Testimonial letter from William C. Ball

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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 William C. Ball. It is "Exhibit A-174" 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.

July 22, 1983

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing this letter in support of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in that he be allowed to stay in America to continue his teachings. My opinion, which is shared by many of my collegues, is that Rajneesh has been and will continue to be a great influence in bridging the gap between Eastern and Western psychological and philosophical thinking.

I am William C. Ball, PhD Candidate. I am a practicing psychotherapist working with families and emotionally disturbed young people. I have studied and practiced in the field of psychotherapy for over 11 years. Some of the areas of my expertise are in hypnosis, Marriage and Family counseling, Neuro-linguistic programming, META-communication, Transactional Analysis, Direct Decision Therapy, Neo-Reichian body therapy, sexotherapy and others.

My first exposure to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was through a fellow therapist who had gone to India to train with Rajneesh. I was impressed with the remarkable change my friend had made in her life as a result of her therapeutic training with Rajneesh. I then began to read some of his books, listened to his tapes, saw some video tapes and some of his group work. I was so impressed and moved by the powerful impact this had on people who participated in his programs, that I took several of his workshops. I came away with some powerful new tools and breakthroughs for my own life. I have used these same learning experiences to help create meaningful changes for my clients. I have found these processes to be extremely valuable for personal growth and enhancement of life in general. I feel that Rajneesh has made a tremendous contribution to the fielf of psychotherapy; his teachings are on the forefront of growth and change. I feel his therapies are comprehensive, safe, very effective and extremely advanced within the field of psychology. His training programs for therapists are perhaps the most advanced on the planet, as perhaps evidenced by the fact that they draw participants from all parts of the planet.

My experience of Rajneesh is that his teachings and therapies integrate the ’Whole Person’ - body - mind - spirit. This integration goes beyond all cultural boundaries. My hope is that you will see your way clear to recognize the importance of this man’s contribution to human understanding and will grant him freedom to reside and to continue his creative efforts in America.

Most sincerely,
[signed]
William C. Ball, PhC.
2741 Cadiz St. San Diego, CA 92110


(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.)