Testimonial letter from Robert A. Raines (1)
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 Robert A. Raines PhD. It is "Exhibit A-735" 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.
 Raines is also the author of another letter, written a day later. There is enough commonality between the two letters to establish definitively that the same one person has written both letters, not two different people with the same name. There are 22 other such cases known. We may be amused by the illicit possibilities here but just as likely he was simply giving the organizers two letters to choose from. See also Testimonial letters#duplication for more on this. P.O. Box 10 To whom it may concern: I am an author, musician and humanities educator; I received my Ph.D. in English dramatic literature from the University of Delaware in 1968. I am the editor of two college textbooks in the area of literature and social change (Social Problems Through Literature, The Free Press; Modern Drama and Social Change, Prentice Hall). From 1968 through 1971 I taught literature and drama at the University of Santa Clara (California) and in 1971 I became the co-founder of New College of California, an accredited college and law school now in its twelfth year. I have done extensive counseling and tutoring of students interested in the arts both in educational institutions and in other settings (workshops, etc.).. For two years I. produced, directed and managed The DNA Company, a San Francisco theatre group which I founded. I am also a professional musician and music teacher, and taught a course in music, theatre and literature at the University for Humanistic Studies (Maui campus). My lifelong interest has been in education and the arts, and it is this interest that led me to the religious work of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, whom I consider to be one of the most significant religious teachers and spiritual leaders of the twentieth century. I first became acquainted with the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the mid-seventies, through meeting some of his disciples and reading his books. These teachings have been invaluable to me in my professional work. I have taught and counseled multitudes of students trying to find their ways towards artistic expression - students who have turned to the arts to give them a sense of social harmony and individual self-worth. A large proportion of my students found themselves in struggle with that profound worldwide sense of alienation and distrust of traditional institutions that is literally tearing society and the individual apart. The teachings of Rajneesh have been, for myself and my students, a source of inspiration and grounding that makes artistic expression rich and positive. His teachings have helped students avoid the "dropout syndrome" through which too many have retreated into private worlds, losing their productivity and sense of belonging to society. They have also provided a peaceful alternative to those students who were shopping for violent revolutionary groups or becoming interested in the sterile and destructive ideology of communism. I have seen Bhagwan’s religious work transform angry, destructive personalities into positive, creative ones. His emphasis on artistic creativity as the highest form of meditation is a vital aspect of his philosophy, very useful to me in my work, and one which has resulted in the creation of a series of remarkable music tapes which I have found to be excellent teaching tools and examples of the union of art and meditation. In my professional opinion, the music produced and recorded at Rajneeshpuram over the past two years under the religious inspiration of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh must be ranked with the best and most elevating music being produced anywhere in the world. The music cassettes distributed by Rajneesh Foundation International are solid evidence of the technical achievement and aesthetic excellence of the artistic work now being copiously created at Rajneeshpuram. In conclusion, the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh have become an immeasurably valuable asset to my work both as an artist and as a teacher/counselor. The way that these teachings nourish all cultural, artistic and educational endeavors is profound. The effects of Bhagwan's work upon my professional fields prove that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is a religious teacher and spiritual leader of exceptional ability. Sincerely, |
(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.)
