Testimonial letter from William Pennell Rock

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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 Pennell Rock PhD. It is "Exhibit A-187" 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 7 pages.

BODHISATTVA ARTS 8206 SANTA MONICA BLVD. SUITE 203 LOS ANGELES, CA 90046 (213) 656-1172
July 26, 1983

To Whom it May Concern:

I am told that the official sanction for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to remain in America is in question. If this is a matter of religious prejudice, the issue has no place in America. If it is a matter of the actual value of Rajneesh as a creative contributor to religion, art, or science, I am writing to you as an American, a psychotherapist, a writer and an artist—to say that Rajneesh is perhaps the most brilliant source intelligence alive in the world today.

I am enclosing some descriptions of courses that I have taught at UCLA that are related to the teachings that I have received from Rajneesh. I am also enclosing two of my articles published recently which illustrate some of the insight that I have derived personally from Rajneesh as his disciple* I am also enclosing a brochure of my theater Company and a brochure of a degree-granting program I have co—founded in the field of Transpersonal and Expressive Arts Therapies. I present them as testimony to what I mean by a source intelligence.

All of this creativity on my part has leen shaped and clarified by Rajneesh A source intelligence is also one that does not remain on the periphery of matters, but which goes right to the core. Nowhere can we see so quickly into the malaise of the human heart than in the areas discussed in these articles on love, sex, and jealousy. I believe that the analysis and description of these areas of human suffering go to the source. Access to this source has been made available to me through my close discipleship with Rajneesh.

Intelligence abounds in this Country, but it is all provincial, compartmentalized, specialized—capable of manipulating the part, but incapable of grasping the whole. By "a source intelligence" I mean one that sees the total. I mean an intelligence that has the combined clarity, insight, and understanding of the nature of human consciousness that allows it to see into the authentic roots of human suffering and disease and bring forth solutions and possibilities for altering matters at their core. Only such intelligence is able to see through the complexity and to deal with the basis of the dire situation in which mankind finds himself in this time.

Considering this situation, this man Rajneesh is not only valuable to the human race, he may be one of the real influences that actually steers mankind away from its disastrous course of self-destruction. It is my observation of history, that when mankind reaches these critical axes, the race produces one or a few source intelligences to ground itself sufficiently in its true nature so that it may pass through this transition. It is also clear that such a source intelligence disturbs the established: mind, and thereby creates tremendous resistance towards itself.

My understanding of America is that it sustains its greatness by supporting not that which is well-established and entrenched, but that which is true to the source. My faith in America and my pride as an American would see that borne out in this case.

Given the actual stature of Rajneesh as a contributor to the well-being of the human race, the only attitude appropriate to the U.S. Governement is to gratefully rollout its red carpet and expedite the stay of this great being without any further ado.

[signed]
William Pennell Rock, M.Litt. (Cantab.), PhD


(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.)