Testimonial letter from Susan M. Freidfer
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 Susan M. Freidfer. It is "Exhibit A-1128" 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.
 P.O. Box 10, To Whom It May Concern: I have been a teacher at the grade school level for 12 years. In addition to my teaching credential I participated in numerous seminars, workshops, programs and courses all related in some way to my profession. This was motivated by my interest in bringing to the classroom the very best possible of what the 20th century had to offer. The last four years of my career I taught as a sannyasin, i.e., a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. It made a tremendous difference in the classroom experience. Bringing Bhagwan’s meditations into my life along with the teachings of his vision (the love, the acceptance, etc.) brought a centeredness to me that was brought into the classroom. This quality was felt not only by the children who both learned AND enjoyed their initial years in school, but also by parents who spread the word and I found myself with waiting lists of children whose parents wanted them in my classroom. The experience of Bhagwan has enriched my life both professionally and personally. In fact, the two can’t really be separated because I bring to whatever I do, whether it be work, recreation or friendship, the positive and loving qualities in me that surfaced through being a sannyasin. This is a remarkable and exceptional Man to be alive at any time. That He is with us in America in the 20th Century is a gift beyond compare. It is my sincere wish and request that you pay attention to the positive effect His presence on earth has had and particularly His presence in Oregon. I’m sure you will come to see the benefit. Yours truly, |
(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.)
