Testimonial letter from Robert Owen Rees
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 Owen Rees. It is "Exhibit A-1276" 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.
 3 July 1983 To Whom It May Concern. I am a marketing economist and have been working for the South Australian Department of Agriculture in this capacity for the past four years. Prior to this I worked for the Australian Government in the Department of Primary Industry for five years. I have a degree in agricultural economics with majors in sociology and farm management. Subsequently I obtained a psychology major at the Australian National University. In my work as a marketing economist I make a great number of public appearances, run seminars and issue press statements designed to effect change not only in the rural community but also in government policy. One of the most fundamental learning influences for me came from the works of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Through regular use of his meditation techniques I have been able to deal effectively with the build-up of work and allied tension levels by finding an inner silence, a period of pause, which allows for a regeneration of energy. The feeling is to drop the tension load and take time out for an inner peacefulness. Through his religious books and tapes I am constantly reminded of a way of life which is directed more toward laughing than toward hatred, loving rather than hating and living more totally than I was previously. The experience has led me to take more responsibility for my own decisionmaking process. Participation in various group workshops simply validates what is contained in the books and tapes in a more intense way. They are devices which enable life to be more direct and honest rather than devious and manipulative. The teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh have enabled me to see myself more clearly and as a consequence I can understand more clearly where people are coming from. More importantly I can stand aside and be objective rather than become attached to someone else's position. To be an effective catalyst for change in the area of marketing reform, which I am presently involved in, the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh have made me an effective listener and learner. They have been invaluable in dealing with growers who are resistant to change. I am encouraging wheat growers to become more aware of their own potential for directing their own destiny rather than always relying on someone else. In any area of marketing reform there is a feeling of strangeness, of lack of confidence, of fear on the part of the rural community. The teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh show exceptional insight into the resistances in people and society and how to move through those resistances of fear, anger, hatred, passivity and effect beneficial change in society. Yours 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.)
