropology, psychology and theology have naturally drawn me into the field of Comparative Religion, and it is in this area that I first came into contact with the works of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. There is no doubt in my mind that the vast religious and mystical understanding of this man is one of the world’s greatest riches today. And the more widespread his influence becomes, the more will Christian and Buddhist, Moslem, Hindu and Jew come to understand and value what is common in all their religious traditions. I have never heard anyone so beautifully and playfully integrate and then dissolve the philosophical, religious and psychological problems which, for generations, have sapped our human energies. The next great theological leap forward can only come from the insights of an enlightened man. I believe that in the shape of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh this man is now among us - striving to be heard, in the field of comparative religion his words are so outrageous and yet so devastating in their simple truthfulness, that I have introduced several of his books into the college library and made them recommended reading for many of my students. The cobwebs of old thought patterns can only be torn away by such a hand as this. At a critical time in history this remarkable man has become absolutely necessary to the new spiritual direction mankind must take if it hopes to survive. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is no exception to the general rule that "a prophet has no honour in his own country", for he is so full of controversy and contradictions that it is hopeless to attempt to place him in any familiar theological category. But I believe him to be a uniquely gifted person whose vision is vastly beyond my ability to describe. [signed] Rev. Richard Douglas Cain

(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.)