Testimonial letter from Richard Moss
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 Richard Moss MD. It is "Exhibit A-1267" 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 3 pages.
 July 21, 1983 To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to support Rajneesh in his request to be allowed to stay in the United States of America. He is indeed a unique person: he should be admitted as a religious leader or a person of exceptional ability. If these categories did not exist for immigration purposes, then a special one should be made for him as the assets he brings are unparalleled. Because I am not a disciple, I feel I am in a position to objectively comment on just how extraordinary Rajneesh is; attached is my vitae which should provide some sense of my background. Yearly, I work with thousands of people in small and large groups here at Sky Hi Ranch and elsewhere around the country. My work covers a range from psychological and healing to transformational, energetic and spiritual. My work is also well known in Canada and abroad. I am familiar with some of Rajneesh’s writings and am aware that he has authored over 370 books. He has organized an extraordinarily large and effective group of people and has inspired millions. Rajneesh’s work is essentially spiritual; since true spirituality involves a fundamental transformation of the life energies and experience of reality, his work dovetails with psychological, philosophical, theological issues, in fact, with all issues of values and life style. His contribution in all these areas is invaluable. As for his silence, this is not an uncommon phase in the lives of spiritual teachers. St. Benedict spent years in silence, and even today Benedictine priests spend whole years in silence. St. Seraphim’s whole ministry was accomplished in nearly continuous silence. Sri Aurobindo, an immense spiritual figure in the first half of this century, spent the last ten years of his life in silence. Silence in the final phase of the life of spiritual giants is quite common. I believe that we could all learn and prosper if we would open our hearts to this man and give him the welcome to our country that he deserves. I do not understand what we have to gain by expelling him. It is my experience that that which we reject in fear and ignorance only gets stronger. Certainly from an economic perspective, his presence in Antelope has added much to the coffers of the suppliers of materials, construction, food, etc. that service his community. I appreciate the concerns of some that he is the leader of a powerful cult. This concern is real but is founded in a prejudice that really asks us to look at our own lives. Rajneesh and those that love him and have devoted their lives to his teaching are a highly motivated group; at times they are insensitive to those around them whose values are different. But this insensitivity is a continuous phenomena of human interaction anywhere and not something for which Rajneesh should be singled out. It is true that some of what has happened in and around Rajneesh’s work and the Antalope Valley community has frightened and offended, however, I believe that much of this arises from misunderstanding and defensiveness. I know Rajneesh’s work is far advanced; I believe his work indicates possible alternatives to the imbalances that exist in so many areas of our personal and collective lives. Instead of rejecting him, we would be better helped to take what we can from him and give him the gift of living in a society whose highest value is freedom. Please know that I am honored to give my support to Rajneesh and if there is anything more I can do on his behalf, I would be delighted. With best wishes, |
(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.)
