Fellowship Of Friends/Pathway To Presence Discussion – Part 100 February 13, 2011
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Welcome to the newest page of the Fellowship of Friends/Pathway To Presence Discussion.
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For previous parts of the discussion please click on home and scroll down, or move to the Fellowship of Friends Discussionblog, or to AnimamRecro for the very beginning. For a more organized reading check out The Fellowship of Friends WikiSpace.
The largest meeting point for former and current members of the Fellowship of Friends is the Greater Fellowship, you can sign up to the Greater Fellowship community and connect with former members of the Fellowship of Friends as well as some current members here.
To visit “Living Presence”, the newly created web site for recruiting new members to the Fellowship;
http://www.livingpresence.com/
For sites in Russian and Italian, click http://fofway.narod.ru/and http://laliberastrada.blogspot.com/respectively.
To access the Online Petition: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/djindjin/petition.html
For more information check Rick Ross and Steven Hassan.
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Participants require 1 moderated comment before they can start communicating in real-time. (ie. if you are new to the discussion, your comment will appear about 1 day after it has been posted, any subsequent comments will appear instantaneously).
To visit the site created by Unoanimo:http://fellowshipoffriends.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/res-ipsa-loquitur/
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Fellowship of Friends - Living Presence Discussion 
Congratulations for turning 100 !
Knowing all we know about Robert Burton’s crimes continuously committed by him over the years, it would be fair to wish him nine life sentences and see that as merciful.
From “The Promise of a New Day”…..
“Sometimes we feel that we are the guardians of a fragile, threatened civilization: if it weren’t for us, all would be lost. Such feelings are a signal that we need to check out our reality, to test our perceptions of the world against those of someone we trust. We are seldom in sole possession of the truth!
But shared commitment to truth is powerful; it enhances our spirits. Most of us feel a need to express this commitment, whether by sharing worship or simply talking with friends. Often the truth is a process, a relationship between ourselves and others, and sharing it gives it roundness and luster.”
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgyou ?djindjin&101
Please if you really want to do something to stop this you can at least sign the petition. Not even 200 signatures…..
Have a happy valentine day(s).
This is a functional link to the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/djindjin/petition.html
Tomorrow RB is going to suck around 70 cocks, a little ritual he does every Valentine’s Day, and all of them already scheduled.
If you have hard time to believe it, wait to your husbands home, look them in the eyes and ask them what were they doing in the Galleria.
I don’t think perversion is a crime, but imposing it on others against their will, I think it is.
I don’t think perversion is a crime, but imposing it on others against their will, I think it is.
Says X RAy…
Mmmmm
If it does not harm anybody nor yourself.
Mmmmmm
Your thoughts radiate to others consciously or subconsciously.
I would be careful and my personal approach is when I catch myself with thoughts that could be harmful, I do a positive mantra or Hono’ponopono.
I love You( or myself) You are part of my world , I forgive you (or myself included).
Thanks for correcting the petition link.
What would we be without feed back.
Enjoy your day
re. another name 8
I agree. Firing from the hip can sometimes lead to a bad foot injury. lol
Cheers!
Some unconscious being once said “It’s only kinky the first time you do it”.
The true kinkyness of the Fellowship lies not in it’s particular sexuality but in the DENIAL of it’s particular sexuality.
I agree, Silent Purr.
Out, out of the closet, I say out!!!
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
~Aristotle
re. 12 golden veil “Out, out of the closet, I say out!!!“
Does that mean that we will get to see a list of the names of the St. Valentine`s Day suckfest anytime soon on this blog? Or is that type of transparency not appropriate?
By the way, who are the current directors of the fof, or is that also priveledged information?
Cheers!
re above “By the way, who are the current directors of the fof“ I meant the Board of Directors and not necessarily the other types of directors they have, though on second thought that also might not be such a bad idea. If they are not involved in any wrong doings they should not mind. Oops another typo, I meant `shouldn`t.`
Cheers!
8. another name – February 14, 2011
So what exactly are you trying to stop with the petition, if a coercive sex it isn’t really a crime to you?
Thanks X ray I was pondering re perversion. I agree with you regarding coercive sex is a crime to me.
Also what concerned me when I was in the fellowship of friends was the fact Robert’s boys would imitate Robert and “harm” others. That is very sad and destructive.
The recent center directors (this is 6 months ago was Gr-g H-lm-n and L-nd- W-g-ll and or G-r-ld-n- L-sk-n. Anybody having more recent info?
16. another name – February 15, 2011
‘Also what concerned me when I was in the fellowship of friends was the fact Robert’s boys would imitate Robert and “harm” others. That is very sad and destructive.’
Of course they would, imitating Burton is what people do in the FOF and the lowest they can go in their action the highest do they think they spiritually rise.
A fellowship cult is led by a criminal pervert and psychopath who should be locked in jail decades ago.
What do you think the story was about, when two Romanians were trading vouchers for sex with married women? They were imitating Burton. Burton is doing exactly the same thing. He is trading vouchers for an exploitative work. He invites people for free for his private events just to suck their cock an hour later. This is what the esoteric ‘school’ is all about for Burton, why would anyone expect to see a different attitudes towards the ‘sacred’ from his closest flock? They see him does it, they do same thing. They are no different. And now one of them is competing with Asaf for the position of next ‘conscious being’. This all fellowship thing is so fucked up that is sickening to even think about it even after all those years.
The following is an excerpt from
Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers
Chapter 11
Other Cults:
“It’s all very stimulating stuff in the beginning . . . ,” said a former member of the Fellowship of Friends in a 1996 Los Angeles Times article. “But there’s no doubt it’s a cult. Our lives were totally controlled.”(1)
Is this man talking about a cult formed around a wild-eyed guru who preaches that all members should embrace poverty and the simple life? Is he talking about a cult that rejects all worldly pleasures, and whose members spend their days praying, chanting, or meditating?
Hardly. According to reports in several California newspapers, the Fellowship of Friends is a pleasure- and consumer-oriented cult. Founded in 1971 by former schoolteacher Robert Burton, the Fellowship of Friends believes that true spiritual awakening can only come through experiencing the finest things life has to offer: fine food, fine wine, great art, great writers, great music. In his book Self Remembering, Burton stresses “the education and discipline of the emotions, the importance of living in the present, a love of beauty, and an understanding of its capacity to create higher awareness.”(2)
True to his beliefs, Burton, who lived out of his car before founding the Fellowship of Friends, has built a lavish mansion, which he named Apollo, in the style of a French chateau on a 1,300-acre estate in the northern California Sierra foothills. There, among terraced hills supporting a vineyard that produces award-winning wines, the members of the Fellowship of Friends can come and study under a man whom they believe to be both spiritually advanced and a prophet.
Burton, who claims he is guided by 44 angels, including Benjamin Franklin, Jesus, and Plato, is believed by members of the Fellowship of Friends to be near godlike and also privy to information from “higher sources.” As a result of his claimed direct contact with these angels and higher sources, Burton predicted that an earthquake in 1998 would swallow up all of California, except for Apollo. He has also predicted that a nuclear holocaust will destroy most of world in 2006, but again spare Apollo, which will then become the center of the movement to reestablish civilization in the post-holocaust world.
While his prediction of a California-swallowing earthquake, of course, didn’t come true, this didn’t humble Burton. He carries on as though he’d never made a mistake. Like most cult leaders, Burton either ignores or attempts to rationalize his mistakes, while also attempting to control every aspect of his followers’ lives. Within the Fellowship of Friends, this control includes regulating the members’ sex lives and diets, ordering them to abstain from any form of negativity, and even directing them to abstain from the use of certain common words, such as I or thing. Burton has also forbidden members to dye their hair, have mixed-breed pets, ride bicycles, or smoke. Smoking, incidentally, is so strenuously outlawed that Burton has instructed cult members to sniff when greeting each other to catch renegades. Burton fined one couple $1,500 each for violating the no-smoking rule. One former member of the Fellowship of Friends claimed that the cult leaders, besides barring him from having sex with his girlfriend, also ordered him to urinate only on the side of the toilet so as to make less noise. While most Fellowship of Friends members have jobs and homes, Burton discourages members from mingling or socializing with people outside the Fellowship, including family, whom Burton sees as “spiritually dead.”
The leadership of the Fellowship of Friends doesn’t see these constraints as brainwashing, however. “The Fellowship does not engage in brainwashing,” said Girard Haven, a member of the group’s board of directors. “We may have a charismatic leader and strong feelings about higher forces and our own spirituality, but we know what we are doing. We are not doing it blindly.”(3)
Unlike many cults, though, the Fellowship of Friends doesn’t recruit from the masses, but instead recruits mainly from groups of well-educated and well-heeled individuals. New recruits are often located after Fellowship of Friends members go to bookstores and plant Fellowship of Friends’ bookmarks in selected metaphysical books that reflect the beliefs of the cult. Prospective members who respond to the telephone number on the bookmark are invited to attend lavish dinners at expensive homes. Only after being appraised by Fellowship of Friends members can prospective recruits be invited to join the cult, whose membership
includes many doctors, lawyers, artists, and musicians.
Recruiting well-heeled members certainly paid off. In the late 1990s, the Fellowship of Friends had 65 centers around the world (in late 2003, their Web site, which is translated into 10 languages, states that they now have only 30 centers) and employed approximately 500 people. The group’s overall worth in the late 1990s was estimated at $26 million, while Burton’s annual salary was at least $250,000. Many of the Fellowship of Friends’ employees work at the cult’s winery, which is located on their property in northern California. According to recent news articles, the Fellowship of Friends produces 25,000 cases of wine a year, which is reported to be of high quality.
Along with the winery, the Fellowship of Friends has its own collections of fine art and rare literature, as well as its own opera company, orchestra, theater troupe, and museum. In addition, Burton has decorated the mansion at Apollo with expensive antiques and paintings. One of Burton’s favorite sayings is, “Beauty creates its likeness in those who pursue it.”(4)
Because of all these expensive possessions, belonging to the Fellowship of Friends is naturally very costly. The cult requires members to tithe 10 percent of their incomes, while wealthy members pay much more, in special assessments, to enable the Fellowship of Friends to purchase sculpture, paintings, rare books, antiques, and other items that will “lift the spirituality” of the cult members. The annual income of the Fellowship of Friends in the mid-1990s exceeded $5 million.
However, all is not rosy for the Fellowship of Friends. In recent years, large numbers of its members have been leaving, causing a serious cash flow problem. The trouble began for the Fellowship of Friends in 1995 when a cult member sent an open letter to the membership accusing Burton of sexually seducing him. He said Burton brainwashes members into a state of “absolute submission,” allowing him to feed a “voracious appetite for sexual perversion.”(5) Following this disclosure, other male members came forward with similar accusations, including the cult’s former financial officer, who said he felt pressured to join Burton’s male harem.
“They don’t see it coming, and when it comes, they don’t know what’s happened,” said Charles Randall about Burton’s aggressive homosexual
advances toward Fellowship of Friends members.(6)
Another male member of the cult who also claimed Burton aggressively pressured him into having sex said, ”I had never had a homosexual encounter before this. But he [Burton] told me it was the wish of C-influence (the group’s term for higher forces, or gods) that I have sex with him.”(7) At all-male dinners hosted by Burton, members say he has been known to boast that “one hundred boys would not be enough [for his sexual appetite].”(8)
To these charges, Burton’s attorney has responded, “We don’t think a [sexual] relationship between a leader and a member of the congregation is abusive in and of itself.”(9) However, two lawsuits filed by former Fellowship of Friends members claiming sexual abuse have been settled out of court.
Former Fellowship of Friends officials who have left the cult also aren’t kind in their evaluation of Burton and his organization. “The Fellowship is a dictatorship, a predatory dictatorship,” said Thomas Easley, an artist and former leader who left the cult after a homosexual relationship with Burton. “I should know. I was a leader.”(10)
Former Fellowship of Friends financial officer Charles Randall said, “I thought it was the one true way, but as it turns out, it was just a cult.”(11)
The point to the preceding anecdote is that a cult can be formed around almost any belief or philosophy. Also, this anecdote shows that, to succeed, a cult doesn’t have to be aimed at the uneducated, the emotionally challenged, or the poor. As shown by both the Fellowship of Friends and the Solar Temple (discussed in the previous chapter), cults can also attract well-educated, wealthy, and seemingly mentally competent people. All that’s needed is a charismatic leader who followers believe has some type of special insight, some type of special knowledge unknown to the rest of the world, or some type of special direct pipeline to God or ascended beings. To attract followers, the cult leader then offers to share this information or knowledge with cult members. This belief in the leader’s gift quickly becomes a strong magnet that pulls people in because gaining this insight or knowledge from the cult leader, members believe, will make them part of an elite group who are a step above regular human beings.
This special insight of the cult leader, incidentally, doesn’t have to be only knowledge gained through conversations with spirits, ghosts, or God. Some cults can be formed because followers believe that their leader has a special insight into how to make the world a better place. . .
Chapter 11 Notes:
1. Jenifer Warren, “Trouble Taints a Cerebral Sanctuary,” Los Angeles Times (November 4, 1996), p. A1.
2. Katherine Seligman, “Yuba Church or Cult?” San Francisco Examiner (October 12, 1997), p. 1A.
3. Ibid.
4. Warren, “Trouble Taints a Cerebral Sanctuary.”
5. Ibid.
6. Gordon Smith, “Wave of Resignations and Expulsions Following Open Letter,” San Diego Union-Tribune (March 16, 1995), p. 1.
7. Gordon Smith, “In the Name of Religion,” San Diego Union-Tribune (March 15, 1995), p. 1.
8. Seligman, “Yuba Church or Cult?”
9. Smith, “Wave of Resignations and Expulsions Following Open Letter.”
10. Seligman, “Yuba Church or Cult?”
11. Smith, “In the Name of Religion.”
Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers
Robert L. Snow
Copyright © 2003
Praeger Publishers
ISBN: 0–275–98052–9
* * *
More excerpt from
Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers
While claims such as these may sound outlandish to many readers, a powerful part of human nature is the desire to be a unique and special individual, to be totally unlike the common man. This trait was clearly seen in the case of the cult called the Fellowship of Friends, talked about in chapter 11, in which members saw themselves, rather than spiritually dead like the common man, as an elite group who alone understood and appreciated the beauty of fine things. This desire to be a unique and special individual can often override a person’s ability to properly judge cult claims.
“People lead mediocre lives,” says Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute, talking about the Heaven’s Gate cult, “and so these leaders exploited expectations of joining an elite.”
Staff writer for the Washington Post Joel Achenbach sums up the appeal of cults this way: “Three things, all three of them as old as mankind, draw men to these groups: A shot at life after death. A special role in the universe. Someone to believe in.” . . .
Actually, while I have talked about the most common methods of cult recruitment, there is really no method cult members won’t use if they believe it will be successful. For example, as I talked about in chapter 11, the cult called the Fellowship of Friends recruited new members by leaving their bookmarks in books that promoted the cult’s view of the world.
“The indoctrination is so complete, and the peer pressure so great,” says Joel Friedlander, a former member of the Fellowship of Friends, talked about in chapter 11, “that gradually the old you is replaced by the new you who believes all the propaganda, including the line that eternal damnation is the price of getting out.”(17)
17. Jenifer Warren, “Trouble Taints a Cerebral Sanctuary,” Los Angeles Times (November 4, 1996), p. A12.
Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers
Robert L. Snow
Copyright © 2003
Praeger Publishers
ISBN: 0–275–98052–9
* * *
re 19 Bares reposting “ This desire to be a unique and special individual can often override a person’s ability to properly judge cult claims.“
Jeez! I wasn`t like that. Was I? Damn!
In the FOF rules and exercises changed frequently. Even the name of the community, name of the cult, and basis of the hooks used in the prospective students` meetings all change regularly. When I say regularly I mean in the long run so some stuff can remain the same for a decade and then change completely. The explanation given is that this is a challenge to provide shocks to the habitual way of thinking. I doubt it`s an accident that the end result is that one begins to disregard normal and accepted beliefs as seen in normal society. For example my parents were very well treated by the leader`s representatives when they came to visit whereas five years later that would have been totally unacceptable and could have led to my being ostracized for wasting my time with the dead.
This leads to acceptance of the idea that normal society, called “life people“ there, and their rules and morals mean nothing to the FOF members.
These rules and norms become inconsequential on the so called spiritual realm and therefore noncompliance becomes not worthy of spending time and energy on. Back when some Fourth Way ideas were still partly in use, this was called the “Way of the Sly Man.“ I guess that is what Madoff experienced, being greater than everyone else and therefore above the Law, an untouchable.
What ought to be seen as a crime becomes nothing but a private joke. Since this has been going on for nearly 40 years it appears that they will continue laughing all the way to the bank as they say, or should I say `he`.
I would say that Robert is probably NOT channeling a goddess. If he truly were a “goddess in a man’s body”, he would be better friends with the feminine, the hearth, the family. In fact, he is an enemy of the family and all it represents.
9/141 Charles R. Says:
May 15th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
‘It’s interesting that the word succubus contains, in the right order, the words Self Crowned Conscious Being.’
9/196 SandraC Says:
May 17th, 2007 at 5:50 am
‘#141: Charles R: I like the word succubus, nice choice, it ironically fits so well what we have here: a female demon having sex with men in their sleep.’
18/282 Ames Gilbert on 12 Aug 2007 at 7:01 pm
‘Theory 2
Not necessarily in conflict with theory 1. This one says Robert is actually possessed (he himself has mentioned his inability to control his appetite. Some students who have had sex with him have photographed a sense of his helplessness). He has given in so heavily to self–indulgence that some (malevolent?) energy has taken advantage of his weakness. The succubus (which may indeed have the energy/manifestation of a minor goddess) is drawing this huge amount of sexual energy to itself for its own purposes. This implies it cannot get that energy by other means. In return, it feeds Robert with certain powers of its own and with pleasurable illusions. And, the succubus/Robert combination may be trying to break through the barrier (establish local godhood, or climb higher in the ranks of gods).’
Succubus: read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succubus
Who do you think consciously ordered the mountains of viagra used over the last 25 years or so?
I would think that this expensive chemical goes a long way in keeping the sexual appetite whetted.
I could be wrong–I certainly have been before if you get my jist.
Cheers!!
21 silentpurr
It has been my experience that, the more I encounter creative energy in my life and work, the more I am grateful for feminine forces and the individuals who effuse these. In creative metalwork, women have a natural ability to offer patience and a design ethos to their work. In a Sunday newspaper recently, it was noted that craft brings us back to the roots of our being – hand-eye coordination – a long way from ICT and the dependence on electronic means of communication.
REB talks a load of ‘bollux’ to lure young men into his web of perversion – REB, a self-seeking, charismatic (in the negative sense) Anti-Christ. And thank you, Renald, for your input…..Nigel.
21. silentpurr – February 17, 2011
He is an enemy of love and all what comes with it and yet, this hypocrite is preaching love while constantly inflicting pain and suffering to others.
‘He is an enemy of love and all what comes with it and yet, this hypocrite is preaching love while constantly inflicting pain and suffering to others.”
X-Ray
Yes, that is the Fellowship of Friends “Teacher,” “Man Number 7,” “Goddess in a man’s body,” Robert Burton. How does he sleep at night? With the peaceful sleep that only an extreme, grand narcissistic psychopathic rapist could have.
I think that coerced sex between a powerful and respected teacher and his subordinate student follower is rape and morally wrong.
And particularly, because of Robert Burton’s primary modus operandi,
hitting on his intended victims while they are under the influence, these
coerced sexual acts equal rape.
From “Speaking Out”, a New Zealand Website…..
In this section we talk about how to make a difference in your community. How you can Step up and Speak out against people who are being disrespectful. YOU can make a big difference!
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King Jr.
Speak out and make a difference. Don’t be a bystander.
Every person in the community has a role to play in stopping disrespectful, harmful or violent behaviour. All of us. A lot of harmful sexual behaviour is seen by heaps of people, and a lot of the time we just stand by and watch it happen.
Did you know? About 1 in 5 New Zealand high school students say they have been cyber-bullied.
What is the Bystander Effect?
The Bystander Effect
The greater the number of people watching (or walking past) when someone is being harmed or disrespected, the less likely people witnessing this event are to help the person in need. When the more people watching a situation where harmful stuff is going on, the less likely people are to help. In 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and stabbed to death while many people just watched. Afterwards a lot of the witnesses of her murder and rape felt very guilty about not stepping in. They all thought that someone else was going to do it. Today we call this the Bystander Effect.
The greater the number of people watching (or walking past) when someone is being harmed or disrespected, the less likely people witnessing this event are to help the person in need. .
Instead of choosing just to keep silently standing by – Keep Safe, Step up, Speak out and be an active bystander.
Yeah, but what’s an active bystander?
An active bystander is someone who sees when another person is being disrespected or harmed and chooses to step up and take positive action to make a difference. The more people are prepared to do this, the less disrespectful or violent behaviour there is likely to be in your community.
Sometimes this can be as simple as checking in with someone if you see something brewing, or it can involve getting a group of others together to step up and stop something harmful happening. However you choose to step up, always respect everyone involved, keep your own safety in mind, and of course, keep it legal too!
Did you know? Everyone has the right to live free from bullying, harassment and violence. No one deserves or asks to be bullied.Keep yourself safe
Getting involved can be a risky business. Your safety must be your number one priority when it comes to Stepping up and Speaking out. NEVER Step up and Speak out if you don’t think you can do it safely. Call for help instead: if it’s an emergency call for Police, or get a teacher, caregiver, family member, social worker, or any adult you trust to help.
Get others involved.
Whenever you can, have other people with you for support. The more people there are saying something is not ok, the more powerful the message for everyone.
Think before you act.
Just how you get involved will depend on each and .
every situation. Some of the time it will be safe for you to get involved, sometimes you’ll just know it’s too dangerous and other times you just might not be too sure.
Remember, NEVER Step up and Speak out unless you can do it safely.
Sorry!!!!!…..the site is Sex’n’Respect…..Nigel
The Fellowship: A Story of Spiritual Vampire-ism.
30. silentpurr – February 18, 2011
Not only spiritual, they’ll suck you dry on all accounts.
27. Golden Veil – February 18, 2011
‘coerced sexual acts equal rape’
Yes it is, by definition and by any other moral standard. But I forgot, the sucker is above the moral standards, he is a conscious being!
32 X-ray
Ames Gilbert has stated it many times, and it is true – a Conscious Being must have a conscience. Robert Earl Burton has no conscience and is, therefore, not a conscious being. Golden Veil has stated it well. What is called Supra-Sex by REB, GH and the enablers, is nothing but Rape of the physical, mental and emotional bodies…..Nigel.
Surfing around some of these pages. amazing stuff. Never heard of this, but obviously this guy is insane, and those who follow along are at least flirting with insanity. Classic cult, and classic denial. People feel as though they’re involved with something different and special, but sorry folks, nothing new here.
Unconscious, conscienceless, soulless, sick and ugly humanoid Robert Burton.
Shall you be locked in jail until your last unconscious breath.
This is where you belong.
Amen.
Is anger really the product of a lazy mind?
“ Anger is the product of a lazy mind. “
Lousy quotes are a product of a lazy mind sounds more correct to me.
Actually anger can be the product of wanting things different than what they are in the present or seem to be. Sometimes it is called impatience. Always one can choose to interrupt that flow of thought before it becomes a negative emotion and redirect it.
Of course if one equates the phrase “ a lazy mind “ with lazy persons or lazy personalities, then the quote might be seen as correct. Are then people who have been misguided by charismatic but erroneous teachers to be considered to be lazy?
Are people who use a footbridge to cross a creek lazier than those who wade through the water? Are people who use cars to get from point A to point B lazier than those who walk? Obviously not!
Yet between those who drive and those who walk who do you think will be more apt to get angry during the experience? Personally I have never gotten angry or impatient when I decided to walk. I have gotten tired or over-heated but never angry. Have I ever gotten angry or impatient when driving? Yes I have to some degree and often at that.
Might it have to do with my expectations, my desires, my fears, my impatience, my laziness? I certainly can have positive as well as negative expectations (thoughts). I do not even doubt that some people always are positively minded and therefore have positive experiences. I see them chatting away to their passengers totally oblivious to slow moving traffic. I see others who seem to be in a trance or taking a nap allowing themselves to drive their cars on automatic pilot so to speak. They are not angry. They do this every day and they always get to their destinations. They may even be going through the mental process of cooking the dinner mentally in order to find out whether they need to stop at the supermarket for a missing ingredient thereby saving themselves a trip later on.
Going back to the beginning of this comment, are people who are constantly using quotes not being lazy? Are they not inferring that what they wish to convey through the use of quotes is going to be correctly received or interpreted? Why don`t they just say what they want to say? This brings to my mind the communications of fundamentalists but I will not go there, now.
Cheers!!
35 Renald
Hope this is not what you would consider a quote from a lazy mind – I have been thinking about how to influence fence-sitters and in-ners from the FOF. It used to be that Walt Whitman was the most revered American poet ‘helping’ the FOF. Burton would do well to be reminded of this poem…..
“I SING the Body electric;
The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them;
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul.
Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves;
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do as much as the Soul?
And if the body were not the Soul, what is the Soul? “
I used to have difficulty with Rainer Maria Rilke, but now is symbolism easy/difficult, intertwining Angels, Nature and the Ancient World…..Nigel.
The Tenth Duino Elegy
“Some day, in the emergence from this fierce insight, let me sing jubilation and praise to assenting Angels.
Let not a single one of the cleanly-struck hammers of my heart deny me, through a slack, or a doubtful, or a broken string. Let my streaming face
make me more radiant: let my secret weeping
bear flower. O, how dear you will be to me, then, Nights of anguish. Inconsolable sisters, why did I not kneel more to greet you, lose myself more
in your loosened hair? We, squanderers of pain.
How we gaze beyond them into duration’s sadness,
to see if they have an end. Though they are nothing but our winter-suffering foliage, our dark evergreen, one of the seasons of our inner year – not only season – : but place, settlement, camp, soil, dwelling.
Strange, though, alas, the streets of Grief-City,
where, in the artificiality of a drowned-out false
stillness, the statue cast from the mould of emptiness bravely swaggers: the gilded noise, the flawed memorial.
O, how an Angel would utterly trample their market of solace, bounded by the Church, bought ready for use: untouched, disenchanted and shut like the post-office on Sunday.
Beyond though, the outskirts are always alive with the fair.
Swings of freedom! Divers and jugglers of zeal!
And the figures at the shooting range of easy luck,
targets that shake tinnily whenever some better marksman hits one. From applause at his luck
he staggers on further: as booths for every taste
are wooing him, drumming, and bawling. Here’s something special, only for adults, to view: how money is got, anatomy, not just to amuse: the private parts of money, all of it, the whole thing, the act, – to instruct and make potent…….O, but just beyond behind the last hoarding, plastered with adverts for ‘Deathless’,
that bitter beer that tastes sweet to its drinkers,
as long as they chew fresh distractions along with it……just at the back of the hoardings, just behind them, it’s real.
Children are playing, lovers are holding each other – to the side, sombrely, in the sparse grass, and dogs are following their nature.
The youth is drawn on, further: perhaps it’s a young Lament he loves……He comes to the field, beyond her. She says:‘It’s far. We live out there….’
‘Where?’ And the youth follows.
He is moved by her manner. Her shoulders, her neck – perhaps she’s from a notable family. But he leaves her, turns round, looks back, waves…….What’s the point? She’s a Lament.
Only those who died young, in their first state
of timeless equanimity, that of being weaned, follow her lovingly. She waits for girls and befriends them. She shows them gently what she is wearing. Pearls of grief and the fine veils of suffering. – With youths she walks on in silence.
But there, where they live, in the valley, one of the older Laments, takes to the youth, when he questions: – ‘We were,’she says, ‘a large family once, we Laments. Our ancestors worked the mines on that mountain-range: among men you’ll sometimes find a lump of polished primal grief, or the lava of frozen rage from some old volcano. Yes, that came from there. We used to be rich.’ –
And she leads him gently through the wide landscape of Lament, shows him the columns of temples, the ruins of castles, from which the lords of Lament ruled the land, wisely. Shows him the tall Tear-trees, and the fields of flowering Sadness, (The living know it as only a tender shrub.)shows him the herds of Grief, grazing – and sometimes a startled bird, flying low through their upward glance, will inscribe on the far distance the written form of its lonely cry –
At evening she leads him to the graves of the elders of the race of Laments, the sibyls and prophets. But as night falls, so they move more softly, and soon, like a moon, the all-guarding sepulchre rises. Brother to that of the Nile, the tall Sphinx, the secret chamber’s countenance.
And they are astonished by the regal head, that forever, silently, positioned the human face in the scale of the stars.
His sight cannot grasp it, still dizzied by early death. But her gaze frightens an owl from behind the rim of the crown, and the bird brushes, with slow skimming flight, along the cheek, the one with the richer curve, and inscribes the indescribable outline, on the new hearing born out of death, as though on the doubly-unfolded page of a book.
And higher: the stars. New stars, of Grief-Land.
Slowly the Lament names them: ‘There, see: the Rider, the Staff, and that larger constellation
they name Fruit-Garland. Then, further, towards the Pole: the Cradle, the Way, the Burning Book, the Doll, the Window.
But in the southern sky, pure as on the palm of a sacred hand, the clearly shining M, that stands for the Mothers……’
But the dead must go on, and in silence the elder Lament leads him as far as the ravine, where the fountain of joy glistens in moonlight. With awe
she names it saying: ‘Among men this is a load-bearing river.’
They stand at the foot of the mountains.
And there she embraces him, weeping. He climbs alone, on the mountains of primal grief. And not once do his footsteps sound from his silent fate.
But if the endlessly dead woke a symbol in us, see, they would point perhaps to the catkins, swinging from bare hazels, or they would intend the rain, falling on dark soil in Spring-time. –
And we, who think of ascending joy, would feel the emotion, that almost dismays us, when a joyful thing falls.”
From my point of view there is no such thing as a lazy mind, only lazy persons or personalities.
Cheers!!
A lazy mind, if there is such a thing, is a mind lacking vitality. A mind lacking vitality/creativity thinks principally for comfort, and lacks the intellectual curiosity required to make the connections meaningful.
A lazy mind would be supported by beliefs or self ingrained ‘work i’s’.
I remember a fond and respected friend asking me for advice concerning Robert’s ‘suggestion’ that she, my friend marry on older man for whom she had no sexual interest. It would be a marriage of convenience not love. Although I sympathized with her predicament, I supported Robert’s request. For me, looking back, it was a kind of ‘laziness’
which always supported Robert. It was easier than resisting him. My mind was so lazy that I believed he was telepathic!
“How many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
“Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?”
39. silentpurr – February 20, 2011:
‘My mind was so lazy that I believed he [Robert Burton] was telepathic!
Conscious being was once asked:
We understand that as a conscious being you can have extraordinary capacities like telepathy or reading peoples’ minds. Can you do that?
Conscious being supposedly replied:
Why would I want to read peoples’ minds? I already have enough ‘I’s’ of my own to deal with. I do not need anyone else’s.
22/813 Bares Reposting
on 18 Oct 2007 at 9:36 am
Robert Earl Burton is not a human being. That does not mean that he is an angel. Far from it. More like a. . . succubus.* Well known is his penchant for seducing his unsuspecting victim while they are in first state [sleeping] so that they present little resistance. Then he sucks their verdure out.
*What’s a succubus look like, you say?:
22/813 Bares Reposting
on 18 Oct 2007 at 9:36 am
Robert Earl Burton is not a human being. That does not mean that he is an angel. Far from it. More like a. . . succubus. Well known is his penchant for seducing his unsuspecting victim while they are in first state [sleeping] so that they present little resistance. Then he sucks their verdure out.
58/87. lauralupa – December 9, 2008
‘still follow a misogynist, sick, heartless, deeply anti-female sexist teacher such as Burton[?]. Maybe a Witch, possibly a Succubus, surely a Queen, but definitely NOT a Goddess in a man’s body!’
18/282 Ames Gilbert on 12 Aug 2007 at 7:01 pm
‘Theory 2
Not necessarily in conflict with theory 1. This one says Robert is actually possessed (he himself has mentioned his inability to control his appetite. Some students who have had sex with him have photographed a sense of his helplessness). He has given in so heavily to self–indulgence that some (malevolent?) energy has taken advantage of his weakness. The succubus (which may indeed have the energy/manifestation of a minor goddess) is drawing this huge amount of sexual energy to itself for its own purposes. This implies it cannot get that energy by other means. In return, it feeds Robert with certain powers of its own and with pleasurable illusions. And, the succubus/Robert combination may be trying to break through the barrier (establish local godhood, or climb higher in the ranks of gods).’
27. Golden Veil – February 18, 2011:
‘How does he sleep at night?’
The point is, he does not sleep at night.
Here is the theory:
For man 5, 6, 7, consciousness shifts over from being weighted in the first and second states to the other end of the spectrum of being weighted toward the third and fourth states of consciousness. Although, it is said, that states are additive, that is, second state is added to the first, and third added to first and second, etc., a conscious being spends less and less time in first state and more and more time in higher states. I hope this paints the picture.
In the subject’s case, they do not enter first state easily, or for too long, for various reasons, not the least of which are: obsessive-compulsive behavior where the bed clothes/linens must be ironed and intentionally used even when in first state, old age and perhaps a bad conscience (if there is one), and at night, while others are asleep (first state) and inhibition are compromised, the subject is busy preying on the unsuspecting vulnerable targets of the rampant sex addiction (satyriasis), where the objects are heterosexual men, in order to suck their penises to ejaculation.
This information could be dated with respect to the subject person, given that they are now somewhat seriously ill. I am not in a position to know at this time, but that is the way it was.
The above describes the covert mode of operation but there was also the less covert, as well: the large dinner/sex parties that, for instance, took place once or twice weekly in Oregon House, or on the road somewhere, and especially on such occasions as St. Valentine’s Day or his birthday. Once one was initiated by the covert or not-so-covert process, you are sure to be invited as a regular participant at the bacchanalia.
Yes, at its worst, it could be called succubus in a man’s body – sexual vampire.
30. silentpurr – February 18, 2011
‘The Fellowship: A Story of Spiritual Vampire-ism.’
Yes, spiritual vampire, too.
There must be some seriously F***ed-up people in the present day Fellowship of Friends!
34 & 41 are new
“How many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?” -Bob Dylan
The answer is that a man is capable of turning his head for several years pretending he just doesn’t see. I’ve met many of them personally, and I was also one of them.
Word around campus was that Burton said Bob Dylan was “crystallized in his magnetic center.” And to this day, I doubt anyone has followed up with a question or series of questions to Burton about what exactly that means. But obviously the gist is that it’s not a good thing to be crystallized in your magnetic center, and that maybe it’s on a par with being cursed for eternity.
Burton seemed to despise anyone who, like Dylan, contributed something of actual substance to society — and especially anyone who was financially successful and admired. Dylan, despite whatever faults or shortcomings or flaws he may have or had, has helped us to think and to feel in a different way, and to question things. No wonder Burton had to dismiss him, and particularly these words:
“How many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?”
#43 was stuck in spam folder (sometimes the attached links don’t make it through the filter)
re. 50 Audit`s “ .” And to this day, I doubt anyone has followed up with a question or series of questions to Burton about what exactly that means.“
Are you kidding? Listen sir or ma`m if you want to stay in the Fellowship of Friends, Pathway to Presence or whatever it is being called on any given day, you first of all have to realize that `nobody` is allowed to question Robert Earl Burton about anything he says. That would be tantamount to mutiny and the asker disappears. My partner while I was living at the headquarters had the nerve after a few glasses of wine to ask him at a dinner how he saw the idea that one`s soul could be sent to the moon. She asked three times as she knew that he was deaf on one side and she did not receive an answer. The next morning she got the call. Get out of town for one year and you are not allowed to speak to students for that time. (students is the term used when speaking about members of the FOF.) Your partner can go with you if he wants. She had to borrow for the airfare back to her country. It did not take her long to get back to her senses once she got away from the environment and found out that yes there is plenty of life after the FOF.
Cheers!!
Well what do you think? No I’m not kidding.
and that’s the entire point: Do not ask, do not question, do not think, and do not feel (ironically that, since this group is supposedly in touch with its higher emotions). Many people were given one-way tickets, just like your partner. But as you know, it was actually a blessing.
50. audit – February 21, 2011:
‘Word around campus was that Burton said Bob Dylan was “crystallized in his magnetic center.”’
Robert Earl Burton is crystallized in penis envy. (Not in the sense of: 1) a female wishing to have one, or, 2) a male wishing to have a better one. But, in the sense of getting his hands and lips on as many as he possibly can.)
This is incorrect crystallisation. Much suffering and many lifetimes will be necessary to change that.
That which is retained in oneself should in course of time crystallise into a permanent vehicle of selfconsciousness, that is, into a soul.
The Theory of Celestial Influence
Rodney Collin
This general power of rendering living things harder, more crystalline, less sensitive and less conscious, we recognize as belonging to the process of degeneration or corruption.
The Theory of Celestial Influence
Rodney Collin
At the same time, men are right in their natural aversion from the pain and hardship which cause crystallisation, and in their efforts to avoid them. For who is yet ready to have all that he finds within him fixed? And even if he is, let him remember that fixing without understanding is like baking without yeast – something almost impossible of later correction.
The Theory of Celestial Influence
Rodney Collin
One of the first things about a ‘Hasnamuss’ is that he never hesitates to sacrifice people or to create an enormous amount of suffering, just for his own personal ambitions. How a
‘Hasnamuss’ is created is another question. It begins with formatory thinking, with being a tramp and a lunatic at the same time. Another definition of a ‘Hasnamuss’ is that he is crystallized in the wrong hydrogens. This category cannot interest you practically, because you have nothing to do with such people; but you meet with the results of their existence.
The Fourth Way
Peter D. Ouspensky
We must pray that crystallisation does not overtake us.
The Theory of Conscious Harmony
Rodney Collin
* * *
It sounds like you are still a big follower of Fourth Way ideas, which I’ll try my best to respect here. But I have another point of view that is not quoted from Collin or Ouspensky, and here it is:
– No one knows what crystallization means.
– No one knows if crystallization exists.
– No one knows a thing about lifetimes or the afterlife. We don’t know what will happen to us when we die.
– No one knows whether there’s such a thing as a Hasnamuss or a conscious being, or even whether it’s such a good idea in trying to BE a conscious being as defined in the Fourth Way.
Using a less esoteric definition of the word consciousness, one thing we do know about it is that we were wholly or partly UNconscious to several obvious and unpleasant realities when we followed Burton.
I don’t know about calling him a “hasnamuss” but I agree with you that Burton is one who “never hesitates to sacrifice people or to create an enormous amount of suffering, just for his own personal ambitions.” He fits that definition perfectly. But to me he’s just another cult leader, same old thing, and we were members of just another cult.
Every cult member in every cult feels they are special and that their cult is special, and their ideas are special, and generally speaking that everyone else is lost for not buying into those ideas and joining the cult.
You missed my point entirely… The point is that Burton (also) knows nothing about crystallization or the afterlife or lifetimes, and rarely did we ever question him on these things without (as Renald pointed with regard to his partner) getting our butts kicked out.
To live in harmony with Robert and the Fellowship lifestyle, one must be ‘willing’ to ruthlessly attack and quell all thoughts or emotions which arise in opposition to Robert’s influences. It’s a kind of self-induced fossilization, one increment at a time, until finally you have become something altogether different, A ghost in a Shell. And with so many years of ‘controlling i’s’ only a small part of ‘you’ may retained, but it can be enough to help you to exit…
42. Wouldnt You Like To Know – February 21, 2011
39. silentpurr – February 20, 2011:
‘My mind was so lazy that I believed he [Robert Burton] was telepathic!
Conscious being was once asked:
We understand that as a conscious being you can have extraordinary capacities like telepathy or reading peoples’ minds. Can you do that?
Conscious being supposedly replied:
Why would I want to read peoples’ minds? I already have enough ‘I’s’ of my own to deal with. I do not need anyone else’s.
————————————————-
Yes, I remember that. A typical tactic of ‘buffering’ a serious question with a joke.
If Burton would be telepathic, why would he be asking people to repeat their questions in the meetings (like he didn’t hear them, back then when questions were allowed, in the room where you could hear the flies mating on the Rembrandt paintings) if he could simply read their minds? The guy is simply full of shit and that’s the real answer.
55 audit
“Every cult member in every cult feels they are special and that their cult is special, and their ideas are special, and generally speaking that everyone else is lost for not buying into those ideas and joining the cult…”
There are a few particularly sad specimens that left the cult, but still follow and vociferously defend the ideology of the cult, or at least the cult as it was in the 70s and 80s. They speak confidently about souls, consciousness, the moon, etc, and erupt in rage if their beliefs are questioned.
I wonder if those that claim the remarkable spiritual primacy of self-remembering can recall how they verified that the desire to self-remember comes from something higher in oneself. I understand that thoughts/feelings/desires etc some from the brain, ie the machine, but why is the desire to self-remember so pure, so unblemished by the nasty body? And how do you prove it, even to yourself?
I think it more reveals the bias of the believer.
And I think it’s just religious belief in an updated form. When you hear a believer talk about the nonbelievers being ripe for judgment after death for not following the believer’s chosen form of worship, that’s a big clue.
Also I’m not Asian.
55. audit – February 22, 2011:
‘We don’t know what will happen to us when we die.’
Speak for yourself, kemosaby, like, for instance:
‘I don’t know what will happen to me when I die.’
Maybe you should try it and find out. Let us know what you learn. Thanks.
56. silentpurr – February 22, 2011:
‘It’s a kind of self-induced. . .’ psychosis.
‘Psychosis is a loss of contact with reality, usually including false beliefs about what is taking place or who one is (delusions) and seeing or hearing things that aren’t there (hallucinations).’ ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
57. X-ray – February 22, 2011:
‘The guy is simply full of shit and that’s the real answer.’
Maybe full of shit but also full of sperm.
re 60 I`ll never tell “ Psychosis is a loss of contact with reality, usually including false beliefs about what is taking place or who one is (delusions) and seeing or hearing things that aren’t there (hallucinations).’ ncbi.nlm.nih.gov“
Sounds right to me. Remember when he used to watch TV with Jesus and I don`t mean a Mexican student ?
60. Ill Never Tell – February 23, 2011
‘Maybe full of shit but also full of sperm.’
Or filled with sperm like condom.
Ill Never Tell,
Regarding your comment in 60.
No, I wrote what I meant. WE don’t know what will happen to us when we die. You seem to be implying that–even if I don’t know–it’s possible for SOMEONE to know. But I don’t believe it’s possible.
But this is really a key point: This is exactly what makes cults possible — the belief that we know what will happen to us when we die, or that someone knows this, and that following that person who professes to have this special knowledge is a good idea–no matter how much our instincts and common sense tell it’s not a good idea.
Key point forgotten by cult followers: Death is a mystery.
Definitely it’s a mystery worth pondering and reflecting upon. The answer to that mystery, whatever it is, may be a good answer, and I don’t see anything wrong with believing that. But believing that i KNOW the answer…
Cult leaders and cult followers believe they have the answers. It eases the uncertainty about life, and is comforting. Cult leaders answer the unknown and unknowable for many of us.
We might believe something about the afterlife, or sense something about it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and is part of being introspective and thoughtful about our existence. But knowing what happens to us when we die — that’s the realm of cult leaders and others who want to sell you something and deceive you. It’s the realm of delusion. Much healthier, less delusional, and more inspirational is pondering the mystery.
You are reposting older posts? That’s really pathetic!
I counted 15 different posters masturbating themselves to death here.
You are the only ones who never really left the FoF.
63 audit
I have to agree with all of this.
Self-remembering is one of the only valuable ideas to come out of the 4th Way. But like most good ideas that have some gravity, they very quickly attract an atmosphere of nonsense. Most people aren’t content with trying to increase their self awareness in a life that we can know almost nothing about in any deep existential way. Also, Gurdjieff couldn’t have sold his cult members on just the idea of self-remembering. There is no reason to stick around and pay money to the cult leader, unless there is a huge body of knowledge that must be acquired and mastered in addition to self-remembering. Of course it’s all imaginary nonsense. So you get people who have no more clue than the next pontificating about the creation of a soul, the awful fate of those who don’t create a soul, what awaits them on the moon, and so on.
Once a person has assimilated this pretend esoteric knowledge, and based his belief system on it, then he resents anyone who doesn’t agree that this is extremely important information, that it is self-evident, and anyone who doesn’t see it is a fool, or worse. To realize that it is all a waste of time, with the exception of self-remembering, is painful, because many have spent years studying the knowledge. It’s too painful for some, so they double down, becoming ever more certain that the knowledge is true. They comb historical records, then claim to find clues that the 4th Way was practiced in ancient Sumeria or Egypt. I’ve read some of that ancient writing that was pointed to as proof of the antiquity of the 4th Way, and I didn’t see it myself. But the indoctrinated see their “justification of faith” everywhere.
In reality, all of the nonsense that has become associated with self-remembering is simply a way for people to shield themselves from the uncomfortable sensation of not knowing. Anyone who speaks as if they know about ascending lifetimes and octaves and so on is living in the comforting certainty of a contrived fantasyland.
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances-”
(William Shakespeare)
Yes – we do not know about Before Birth and After Death, but the mere fact of our being here seems to concentrate In A Moment each time we realize it-
“I exist – that is enough”
(Walt Whitman)
For me, knowing that I have discovered a vocation within myself (took a Degree in Craft Design), pursued it through and beyond the Fellowship of Friends and now teach it professionally, is enough to get out of bed in the morning and go to the studio and organize my life around WHAT I CAN GIVE…..
Let Death take me, when the timing is right, and I have given all that is possible and have found someone to carry on in the teaching of my metal-craft…..
“Turn down an empty cup” – (Omar Kayyam)
…..Nigel.
#64 is new
re 64 a msg—“ I counted 15 different posters masturbating themselves to death here.“
Seek and ye shall find, ask and it shall be given.
Aren`t you just the luckiest one!
Cheers!
64 message to the losers
It’s good to see you’ve come out the shadows, you voyeur,you!
meow!
I think old posts are reposted and the conversation continues because that is what is happening and it may be helpful to someone , somewhere.
When a post is addressed to “losers”, it reveals that the writer must still be caught in the immature view that life is some sort of a contest, as they hold tightly to a series of self-soothing thoughts they have about themselves that tell them that they are ‘ahead’ of someone else.
64. A message to the losers – February 24, 2011
“You are reposting older posts? That’s really pathetic!
I counted 15 different posters masturbating themselves to death here.
You are the only ones who never really left the FoF.”
Why the bitterness and animosity, A message to the losers?
This is a place where those that have left the cult speak up;
to heal, vent anger, educate, warn…it is a very useful site!
There are people that post here that have been greatly harmed
by following Robert Burton. There are many people who read
here and never post a thing. Some of them are researching the
Fellowship of Friends and here they are advised to think twice
before they sign over their 10% or make that special deal to
perform sex for pseudo spiritual teachings, the fake fake
Gurdjieff ~ Ouspensky teachings by a self taught master
manipulator on the order of Charles Manson; a real sexual
abusing, psychopathic narcissist.
This is no race. There is no coolness factor to posting here.
Post away, I say, everyone!
71 Golden Veil
It is my feeling that this site offers a great deal of education, insight and healing to many who have been affected by the FOF, and especially by Burton. I feel it is healing and building self-worth for me to actually post here, even having left the cult almost 22 years ago.
Memories can run deep and the more one has been affected, the deeper may be the scars…..Nigel.
Keep moving ’cause Rust Never Sleeps.
To comment on what the Fellowship of Friends should be all about – who needs Burton the Caligula and his Heirarchy of Enablers to tell you how to live your life to gain Heaven, whatever that may be…..
To paraphrase Johann Wolfgang von Goethe…..
“Harmony arises when all express their Individuality in a Common Theme or Goal…..”
For You, O Democracy
By Walt Whitman
1819-1892
Come, I will make the continent indissoluble,
I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon,
I will make divine magnetic lands,
With the love of comrades,
With the life-long love of comrades.
I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America, and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies, I will make inseparable cities with their arms about each other’s necks,
By the love of comrades,
By the manly love of comrades.
For you these from me, O Democracy, to serve you ma femme!
For you, for you I am trilling these songs.
You others are ONE, in this instance…..
from Walt Whitman ‘Leaves of Grass’…..
WE two—how long we were fool’d!
Now transmuted, we swiftly escape, as Nature escapes;
We are Nature—long have we been absent, but now we return;
We become plants, leaves, foliage, roots, bark;
We are bedded in the ground—we are rocks;
We are oaks—we grow in the openings side by side;
We browse—we are two among the wild herds, spontaneous as any;
We are two fishes swimming in the sea together;
We are what the locust blossoms are—we drop scent around the lanes, mornings and evenings;
We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals;
We are two predatory hawks—we soar above, and look down;
We are two resplendent suns—we it is who balance ourselves, orbic and stellar—we are as two comets;
We prowl fang’d and four-footed in the woods—we spring on prey;
We are two clouds, forenoons and afternoons, driving overhead;
We are seas mingling—we are two of those cheerful waves, rolling over each other, and interwetting each other;
We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious, impervious:
We are snow, rain, cold, darkness—we are each product and influence of the globe;
We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again—we two have;
We have voided all but freedom, and all but our own joy.
By Nat King Cole (dedicated to WhaleRider)…..
Let there be you,
Let there be me.
Let there be oysters
Under the sea.
Let there be wind,
An occassional rain.
Chile con carne,
Sparkling champagne.
Let there be birds
To sing in the trees,
Someone to bless me
Whenever I sneeze.
Let there be cuckoos,
A lark and a dove,
But first of all, please
Let there be love.
Let there be cuckoos,
A lark and a dove,
But first of all, please
Let there be love…
Hmmm umm…love
Hmmm umm…love
Let there be love.
again from Walt Whitman…..
Sure as the most certain sure, plumb in the uprights, well entretied, braced in the beams,
Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,
I and this mystery here we stand.
64. A message to the losers – February 24, 2011
Why don’t you go and fuck yourself with one of those vibrators which fits exactly conscious ass?
70. James, yes.
65. surelyujest, uncannily good timing:
“Once a person has assimilated this pretend esoteric knowledge, and based his belief system on it, then he resents anyone who doesn’t agree that this is extremely important information, that it is self-evident, and anyone who doesn’t see it is a fool, or worse. To realize that it is all a waste of time, with the exception of self-remembering, is painful, because many have spent years studying the knowledge. It’s too painful for some, so they double down, becoming ever more certain that the knowledge is true.”
Should have posted this on Burns Night
(25th January)…..Nigel
“Is there for honest poverty,
That hangs his head, and a’ that!
The coward slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Our toils obscure, and a’ that;
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The man’s the gowd for a’ that!
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin gray, and a’ that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
A man’s a man for a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel show, and a’ that;
The honest man, though e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that!
Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, and stares, and a’ that;
Though hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that;
For a’ that, and a’ that,
His riband, star, and a’ that,
The man of independent mind,
He looks and laughs at a’ that.
A prince can make a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, and a’ that;
But an honest man’s aboon his might,
Guid faith he mauna fa’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their dignities, and a’ that,
The pith o’ sense, and pride o’ worth,
Are higher rank than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come it may –
As come it will for a’ that –
That sense and worth, o’er a’ the earth,
May bear the gree, and a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
It’s coming yet, for a’ that,
That man to man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that!”
This has been posted some time before. It is from John Ruskin, the Evangelist…..
Frondes Agrestes 1.2
“The temper by which right taste is formed is characteristically patient. It dwells upon what is submitted to it. It does not trample upon it,
– lest it should be pearls, even though it looks like husks. It is good ground, penetrable, retentive; it does not send up thorns of unkind thoughts, to choke the weak seed; it is hungry and thirsty too, and drinks all the dew that falls on it. It is an honest and good heart, that shows not too ready springing before the sun be up, but fails not afterwards; it is distrustful of itself, so as to be ready to try all things; and yet so trustful of itself, that it will neither quit what it has tried, nor take anything without trying. And the pleasure which it has in things that it finds true and good, is so great, that it cannot possibly be led aside by any tricks of fashion, or diseases of vanity; it cannot be cramped in its conclusions by partialities and hypocrisies; its visions and its delights are too penetrating, – too living, – for any whitewashed object or shallow fountain long to endure or supply. It clasps all that it loves so hard that it crushes it if it be hollow.”
It seems to bind the idea that ‘the play is written’ and also how to have correct attitude to it. No one in their right mind would want the greedy, selfish, pretentious and expensive lifestyle that Burton advocates…..Nigel.
And, finally for my offerings today, a real and, again, unpretentious, quote from a ‘conscious being’…..Nigel
“When we regard ourselves in the many situations life brings, we find that from first breath to last we are conditioned by external factors. Yet is that highest freedom left to us – to perfect ourselves within, so as that we shall come into harmony with the moral world order and attain peace with ourselves, no matter what obstacles may emerge. This is easily said and written, yet it is no more than a goal before us, to the achievement of which we must thouroughly dedicate ourselves. Every day challenges us to do what is to be done and expect whatever is possible.”
-Goethe-
80/81/82 were posted Sunday morning. Having seen couples be together and say good-bye for a while, I am reminded of this by Dylan Marlais Thomas – a fellow Welshman…..
In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.
82. Nigel
Robert Burton called his little classical mansion The Goethe Academy
at one time and often quoted Goethe, although I think he is philosophically cavorting elsewhere now.
“…that highest freedom left to us – to perfect ourselves within, so as that we shall come into harmony with the moral world order and attain peace with ourselves, no matter what obstacles may emerge.” Goethe
It is so ironic that you have posted this this quotation here, Nigel. Did you pull it off one of those, oh, what do you call them, hand-set printed booklets from the Fellowship Press decorated with a color reproduction of one of the works from the now sold-off art collection* on its cover?
So ironic, “…moral world order…”
*The art probably sold to settle the hefty legal claims made by former Fellowship of Friends members for reasons that we daren’t speak of…
84 Golden Veil
Actually, another blogger posted it a year or so ago and I thought it was so good I saved it on my ‘literature’ memory stick. I think it is brilliant that there is so much good material being posted here and that, if we need more, we need only ‘google find’ it.
“Let us continue in the work we are in”…..Lincoln
To all who post here, wanting strength to continue…..
From ‘Ulysses’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson…..
“I am part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch, wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!
As tho’ to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this grey spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.”
“Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Any spiritual practice that does not produce an increase in compassion for others and oneself is a dead end. Any practice that does not produce gratitude for the abundance that we experience is shallow.
One of the things that Ouspensky said is that self-remembering is our birthright. That means we don’t owe anybody anything to do it, and there should be no conditions placed upon it. Beware anyone who builds a scaffolding of “musts” and “shoulds” upon it. These are individuals who have erected a framework of ideas around themselves, but the framework is merely a monument to the ego. These people want us to doubt everything about ourselves, but the one thing they would never doubt is their enslavement to an ideology. They would undertake any discipline, but ask them to abandon the 4th Way for a month, and they would be unable to do it.
Particularly beware anyone who says that those who fail to appreciate their ideology are simply not intelligent enough to comprehend it. It is proof that their ideology serves only to strengthen their own self-importance and mistaken feeling of uniqueness. The combination of religious fervor and puffed up sense of superiority is a deadly mix. Run from these types.
Have any of these folks ever asked themselves just what part of them is so interested in “building a soul” and living forever? It sounds like exactly what needs to die in order to eventually return to God. The small, grasping self is just the ego, or the body’s instinct to survive. But some have elevated these drives into a spiritual dogma. It’s all so completely backwards.
It’s like a disease. We read about Gurdjieff many years ago, and to our immature selves he seemed so mysterious and attractive, and we desperately wanted the kind of power and adulation he seemed to have. Or maybe it was Ouspensky, or Collin. To have people look to us for the answers — it’s very seductive. And an ego trap. Their lives seem like disasters to me now. Ouspensky and Gurdjieff were slaves to their appetites who took advantage of their followers. Collin was a religious nut who basically killed himself.
The irony is that the desire to live another, higher reality is exactly what keeps us from truly living in the one we are actually in. In spite of all the talk about the present, there is a constant focus on the future, when life will be better, we will be more awake, etc. Everybody experiences this in some way. Like John Lennon said, “life is what happens when you’re making other plans.” It’s particularly sad when you fail to live your life because you’re focused on the future when you can be present better — when you’ll be a man number 5, 6 or 7. If you believe that you can achieve a higher consciousness in the future, then it is hard not to live feeling that your present life is in many ways illegitimate. And that’s just another excuse to put off living your life.
If you have been studying yourself for 30 years, the only reason to continue is that you find yourself endlessly fascinating. Maybe that’s why this stuff seems to attract so many narcissists.
It’s like living in one room of a house, and refusing to look elsewhere because you haven’t completely memorized the grain of the wood on the door. Other people have caught the view out of the window, and many have even walked out the door, but our man just keeps screaming from inside the room that we don’t know it well enough.
I say you should leave the room and come outside. Life is much better out here.
How come nobody whose had a near death experience reports going to the moon?
I think much of Gurdjieff’s material was clothed in ambiguity and intentionally misinterpreted into English. The analogies work well energetically, but fail on the physical plane.
from…..”Saints and Madmen” by Russell Shorto…..
to elicit more questioning over the ‘self- importance’ (in cults) debate…..
“Rizzuto (a counsellor) found that the concept of God is like a living thing within a child, which grows and changes as the child grows, and which is closely tied to parental attitudes and other forces in the child’s upbringing.. Among other things, she found a close correlation between ‘God-image’ or ‘God representation’ and self-image. “These studies show that self-image and God image go hand in hand”
(The whole book is recommended reading)…..Nigel.
89. surelyujest – February 28, 2011
‘How come nobody whose had a near death experience reports going to the moon?’
Because nobody goes there. Burton is a fraud.
92. X-ray.
Cults need people who fear potential suffering in the afterlife. Cult leaders take advantage of that fear.
Being thoughtful and introspective about what may happen to us when we die is one thing. Being meditative and reflecting upon our limited time on the planet is something similar. But being fearful about death and what may become of us is another thing. And trying to evoke fear in others — that’s a category all its own.
87, 88, and 89. surelyujest
I really liked your thinking in all three posts, including your beautiful analogy:
“It’s like living in one room of a house, and refusing to look elsewhere because you haven’t completely memorized the grain of the wood on the door. Other people have caught the view out of the window, and many have even walked out the door, but our man just keeps screaming from inside the room that we don’t know it well enough.
“I say you should leave the room and come outside. Life is much better out here.”
All of the following may be different facets of the same thing, depending on what someone means when they use these words:
Question I sometimes ask is if I’m “remembering myself” and “doing the work” (meditating, etc., whatever the term may be) in an attempt to separate myself?
To make myself “different than” and “better than”?
Or does meditation (or self-remembering) come from the life-giving impulse to connect, and to have “gratitude for the abundance that we experience” as you wrote above?
There’s an enormous amount of fear in the fof with the idea of connecting. First of all, the whole point is to separate ourselves. If we question that notion that we need to be separate, different, better, higher, and so on, we question our reason for staying in the cult. As soon as it becomes apparent that connecting may be a good thing, then leaving the cult (leaving the room) becomes a natural step.
Sometimes my first inner response to this idea of connecting is to think about the world’s insanity –how it’s filled with crime and suffering and destruction and strangeness and shallow behavior, and with all of the war and horrors on this planet, it’s clear that the universe is brutal, and that the ray of creation (whatever that supposedly means) is working against us. So considering all of that, my first impulse sometimes is to think that connecting is naive and foolish. And then there’s the question, “Well, connect to what? I’m not sure connecting is such a good idea. Tell me what it is that I’m connecting to.”
There could be some wisdom in the above skepticism. But more and more I’m just seeing the fear in it, and how it’s simply a product of many years of brainwashing.
re 94 Audit`s “ Question I sometimes ask is if I’m “remembering myself” and “doing the work” (meditating, etc., whatever the term may be) in an attempt to separate myself? To make myself “different than” and “better than”?“
It seems to me that the sentence is not really clear. In any event you certainly are right when you say that the words can be used and understood in many different ways.
What is clear to me is that we can go on living a mechanical life and that can result in a hell on earth. Shit just seems to happen. Going from that state self-remembering then would be obviously a good idea. So now what is included in the term self-remembering? Is it just the sudden stop in the mechanicalness? The way I see it if I come to this `stop` and then separate myself from my experience of the world as I am experiencing it, then one thing is gained. I have temporarily halted the flow. If that flow was negative or taking me someplace that I would prefer not to go, then it is valuable as long as I take that opportunity to redirect the flow, to change direction so to speak. It is then that I can choose. Choosing can only be done consciously.
Changing direction can only be done consciously.
If on the other hand I use that opportunity to place myself in just another type of sleep where I distance myself from my emotions, I lose. Sure I may become numb and not feel any pain. I think some believe that this is the correct path to follow, after all who needs pain? I learned in the fof to do just that. I learned to distance myself from family first of all, from the emotions that family entails. Yes that did work for the purpose of avoiding pain, grief. It made me quite a bit like a robot. After all the idea was to become better than the run of the mill humans and not waste precious energy. It all made sense to me, that madness, at one time. Yes, I meant well.
The part that was missing is that once I arrived at the `stop` I still had to go a step further. the choosing that I mentioned earlier.
Choosing what? My reality. By this I mean that I could then make a reassessment as to the usefulness of the emotional direction I was going in prior to the stop. This is where many disagree. Some will jump on the “How does one know whether this suffering is useful or not?“ bandwagon. Well yes it is useful if it leads me to self-remembering, to this stop point and allows me the opportunity to change direction, but that is all. It is not useful to then just stay there like the zombie that some prefer me to be and at the same time be their slave. The opportunity to change something must be used. I never got training or teaching as to what that might entail. Actually it was very simple and in fairness I must say that the idea of returning to the moment came close to being the answer except that the way that was taught led to a dead end since at that moment one just had to focus on the present moment and there is always a next moment until death. The simple answer is that I must determine what I would prefer or like to experience next. My personal answer would never be a state of stagnation or numbness, at least not for very long.
At that crossroads can I know what I would prefer to follow, to happen in my future? Well I can try. If logic works, fine. If logic does not work, I can rewrite the play in the next best imaginary scenario. Oh no! Not imagination, the curse of man! Never, I cannot go there! Bull, I say. Imagination is a great tool when it comes to creating. When I am imagining a better scenario I am changing my energy. When my energy is more positive, I feel better. From that better feeling place I can do stop again and from that point check to see if I have an even better option available. Yes that may even be in imagination again if all else fails. The higher up the scale of emotions I go the better the view. Before long a snowball rolling down the hill or with the newly chosen flow becomes an avalanche, yes mechanically even or it seems to be, in a way like gravity.
This choosing required an effort, especially at first when my programming did not include it. Eventually it becomes second nature, almost effortless. It is still programming but now the result is far better. If a mistake is somehow made in my reprogramming at least I know the way to change it to a better one. Life then just gets better and better and I can appreciate that, which by the way is also a trick, appreciation I mean.
There are other tricks alluded to above such as `pretending`. Even our young daughter has that one in her bag of tricks. It seems children are born with it. Too bad I did not learn earlier that I could learn from them or did I actually know it but did not realize the value of using that tool properly? After all it does work.
Cheers!!
Renald: “It seems to me that the sentence is not really clear. In any event you certainly are right when you say that the words can be used and understood in many different ways.”
Renald, thank you kindly, I definitely botched that passage –probably rushing too much. I meant to convey two different ideas there:
1. Self-remembering is just one way to describe “it”. I may also be able to call it meditation, or reflection, or introspection, or any number of things, the now, seeing the God in oneself, being present, and probably many other ways to describe it.
2. If I do “it” with the primary intention of separating myself from others, making myself supposedly better than, or higher than others, then something is off-balance, and maybe even diseased. If on the other hand I do “it” with the intention of connecting –connecting to something noble that’s hiding there deep within myself, and for connecting to others, to Nature, to the Earth, to the Universe, to God, or even to my own no-thing-ness, then perhaps I would be getting somewhere.
I think Surelyujest mentioned the ego more than once in his/her posts –once again spot on. This idea of the “the ego” (which by the way, is never, ever, discussed in this particular cult) is one of those ideas worth considering when trying to figure out exactly what it is that’s off-kilter with the fof. “Vanity feature” is way too kind of a word to describe it. Diseased, imbalanced, ego-maniacal. Those are words that come closer.
Frances Thomson
11/23/1926 – 2/27/2011
RIP
God bless her, and all.
Fran, I remember her voice and Scottish accent quoting Burns: “O wad some po’er gift tae gie us,
to see oursel’s as aithers see us.”
Frances T. & John G.
Here is a daily quote which applies for both sides of the fence:
Physical man gets into an uncomfortable place when he concludes, “I and those like me have come to the right decisions, and everybody that’s living outside of these right decisions is wrong.” And then he spends his life pushing against all those “wrong” decisions and cutting himself off from the Life Force that would help him have joy in his, what he concludes to be, right decisions. There is no one right path. There are endless paths, and the differences in the paths are what make them more and more, and more, perfect. The same old path no longer serves.
— Abraham
Excerpted from the workshop in Orlando, FL on Saturday, February 3rd, 2001
It seems to me that after reaching 100 pages of this blog that most bloggers may have reached this bit of enlightened advice already yet I still find it useful to use as a reminder.
Cheers!!
97. Opus111 – March 1, 2011
God bless her soul, but who got the goodies?
Did Br..n Ca….en made that to the end?
I have known a few people in my life who had the unfortunate tendency to blurt out every negative and critical thought they had towards others. These people were very different types of individuals, but the thing that was similar between them is that they invariably believed that this compulsion was a strength, and not a weakness. They believed that this unfortunate tendency made them strong, “brutally honest” and other nonsense. They inevitably drove everyone around them away with their nasty behavior. Then they blamed others for not being able to accept the truth about themselves.
Of course, if anyone had the nerve to turn around and point out something negative about them, they would dissolve in tears and hysteria, until they had to be comforted and told that it wasn’t really true.
The worst sort is the internet bully, who, from the safety of his keyboard, bravely says whatever awful thing enters his mind, while remaining mild mannered and polite in person. Insult them in turn, even online, and you get the same whining and tears.
104. surelyujest – March 3, 2011
Are you saying that was love?
He was about 40 years younger than her and as I remember him, he always been fof lunatic, a regular wine cellar guest and one in front of whom you had to choose your words when talk about fof and Burton.
Gossip with the intent to hurt someone else is nothing less than criminal. Besides the side effect is that it has instant karma. The gossipper receives instant damage.
And if anything is unfortunate here, is the reaction of some people to the simple truth, to whom it sounds brutal, insulting and negative.
First of all it isn’t gossips and your carma bullshit isn’t scary.
Don’t let your dogma chase your karma.
Don’t let your karma run over your dogma.
X-Ray
I was just reporting in a simple way that she had passed away, that is all.
Does that mean no farther comments allowed?
And what if I want to mention few things?
Is it forbidden subject once again?
Kind of reminds me those people who were always shied away when asked if two of those were couple. And as I said, god bless her soul, my comments were about one who is around.
I do have some fond memories of Frances and have warm wishes for her close friends and family, but it’s a good feeling to drop the false reverence that often accompanied the deaths of our friends in the FoF.
Still, some of my most memorable moments in the FoF occurred when someone died. It reminded me — supposedly — why we were there, to “escape time and death.” But (privately) it just evoked a deeper sense of mystery about life and death, and reminded me how little I (and we) know about this life, let alone the afterlife. We had silent moments reflecting upon the person who had passed away, and Burton routinely used those moments as a propaganda tool of sorts — displaying his pretend gravitas. We paused to think how “lucky” were were: Thanks God WE were in the Fellowship of Friends.
If there is an afterlife, and if Frances is there in some unknown beautiful realm (I hope she is), I can see her shaking her head a bit right now, while reflecting upon all that she has seen.
105 X-ray
“Are you saying that was love?”
Sorry, I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I didn’t know the people you are talking about, and my comment wasn’t directed at them. It was kind of a non sequiter, I’m afraid.
As for the comment on gossiping — yes, gossip can at times be hurtful, but I have found no evidence of the kind of instant damage referred to. To call gossip “criminal” reveals more about an indoctrinated attitude meant to squelch criticism of the cult leader. That comment reveals more about the commenter’s guilt and shame around the concept of gossiping than any real breakthroughs in understanding the consequences of gossip. Talk of instant damage sounds like superstition.
113 surelyujest
One the subject of gossip, would you be able to talk of the person in the same manner if he/she were actually in your company at the time? Good ‘barometer’…..Nigel
re 113 surely`s “Talk of instant damage sounds like superstition.“
What I was referring to was that when I hear someone doing malicious gossip my value and trust for the gossipper drops down a few notches instantly. Maybe I am the only one on the planet who thinks this way, maybe not. Cheers!
113. surelyujest – March 4, 2011
Your comment was directed at me, and if you don’t know what the fuck are you talking about, why don’t you better shut up?
x-ray,why not reflect on the “memento moire” of it all? 101, Bares Reposting offered a photo of two people. Two good people many of us know. We remember them with fondness. They are both gone now. Both were “students” til the end.
Take a moment to appreciate your life.
115. Renald – March 4, 2011
‘Malicious gossip? ‘
I’ve seen them many times together and I was asking around if they were a couple and I remember those stupid answers, and I’ve seen him regularly on the wine cellar dinners and I know exactly who the guy is so do yourself a favor and fuck off.
Cheers.
I was not responding to your comment. My comment just happened to follow yours.
But considering the general state of the blog these days, I think I’ll take your advice.
117. silentpurr – March 4, 2011
Well if you stop reading my comments with your ass, you may notice that my critics goes at him, not at person who have passed away and even though I never was a fan of her, I still respect the fact that she have passed away.
119. surelyujest – March 4, 2011
‘I was not responding to your comment. My comment just happened to follow yours.’
Bullshit.
Regarding the “state of the blog”:
Definitely the blog deserves scrutiny, too. We may be quick to point out the insanity and the denial of following a cult leader, but some of that same insanity can be found here, too. Let’s always remember though, that the blog has something going for it that the fof doesn’t — open discussion, and the ability to self-scrutinize.
Imagine if the the moderator kicked one of us out for pointing out that this forum, too, can be insane. Not quite as insane as the goings-on that we were in denial about in the fof, but we have our share, too.
As pissed off and disruptive and irreverent as you are, X-Ray, I’m not convinced it isn’t healthy for someone to let it rip now and then with an f-you, even if many of us think they’re off the mark, counter-productive, whatever. I prefer it much more than standing with my hands crossed in front of my [you know what] staring blankly ahead in denial, while Burton is doing his thing with someone’s thing.
John and Frances are such distant memories, and I interacted with them so infrequently, that I barely know whether I could ever see them as a friend. We often pretended friendship in the fof, based solely on our monthly signature on a Bank of America check, combined with some fairly big numbers. I think of them fondly, but not entirely. Not when I remember that they, too, were in denial and contributed to a lot of suffering — whether they knew this or not. I think they probably did know this, and their consciences struggled with it. I’d like to believe that about them anyway.
In the light of all what have come out in the recent years, those who still have choose to stay in the cult, have knowingly continued their support and have to be held responsible for partnering in crimes committed by Burton and the FOF.
Crime? I don’t think Fellowship students see their life-style as crime. They, like all “good” students, are emotionally and financially invested in believing that Robert Burton is ABOVE crime.
122 audit
“Let’s always remember though, that the blog has something going for it that the fof doesn’t — open discussion, and the ability to self-scrutinize.”
Trying to look good, sound smart and pay huge sums of money for petty-cultural lifestyles are/were SOME OF THE CRIMES that are/were being committed.
Nigel.
Let’s not downplay here, Nige, when I talk about crimes, I mean physical and psychological rape, slavery, tax fraud, insurance fraud, immigration fraud, and who give the shit what are these lunatics believing in, there is a law and no one is above it.
And actually, you know what, you are completely right. And NOT “so much the worse for you.”
It’s hard to hear it, and there is a tendency to be in denial about it and downplay it and turn away, which in the end does help perpetuate it. We can say, well, this isn’t the right time to talk about it, but then when is it the right time? Move on move on move on, don’t offend, don’t make uncomfortable, don’t disrupt, don’t stir things up, let it go, move on move on move on and then keep moving on.
If I were your friend, I’d buy you a beer and say, chill for a while dude, and don’t let it kill you, but you know what, you’re right, and it’s good to be right, and I just don’t have any advice for you like that other than to listen and take it in. I can’t stand here on a pedestal and say, “let it go, and move on, and be kind to people.” I sense you’ve seen a lot more than me, and that maybe you’re through with being kind to people, or at least too kind. Or wait, maybe it is kind to keep reminding people, like trying to shake someone who keeps drifting off.
‘Don’t let it kill you’? Oh no, not even remotely and I am totally relaxed as I am writing posts.
But to be kind to the people who does not deserve any kindness, make no sense to me. I don’t believe in political correctness more than I believe in fairness. If you deserve kindness I’ll give it all to you, but if you a crook, you should be treated accordingly.
And thanks for the offering but I don’t drink.
126 X-ray
Maybe the FBI is saving up for a ‘big blast’ at the FOF CRIMES!!!!!Nigel.
129. nigel – March 5, 2011
I don’t know what else they waiting for, I think they have enough to ‘blast’ him now.
And it doesn’t take that much, FOF so deep in shit that all of it is floating on the surface, you don’t need a heavy digging to have the case.
All it’s really takes is formal investigation and this is what’s in our hands to bring about.
And the only reason why this whorehouse still functioning, is because there never was a federal investigation.
130 X-ray
“It must be thought on…..” (Henry V)
I’ve been lurking again lately, and wanted to pipe in on the recent, rather acrimonious (but nevertheless profitable) discussion about Frances T. I, too, have noticed a tendency to sentimentalize our former “friends.”
To sentimentalize Frances, and pretend that now she is in Kissing Kindness Land, is to downplay the real evils of the FOF.
I remember the person in question putting the screws on when FOFers were behind in their so-called “teaching payments.” I remember her fiercely defending the status quo and harshly judgmental towards former members.
She must have known the truth. We’re responsible for not only what we know, but what we turn our heads from. And now it’s too late for her to correct course. (Note to FOF lurkers: It’s not too late for you, however! Crawling out on your knees at 80 years old and taking up a begging bowl would be more honorable than where you are now! Remember that oft-quoted saying: Truth above friendship! It applies to you!)
Point is, the “good” people in the FOF were even better people when they walked in through the front doors. The place has a deteriorating effect on character. And there is much more to being a good person than a smile, a pleasant dining experience, or an occasional kindness – there is quietly, firmly witnessing to the truth when everyone is shouting you down.
This deterioration doesn’t occur “in the moment,” it happens over time (and it happened to me, too). Hence, the friend you remember from 20 years ago is quite a different creature now. When I saw that clearly and indisputably, I left.
As for the law, I’m sure the appropriate agencies have a lot of hearsay stories, opinions, and allegations – but what they need are not petitions or picketing or Sad Sack stories about our own poor choices, but clear, firsthand accounts of illegal activities in the recent past.
Finally, a suggestion for this blog: We are here for a common purpose, though our lives may have gone in very different directions. We all had some sort of experience in the FOF, and we digested it according to our best wits. I bailed last time when I was under increasing pressure to conform to the then-current bloggers’ description of my experience, which didn’t match with my own understanding. It was further implied that if I were smarter, more observant, whatever, that my opinions would conform to their own. (Akin to: if my being were higher, I would understand the Teacher or Center Directors.)
Life is too short to argue. It behooves us all to respect the experiences, choices, and observations of others – whether people left the FOF and became card-carrying atheists or picked up the latest New Age nonsense.
After the FOF, almost anything would be a spiritual step up.
It must be act on.
We ARE acting on it! What do you think this blog is about?
132. X-ray – March 5, 2011
‘It must be act on.’
X-ray, you left the ‘i’ out of that sentence between the ‘t’ and ‘o.’
It should read: ‘It must be action.’
Gotta put ‘i’ into it. Thanks
Some contacts, please…..
I know of one, who is definitely monitoring the actions of the FOF…..
Ryan McCarthy
Appeal-Democrat
PO Box 431
Marysville
CA 95901
Anyone who is able to provide ‘fresh and juicy’ information, I suggest you contact him.
Other contacts were posted about 6 months to a year ago…..do we have details for…..?????
Federal Bureau of Investigation
California State Department of Justice
Sacramento Bee Newspaper
San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper
Are we just trying to drain the victim pool with our posts, or are we able to bring the judicial system to bear on the FOF…..?????Nigel.
APPEAL-DEMOCRAT 2008
A former believer takes on the leader.
Critics call the Fellowship of Friends a cult; members say it’s a school of spiritual development
It’s not that the emperor wears no clothes at the 1,171-acre property in the Sierra foothills with a winery, cemetery and main building meant to resemble a French castle, says Elena Haven.
The old folk tale speaks of adults afraid to say their ruler is naked. But Haven, a former member of the Yuba County-based Fellowship of Friends, said silence surrounded the colorful clothes — the salmon pink silk suit, shiny blue shoes or bright yellow pants — leader Robert Earl Burton, 69, sometimes wore.
“It’s the picture of the whole phenomena,” Haven, 49, said of the religious group that she calls a cult and that she left in 2007 after 17 years as a member.
That Fellowship members don’t comment about Burton’s clothing during gatherings at the group’s headquarters in the foothills community of Oregon House is a symbol of more serious problems, Haven said.
The 6-foot, 4-inch silver-haired Burton, a one-time elementary school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, is the unchallenged ruler of the Fellowship and doesn’t face questions, she said.
Not about his living like a king, not about a lifestyle said to rival a ruler in the last days of the Roman empire, not about the nuclear Armageddon that Burton proclaimed would happen in 2006, not about whether the Fellowship is following the “Fourth Way” system of spiritual development taught by two 20th-century Russian philosophers and mystics, Haven said.
“If you challenge him you have to leave the cult,” she said. “No one can understand how crazy this can get.”
A fresco-style ceiling painting that includes a depiction of a man with an erection is an example of the excesses of the Fellowship, Haven said.
Last month Haven did something other former members said no one had attempted since the Fellowship established its Sierra foothills site in 1971.
The 5-foot, 3-inch dark-haired Haven began picketing in July at the Rices Crossing Road entrance to the Fellowship property 29 miles outside of Marysville. Most members live in a bubble, unaware of what takes place in the Fellowship’s inner circle, Haven said. Her protests came as the group said members from around the world — the Fellowship has centers for students in many countries — were gathering.
“How many more boys, Dear?” read one of her signs, a reference to what Haven said are the half-dozen young men constantly in Burton’s company and known within the Fellowship as his boys. “Dear” is the term Burton uses to address members.
The Fellowship reaction to her signs was swift, Haven said. They photographed her, she said. They called the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department. When Haven returned the next day to picket again, the Fellowship had put two trucks and a tractor to block the space where she had parked her car, Haven said. A member shouted several times at her, Haven said.
“I was shaking I was so afraid,” she recalled, puzzled by the strong reaction to one woman with a few picket signs. “One person standing on the side presents no threat to anyone.”
Before the end of the month Haven was in a Yuba County Superior Court courtroom arguing against a lawyer for the Fellowship, which sought a court order to keep Haven away from its headquarters.
When she spoke in court about what she said was Burton’s conduct, the judge said it sounded like Haven was accusing Burton of wrongdoing.
“I am not,” Haven answered. “I do not think being homosexual is a crime.”
The Fellowship more than a quarter-century ago did not allow such sexual behavior.
Homosexuality — along with smoking, firearms and hitting with fists — was prohibited for members in a 1980 guide. By then the group had been at its Yuba County property for nearly a decade. The Fellowship began in the Bay Area and, in 1971, looking for a nearby retreat, settled upon the Sierra foothills land in Oregon House.
Burton was the leader.
CULT EDUCATION FORUM 2004
According to many sources, Oregon House/FOF is not a legitimate Gurdjieff group.
I advise that you NOT sign any documents relating to money and that you get out of there just as soon as you can. If you have signed any documents relating to finances, get out, and consult an attorney–you dont want to be the scapegoat for any iffy financial transactions.
Just pack your bags and leave. You dont owe them any apologies or explanations. Its likely that you were recruited under false pretenses—recruitment into bogus Fourth Way groups is often done through the guise of friendship, and you were probably NOT given enough info to make a fully informed decision.
After you leave, you can get a copy of ‘Taking With the Left Hand’ by William Patrick Patterson, a Gurdjieff scholar. There is a big chapter on your group, and its leader Robert Burton.
[forum.culteducation.com]
OH takes great trouble to cultivate a collective appearance of elegance, high achievement, sophistication and ‘niceness’.
[www.geocities.com]
(Some of this material may be out of date, but not too much of it)
You did not mention how you decided to live at Oregon House. If you did so for spiritual practice, you need to know that the ‘self remembering’ meditation taught by Robert Burton, leader of your group has produced trance reactions in some people. Years back I met a man who had been in Fellowship of Friends (the original name for your group–Burton went on to call it ‘Renaissance’ and ‘The Ark’)
Years ago, a friend of mine had a buddy in Alcoholics Anonymous who wanted to deepen his spiritual practice. Her friend got entangled with Fellowship of Friends. Much later, my pal got a phone call. Her buddy was in jail. He’d emerged from FOF penniless and disoriented, and under stress began drinking and using drugs again. He’d landed in jail and needed bail money.
Legitimate Gurdjieff practitioners have analysed Burton’s method of Self Remembering and insist that it is not accurate–Patterson discusses this in his book. You cannot get reliable Fourth Way teaching at Oregon House.
The difficulty is that there are so very many dodgy Fourth Way groups out there that unless people have already researched the whole area, they’re likely to be stumble into one.
If you still want to do Gurdjieff work, I advise that you take a breather, read James Webb’s book ‘The Harmonious Circle’ and see just how much of Gurdjieff’s material is not unique to him at all.
Two, ask whether the mystique & mysteriousness of it appealed to you and what you hope to get from it.
Its a path of power that has no end in view.
If you still want to do G work, contact the Gurdjeiff Foundation. There is one in SF and one in NYC.
This does not mean either organization is risk free, but at least they are transmitting G work through a legitimate lineage, not a line of hustlers.
No matter what you do, dont give up your financial goals, your health, your sanity, or your family and outside friendships.
I recommend that you read several books by Karlfried graf von Durckheim–starting with Hara:The Vital Centre of Man (hard to find but superb) and ‘The Call For the Master’
Durckheim integrated body with spiritual practice in a manner ahead of his time. He got his insights from real Zen practice in Japan and had academic training as a psychologist and student of western mysticism. He was a lucid writer, no mystique, and many Gurdjieff practitioners make use of his writings–they may find Durckheim’s kindness and clarity a huge relief compared to the opacity of Gurdjieff’s material.
Dont let anyone con you into believing that you’ll lose your capacity for spiritual progress if you leave them or their organization. Thats just a sleazy power trip.
“What IS important is that the basic motive is to take the victim to the cleaners for every dollar he has or can beg, steal, or borrow. And it’s incredible how much money the hypnotized disciples of a clever and ruthless operator will plead and beg of him to accept from them.” Volney Mathison, inventor of the E Meter.
Another approach on the many “I”s.
Pretty intelligent and more practical from my pepective.
sorry “perspective” instead of pepective.
133. silentpurr – March 6, 2011
‘We ARE acting on it! What do you think this blog is about?’
Are you? What else are you doing except writing here?
This blog can only help to wake up those who still in the cult and prevent new people from joining, which isn’t bad but not enough.
When I mean action, I mean to take all available information, including the powerful letter of the former FOF lawyer D.L. to the board of directors where he states all criminal points very well, to the local police station, to the FBI office, to the immigration agency, to the IRS. This is action, talking to people in person or if you can’t do that, at least take all this information and mail it to them. This is action. If you going only to write here, don’t expect to see Burton and his criminal gang in jail anytime soon.
All contacts with the authorities must be documented and here is where people like Ryan McCarthy from Appeal-Democrat could play their part, updating the general public on the process.
And to all of you who still afraid, remember that REPORTING A CRIME IS NOT A CRIME!
132 is new
132 William
“an occasional kindness”
I remember this of G—-d H—n. He would not act when I was depressed in 1979 and had to be away from the FOF for 3 months. Now I hear that he, too, has to take anti-depressants, as I did then – hope it is Valium – shit stuff – makes you feel nothing (as if H—n felt anything in the first place). Anyone have similar stories of ‘enablers’?
Nigel.
The F.T./B.C. arrangement – there is high plausibility that this was a December-May type (if you know what I mean and can believe it (like you can believe that on R.B.’s birthday, oral sex is performed by R.B. on the same number of men (Fellowship of Friends (FoF) members) as there are years in his life – sad but true.)) is what could be called an ‘arranged marriage,’ or ‘marriage-of-convenience,’ where something other than a typical ‘love relationship’ is the object of the entanglement. This is one of those ‘best kept secret’ of Fellowship of Friends; mostly expected to go to the grave. These arrangements come from R.B. directly, but no way to document, as evidence, that I know about. I know of some people that refused to do it.
What may be at work in this sort of thing is various dynamics, such as (but not necessarily limited to): passage to U.S. and/or green card and/or citizenship possibilities, indentured servitude with a minimum of a guaranteed position on salary for life (slave labor, if you submit), sex slave with a minimum of a guaranteed position in the mouth of R.B. for life, obedience to the master, eternal gratitude, a debt that never can be repaid, lifetime loyalty, perpetual invitation to the ‘Cellar Dinners,’ on-call ‘duty’ at other times, any of your reasonable needs satisfied – just by asking big daddy for help, entourage world travel – whenever, various other perks and responsibilities. Sorry to spill the beans, B.C.
Want to own a property and a home? Big daddy can arrange to get you one: provide money for down payment, co-sign on title and mortgage, adaquate salary position from Fellowship of Friends (FoF), Renaissance Vineyard and Winery, or other FoF controlled or influenced entity so as to afford mortgage payments. What’s the catch? See above position requirements.
At least, that’s the way it was.
F.T., in my experience, was one of the most miserable people I knew in FoF. This could have been the chemistry of types, but also there could have been reasons. F.T., when I had some interactions, was responsible for the center donations for people living in Oregon House. That was about 700 members, or so, then. The enforcement of FoF policy was delegated to her so that she was the ‘bad news bearer,’ so that R.B. was spared being ‘the heavy hand of fate’ much of the time. Power must have its rigid enforcer as she was, often in a stern and/or callous martial manner. Someone had to do it, right?
Others may have had different experiences. 132. William, thanks for your post.
F.T., may you rest in peace.
117. silentpurr – March 4, 2011
‘101, Bares Reposting offered a photo of two people. Two good people many of us know. We remember them with fondness. They are both gone now. Both were “students” til the end.’
The J.G., in that photo, is not known to be ‘gone now,’ to my knowledge. Does someone know for sure? Seems to me that that would have generated a post here.
There is no rest or emancipation from suffering for the wicked.
Dear Francis also had a role as the “fetus problem solver”, as she would deliver the message from that chickenshit-on-high: “Abort the little bastard so that you can better give me all the attention & money.”
About F.T. …..
Towards the end of my ability to keep up with ‘teaching payments, I called F.T. and told her my position. Her answer came in two halves:-
“This seems to be the story of your life, Nigel”
then the usual crap to propel a student to eke out all their available resources in order to keep on paying…..
“If you value a school, you will pay for it.”
The story of my life in the Fellowship was, in actual fact, one of financial hardship from ‘day one’ and the letter I wrote back to Fr—s included the line that “I did value school work”. I actually meant that I valued work on Essence. My life work was then precious metal work and that role has been recovered now as a teacher of the same to adults. I just wonder how many computer programmers, head-hunters, pseudo-psychiatrists and pseudo-lawyers (Goldman, are you reading this?) still play key roles in financing and enabling the Fellowship?…..Nigel.
146. Just the Facts Ma’am – March 7, 2011
‘The F.T./B.C. arrangement’
Wow! I didn’t know about this ‘arrangement’ until now, but I was always curious seeing them together and it’s never felt right to me.
And as far as I know, F.T was an insider and knew all and everything what was going on in the cult.
148. Agent 45 – March 7, 2011
And in my opinion, that was the heaviest crime of all ever committed by Burton, and for this alone, I would lock the bastard in the jail forever.
151 X-ray
If, as Sufi Inayat Khan, the 20th Century mystic, stated – “The only thing that is created in life is one’s own true nature” – I suspect REB, instead of going to Paradise after his demise of this lifetime (which his narcissistic disorder tells him he will), he will be ‘thrown’ into the greatest black-hole ever created, to live for eternity in his own Universe of Infinite Pain…..
Nigel.
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). Responsibilities and Other Poems. 1916.
“To a Friend whose Work has come to Nothing”
NOW all the truth is out,
Be secret and take defeat
From any brazen throat,
For how can you compete,
Being honour bred, with one
Who, were it proved he lies,
Were neither shamed in his own
Nor in his neighbours’ eyes?
Bred to a harder thing
Than Triumph, turn away
And like a laughing string
Whereon mad fingers play
Amid a place of stone,
Be secret and exult,
Because of all things known
That is most difficult.
148. Agent 45 – March 7, 2011
And I also didn’t know that F.T was the carrier of diabolic message to those women to kill their innocent and unborn children. For this she should be redirected straight to hell and those of you who disagree with me on that – fuck you.
152. nigel – March 7, 2011
Look Nigel, I don’t know where will he go afterlife, if anywhere at all, but I would rather want to see him in the prison cell in this life, before he goes any farther.
155 X-ray
Sorry – I have a personal view on the afterlife (not a little influenced by the writings of Walt Whitman) – but I do agree with you. How about…..
SETTING A PRECEDENT BY WAY OF ROBERT EARL BURTON BEING UP IN A LARGE COURT, BEING TELEVISED LIKE O J SIMPSON OR MS WOODWARD, THE BRITISH NANNY…..
BURTON’S FALSE PERSONALITY WILL CRUMBLE UNDER ANY LAWYER FOR THE PROSECUTION AND WILLING WITNESSES.
COME ON, YOU RECENT VICTIMS OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF FRIENDS CULT…..DO NOT BE AFRAID, SINCE THE TRUTH IS ON YOUR SIDE…..
and, X-ray, can we all suggest ways on how we can go from blog-posting to legal action?????Nigel.
O.K. -shall we make a start?…..
Federal Bureau of Investigation (Sacramento)…..
4500 Orange Grove
Sacramento, CA 95841
Phone: (916) 481-9110
Fax: (916) 977-2300
Frances lived her life, or was condemned to live her life with or without a conscience. She played her part, and made her choices… Did she struggle with second thoughts, regrets, misgivings? We don’t know.
But, she did stay til the end and was probably lauded as some sort of ‘tenacious warrior crone’ by RB and his believers.
But for Frances, like the others, it’s probably the need comfort and the fear of loneliness that keeps them hanging on. And a touch of insanity.
continuing with the Immigration Service Office…..
The USCIS office that serves your area is the: Sacramento Field Office.
This office is located at:
650 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA 95814
CALL THEM IF YOU KNOW OF ANY ONGOING IMMIGRATION FRAUD…..
158 silentpurr
Once a Fellowship Machine (without choice) always one…..Nigel.
tax evasion: an overview
Tax evasion is using illegal means to avoid paying taxes. Typically, tax evasion schemes involve an individual or corporation misrepresenting their income to the Internal Revenue Service. Misrepresentation may take the form either of underreporting income, inflating deductions, or hiding money and its interest altogether in offshore accounts. The U.S. Government projects that fiscal year 2007 resulted in the government losing $345 billion because of tax evasion.
Individuals involved in illegal enterprises often engage in tax evasion because reporting their true personal incomes would serve as an admission of guilt and could result in criminal charges. Individuals who try to report these earnings as coming from a legitimate source can face money laundering charges.
In the United States, tax evasion constitutes a crime that may give rise to substantial monetary penalties, imprisonment, or both. Section 7201 of the Internal Revenue Code reads, “Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.”
Proof of the crime requires first proving the attendant circumstance that an unpaid tax liability exists. Second, the prosecution must prove some affirmative act by the defendant to evade or attempt to evade a tax. Third, prosecutors most show that the defendant possessed the specific intent to evade a known legal duty to pay. To convict, the jury must find the defendant guilty of each of these elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
FT, as I may remember, was a nurse, maybe RN, as career. That would have been excellent credentials for advising women on getting abortions.
I did my part Nige, but there is so much one man can do. I think if there would be at least 20-30 people who would be willing to contact the authorities or at least to mail them all the crime tips all at once or during a short period of time, it would make a difference, but I am convinced that the most effective way to bring Burton to justice is to sue him personally for sexual assaults and this time he won’t have the millions to settle cases out of court.
162. Ill Never Tell – March 7, 2011
Evil bastards.
163 X-ray
Where do WE get the funds for this ONE PERSON to sue Burton?????…..Nigel
159. nigel – March 7, 2011
Well, how about reporting Asaf’s fraudulent marriage, attached with D. L. letter, a former fellowship attorney?
Imigration fraud is a federal crime punished by 5 years in prison and/or $250,000 fine.
This guys got shut down, do you think the fellowship cult has immunity? I don’t.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-01-26/news-by-industry/28424974_1_sham-university-indian-students-immigration-fraud
165. nigel – March 7, 2011
The question is who is willing to step up?
The funds, I think, could be worked out with the attorney Ford Geene, the man who worked on the petition.
158 silentpurr
“But for Frances, like the others, it’s probably the need comfort and the fear of loneliness that keeps them hanging on. And a touch of insanity”
—-
and a touch of insanity, I like these last words, they are true. I know I had to be a little bit insane and with a life in shamble to continue be in the FOF after discovering it was not what I was looking for.
Let’s face it, the Fellowship of Friends members do suffer from insanity. They have an insane sense of superiority and delusion of grandeur mixed often with false acts of humility. Even those who are not suffering from those extremes are insane, just to be there in the Cult it requires having a sort of split personality. I do not care how nice and friendly some of them may be, they are corrupted.
Frances T., at one point she became my nightmare as well because of the teaching payments I could not afford due to catastrophic circumstances. Robert Burton did not seem to have taught her even the most basic lesson in compassion. She seemed a blind soldier.
It’s sad she sold her soul and her life to a man who is really worth nothing. Despite all, I hope she had moments and even days that were truly her own, beyond Robert’s sickness.
169. veramente – March 8, 2011
‘Despite all, I hope she had moments and even days that were truly her own, beyond Robert’s sickness.’
I doubt that.
In fof it is nearly impossible to have anything of your own without having it partly or wholly controlled by a conscious parasite.
Veramente, your perception is clear! I too remember my touch with insanity, which for us can be perceived only from the reality side of the mirror.
X-ray, I think Robert is a parasitic worm that burrows into the psyche,invited. At first he seems like a good guest, but gradually demands more and more space until finally host/student is asking “Would Robert buy this? or eat this? or read this? or would he approve of this?
There is a great deal of approval seeking required. It’s Robert’s way of being the host/student’s “Avatar”
Burton is a parasite, period.
For the first 30 years he was parasiting on the Fourth Way ideas and then for another 10, on his defrauded followers.
Regarding F. T., it seems fair that I should tell this blog my story. When my husband and I lived in Europe, we thought we did not have to pay the Spring and Fall donations, which amounted to $750 each per person, per season. (Still does.) So we didn’t pay it for all the years we lived there. F.T. eventually found out and after we talked about it with her she realized we could never catch up with the payments and she said: I will cancel your back payments but you will need to start paying from now on. So she did have some authority in these matters, and we appreciated the break she gave us. She wasn’t a monster, just someone caught in something ugly.
It’s not always easy to choose.
Josiane’s experience clearly illustrates that there was considerable discretion in the hands of FT – could be viewed as (in Fellowship of Friends circumstances): life or death over being able to continue in the school, or not. (Tell us about it, Nige!) Often others were contributing to the decision process, like: RB, GH, center directors, the current FoF president, center bookkeepers, etc. One thing was certain, living and being on the roster in Oregon House provided an enormous number of excuses for getting out of making teaching payments in the form of cash/money. Making regular donations of precious bodily fluids to RB was at the top of the list.
174 Just the Facts Ma’am
I don’t know how many people like me who left the Fellowship in one form or another had to totally recreate their spiritual life, having had it be dependent on ‘The Master’ (REB) and a whole heirarchy of enablers – maybe feeling devastated to the core for many years after exiting – to have one’s sense of spiritual, moral and Essential wellbeing become based on what one can achieve for oneself (and with TRUE FRIENDS) to gain what the Fellowship would have sold one for a lifetime of financial, emotional and physical efforts…..
THE MASTER WITHIN ONESELF…..Nigel.
173. Josiane – March 9, 2011
‘She wasn’t a monster, just someone caught in something ugly.’
I think she was a monster and she even looked like one, and if you think that delivering a message to the women to abort her baby, so more money and affection will go to the conscious parasite, it isn’t monstrous, then I don’t know what is, and your back payments has been canceled not because she had an empathy for you, but only because she realized that since she won’t be able to get that money from and you will need to leave the cult, it would be better to ‘cancel’ what has been already lost and keep you in, but force you to pay more on a regular basis, this is simple math, nothing more.
Please, can anyone re-post the David L. letter to the board?
177 X-ray
Usually, I am a complete ‘nerd’ when it comes to ‘surfing’ for things on-line, but here is the answer to your request (David Springfield Letter – download file command)…..
1. black marker – May 20, 2009
Da..d Spring…ld, Attorney at Law November 19, 2007
To All Board Members of the Fellowship of Friends, Inc. and Giova.ni Bu.co
Re: No Further Legal Representation
Dear Board Members and Giova.ni
I am not sending this letter because I like writing of these matters or because I want to repeat what has already been stated repeatedly by both Abraham and me. This letter is written because of my professional obligations and my personal obligations to the School. My professional responsibilities require me to send this letter to confirm again that I will provide no further legal services to the Fellowship of Friends, and have stopped working on all ongoing legal matters that I was involved with. This letter also advises you to immediately work with Abraham Goldman and/or other legal counsel to handle the legal work I was involved in and to address other ongoing and/or upcoming legal matters that I will outline in this letter. The recent board activities have been covered in a number of letters and emails by Abraham and me. None of the communications were ever acknowledged or responded to by any board member. As you know, Abraham and I were instructed to stop all legal work.
First, a directive was issued on November 3, 2007, via email, on behalf of Et..n Har..s, Chairman of the Board, through R.se Ke.n.dy S.afer Vice Chairman of the Board, without explanation, question, or discussion. My emails and letter of November 6, 2007, about this heavy-handed and improper directive were ignored by all board members.
Next, I wrote to Li.da T.li.so who ignored my question about what to do about the ongoing legal work but was ignored. After learning about the secret board meeting and illegal vote that took place on or about November 10, 2007, I talked with Li.da T.li.so the President in person at her
office on November 13, 2007. Linda confirmed the secret vote of the Board (although both W.yne Mo.t and Al.n Sc.wa.tzbe.g lied that no other “crisis team” members voted at the secret Board meeting) and Linda instructed me to suspend all my legal work. I confirmed this in a letter dated November 13, 2007 that has also been copied to all of you. There was no response to this letter from anyone.
On November 18, 2007, I was voted off the Board of Directors. Now, no longer working as attorney, nor being able to act as a member of the Board, I will be unable to assist the Fellowship with any legal work or offer any oversight. All of this occurred after one week of false and contradictory statements by W.yne Mo.t, Al.n Sc.wa.tzbe.g, Et.an Ha.ris and others about the secret board meeting where this was already decided in advance. Only G.eg Hol.an acknowledged yesterday that the secret Board meeting was improper and that he wished that matters would have been done openly and correctly.
The failure by almost all of the Board members to even have the decency or honesty to acknowledge a secret Board meeting was held and a secret vote taken (to vote the lawyers off the Board), without any opportunity to address the issues by the persons involved is below the level of school work for any student, let alone a board member with responsibility for our church.
Al.n Sc.warzbe.g’s refusal to show the minutes of the secret Board meeting, and subsequent refusal to return my many calls and emails, is conduct that is highly irregular for the Secretary of the Corporation and the Board of Directors. To date, I still have not obtained a copy of the “RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS” that I personally saw when both Alan and Wayne in heavy-handed fashion informed Abe and myself, on November 12, 2007, we were voted off the Board.
It is my feeling that what occurred over the last three weeks is a combination of crime, gross carelessness and ignorance of almost all Board members. In my opinion, serious crimes have likely been committed and are possibly continuing to be committed by current members on the Board. This should be addressed immediately. As I wrote about in my letter of November 6, 2007, the requirement of legal compliance and checks and balances within our organization needs urgent attention. The Board has been for some time but a passive “rubber-stamp” board without active or meaningful oversight. This almost complete inaction may create the impression of the Fellowship as a criminal organization that is functioning as the later ego of Robert Burton, involved in a conspiracy to engage in financial, tax and immigration fraud, and perhaps other illegal activities and/or tortuous conduct.
Responding to a call from Mr.Margalli? this morning, I gave him my impressions of yesterday’s Board meeting. Mr. Margalli? suggested I write a confirming letter and cover the ongoing legal work that you must all appreciate should be addressed immediately.
This list does not purport to cover all of the areas that need immediate and significant work, and you should immediately consult with Abraham and all other lawyers for the Fellowship.
The legal work I have been involved in covers the following areas:
1. Immigration. Ongoing assessment and evaluations of the needs and requirements of our religious programs/individual’s status and possible need to go back to their country of origin. I will notify Mr. Shusterman of the fact I will be no longer working with him on behalf of the Fellowship. I was also working with a number of individual students who would call with questions in the last months.
2. Financial Compliance. This is critical and should be a top priority. You have knowingly allowed having a system in place where the CFO is made responsible but essentially helpless and without authority. The CFO is not being consulted in important decisions. The Fellowship’s financial activities, in my opinion, could be seen as criminal conspiracy to commit tax fraud and private inurement benefiting Robert and a number of other individuals (including possibly some Board members) and could be considered a fraud on the government. The status as a non profit corporation could well be in serious danger.
3. Investigation/Monitoring of Blog?GF/PR, etc. Several times this year I have written to Youtube or other websites to have offending material taken off line. This has been largely successful. I also have conducted an investigation into aspects of the Blog and some individuals with the aim to allow us to file suit for defamation and/or invasion of privacy if and when appropriate. I have worked on obtaining PR consultations for which then no funding was purportedly available. (Nic.ol.s Spa.ldi.g who was helping in this area, was threatened by Et.an Har.is to stop working with Abraham and myself) This area should be a major concern for the Board which has been almost totally unresponsive.
4. It was our diligent monitoring of the blog that put us on notice that A.af Brave.man’s arranged (by Fellowship officers and/or agents) fraudulent marriage to Elisa.et.a da Ros was being exposed to the world. This finally stimulated action in this area but more is needed. I will no longer monitor the Blogs or any other sites, in any language, and will no longer assist with analysis and efforts to bring these matters into compliance. A lot more needs to be done in this area for many involved.
5. Insurance. We were working on a review of all materials from the Internet and other sources that could constitute a claim (including foreign websites). I wrote about this before as well. Insurance could possibly pay for some of the costs incurred, including legal costs. I will stop all my work on this claim process, including any work on the research into the bad faith claim aspect of the insurance which I wrote about before. TIme may be of the utmost essence. See my letter of November 6, 2007.
6. Other matters: There are outstanding million dollar judgments from the Ming litigation era that will need to be renewed in the next years, if the Fellowship wants to collect on them. I had this calendared for a review in January 2008, 10 years after the first settlements and judgments were obtained. Given the success we have had collecting from various parties, I would consider this an important item to follow up on. I will no longer take any action in this area either.
In short, the overall picture is in my opinion that the Fellowship itself, Robert, and a number of our friends, including several board members and officers, continue to be in potential legal jeopardy and liability.
With the information, according to what I gathered from my investigation, shared by certain former members to various agencies, I cannot envision that there will not be a government investigation and/or lawsuit in the planning/preparation stages with possibly serious consequences for the Fellowship, the Board of Directors, Robert and possibly a number of individual students, including possibly individual Board members.
A fully professional and active compliance team to put matters straight must be created. This team would need to be working daily, hands on, with the supervision and input from professionals. The existing irregularities cannot be hidden from the people that need to help bring us into compliance.
Again, I am no longer acting as the Fellowship’s attorney. Immediate attention is required to the numerous outstanding legal issues facing the Fellowship. You are advised to consult with legal counsel immediately.
Thank you for your time and consideration to these important matters. Do not hesitate to call if you have any questions.
Very truly yours, Dav.d Spri.gfield
cc. Robert E. Burton ??? Abraham Gold.an, Esq.
Thanks Nige,
Now lets take this letter and the petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/djindjin/petition.html
to investigate the Fellowship of Friends and send it together to the FBI, INS, IRS.
https://tips.fbi.gov/
http://howtoreportfraud.com/report-other-fraud/immigration-fraud
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=106778,00.html
http://howtoreportfraud.com/report-tax-evasion
It would be great if more people will be willing to take few minutes of their time and send these two as well. To attract authorities attention we’ll need a greater number of people sending the requests/info/tips to investigate FOF crimes, and lets keep on sending every day until they will respond.
Also, lets keep Ryan McCartny from Apeal Democrat updated on the process.
rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com
AND REMEMBER: REPORTING A CRIME IS NOT A CRIME!
‘This almost complete inaction [of the Fellowship of Friends (FoF) board of directors] may create the impression of the Fellowship as a criminal organization that is functioning as the later ego of Robert Burton, involved in a conspiracy to engage in financial, tax and immigration fraud, and perhaps other illegal activities and/or tortuous conduct. . .
In short, the overall picture is in my opinion that the Fellowship itself, Robert, and a number of our friends, including several board members and officers, continue to be in potential legal jeopardy and liability.
With the information, according to what I gathered from my investigation, shared by certain former members to various agencies, I cannot envision that there will not be a government investigation and/or lawsuit in the planning/preparation stages with possibly serious consequences for the Fellowship, the Board of Directors, Robert and possibly a number of individual students, including possibly individual Board members.’
Dav.d Spri.gfield [a.k.a: Dav.d L.bb.rs]
Report fellowship criminals to authorities.
They are aware of their crimes and are afraid, and they should.
179/181 X-ray
I took a look at your http/: links, and it seemed to me that we are pretty much in the same position as at any time when it would be possible to bring legal action against the FOF and REB…..
WE NEED RECENT MEMBERS WHO HAVE LEFT WITH A GRIEVANCE OR THOSE WHO ARE STILL IN THE FOF AND ARE THINKING OF LEAVING AND HAVE SOME LEGAL MATTERS TO LEVY AGAINST THE FOF AND REB TO COME FORWARD AND STATE THEIR COMPLAINTS ON THIS BLOG SO THAT WE CAN BRING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THE FOF AND REB WITHIN THE LAW CONCERNING THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS…..
I myself am too far removed from membership to be able to bring legal claims, but am willing to testify in court…..Nigel.
182. nigel – March 10, 2011
That’s good, Nige, but lets not worry about others, instead lets focus on what we can do right now. Have you send the petition and the letter of D.L to the links I’ve posted in 179?
If yes, then you will be a second person at least who have done it already.
But I think we need at least about 20-30 people doing it, to make it work.
183/184 X-ray
See what you mean. Will do…..Nigel.
John Gr-h-m is still alive. As far as I know. John is on Face book
Frances Thomson was, a tough old broad. I knew her well and considered her a dear friend, from 1976 until I split the FOF in ’96. Like many others of her generation, she was sized-up, and assigned a “role” by Burton to further his own selfish, pathetic aims. She would have made a good hit-man. I think she cared about people, but was diverted by loyalty and willingness to follow orders that you would expect from a Scotts woman raised during the WWII years of unquestioning loyalty to a wooden English King. She partied hard and found some joy in life, I think. I am only sorry that she did not find any way out— but old age can creep up on you and anchor you to your habitual ways and you won’t have the strength or will to break free. RIP Frances.
Thank you another name. I will visit him right now.
“Zombie” ants fall victim to mind-control fungus
By Mike Krumboltz
‘Zombie ants’ may sound like the title of an Ed Wood movie, but, according to National Geographic, they are quite real.
Oddly, there’s nothing very zombie-like about the actual ants. It’s only when a particular fungus takes over the ant’s brain that things get weird.
Once the “stalk of the newfound fungus species Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani infects an ant, the ant gives up control over its own body.
After the fungus is in control, it forces the ant to scamper toward “a location ideal for the fungi to grow and spread their spores.” Then, it’s lights out for the ant. Who knew a fungus could be so diabolical?
These wild discoveries were made by a group in Brazil headed by entomologist David Hughes. National Geographic published a series of pictures of ants that have “lost their minds” to the fungus.
188. silentpurr – March 11, 2011
‘Thank you another name. I will visit him right now.’
You see, this is why in fellowship the business as usual, because people have all kinds of other priorities.
If you would really understand the depth of the immoral behavior, the power abuse and the criminal activities continuously going on in the cult and the implication of that on the people, you would at least take a few minutes of your time and send the two letters to the links provided in 179, but instead, you ready to leave everything else and right the way to visit one of the oldest supporters of the criminal organization.
Union Efforts Fail in Cult
Wisconsin House- Despite cries of “Shame, Shame, Shame,” by scores of protesters outside the chain-link fences and iron-clad defenses of the Fellowship of Friends, Inc., AKA Pathway to Presence, located in northern California, CEO and chief fondler Robert E. Burton has once again succeeded in keeping those employed to feed his insatiable lust stripped of their conscience, critical faculties, and collective bargaining rights by simply firing anyone who resists his sleazy advances, preventing his followers from speaking to them, and then importing foreign sex workers willing to have unprotected sex for trinkets, second hand clothes, three meals a day, a roof over their heads, and a promised spot in the great beyond.
After one of Burton’s boy-toys, who happens to be married, began having concerns that the unprotected sex he was having with Burton might endanger his beloved wife and children, who he also missed due to the long hours of “dick duty” he was required to put in at the Sodom Galleria, Burton’s residence and pink play palace, the gaunt young man, drained of his dignity and bodily fluids, contacted the local chapter of the AFL-CIO Sex Worker’s Union for advice and help.
Unfortunately, it is not unlawful manipulate those trusted in your care into having unprotected sex as Burton does as leader of his quasi-church.
The Union quickly dispatched a representative to the man’s house to discuss organizing Burton’s multitude of sex partners to go on a sex strike and collectively bargain for safer whoring conditions, shorter whore hours, and to be paid overtime for the nightly personal service he and the many, many others were providing.
When Burton learned of the plan from one of his spies, the aging old gay fart simply asked that the concubine be escorted to the front gate and be shunned by the spineless, faithful followers, no questions asked.
The man was replaced a day later by a newly arrived young Russian, eager to please.
190 X-ray
Have started to put together my ‘missive’ containing the Springfield letter and the Petition. One problem I came across was that copying and pasting on to the FBI ‘report’ site created an over-the-limit word count on the message box for the Springfield letter. I am prepared, since I have ample experience in business letter writing and critique writing from my teacher training, to put together an impressive covering letter (a copy of which I will post here to urge others to ‘get seriously involved’ with X-ray’s suggestion) and include the Springfield letter and the Petition. These will be sent by courier mail to the Head of all the Departments mentioned by X-ray in post #179. I have already pasted the two documents to Word ready to complete this task by the end of today (Friday 11 March 2011). I should suggest anyone serious about the deepest aims of the blog-site should act on X-ray’s advice and stop taking this site as a chat-room. SOME OF US ARE REAL!!!!!…..
As the motto of our local newspaper, the Express and Echo, here in Exeter, Devon, goes…..
“Action into words; and words into action”
Love you for your efforts…..Nigel.
Thank you x-ray, but I CAN chew gum and walk at the same time!
A problem for me is the skewed printed format of the petition. It is festooned with curly-topped circles that are distracting to read. It doesn’t appear to be a serious document in that condition.
193. silentpurr – March 11, 2011
‘Thank you x-ray, but I CAN chew gum and walk at the same time!
A problem for me is the skewed printed format of the petition. It is festooned with curly-topped circles that are distracting to read. It doesn’t appear to be a serious document in that condition.’
Sounds like a buffer to me.
192. nigel – March 11, 2011
Thanks Nige, this is action.
You know, I’ve been here a long time and have spoken many words and I feel that if I won’t see some practical steps forward starting from this point, I think this 100th discussion will become a last one for me.
I have other things to do in my life to waste my time in the chat rooms.
I agree with Silent Purr. This petition should be repaired before it is presented. It looks to me (and I a non-knowledgeable computer user), that it was written in Word but is in a non-Word format. What do you think?
Here’s the link found at the bottom of the petition page for Petition Help to contact technical support at the company hosting the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/cgi-bin/petition_help.cgi?djindjin/petition.html
The author of the petition needs to contact them, copy and paste a sample of the problem like this: ÒchurchÓ in the help form window and let technical support deal with the issue. The problem seems to be use of the apostrophe, as in ‘church’ or member’s.
Once the petition is fixed, I suggest sending a copy or link to the congressperson in the district where Burton’s rape factory is located and ask them to sponsor legislation to make the rape of church members by clergy entrusted in their care a crime in the state of California, as it is in the state where Burton was born, Arkansas.
what about not expressing emotions and saying yes and immune system?
For new comers here, in the fellowship you are asked not to express negative emotions to “grow your soul.
Very interesting.
About the Petition…..
It can be pasted to Word and the O’s taken out and the ”s put in. If you do not do it yourself before directing to the links posted by X-ray, I will be doing it myself later and post it on the blog, as I found I had to do that before compiling my covering letter yesterday…..Nigel.
Just as an interim paste/post, until I do what I said in 199…..
“Who Wants to Live Forever?”
Words and music by Brian May
There’s no time for us
There’s no place for us
What is this thing that builds our dreams yet slips away from us?
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
There’s no chance for us
It’s all decided for us
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us.
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Who dares to love forever?
When love must die.
But touch my tears with your lips
Touch my world with your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today.
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Forever is our today.
Who waits forever anyway?
Sorry this takes up a frigging load of blog space but…..
“Do as you say and say as you do”…..Nigel…..
The Fellowship of Friends Investigation.
To: all appropriate regulating agencies and elected officials of the State of California and the United States of America. World news media, and all world citizens concerned with abuses of religious power.
Petition:
“We are past members of the Fellowship of Friends, an organization operating as a ‘church’ in the rural Sierra Nevada foothills of California. It is dominated and controlled by a man named Robert Earl Burton. Our petition asks for an official investigation into the practices and character of his organization. The charges are documented by personal accounts declared pursuant to California law and under penalty of perjury.
We estimate there are about 15,000 former members worldwide, with current membership estimated at 1600. The long-term influence of this organization can result in the exploitation of its members, the consequences of which are often poor physical and/or mental health, financial ruin and moral devastation. These damaging results are documented.
Robert Burton calls himself a spiritual teacher and compares himself to Jesus, Buddha and Moses. He uses charisma, persuasion, psychological manipulation and coercion to drive large ‘donations’ of labor, money and assets to support the ‘church’. It is documented that these donations are used largely to fund his extravagant lifestyle, outlandish projects and for sexual predation of his ‘students’.
Most all ‘donations’ are mandatory and Mr. Burton enjoys the protection of the organization’s tax-exempt status under the laws of California.
Over the last 37 years, the property belonging to the Fellowship of Friends, including the vineyard and commercial winery producing Renaissance wines, has in large part been developed and maintained by the unpaid labor of foreign nationals in this country working on the basis of religious visas. This fact has been intentionally hidden from authorities. Workers are required to donate back to the church the largest portion of their salary, leaving an average monthly living wage of about $460.00. These facts are documented.
Fellowship centers around the world also fund the church through mandatory donations. It is documented that these monies have been routinely smuggled into this country under the direction of Robert Burton and his minions.
Mr. Burton has abused his role as a spiritual teacher to prey upon young men for sex. His methods are documented. There have been several lawsuits on record against Robert Burton and the Fellowship of Friends. A 1996 lawsuit alleging the rape of a minor child by the group’s leader was settled out of court for an undisclosed but significant amount of money in order to avoid future scrutiny and litigation. (See Yuba County Superior Court Case No. 060209, 04/29/96). Most of the lawsuits on record have been settled financially, out of court.
These offenses have been largely concealed from current followers and the methods of concealment are documented.
We ask all who share concern for these conditions to sign this petition and ask for an official investigation into these affairs.”
The following are selected letters from previous members of the Fellowship of Friends, which are pertinent to some of the points covered in the petition and which are used with the full permission of the authors whose names have been withheld in order to avoid harassment for those still living near the organization.
RE: “Allegedly Mr. Burton is a sexual predator who has abused his role as a spitritual teacher to prey upon young men for sex.”
“I joined the Fellowship of Friends in San Francisco, in 1974 at the age of 24. In 1975 I was asked to give up my photography business and move to Mt. Carmel Monastery (Rennaisance, “the Ranch” etc) as Robert was collecting “talented young artists” for our community. I was in a relationship with another female member, and we joined together. I was eventually living in a tent on the property. Over the first year at the ranch Robert would spend more and more time around me. I can only see it now as being groomed for receptivity. I was often given little insignificant “artistic” tasks to keep me busy and pliant.
Eventually Robert started having me travel with him. It was during one of these trips (I think it was to Palm Springs. Temecula etc) that I was asked to stay in his hotel room with him and Pe*er Bis*op. I was told to sleep on the floor next to his bed.
Robert’s general inaccessibility to members made being around him appear as a great gift of “higher forces”. We were told, usually by members of his entourage that it was an extreme privilege. In the morning upon awakening I noticed that he was in bed with Pe*er (there were two beds). He asked Pe*er to go and do something. Robert then asked me to come into bed with him. At the time he just hugged me. This alone put me into a profound state of confusion. I was in a relationship with a woman and had no desire for what was happening. At one point he reached down and moved my penis as if he was shifting it’s position as if it was uncomfortable for him. I tried to shrug it off. He did this several more times. At this point I got out of bed and resumed the day.
I don’t remember the time space of all the occurrences, but at some point it was “suggested” that I spend some time staying at the Blake Cottage (RB’s home when he was there). Of course, we were guided by RB and the entourage to believe that proximity was everything in this school. Those who were offered proximity were the “inner circle”.
One of the fundamental principles that was stressed in the FOF was that to awaken, one must relinquish one’s will to that of the teacher, as he represented higher forces, or C Influence, and that he knew far more then ourselves what was needed for us to awaken.
During this time in the Blake Cottage, while I was being “courted” there were quite a few other young men staying there. While walking around in a daze because of the “proximity”, and the shock of slowly becoming aware of what was coming, I was oblivious that the same thing was happening to several others who were staying there. The residents of the Blake Cottage, as it appears to me now, comprised two groups…those being groomed for sex, and those who did RB’s bidding, including helping facilitate the manipulation of the young men slated for this disaster.
During this time I was given several “special tasks” such as hand washing RB’s cashmere socks, “blocking” them, and sliding them under his bed to dry on a towel. Another “resident” who was more trusted washed his under shorts.
Around this time the residents would sleep on the floor in the livingroom. One morning while we were sleeping RB came out of his room and tapped me with his foot and made a “come here” gesture with his finger. He led me into his bedroom and closed the door. He indicate to me that he wanted me to be in bed with him. I figured he wanted to hug again so I acquiesced.
At this point he started to fondle my penis. I remember feeling red in the face and confused. He then proceeded to perform oral sex on me. He told me to tap his head three times when I was going to ejaculate so he would know. This type of scenario occurred several times over the next few weeks. It included oral sex (giving and receiving) and some anal sex. I remember basically being numb for a few weeks. I wandered around in a daze thinking “Why is this happening to me”? I was so shocked that I was completely unaware that this was happening to several of the residents at the same time. I have to conclude that they were also in a state of shock. No one discussed it, especially with each other. I was far too ashamed to even discuss it with my girlfriend. At this time in the FOF RB was supposed to be celibate, and homosexual contact was forbidden.
I remember “trying” to tell my girlfriend without saying it. She didn’t understand what I was trying to convey, and I was too afraid to elaborate. I was convinced that I had information that could bring down the FOF..
I remember feigning sleep in the mornings, thinking “no, not me, please” when he would come out in the mornings. It was at this time that I realized that he was choosing boys from a “harem” on most mornings. I felt guilty and miserable about hoping it would be someone else today.
After a few of the events I told him I was in great turmoil and that I didn’t want to do this anymore. He used several arguments to dissuade me, among them: “Higher Forces wished you to do this”. “The turmoil I was feeling was necessary for me to awaken, and it was a great gift from the angels, of which he was one”, “It’s the least you can do for your teacher”, “You are not the only one. I am voracious. I have many students that I share this with” etc. These are close to accurate statements that he made. Some of the other lines that were used for “grooming” was “When I die (meaning him- RB), I will be a higher man than Jesus was when he was crucified”. “Higher forces wishes you to allow me to drink from your cup”. (one of his favorite expressions).
I was disgusted with myself for allowing it to happen. I felt shame that I couldn’t describe or share with anyone. A few of the victims tried telling the hierarchy about what was occurring but they were either told it was not true, or they didn’t want to hear it, or that we couldn’t understand the ways of the angels. I continued to stay at the Blake Cottage for a bit more, but when RB was at the ranch I would stay up at “the lodge” so as to not be a sexual possibility for him. At one point Col*n Lam*ert came to me and said “If you’re going to stay at the Blake Cottage you owe it to Robert to be there when he was”. Col*n was one of RB’s primary enablers and pimps, and to my knowledge, this was his way of not having to have sex with RB.
Eventually I moved up to the lodge on a full time basis and slept under the dinner tables along with the more normal, unexploited members.
At some point RB came to me and asked again for me to be with him, and I told him no. He said he knew what the problem was…that I didn’t want to “receive” him. He thought I would have no objection if it was only him “receiving” me. I remember being incredulous that he arrogantly thought that was the problem…that I didn’t want to “blow” him. I told him that had nothing to do with it. The problem was that it was going on at all. At this point I was grateful to not be around him at all.
This all occurred when no one really knew what was going on, and no one wanted to speak about it, so there were quite a few damaged people walking round including the women that were in relationships with “the boys” that RB selected.
Even just relating this brings back what I felt while it was occurring.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California and under penalty of perjury I hereby declare the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed on March 8th, 2008 at xxxxx, xxxxx. ”
* *
STATEMENT OF FACT
To Whom It May Concern,
“This is the account of my experiences in the church known as the Fellowship of Friends.
I was member of the Fellowship of Friends from March 1990 until March 2007. From 1998-2002, I functioned in the role of ‘center director’ for a satellite branch of the church located in Bogota, Colombia. From early 2002 until March 2007, I lived in Oregon House, California the location of both the church’s headquarters and church leader’s primary residence. In 2003, I married Mr. Girard Haven, the second in command of the church. During my marriage, I accompanied my husband on ministerial trips to at least ten different satellite centers of the church across the globe.
In course of my 17 year participation in the organization of the church and direct contact with the church’s leader, Mr. Robert Earl Burton, I became aware that Mr. Burton was suffering from a condition known as satyriasis, which manifested as an uncontrollable sexual predation of young men in the church. In conversation with former members and victims of the leader’s sexual behavior, it became clear to me that the leader was not expressing his sexuality in a healthy, open manner, with equanimity, but exploiting his position of authority, misusing his power and influence, and covertly sexually abusing these young men. Many have left the church. To my knowledge, not one man ever initiated sex with Mr. Burton. Mr. Burton always initiated the sexual contact, and exclusively with young male church members, often 30-40 years younger than he.
This behavior was sanctioned and supported by the leading figures of the church and longtime members through preaching and promoting the churchÕs doctrine of unquestionable support for the leader, who maintains divine status within the church.
I also witnessed what I believe to be emotional and physical abuse by church members, in the neglectful treatment of an 86 year old member, named Mrs. Dorothy F. Mrs. F suffered from Alzheimer’s and died in March, 2007. I volunteered to assist in her care in 2002 and then to my horror discovered that she had not been bathed for over a year, her fingernails had not been trimmed for equally as long, and she had a foul body odor. She also appeared underweight, and I witnessed that she had been fed mostly bread sandwiches for her meals.
When I became aware of Mrs. F’s deteriorating condition, I offered to care for her in my own home, and was dissuaded for three months from doing so by the church members responsible for her care.
When Mrs. F’s legal guardian finally agreed to let her stay with me, she was brought to me weak, on the verge of death, appearing overmedicated, unable to stand or walk and having seizures. This neglectful treatment was sanctioned by the church members’ assertion that Mrs. F was an ‘empty shell’ and would soon be dead. Under my care Mrs. F continued to live for another three years.
To the detriment of the community, I witnessed another elderly member being shunned from participating in teaching events involving Mr. Burton because she ate too much at a dinner. Also, I believe that Mr. Burton’s homosexual lifestyle was reflected in the church as misogyny particularly toward the wives of the heterosexual men that he seduced and in general to the rest of the women in the community. He attributes any protest from the wives, husbands or any member to ‘feminine dominance’, a key church concept he developed. It is a doctrine that imposes a dangerous and destructive behavior on members to self-censor and work against their own self-interest, dignity and moral integrity.
Around 1999 much influenced by The Fellowship’s indoctrinating ideas that our “life families” were nothing but biological connections without real meaning in our lives, I left my younger daughter with her father. This has proved the greatest mistake I have ever made and has created terrible suffering for both my daughter and myself. Although other factors involved my leaving her with her father I would have never taken that option had the idea of biological families not been introduced to me by the Fellowship of Friends.
During my marriage to Mr. Girard Haven I witnessed the horrendous psychological effect that the Fellowship of Friends has had over Mr. Haven who has fallen into blind idolatry for Mr. Burton at the cost of his family and himself in exchange for a position of power in the Cult. He hit me various times over disagreements about the Fellowship and refused to pay for my medications on a traveling teaching trip although I had to work as hard as he did. I will never understand this from my husband or a person I worked with or an institution I was there to help.
I have witnessed peopleÕs freedom of speech totally controlled within the Cult. For over three years I have seen Robert Burton allow only two or three members speak at events in a community of over six hundred people in Oregon House. I have seen how people stop to communicate after such long periods of such conditioning. Connected to this, I have seen how the exercises given by Mr. Burton are designed to control peopleÕs intellectual activity in specific directions so that they lose the ability to question the real conditions of their lives. These are facts, not opinions. A close study of the techniques used in the Fellowship of Friends will reveal the systematic indoctrination of peopleÕs emotional, intellectual and physical existence. Such a long study is not pertinent here but all that is being said here can be proven.
I have witnessed that people are valued in the Fellowship of Friends only in as much as they provide the Cult with money. Cheap labor, easy talents, people’s good will is succinctly exploited without the Cult giving anything but more economic demands in return and depriving people from real participation in what is really happening inside. Mr. Burton’s control is total and totally dangerous to the well being of the community.
I have witnessed the indoctrination given by the Fellowship of Friends referring to the rest of humanity as ‘the six billion dead people on the planet’ or ‘sleeping masses’. When Mr. Burton predicted that California would collapse after an earthquake, thousands of dollars were taken out on loans by students thinking they would never have to pay for them. This is the kind of mentality that is promoted towards the rest of humanity in the Fellowship of Friends.
Sometime around 1998, when I posed a question to Mr. Burton during a church meeting and refused to yield the floor to him (who tried to stop me) until I had finished my question, I was required by Mr. Burton to maintain silence at meetings for a period of two years or I would be ex-communicated from the church. The humiliation that I felt from this censorship contributed to feelings of inferiority and subjugation. It had a lasting effect by compromising my social interactions with members and non-members from then on. I became very insecure, withdrawn, and depressed. I formally left the church and separated from my husband in late March 2007. I was physically exhausted, spiritually depleted, angry, depressed, and sad.
I have witnessed the silent suffering of hundreds of students who have forgotten themselves for over twenty years. People who no longer know who they are or if they ever were anything else. People walk disguised in silk clothes in the Fellowship of Friends, but have had to leave their soul at the entrance.
Now that I am in the process of healing the emotional, physical and spiritual damage brought about through my involvement in this Cult, I am openly supporting every investigation of the practices and character of this corrupt organization and its leader.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California and under penalty of perjury I hereby declare the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed on March 8, 2008 at the city and county of San Francisco, California..
Sincerely,
Mrs. Clara Helena Haven
* *
“The influence of this church is documented to have had damaging results on the lives of many members, allegedly leaving them in a state of poor physical and/or mental health., financial ruin and moral devastation.”
“Here are the facts concerning myself, XXXXX, and the Fellowship of Friends which gives an implementation of part of the petition described above:
I have been a member of the school for 23 years.
In 1986, after getting my degree as an architect, I went to live at ‘Renaissance’ during 9 months. I met there one student who would later become my husband. At that time, he was living with the teacher Robert Burton and had a sexual relationship with him.
After 9 months there, I went back to my country, France, to finally work with my new profession. My future husband decided to leave the teacher’s residence and to come to Paris to live with me. The teacher, Robert Burton, through the director of the ParisÕs center, asked me to get married with XXXXX or to leave the school.
R. Burton gave me two weeks to make a decision and said that if things did not change, my future husband will have to come back to the United States with him.
We finally got married and stayed two years in Paris. Then Robert Burton asked us to come back to settle definitively to ‘Renaissance’.
In 1990, we came back to live there, both on salary for the school, with only 300 dollars each by month to live. Robert Burton asked us to apply to get a green card so we could stay there close to him, so, we did through my diploma of Architecture. I took us around one year and some months to get it.
All these facts happened and all these decisions were taken, always with the background that we should contribute to the proper functioning of the school and that we should surrender to the will of our teacher, who saw better than us what we should do.
I did not know at that time that the teacher Robert Burton had never stopped to have sex with my husband, (even when I was just married, R. Burton was travelling to France every year). At that time, I was just trusting my husband and my teacher.
Then the teacher began to travel 2 or 3 days a week (1992) with my husband. As I was asking questions and not receiving alarming answers, I was still trusting my husband and my teacher. I understood later that the teacher asked my husband to hide these facts to me.
Until the day, when my husband told me abruptly after five years of marriage, that he wanted to get divorced, definitely and without any hope of change. The same day, he went back to live at the residence of the teacher. This happened without any explanation, and left me in a state of complete despair. I could not free myself from this relation until I knew the complete truth. I implored my husband to give the reasons of his departure, and he did after some months: he told me he never stopped having sexual relation with Robert Burton, during all our marriage, even though he never liked it. That were his own words.
During the following five years, I had nightmares because of that. It could have ruined my health and life; fortunately I was not alone. I could have left the school at that time, but I took this pressure coming from the teacher as my work. I was convinced that all these facts had created a specific relation between the teacher and myself. The teacher did everything to make me feel that way: little attentions, invitation to dinner, É.
After 1992, I went back to France, divorced, and married again with another student who he is still my husband now after sixteen years. I and my present husband XXXXX can testimony that Robert Burton tried also to seduce him, tried to have sex with him using his position as a spiritual master. My husband always refused his propositions.
We decided to take distance, little by little, more and more from him until the moment we finally left the school of R. Burton in 2007.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California and under penalty of perjury, I hereby declare the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed on 20, 7, 2008 at xxxxx, xxxxx.”
* *
“From approximately 1989 until approximately 1994, I was the treasurer of the ‘Fellowship of Friends Verein’, which is the legal form the Fellowship of Friends religion takes in Germany. In this capacity I performed bookkeeping for all funds collected as ‘donations’ in the various groups of Fellowship of Friends members in different German cities. The term ‘donations’ is fraudulent, as they are in no way voluntary. Failure to promptly pay the required sums almost inevitably resulted in expulsion from the organization. During that period, on request of the chief financial officer at the Fellowship’s world headquarters in Oregon House, California and others there, I made numerous regular transfers from the bank account of the ‘Fellowship of Friends Verein’ to the main Fellowship of Friends bank account in California. It was made clear to me that these must be designated on the transfer forms as ‘stipends’ for German members of the Fellowship of Friends who were ‘studying’ at the religion’s primary retreat in Oregon House, California. It was also made clear to me that the reason for this was that these German members of the organization were in the US on tourist visas and no clear ‘payment’ to them from the US account for their work for the Fellowship while in the US could legally be made. These members were not ‘studying’ in any usual sense of that word. Most of them were engaged in various kinds of manual labor such as gardening, landscaping, working in the vineyard or in the winery of Renaissance Vineyard and Winery, working in the orchards, serving and/or cleaning at meals, etc.
Although it was normally not possible for a non-US citizen in the US on a tourist visa to open a bank account in a US bank, the Fellowship had an arrangement with the Bank of America which allowed such foreigners working for the Fellowship in Oregon House while there on tourist visas, to obtain their salaries. I was not privy to the details of how this was done.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California and under penalty of perjury I hereby declare the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed on March 19, 2008, at XXXX, XXXX.”
* *
To whom it may concern,
I am one of many Fellowship students who left the organization after becoming disillusioned by the way it handled Tr-y Buz-e-‘s case in 1994. One day in October 1994, as I was leaving after having lunch at the Lincoln lodge, I ran into Mich-el G-odw-n, one of Robert Burton’s most trusted helpers, going through all the students’ mailboxes and removing the letters that Rich-rd Buz-e- had sent out to inform them of what had happened to him and his son. [EDIT NOTE: When he was a minor, Rich-rd Buz-e-‘s son Tr-y was sexually molested by Robert Burton, resulting in a lawsuit settled out of court.]
I found this interference with the delivery of U.S. mail outrageous. So, for the first and only time during eight years at Renaissance/Apollo, I phoned the center director, Gira-d Hav-n, eager to hear what he had to say about it. I don’t remember the entire conversation, and I wish I had written it all down, but his attitude really struck me and had no small impact on my subsequent leaving. He completely justified the stealing of the letters, at one point comparing the school to a healthy body and Rich-rd and his accomplices to ‘bad viruses’ who, if allowed to come in touch with it, would infect said body like a dangerous and potentially destructive disease. Of course, I knew Rich-rd and the other persons involved, and I was aware that they were just suffering people trying to get some answers. So, when I became a little upset while telling him how I felt about the situation, he threatened to cut short the conversation if I didn’t keep my ‘negativity’ in check. I regained my composure as best as I could, but when I finally hung up I was very frustrated, since I hadn’t received one single humane and reasonable answer as to why the issue at hand was being handled in this manner.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California and under penalty of perjury I hereby declare the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed on March 31, 2009 in XXXX, XXXX.
* *
A boy (young man) gets a call from Dorian: Dorian says “Robert would like to get to know you better. Would you like to meet with the Teacher tomorrow after the meeting?”
The boy says- “Sure, thank you for the invitation.”
(Thinking that ”get to know you better” somehow refers to knowledge and the partaking thereof, maybe some hug, hug, coffee table talk, casual stuff, you know nothing graphic, nothing nude.)
So, Sunday meeting is over, boy is shown to the study where he is seated by Dorian, (similar to how a detective on duty might seat a man wondering where his kidnapped wife was to be found); the boy is wondering a little, ‘being present’.
Robert Burton walks through the library/study, passes the boy, saying nothing as he makes fleeting eye contact with him as he’s walking and darts (Bee line) straight into his bedroom and disappears from sight, so far as the library couch-view from the left is concerned.
The boy sits, stays right where he was seated by Dorian, waits for the “Get to know you better” to start.
Maybe some shared reading, a little walk in the garden, perhaps a good (one) glass of wine together discussing this or that casual student-teacher thingy, whatever that is or is to beÉ
Robert Burton appears in the bedroom doorway and says- “Dear (blah, blah, something about a recollection he had of the boy, yet, the boy, has not a chance to say anything to this, when right after the blah, blah, “the TEACHER” says to the boy- “
“Come in here, dear.”
So the boy shyly walks into the bedroom and the TEACHER immediately closes the door, locks the door with a key, puts the key in his left pocket and (as cold and routine as a pair of surgical ‘scrotum scissors’) says to the shy, a bit confused boy-
“Dear, take off all your clothes and hang them there on the back of the door, on those hangers.”
The boy is dumbfounded, so quick, so little words, yet plenty of presence, right? (No, not right, though presence, yes.)
Robert Burton quickly proceeds to his bathroom and begins to wash his hands.
The boy is standing stunned, cold, nervous, mind is racing about 117 mph, heart somewhere near the tonsils he never had taken out as a child.
Then something snaps, all the being of a fairytale demi-god raises us inside him and he looks at THE TEACHER, looks with a sort of knowing clarity that precludes the marriage of the Sperm and the Egg sees where the winterly clamminess atmosphere is getting its fuelÉ
He goes to the teacher, takes him by the hand and looks him straight into the eyes and says-
“I cannot do this Robert; I do not want to hurt your feelings, but, I did not know it would be THIS, like this, involving getting naked with you, etc., etc.”
Robert starts to say things like-
“You don’t have to do me.”
“You donÕt have to do anything for me.”
“I just want to lay with you.”
The boy says to Robert- “Robert, this is much more than just getting to know me.”
The boy is interrupted, Robert says “You know my lifestyle, etc., etc.”
The boy begins to walk to the locked door, Robert moves in front of the door and says-
“What is it?”
The boy says “Robert, but I am in a relationship.”
He gets interrupted again, Robert says “What? Is it a woman? (with a very negative, spiteful stress on the word ‘woman’).
The boy admits (and is made to feel like it’s a religious confession in a Catholic confession box) “yes, it is a woman.”
Robert swirls his eyes and starts pontificating and saying things like:-
“There’s six billion sleeping heterosexuals on the planet, these are mechanical relationships, they are not conscious, not conscious love, these are asleep, I am a conscious being, I am your teacher.”
The boy is still with his state of being so sure of the connection between consciousness and conscience he senses that he is truly slicing time with a butter knife, so easy, so smooth, as Robert Burton’s impression simply begins to peel off, like a billboard sign during an oncoming hurricane.
The boy says “Robert, I am not going to play the justification game with you, but what about my feelings, the feeling of ‘her’?”
He interrupted again
(the door is still locked and THE TEACHER is less than thirteen inches away the whole time).
Robert Burton says “You said ‘But’, (But) is inner considering. Feelings? Hafiz said “Get out of the way Hafiz, you’re standing in my way”.”
This the boy takes as meaning that ‘feelings’ are mechanical, worthless, an obstacle to awakening;
Yet, everything is crystal clear that Robert is speaking to himself, a reflection in the mirror, not the one, the boy now standing behind the reflection;
The boy starts to feel a bit odd, in that he’s being seen as a mirror, a thing, and not his standing behind the mirror-ness. After all, this guy is supposed to be an angel in a man’s body and he can’t see another swan (?)
The boy repeats, “Robert, I cannot do this.”
He is interrupted again, yet this time THE TEACHER is a bit more desperate, irritable, slightly panicky in his tone of voice, Robert Burton says:-
“You do not know what you are saying, you are missing an opportunity to have a relationship with a conscious being, this may be your one and only chance to have this opportunity.”
The boy feels for a duration of time in the moment, smallness, threat, a sort of “you’re going to be out if you don’t” implication, a sort of “I don’t want Dorian to see my failure in this, I don’t want to fail at having had you” sort of moody static in his tone of voice, his body language, etc.
The boy says :- “Robert, would things be different if we got together?” (The boy says this because he’s wondering what all this is really about, where’s it leading, if his answer will reflect some consequence in his saying “No”?)
Robert says :- “More meetings, going places with me, more times like this, etc., etc.”
The boy replies, “Robert, No, I cannot.”
Robert gives the ‘pretty pissed off behind the scenes’ look and says:-
“That’s alright, dear, I’ll transform it; maybe we’ll get together in some more spontaneous way later. Don’t worry, I’ll transform it. You may go now.”
Robert unlocks the door and says:- “Alright dear, you can go.”
The boy walks through the library and goes to sit down in the Galleria main room. The door to the library is closed, 1 minute passes and the door to the library opens, it’s Robert, he asks the boy to go downstairs and get Dorian (the responsible party?)
So the boy does ‘fetch Dorian’.
As the downstairs bedroom door opens Dorian looks a bit stunned to see the boy he had not so long ago lead into the library (back before the usual time?)
Dorian does not follow the boy upstairs right away, but closes the door and begins talking to Mihai.
The boy goes back upstairs and sits back where he was prior to the ‘go fetch order’.
Dorian appears, then disappears into the library alongside/with the TEACHER and the door closes; end of story (in more ways than one).
The ‘role’ the boy had for nearly two years abruptly ended in a very ‘subtle’ way; certain people simply stopped calling him for ‘regular third line duty’ and he was ostracized, not exiled by just the TEACHER, ostracized with the fullest meaning and depth of the word from the Fellowship of Friends, nothing would ever be the same, for on this day BELIEF was annihilated by love and LOVE replaced ‘mind-games’.
This is a record of my experience, signed 06-01-2008.
* *
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
The following items give a rough overview of the money required of members of the Fellowship of Friends.
Money in the Fellowship:
– – – Teaching payments: 10\% of gross salary, or minimum amount, which depends on the country and situation. In the U.S. about $125.
– – – Monthly donations according to situation, i.e. reductions fro unemployed, students, mothers at home with children, etc. The standard donation would be about $250 in the U.S.
– – – Seasonal donations, spring, fall, and Christmas. Spring and fall donations are $750 each in the U.S., less in depressed economies.
The above payments are obligatory; any member not able to make these three payments will be removed from membership. In addition to the required payments there are constant pressures to participate in the following money-making activities and events:
– – – Auctions are held several times a year at holidays when the maximum number of students are visiting the property in Oregon House. Before each auction, members are pressured to donate items of value such as jewelry, art objects, silver and porcelain, etc. to be auctioned. In addition various services, such as lectures on subjects of general interest, home and garden care, musical performances, etc. are donated. The large-ticket items are events in which the Teacher, Burton, comes to individual homes for teaching events such as lunches, dinners, teas. These are sold for thousands of dollars, as much as eight to ten thousand for large events. Auctions usually bring in $100,000 or more.
– – – Meetings with the teacher (or, again, a designated subordinate) go on non-stop, sometimes two or three each day, more on weekends when there are visitors. Considerable invention and creativity goes into these events, which are held on mountain tops, in various gardens (of which there are many on the property), or on islands in the lakes Ð with guests ferried to the tables in boats. Prices for these dining events vary according to many factors such as the number of participants (as many as 70 at a table for large seatings), the nature of the occasion (New Year’s Eve dinner is $1000 per plate) and so forth. The least expensive dining event would be a weekday breakfast for about $125.
– – – Frequent solicitations are made for special gifts for the teacher. Sometimes the money (suggested amounts) is simply to be placed in a ‘lovely card’ and ssent to him as a gift for birthdays or holidays. Other times an expensive item, for example of jewelry or art objects, will have been selected and the members asked to pay for it. Also the purpose of the money to be sent may be for various building projects (most of these are never in fact completed).
– – – Performances of ballet and classical music are presented frequently. The ticket prices are comparable to professional performances in major cultural centers of the world. The quality of the performances is not.
– – – Very elaborate and expensive events are arranged about three times a year, with lavish preparations. In the spring and fall of recent years these have included trips to various locations in Europe and Middle East and include Nile Cruises, 5 star hotels, luxurious restaurants, and so forth. The package prices of these tours are in considerable excess of what an individual independent traveler would pay. In the summers the big blow out has been held at Isis where students have been asked to donate space to visitors arriving from other countries or elsewhere in the U.S. The visitors are then charged for their accommodations.
– – – In all of the above instances, probably the greatest dollar value donation is in the form of labor. For each breakfast, lunch, tea, reception, or dinner, a small army of workers volunteers to cook, wash dishes, scrub pots, set up and serve and then clear tables. In recent years it has been necessary to ‘pay’ these volunteers with vouchers that can then be used to attend specially designated events. In addition, the landscaping and building projects, the basic food services and maintenance work are done by workers earning about $400 per month for working very long hours each week.
This is, I am sure, only a partial list. The methods of extracting money from the membership of the Fellowship are truly a marvel of inventiveness and variety. Some other parts of this mosaic are being volunteered currently on the WordPress blog. Where does the money go? What accounting of it is made? I suspect there is little available in the way of anything that could be obtained without a court order, and I also suspect that not much would show up even with one. The money simply goes to Burton and he spends it. He is a compulsive shopper with appallingly bad but very expensive tastes. I don’t know how these things could be “documented” other than with the testimony of present and former members, all of whom are, or have been for many years, participants in the process—and many of whom would be willing, indeed eager, to be quoted.
I would only add that the financial abuses, quite astonishing as they are, are the least of the abuses.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California and under penalty of perjury I hereby declare the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed on June 9th, 2008 at XXXXX, XXXXX.
* *
“My name is xxxxx xxxxx. While a member of the Fellowship of Friends under the ‘tutelage’ of Robert Earl Burton I was asked to carry a large amount of money from Europe to the organization’s headquarters in California. I was instructed to buy traveler’s cheques and then upon arrival I had to sign them over to the cashier there. I am sure that this took place regularly over the years with many of the people coming from other countries as a means of by-passing U.S. authorities accounting.
It represents a huge unaccounted income over the years. Thousands of people paying 10\% of their earnings plus quarterly extra payments.
I can also attest to the leader Robert Earl Burton’s sexual harassment personally.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California and under penalty of perjury I hereby declare the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed on February the second 02-02-2008 at xxxxx, xxxxx.”
* *
To whom it may concern:
“Around 1971 I began reading material about a system of psychology brought to the West by George Ivanovich Gurdjieff.
After several years of reading this literature and other references connected to this work, I realized for myself that the system sounded true and was true.
One of the primary suggestions of this system was that one’s psychology is ingrained, and in order to change or enhance one’s psychological attributes it could not be done by oneself. One needed a school of like-minded individuals who were guided by a REAL TEACHER.
I became determined about 1975 to find such a school and teacher. In July of 1976, I found an advertisement of a group in Pennsylvania and struck out in that direction.
While traveling through Houston, Texas I found by happenstance two people from the Fellowship of Friends placing bookmarks in books related to the Fourth Way.
I introduced myself and they in turn invited me to a prospective student meeting. Because of my zeal, I thought I had been blessed by good fortune.
Eventually I joined this school and later moved into a teaching house or center. It seemed to be a requirement for my progress.
About a year later the teaching center was shut down and the whole group moved to different locations in California.
I myself arrived broke and bewildered. I was given suggestions by fellow students but the Fellowship of Friends as an entity did not offer help of any kind. I was left basically alone.
Not long afterward I became entangled with a married woman who was physically separated from her husband because she also had a boyfriend. The school had a no sex rule between unmarried people.
Although the flirting between us became intimate the result did not end in sexual intercourse. Although she initiated the encounter, she eventually called a center director who called me in for a conference. I was told what I was being accused of and to tell my side of the story. I refused.
The school director Gira*rd Ha*ven then said I had 24 hours to leave the school and if I wanted to return an opportunity would be given and that I would have to pay a fine of $2500.00.
I was stunned and buffered the shock by taking it as a personal task to gather $2500.00.
The school had a rule about not speaking to former students. So, the next day I managed to leave San Francisco with the intent of returning. However, I could not overcome the shocking experience of being rejected by a real and true Fourth Way school.
So, for the first 10 years, I endured mental health problems of low self-esteem, self-loathing and self-destruction. I was a homeless person incapacitated by fear and anger. Every attempt to raise out of the gutter was delayed by self-inflicted hatred of being kicked out of a REAL FOURTH WAY SCHOOL GUIDED BY A CONSCIOUS TEACHER.
The second ten years the psychological pain subsided to a dull background memory. Yet, when a memory of that experience rose to the forefront tears would well up in my eyes. Eventually, I would avoid the welling up of tears by simply saying ÒdonÕt go thereÓ.
Eventually I developed C.O.P.D. (chronic obstructive lung disease) and because of this lost all hope about the future. I had moved forty-five (45) times and several jobs for basic subsistence. Until I retired to Social Security.
I had never owned or operated a computer until late 2006. In early 2007 I found a website dedicated to the Fellowship of Friends and Robert Earl Burton the alleged Conscious Teacher. They call it a blog and most if not all who go there are former students.
When I found this blog I was shocked at what I was reading. That a lawsuit had been settled against Robert Earl Burton, that he was accused of having sex with young males at the same time I was expelled, that he quit any connection with the Fourth Way. The primary reason for my joining.
I did go through some residue trauma from the past over all this alleged misbehavior by Robert Earl Burton and the Fellowship of Friends.
The most valued thing in my whole life was a sham from the very beginning. All the suffering and mental anguish for 27 years was for nothing.
Pursuant to the laws of the State of California and under penalty of perjury I hereby declare the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed on April 3, 2008 at XXXXX, XXXXX.”
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
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The The Fellowship of Friends Investigation. Petition to all appropriate regulating agencies and elected officials of the State of California and the United States of America. World news media, and all world citizens concerned with abuses of religious power. was created by Ex Members of the Fellowship of Friends and their families and friends. and written by Jack Soutar (Edward@fourthwaywork.net). This petition is hosted here at http://www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.
201 nigel
Please feel free to copy and paste to Word, then print or send to X-ray’s sites…..Nigel.
My apologies for not getting the ‘amended’ Petition completely correct. If you save it to Word, you can completely correct the punctuation yourself. Good luck with your efforts…..Nigel.
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