Testimonial letter from Steven White (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 Steven White. It is "Exhibit A-480" 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.
 Steven White is also the author of another letter, written sixteen days 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. In this case of course, "same name" is not immediately obvious, but in the other letter, he does use both sannyas and legal names. We may be amused by the illicit possibilities here but just as likely was simply giving the organizers two letters to choose from. See also Testimonial letters#duplication for more on this. Or in White's case, he perhaps thought it better to declare his sannyas connection. Bournemouth & Poole College of Further Education TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I have a B.Soc.Sci. (Hons) 2; degree from the University of Birmingham where I studied for four years, graduating in June 1974, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Liberal Studies) from the University of Manchester where I studied for one year, graduating as a qualified teacher in June 1975. I have been an ordinary member of the National Association for Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) since September 1975. I was fortunate while studying at Manchester to have been a student of Patrick McGeeny, a prominent figure in British Further Education, who was commissioned by the British Government during the later nineteen-fifties and early sixties to develop Liberal Studies textbooks for their introduction into the vocational education of apprentices and technicians in Technical Colleges. After I qualified, and while I was working at Stockport College of Technology, near Manchester, he invited me on a number of occasions to lecture to his postgraduate students on the use of role-play and simulation exercises in Liberal Studies, which was my speciality. Presently, I am a lecturer in the above college, where I teach Communications, Liberal Studies and Social and Life Skills. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in his role as religious teacher and spiritual leader, has been an inspiration for me as an educator. He is a genius and the most sensitive and intelligent human being I have met. I have studied Educational Theory and read many books on education, as well as attending numerous seminars, courses and conferences, and I have never come across anyone even remotely close to Bhagwan as a pedagogue. His numerous discourses and answers to people's questions are so enlightened. Bhagwan teaches that the real meaning of education is to draw out of people their potential creativity. I have seen at firsthand how many of our educational institutions only succeed in alienating so many young people. I teach a lot of unemployed school leavers, some of whom are not only educationally subnormal, but psychologically disturbed; inspired by Bhagwan's teachings I have been able to make considerable breakthroughs. My teaching ability has infinitely improved. I am more open to my students and more willing to try and understand their problems. I know how to build up their confidence, help them develop their inter-personal skills, manage negative emotions, and be more positive. I first came across Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh while working in Australia as a deputy manager in a large city bookshop where Bhagwan's religious works were sold I read some of these religious books and was overwhelmed by their clarity, depth and insight. To conclude, he is internationally renowned as an educator and his abilities are exceptional. He is a man of integrity and is to be highly recommended as a pioneer in education and a man of wisdom. Steven White |
(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.)
