Testimonial letter from William S. Eidelman
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 S. Eidelman MD. It is "Exhibit A-281" 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 4 pages.
 William S. Eidelman, M.D. To whom it may concern, I have heard that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is applying for a permanent visa to stay in the United States, based on being a person of exceptional abilities in the arts and science. I believe that he is indeed an exceptional person in my own area of specialization, psychiatry. Seven years ago, I was a second year resident in psychiatry. I had grown up the son of a psychiatrist and majored in psychology as an undergraduate at UCLA. I had been studying the top men in the field for almost twenty years. I had come to the conclusion that the fields of psychiatry and psychology were lacking in answers to the important questions about man, that they were not even close to finding the right answers, and didn’t even seem to be asking the right questions. After spending years being critical of established and accepted thought, I had nothing to offer in alternative. The situation was frustrating, both personally and professionally. Then I was given a taped lecture and a book by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and I was profoundly affected by them. I immediately felt that this was the alternative that I had been searching for. This was the revolutionary approach to mental health that I knew had to be. In practical terms, Bhagwan’s revolution has changed the very definition of mental health. Since Freud, mental health has meant the absence of mental illness. If you can do your work and interact with your family without creating too much trouble, you are considered healthy. In this old definition of mental health, it is normal to have neurosis upon neurosis. Indeed, the normal state of man is mild to moderate neurosis. It is only when the neurosis becomes severe that we are considered mentally ill. To live without neurosis is unheard of and considered practically impossible. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh says that mental health is a positive state of joy and love which exists in the absence of neurosis. He says it is not only possible, but it is how we were meant to be. This state of mental health, with no neuroses, is, according to Rajneesh, our natural state. This revolutionary view has not yet been accepted by the mental health community, but can you name one major scientific breakthrough that was not at first rejected and considered scientific and/or religious heresy? To put Bhagwan’s revolution in perspective, think for a minute about the world of science. When Einstein discovered the laws of relativity, our whole concept of the world was over-turned. He showed that the basic nature of matter was not at all what it appeared to be. However, man's view of himself was not affected by the discovery of Einstein. While the laws of relativity have led to major scientific advancements, by and by dramatically changing our outer life, man’s inner life is just the same is it was eighty years ago--just as full of neuroses, hatred, jealousy, fear, and bigotry--except now, thanks to Einstein, we are able to destroy the whole of life with the push of a single button. Where Einstein showed that matter is not what it appears to be, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is showing that man is not what he appears to be. Bhagwan’s revolution is bringing the essence of Einstein’s discoveries to the inner world of man. Bhagwan is teaching the equivalent of relativity as it relates to man himself, to life itself. It encompasses the whole mystery of man, the whole mystery of life. And not only are his teachings brilliant and revolutionary, but his application of the teachings is even more brilliant. His methods of meditation and therapy have touched over a million people world wide. I have watched and participated in the transformation of many many people, and saw and experienced changes that psychiatry could not even conceive of. What I gained personally cannot be put into the words now available in the psychiatric world view. And these changes, both in myself and in others, appear to be genuine, withstanding the test of time and the pressures of life. Indeed, the people who have been through the methods and therapies of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh are the healthiest group of people that I have ever come across. While this has not been adequately researched, it is my hope sooner or later to participate in such a study. The application of Bhagwan’s teachings is now taking the form of a great experiment--the creation of a small society where men, women, and children live his instructions for dropping neuroses and living in love and harmony, with each other and with the earth. This experiment is greatly needed on the earth at this time, so that people can see, now, that it is possible to live without neuroses, and to see what a life without neuroses can be. The experiment, many years in developing, sprouted as a seed in India, and has grown beautifully in the soil of Oregon and America. The experiment is just about to reach fruition, and it is the type of tree whose fruit will mature and grow better year after year. The presence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his work is a great asset to the United States, for much of tremendous value in many diverse areas will emerge. From the fields of mental and physical health to the fields of agriculture, from the restoring of the ecology to the use of energy resources, disciples of Rajneesh who follow his teachings will pour out creativity in ways that could further revolutionize the whole of life on earth. Of course, only time will tell how successful the experiment of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh will prove. However, to toss Bhagwan [rest of letter covered by stapled-on notary paper] |
(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.)
