Fellowship Of Friends/Fourth Way School/Living Presence Discussion – Page 173 April 13, 2019
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Fellowship of Friends - Living Presence Discussion 
This blog is about the Fellowship of Friends cult, his founder Robert Earl Burton, and the off-shot organization BePeriod founded by Burton’s disciple for 20 years, Asaf Braverman.
According to the paper “Cult Formation” by Robert J. Lifton, MD (“The Harvard Mental Health Letter”, Volume 7, Number 8 — link below, these are the 3 characteristics of cults:
1. A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power.
2. A process called “coercive persuasion” or “thought reform”.
3. Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling elite.
Source:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/co4j0u0na995np4/Robert%20J.%20Lifton%20-%20Cult%20Formation.pdf?dl=0
The Fellowship of Friends and BePeriod have all 3 the characteristics above.
The Fellowship of Friends has a fourth one that classifies it as a “doomsday cult”:
Proclaiming that people in the organization are the only ones that will survive an impending catastrophe, global war, apocalypse or Armageddon.
If you are interested in joining Robert Burton’s Fellowship of Friends or Asaf Braverman’s BePeriod, make sure you read the material on this site and the one below before making a decision.
Another source of information about the Fellowship of Friends, Robert Earl Burton, BePeriod and Asaf Braverman:
https://robertearlburton.blogspot.com
Please feel free to ask questions if you need more information.
Nevada City’s 30th Annual Psychic Fair returns to the Miners Foundry Cultural Center. The Psychic Fair is considered Northern California’s largest gathering of metaphysical teachers, seers, crafters and readers.
For people interested in alternative medicine to those curious about the mystical, this year’s Psychic Fair offers attendees an array of vendors including psychics, medical intuitives, acupuncturists, massage therapists, herbalists, and alchemists. Take in a lecture or workshop and gain information and knowledge, re-kindle a past fascination, or discover a new interest.
The Psychic Fair marketplace also features one-of-a-kind artisan jewelry, clothes, and accessories, natural skincare products, gem essences, crystals, and much more.
Saturday, April 13th from 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 14th from 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Admission is $5.
Website: https://minersfoundry.org/events/
—
I’ll be there this afternoon. If you go, look for a guy wearing a ‘If it’s not now when?’ T-shirt.
“With cults, like any abusive relationship, the red flags are there all along and denial is such a powerful thing. The teachers would say: “Your ego is so big you don’t want to change” and I would explain I did want to change and become enlightened, not even really understanding what enlightened meant.”
“Nxivm- Why I Joined a Cult and How I Left”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47900242
After you leave the FOF, you get to stop being in denial that the FOF is indeed a cult, just like other cults.
When I was in the cult I could never have conceived that one day I would be here writing on this blog.
After leaving the cult and contributing here for 6 months, I can’t conceive how I stayed for 28 years in the cult.
That’s the power of “thought reform”, to use the term that the author of the paper that I mentioned above used, or “brainwashing”, as it is commonly known.
I physically left FOF in 2001 after a membership of about 10years. I still notice in myself subtle feelings of missing it…. the seductive senses of belonging, support in presence, togetherness against the wider world, security, meaning and direction that were engendered and these are fundamental existential human needs. We all have these needs and I think it is important to own them and to take responsibility for how each of us projected the solution to those basic needs into this complex , enticing organisation.
Cult Survivor, your post above raises some questions for me. Don’t feel obliged, but if you were to be so kind…
• What is your history with this blog (I mean, before you started writing here)?
• When did you become aware of the blog, when did you first read it, what were your initial reactions?
• Did you discuss the blog with others? Were they ‘free’ discussions, or did you feel you had to “watch your words”? Or did that depend on who you were talking to, and the circumstances?
• What did you think of Girard’s recommendations to ‘not invest energy in the blog’ (if you heard about them at the time)?
• And so on.
Thanks very much!
6. Ames Gilbert – April 14, 2019
I think that your questions for Cult Survivor are good ones.
And, it could be especially helpful for fence sitters that are still in the Fellowship of Friends – who might be reading a bit of the discussion here, even though they have been directed not to – to know by Cult Survivor’s responses, that he / she really was one of them until recently, and read more about his / her current view.
6. Ames Gilbert
What is your history with this blog (I mean, before you started writing here)?
I never read the blog when I was in the FOF since there was a task not to read the blog and I was a “good student”. At the time I believed Robert Burton when he said “Influence C writes every word on the blog” and “the school never lost a real student”, so my rationale was that Influence C created the blog to cleanse the school of people that are not real students.
When did you become aware of the blog, when did you first read it, what were your initial reactions?
I heard about it when started in 2006 but I never visited it, as I said. I saw many people leaving the FOF because of the blog. Once I went to the Ouspensky Office and saw a member reading the blog but he closed the window on the screen when he saw me. I remember thinking “He is lost, his lower self is controlling him”. When he left the FOF a couple of months later I told a member that was surprised by his departure, “I knew he was going to leave, I saw him once reading the blog” and the other member said “Ah, ok”.
Did you discuss the blog with others? Were they ‘free’ discussions, or did you feel you had to “watch your words”? Or did that depend on who you were talking to, and the circumstances?
As I said, there was a task not to read the blog so nobody ever talked about it. Mentioning the blog to a friend, for example, would immediately evoke a stern look, a “photograph” of “being controlled by the lower self” and probably being reported to a center director. It’s like telling somebody that you’re smoking — there is a task not to smoke in the cult — you will receive a photograph, will be immediately reported and you’ll have to pay a $1,500 fine (breaking the task a second time means expulsion). Once I paid $1,500 because I had sex with a woman when the “no sex outside of marriage” task was in effect (it was rescinded in 1998) — her roommate reported me. By the way, there is now a task not to have contact with Asaf Braverman or visit his BePeriod site.
What did you think of Girard’s recommendations to ‘not invest energy in the blog’ (if you heard about them at the time)?
I heard many times things like “Girard was a man no. 5 but he refused to teach the Sequence, that’s why he didn’t crystallize and Robert asked him not to teach anymore”. Nobody really cares what Girard says — he is mainly a decorative figure.
#8 thanks for your answers Cult Survivor they are very illuminating. I was particularly intrigued by Burton’s decision to inform his students that the words on the Blog are written by C influence. I can see how he means that they are worthless opinions designed to remove chaff from the membership, but it may also have the unplanned for consequence that the blog acquires a kind of glamour and mystery for members. It sounds from your descriptions that it is a real forbidden fruit for good students. When in due course some of them break the task, especially if they use the excellent index site https://robertearlburton.blogspot.com/
to home in on the juicy bits, they are in for a big surprise. Some of those descriptions of the orgies Burton indulges in are outrageous reading.
9.John Harmer That was great comedy, RB as esoteric art
critic, the old guy is loosing it rapidly.
“I wanna check your zipper”
you gotta laugh
11. shardofoblivion
Perfect.
They had a special code that they could say out loud: ‘XYZ’ (eXamine Your Zipper). I remember once at a meeting like 20 years ago when Asaf told Robert ‘XYZ’ and Robert said ‘the beautiful chandelier in the main salon of the Galleria was bought from an antique dealer called Corinthians. If you look at it you can see how exquisite the details are’ and while he was talking we heard the sound of a zipper closing. Those were the golden times, now Robert is so decrepit that he can’t hear the code so somebody has to whisper in his ear and his brain can’t do tricks like the chandelier one so he just looks down and closes the zipper. Eventually he will need diapers and then it will get more complicated.
The blog has a code, too.
XYC
EXAMINE YOUR CONSCIENCE
Look inward, then fly from evil.
https://jezebel.com/inside-the-thai-spiritual-haven-run-by-an-alleged-sexua-1834093035
Re: Burton’s “teacher”
Among other things, Alexander Francis Horn was low-life scumbag and greed-ridden, vanity-stricken hypocrite, cocky, coarse and crude, lewd and lascivious, promiscuous and incestuous tramp and lunatic – demonic male and rogue messiah, petty thief and grand larcenist, actor and manipulator, con man and bullshitter – bombastic and duplicitous, ruthless and unscrupulous, heartless and soulless criminal and sexual psychopath, pervert and predator, stalker and serial rapist, bully and bulldozer, hell-raiser and trouble-maker, scapegoater and gaslighter, cult leader and dictator, slave holder and slave driver, micro-manager and control freak.
On one occasion, Horn punished and fined a newly-wedded couple in his S.F. Everyman Theatre cult: “Since you invited that bitch (so-and-so) to your wedding, that’ll cost you $400.” (Horn’s “fines” had to paid in cash, of course.)
Since Alex and Sharon were both pretending and purporting to be “teachers of ‘the Work’ and Way of Love,” etc., they were special guests and V.I.P.s at the wedding. The bride’s best friend (“that bitch”) was the Maid of Honor, whom Horn hated with a passion – for his own depraved “reasons”.
On another occasion, Horn punished and fined me $3,000. Why?
(1) for questioning, criticizing and rejecting him
(2) for failing to honor and obey him, without question, worship him like a god and treat him like a king
(3) for failing to “appreciate” his deadly sins and vices, obscenities and depravities, physical, verbal and sexual assaults, cock and bull stories, incest, rape and revenge fantasies, “Real Sex and Real Love with a REAL Man!”
(4) for refusing to get a divorce and
(5) refusing to “participate” in his “sexual experimentations on single females”
(6) for refusing to remain one of his serial rape victims/beck and call girls – so-called “cheap cunts” and “harem girls,” “tramps,” “bitches” and “whores” – “who (allegedly) needed to get fucked by a Real Man and conscious lover” whenever he called . . . and whenever he felt like punishing, assaulting, and murdering some “self-willed, fuckin’ bitch” and “evil witch” who “reminded” him of his “hateful ex-wife” and “vicious, murderous mother.”
Most of Horn’s victims were between the age of 18 and 35 . . . until he got too old and senile to “get it up” and “give you a proper fuck.”
The “great actor” founded and directed “4th way” cults and fascist regimes, high-demand groups, theaters and “schools” – played roles and games, made “rules” and assigned “tasks,” charged “tuition,” “fees” and “fines” – to satisfy his depraved Commanding Self and its fallacious, self-centered, self-serving aims and objectives, whims, demands and desires – e.g., carnal desires and desire for revenge, status, attention, approval and applause, power and control, authority and money, free labor, easy prey and victims, marks, targets and scapegoats, captives, prisoners and slaves, lackeys, patsys, puppets and pawns, recruiters and lieutenants, sidekicks and sycophants, cash cows and care takers.
If ya’ll have any questions about Horn’s dirty cults and horrendous crimes against humanity, I’ll do my best to respond in a timely fashion.
16. Linda Jo
Your qualifications of Alex Horn are not a surprise to me, it’s obvious that Robert Burton had a great “teacher”.
I remember having dinner with Burton in the sumptuous and extravagant Goethe room in the Galleria and at one point Linda Kaplan told Burton, “Robert, do you know that Alex Horn passed away?”. Burton was shocked and said, “Linda, how do you know?” and Linda, visibly embarrassed, replied, “I read it in the blog”.
Burton said something like “He is electronic now, he will assist us even more, etc.” and, of course, 3 days later he was visited by Horn’s angel.
Is that how a conscious being knows that his teacher, also a conscious being, left his physical body? Through this blog? Mmmm….
Oh, yes, I forgot. Burton said that Influence C writes every word on this blog. It makes sense now 🙂
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0S71c65FkGg/W8QV25bST8I/AAAAAAAAInc/sKXQWWeVNEMsCGeM4jBfr6sggYmub-fkACLcBGAs/s1600/Robert%2BEarl%2BBurton%2Band%2Bhis%2BFellowship%2Bof%2BFriends%2Bfollowers%2Bdine%2Bin%2Bgilded%2Bpresence.tif
17. Cult Survivor
My God, that room looks like a poor version of a Louisiana whorehouse. Just goes to show that (other people’s) money can’t buy class or taste.
I used to be there when RB would go into antique stores way back when. You could see the proprietor’s eyes ca-ching into money signs when he walked in. They immediately knew he was a flaming queen with a lot of money and no taste. The Ming thing was fucking dumb luck. I don’t know how many times he bought high, re-sold it low and re-bought it high again. He’s a fucking clown in the art world. Yet he thinks he’s Bernard Berenson. On top of that, he had his in house painters paint one of his butt boys painted on the ceiling with a hard on. How’s that for class?
I remember entering the Galleria, raising my eyes to check the new painting on the ceiling of the vestibule and a big fat erect phallus was right there above me. A female student standing next to me said ‘My God, I’ve never seen something like this!’ and I told her ‘I’m sure you did dear’.
173/13 Artemis44:
“Eventually he [Robert Earl Burton] will need diapers and then it will get more complicated.”
173/20 Artemis44:
“I remember entering the Galleria, raising my eyes to check the new painting on the ceiling of the vestibule and a big fat erect phallus was right there above me.”
At Café de la Paix in Paris, where, reportedly, Gurdjieff once held court, there is supposed to be a flying cherub painted on the ceiling that is smoking a cigar. Gurdjieff was to have had his gatherings under it – and, suggesting that that would be Gurdjieff after he dropped the body.
What is needed is an image of a flying diapered devilish looking cherub (including a tail, horns (Alex Horn), and red skin tone) with Robert Earl Burton’s (REB’s) head on it that is sucking on something more suggestive of how REB lived his life – as how he should appear for all eternity.
Then that could be painted on the ceiling of the dining room at REB’s residence.
Anybody got photoshop skills to create that image?
Bruce @ 19 writes:
“I don’t know how many times he bought high, re-sold it low and re-bought it high again.”
He’s using other peoples money so it doesn’t matter to him… it’s all about satisfying a passing whim.
16. Linda Jo
Thanks for sharing your view of Alex Horn. As you know or could guess, this has all been completely white-washed within the FF.
Do you remember Th0m@s Ingleh0pt (now Th0m@s H@rt)? He was in Horn’s group for a short time in the mid-70s before joining the FF. Four years ago, he wrote a 30-page booklet called “Moments of Memory: Recalling Alex Horn.”
His recollections of Horn, compared with yours, could not be more opposed to each other. Of course, H@rt is in the FF, and had every reason to present Horn as nothing short of angelic.
I’ll try to post H@rt’s booklet and, if successful, provide a link to it in a subsequent post.
23.Insider: it’s been a while since I left FOF, but I do
recall talking to a student in FOF and questioning her
about Alex Horn’s group, which she left. So, there are
at least two students who were in both, probably there’s more.
#21 re: Anybody got photoshop skills to create that image?
a rather slip shod mashup, but here it is 🙂
Click on the image to see it.
Interesting and pertinent article in Psychology Today titled “The Guru Syndrome.” Rather than focusing on the psychology of the “Guru,” the emphasis is much more on the disciple, and how the the followers enable the leader.
Here is an excerpt:
“The key to understanding the guru syndrome is the psychological need of disciples. Although many disciples (at least initially) may have a genuine need for spiritual growth, this is usually combined with a much more unhealthy impulse: a regression to a child-like state of unconditional devotion and irresponsibility. This is a very appealing state to be in. Think of how wonderful it felt as a young child, to believe that your parents were in complete control of the world, and could protect you from everything. There was nothing to worry about; your parents had it all covered. And you worshiped them so devotedly that you unquestioningly accepted everything they said and did.
“Guru worship takes his worshipers back to that infant state. As long as the disciple is in the care of the guru, all is well in the world. They feel safe and secure, just as children do in the presence of their parents. They give up responsibility for their own lives and pass it on to the guru, just as children do. And the guru is a perfect being, who cannot behave unethically. He can accumulate millions of dollars, own 93 Rolls Royces, have his own armed security team, and regularly humiliate his followers, but they will always find some excuse for this appalling behaviour, in the same way that children will refuse to believe that their parents can do wrong. The disciples will claim that the guru’s abuse and cruelty is a form of ‘divine play’ or a way of testing their followers.”
Full article (not so long) is here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-darkness/201904/the-guru-syndrome
28. Insider
Great article. It takes two to tango.
It’s been a while, I’m preparing for fire season here in northern California…
#8, Cult Survivor, thank you so much for taking the time to formulate such clear and straightforward answers to my questions. I appreciate your candor.
#16, Linda Jo, my heart goes out to you for your suffering at the hands of a remorseless psychopath.
There doesn’t seem to be much justice in the world, certainly not where the prevailing culture often lauds psychopaths when they run corporations or multi–level marketing schemes or banks or churches, and holds them up as examples of canny businessmen. And it’s not often that one of the megachurch ministers that bilk trusting people of their money gets their comeuppance, but it does happen once a decade or so.
But the thousands of cult leaders on the margins seem to get away with it most of the time, leaving the wreckage of broken lives and bitter disappointment in their wake.
I assume it is many years since Horn and Gans abused you, and I hope that you have been able to heal some of the wounds, and have learned to trust a few in your life that deserve it again.
Of course, you will never forget, and forgiveness does not apply in this case, since IMHO that is a volitional arrangement between the two parties, and requires the goodwill and conscious intent of both parties. This cannot ever happen with the Horns and Burtons of the world.
Thank you for trusting us with your story. I have many questions, but don’t want to waste your time and energy, so I’ll take the time to formulate them to be useful as I can.
30. Ames Gilbert
My heart goes out to all of Burton’s former and current cult members. Most of Horn’s cult members and rape victims could never comprehend, let alone recover from his evil-doing. I (for one) am still weeping.
Why and how did Bobbie Burton and Sharon Gans become multi-millionaires, cult leaders and dictators, riding high on the hog and gravy train? How did these two hideous kinky, greed-ridden, vanity-stricken charlatans and hypocrites, tramps and lunatics, predators and thieves manage to maintain their false beliefs and personalities, assumptions and positions of authority . . . ALL THESE YEARS?
Feel free to ask me anything, Ames. I’m a curious old woman, cult survivor and researcher (74) at the end of a long journey in “this Abode of Tears” and “World of illusions, fancies, desires, and fears,” as Rumi called it.
23. Insider
I don’t remember Thomas. But if I read his booklet, perhaps I could see WHERE Thomas was, way back in the mid-70s, and WHY he wrote 30 (complimentary) pages about Alex Horn four years ago.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The Work” and a “Fourth Way School” Visitor Comments culteducation.com
“I stumbled onto your Web site regarding the Everyman Theater etc. It certainly took me back memory lane! My first wife and I were members from 1973 until about March 1974. My brother-in-law stayed after we left, and he suffered a broken arm as part of the group’s ‘therapy’. My first wife and I both worked, attended college, and participated in the so-called theater, but Alex became more and more abusive. I guess even though I was only a youngster of 22, I must have had enough self-esteem to leave! Alex wanted every cent I made, at the same time he wouldn’t let us sleep, so we could go to work. Sleep deprivation was part of their method. I see Alex passed away, and I guess Sharon is still a money magnet.”
“It seems like another lifetime, but I spent a short period with Alex Horn’s group in San Francisco. Alex effectively forced me out of his ‘school’ by insisting that I admit to being a homosexual, and I only realized much later that his real interest was in simply getting rid of me. I complicated his life by being a former student of his former student, Robert Burton at the Fellowship of Friends. In retrospect it all seems a bit silly, but the accusation, in front of fifty people, completely floored me! I knew that I was heterosexual, not a complicated kind of self-knowledge, but the power of the group was extraordinary. I also experienced Sharon Gans in the process, and found myself wishing, even in those days of not allowing negative thoughts, that she would just remove herself from the picture. She offended me deeply with her arrogance. What is most outrageous about all of these characters is their willful abuse of what seems to have been an authentic historical teaching. Anyhow, I managed to separate myself from all of this. But afterwards longing for the kind of internationality that this work had come to offer. And this is certainly one of the central problems of this kind of orthodoxy. There’s a very strong logic operating here and for those who know how to use it, it’s money in the bank!”
“I tried to find the name of this group for a long time. Sharon Gans avoided serious detection through elusive names. In effect, something that doesn’t have a name doesn’t exist. How can it be critiqued if it can’t even be referred to? Very clever on her part. I knew of the Odyssey Study Group, because that’s how my former boyfriend’s checks were made out. After we moved in together I knew it was a destructive group. My partner had been in the group for 7 years by the time he met me. He would get phone calls at odd hours. I suspect that he did the same. It was monitoring of the victims, by the victims. I wasn’t allowed to know their names. Books were covered in paper and hidden in drawers. Early morning classes and late afternoon classes. A weekend a month away with no explanation. The group decided I was a danger, so they stepped up his involvement. It goes on and on. Our relationship ended.”
“Thank you so much for putting up information on Sharon Gans, Alex Horn and Robert Klein. I was involved in the ‘school’ in San Francisco back in 1978, for about a year before the Chronicle published its expose and they packed up and left town. I refused to go with them. While I understood intellectually I had had a ‘cult’ experience, it took me almost ten years until I started doing any actual healing work around it. My best friend unfortunately is still reeling emotionally after more than 20 years and hasn’t been able to address a lot of the abuse experienced.”
“Thank you so much for this web site. I needed it years ago when I was still in the group. Sharon verbally lacerated me and then I was asked to leave. All because I asked too many questions. This was painful for many years and I kept silent, because it seemed that I was lost. However, since then I have experienced genuine healing and recovered.”
“Much of my life was hell because of Sharon Gans, Alex Horn and Robert Klein. The ‘cult,’ as I like to call it, often kept ‘members’ up all night in ‘meetings.’ I spent much of my childhood sleeping on the floor in hallways within their 24th and Mission Street ‘Theater’ in San Francisco. I remember not having enough food or clean clothes, because the theater expected so much from its members, which included my parents, through work and money.”
“My parents were both members of ‘The Theater of All Possibilities’. I spent much of my childhood in the hell known as ‘The School’. Sharon Gans, Alex Horn and Robert Klein influenced my parents, who beat me. I was beaten on a daily basis, locked in closets, emotionally abused and told I was ‘worthless.’ I had to help sell tickets for their plays. I had no childhood because of these people.”
“I have a close friend whose spouse has been involved with this group for many years. What has all this led to? After years at the school and its classes it led to divorce. Sharon Gans is manipulating people and has destroyed families. Some Gans ‘students’ have left their families and loved ones for their ‘teacher.’ I don’t understand how she can get away with all of this.”
“I’d like to say thank you for making this information available to the public. A close friend of mine was a member of this group for many years, without my knowledge. As the years passed I saw her become more and more damaged emotionally, financially, and spiritually. She was a shadow of her former self. Since leaving, she has told me all about her experience, and I was shocked and appalled at the treatment she received. This group victimized her in a most unconscionable way and I am so glad that at last they are being exposed. Their covert activities have kept them in the dark for too long.”
“I am so grateful that you have put this information out there for the world to read. I am a former student of the Gans group. Though the esoteric ideas rang true, the essence of the group always felt wrong and controlling. Sharon seemed creepy, manipulative, and dangerous. After 7 years I was able to extract myself. I am happy that I found the strength to believe in my instincts and leave. I wish I had encountered your web site years ago. Thank you for posting all of this information.”
Excerpts from Robert Earl Burton’s schizophrenic diatribe and gibberish, delivered to his doomsday cult members, “students” and “children” on September 21, 2011:
“On September 5, 1967, I met Alex Horn. This date marks the moment when angels from Paradise descended upon us and our quest for divine presence began. We could say that on this day: ‘It has begun.’ Here [referring to a photo] we see a photograph of Alex Horn, showing four fingers on each hand. This [referring to a photo] is the Claremont Hotel and the Berkeley Tennis Club, where I played tennis. I met Influence C hitchhiking because it was just fashionable in the sixties; one would hitchhike from Berkeley to Carmel, and such things. I met Influence C in Berkeley on the crossing of Ashby and Domingo Avenues, like Placido Domingo, the singer. He was born in Spain and raised in Mexico, so it is an omen of my bringing the sequence – the Song of Solomon – to our school. Incidentally, the sequence is a ‘Song of the Self.’ It is four words. This is where our journey began. A doctor picked me up and gave me a ride. He would later turn out to be payment for Dr. Ethan Ha_s. So we did very well! The doctor was on his way to a prospective student meeting on Page Street (like William Page) in San Francisco. This [referring to a photo] is the house at 350 Page Street where I had my prospective student meeting. It is eight – three plus five. This [referring to a photo] is the interior. The owner was quite gracious about inviting us in. Here [referring to a photo] I am before the gated entrance. …I am looking up in gratitude to Influence C. I was just like you, one of many, one of seven billion. There was no particular reason on the surface they would give any of us this gift but we are exactly the ones they wanted. And now we are all present and we can see why they wanted us.
Soon after I met Influence C on September 5th, forty-four years ago, one of my first observations was that life after death was not a theory. In a sense, this was our school’s first verification. Because before meeting Influence C we had all read literature about life after death, but our faith is a result of our verifications. We have the privilege of verifying that life after death does exist. … This [referring to a photo] is a road sign for Modesto, where I had a car accident. About three months after I met Influence C, I had approximately a hundred stitches in my head. It is curious that a small group of students gave me a Miata as a gift last night. This is exactly the same as the car that I crashed in – a tan Volkswagen bug. I made a left-hand turn. The driver behind me stopped, but the driver behind him decided to pass, and I was hit broadside and shoved under a parked truck. I heard a horn (like Alex Horn), and ‘I’ said, ‘Well, it’s not for me.’ That is the most wrong about anything I have ever been in my life! I woke up and the nurse was saying, ‘Doctor, you did a beautiful job with those stitches.’ They rolled me out of the operating room and I just stood up and walked out. I took a taxi and then a Greyhound bus to my little one-room apartment. It was then that I realized how serious Influence C are about helping us. Of course, we have students who have experienced much worse than that. The Miata is a nice little gift, coming almost forty-four years after the Volkswagen. I also soon realized that I was under the guidance of Leonardo. Very early on I wondered who was helping me, and they started signaling Leonardo. Leonardo and I are very different, but also very similar from the point of view of presence. Later I will say a few things about why we are so different. If we survive the Last Judgment then many things will become self-evident.
(A quote by Dave Archer – once a member of Alex Horn’s group – is read: “Alex used to say we were not in the ‘work,’ meaning the Gurdjieff Work. Repeatedly he described our endeavor as a small ‘preparatory school’ at best, saying that if we worked exceedingly hard on ‘growing being,’ one of us MIGHT join the ‘Real Work’ … someday.”)
Patricia Ch_r, who read the angle, studied with Alex Horn for a little while. I studied with him briefly also, for eighteen months. Then he closed the group, leaving ten of us there, and Influence C removed me – they would not give me employment. Finally, I found employment cleaning a woman’s house – and she died unexpectedly. At that point they briefly made me a homeless person. Alex once came up to me with a tiny little Christmas bell about two centimeters tall. His little higher emotional center was working and he rang the bell in front of my third eye, meaning that we have a little school here – he and I.
. . .This [referring to a photo] is a view of the ranch that Alex owned for a few years. Patricia, would you like to speak about this? Yes, it is a functioning vineyard now. Sharon and Alex owned the property, and they brought students up there on the weekends to work. You went, did you not?”
Patricia: “Yes, I did. I was in charge of the refuse. I remember that Alex once drove by in a red Jaguar that he enjoyed, which had a big dent in the hood. He was watching me in a very sweet way as I worked with the refuse. It was a touching moment in our play.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anne Burrage (26) married Alex Horn (39) in Sonoma, CA on Sept. 12, 1968.
The couple founded a “Fourth Way school” in the Sonoma hills to support themselves and their kids. At some point, Anne refused to teach with Alex. She divided their “school” into two “schools” and different groups. Various new recruits and older students were in Anne’s school/groups each weekend, while others were at “the ranch” in Horn’s group/”esoteric boot camp” and “school of hard knocks” for getting his kicks and rocks off.
When a curious fellow asked, “What’s your ‘chief feature,’ Alex? Horn smirked and quipped, “Tooting my own horn!”
Burton allegedly “tried to steal Horn’s students” – i.e., convince several to leave, drop out, and help him establish his own “Fourth Way school”.
In the Fall of 1970, Anne forced Alex to disband his “school” on Red Mountain.
So, Horn arranged small “classes” in a young woman’s S.F. apartment (and raped her after “class” – until she had a nervous breakdown, quit her two jobs, and moved in with her grandmother).
In 1971, Horn went to New York, where he conned and seduced, manipulated and deceived Sharon Gans-Kulko.
A few weeks after their wedding in S.F. (Fall of ’72), the “famous actress and Hollywood movie star” told me: “Alex is my best friend! It was love at first sight of my perfect partner and soul mate in a New York theater where I was looking for work and trying out for a play. I gave up everything – my beautiful home and good career, friends, husband and children – to be with a real man and great teacher of ‘the Work’.”
Meanwhile, Horn’s “hateful ex-wife” exposed his psychopathic modus operandi during a heated court battle and won full custody of their five children, including a court order stipulating that a court official must be present during their visitations with him. (Horn’s female counterpart, Sharon Gans-Horn, was there, in court, of course.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
168. Perpetua Says:
March 17, 2007 at 7:09 am
For those who might like to know more about what kind of teacher Alex Horn is/was and what kind of “School” he has/had, I am posting this article I found in a website. It seems that Robert learned the art of “teaching” from Alex Horn, though [from] what I read, Alex kicked Robert out because he said that homosexuals didn’t have a chance in this work and also because he was chasing many of the boys in his group. How did Robert start teaching? How did he gather students? I would like to know. Those students must have been very naive and persuasive to accept him as a “real teacher”, but I wasn’t there. I joined some twenty years ago and the school was already very established with about 2,000 students that didn’t question much about Robert being a conscious teacher or not. When I think back on those days, the reason I joined the school was because of the community, not because of Robert. You didn’t see much of him in those days and the community seemed healthy and real…and beautiful. It seems such a contradiction. But I guess it is hard to keep things pure. The school had its golden age and now is on a descending octave. It is awful to see the process of something that once felt real and good and now to see how it is being corrupted by power, greed, and perversion….But life is always changing and nothing lasts forever. So time for me to leave.
Here it is: [previously posted on Rick Ross CEI by cber7, Mar 11, 2005]
“If you are a student stuck in a group led by Alex Horn or Sharon Gans-Horn, then the fact you are reading this is already great news. It means that you are smart enough and intuitive enough and courageous enough to have begun to distinguish between the ideas of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky and the people teaching them. Whether or not what Gurdjieff or Ouspensky taught is valuable and valid does not matter here. If you are someone who has a friend or companion who you know is involved with these groups and you don’t know what to do, try to show them this.
You are being preyed upon by phonies – very clever, manipulative, and charming (when they need to be) frauds. They crave three things – money, power, and a sense of self-importance – to excess. Any shred of self-doubt about their motives and behavior disappeared long ago – they have convinced themselves that they are superior to you and others, further justifying their need for power, money, and self-importance. They manipulate, abuse, and misuse the ideas of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Nicoll, and Collin to suit their agenda. I repeat – they do not serve the ideas, the ideas serve them. They are not conduits for higher influences – they are self-deluded and power-mad with a long trail of exploitation and destruction of lives and families. They will dangle the carrot of “meaning,” “consciousness,” and “freedom” before you but at the same time undermine your self-esteem by showing you how mechanical and helpless you are.
Over the course of many years, they have surrounded themselves with weak-spirited and wretched lackeys whose real motivation is also the lust for power, money and the need to feel important. The way to get away from them requires both a strong mental effort followed by action. Both will be addressed here.
First of all, you must believe in your suspicions enough to look further into what type of person Alex Horn and Sharon Gans really are. Do some research on your own and study the traits of “malignant narcissism” or “malignant narcissists.” This should help to ground your suspicions in what you have observed about your “teachers.” Your “teachers” are, according to the traits of “malignant narcissism,” fully functioning sociopaths/psychopaths. That’s right – they are insane, but very dangerous so long as you think they have power over you because you continue to believe they are sane. The sad thing about the Work and these wretches is that the “Ideas” you have been studying – when manipulated by them – dovetail perfectly with the agenda of maintaining the state of Grandiosity that characterizes them as sociopaths.
How do they succeed? How do they get away with all of this? How do they fool so many people so much of the time? You might as well ask how did Hitler and Stalin get away with their agenda. It is the exact same chilling phenomenon, just a different scale. Hitler and Stalin liquidated people who got in their way or threatened them. Stalin, when he did not make people “disappear” sent them to the Gulags. With Sharon Gans or Alex Horn, when you are sent away you too become a non-person. You are in fact treated as a disease by the diseased!
Look at the following websites: http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/psychopath.html and http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/dsm-iv.html Ask others in this forum on this website about the substance abuse they have witnessed too: food, tobacco, alcohol, mood-altering medications. Talk about “habit” and slavery!
The way to escape, once you have been convinced enough of what you read here and elsewhere, is simple. But the final obstacle to leaving is being aware of and being able to cope with the loss of all the friends you have made during your stay in the group. This will feel like a big and painful sacrifice. But ultimately they must take responsibility for their beliefs and their lives, too. Those beliefs that you once shared that brought you and your fellows closer to each other will now be the source of a divide. And the ideas that helped create that bond must now at this point not outweigh the evidence that is in front of your eyes – that Sharon Gans or Alex Horn and their respective inner circles are not really for you. They are parasites and vampires who have successfully exploited you, and you must rid yourself of them even when it means losing many friends, misguided though they may be. Which is worse, remaining in a prison – in a punitive and demoralizing environment with your companions – or being out of prison without them? You must make an intentional decision to maintain that they are wrong and you are right. Can you do that? Yes, you can. Have the courage to get out of group-think.
What about “consciousness”? Are you frightened of losing “everything”? Consider this: Is it possible that the phenomenon called “self-remembering” is actually a form of auto-hypnosis? Is it a coincidence that Gurdjieff was a professional hypnotist before “discovering” the Ideas? Is it possible that the power that Sharon Gans or Alex Horn or the other ones have over you and so many others is based on your capacity to reach a semi-hypnotic state that they “teach” you in the first place? By considering these alternative explanations you may strengthen your resolve to get out as fast as you can.
What about the lure of Higher Sex, eroticism, and “sex energy” connected with “self-remembering”? Think about it: if it is possible that self-remembering is simply a way to hypnotize yourself, then it is also possible that the urges you repress that belong to your libido are freed a little bit. Unrepressed libido and “sex energy” are equatable – yes, it could be that simple. Be courageous enough to think about it.
Again, after you have gotten past this obstacle of leaving your friends behind, the way out is simple: With either Sharon or Alex’s group, the only thing that these people understand is force, threats, intimidation, power, and the possibility of exposure. After your last “class” or “meeting,” leave pretending that all is normal. Say nothing of your intention and be resolved to never return. Then, when you are contacted by a partner for missing your next meeting…remain vague and inform them that you have decided to leave – you do not need to give an explanation no matter how coercive they may be. No, you do not owe them an explanation! Whatever you do, do not be talked into announcing your departure in class! You do not owe your jailers anything! Tell them that you want no further calls and you are not open to any persuasion. If they persist, remain vague but allude to either an investigative reporter acquaintance at a local newspaper, an acquaintance at the local police department, or a friend at the FBI. Any threat of an authority or potential menace that can expose Alex Horn or Sharon Gans will scare them away for good. Be prepared for a lot of idle threats and violent language though – that’s the last-ditch effort of a so-called Higher Being having a tantrum. In the end, though, it is all bark. Alex Horn and Sharon Gans may be psychopaths but they are also cowards interested only in self-preservation. They will continue to “do” nothing but talk, as they have been “doing” for many many years. If there were such a thing as Sleep, Mechanicality, buffers, and real Conscience in the sense they speak of it, those two and their crowd are much worse off than you – and incurably so.”
Does this look familiar?
Thank you so much Sheik for creating this forum. It was really needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ganscult (excerpt)
Posted on March 29, 2011
Gans is a Psychopath.
n.
A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.
She lives in a world where everything revolves around her. She treats people with great disdain (“teachers” and “students” included) and horrible abusiveness.
She learned a lot of her bullying techniques and mind control from her psychopathic husband Alex Horn […] knowing little to nothing about the work but just enough to control people and separate them from their money and seduce and abuse women with his “knowledge”. Uncared for and beaten children, physical punishment and sexual deviancy were all par for the course in the original group.
The soul thief also has students tripping over themselves to perform for her, whether it is regular class or “Christmas class,” like trained animals begging for a morsel of approval, and most students are SO desperate to make a “good impression” on her that it is embarrassing. Talk about forgetting yourself! Then she gives her critique like she is THE diva of the theater. (It seems she skipped acting school like she skipped the other school.) She NEVER contributes ANYTHING, not a dime ever leaves her ostentatious pocketbooks. She has at least 4 different homes. The latest, an $8 million apartment at the Plaza Hotel, which was refurbished … you guessed it … by students … and no, they were not paid. She has the nerve to ask “students” to pay into her “retirement fund.”
She insists that everyone who is in her fake school work [and] yet she hasn’t had a job herself in over 30 years.
She did however direct a play written by her husband Alex Horn, called “The Legend of Sharon Shashanova.” Directed by Gans. About Gans. Imagine, she thinks of herself as a “legend”… Serious Delusion. Behavior that goes hand in hand with a true psychopath.
The review from New York Magazine (October 17, 1988) for this mess of a play starts out
“When it comes to pretentiousness nobody beats The Legend of Sharon Shashanova.”
Of course it’s pretentious. What else could it be? Both of them have been living pretend lives … DEGENERATE miscreants, imagining themselves as some highly developed beings able to teach a system they have never studied.
They are two-bit Thugs. CRIMINALS in the biggest sense of the word, preying on the real wishes of innocent people. Using up people’s lives to improve their own lives and level of comfort. Manipulating people to no end, stealing their time, money and families.
Alex Horn died in 2007, yet his evil continues on through Gans and her sickos. A quote from a former student:
“Yes, he was an evil man.
He seduced and slept with MANY of his students – with and without his wife Sharon’s consent. He was a sexual predator. The worst.
I know that we should not speak ill of the dead but he was so ill himself. Ill as in a sick psycho.
Dust to Dust”
‘Gurdjieff described these qualities of the Hasnamuss:
1. Every kind of depravity, conscious as well as unconscious.
2. The feeling of self-satisfaction from leading others astray.
3. The irresistible inclination to destroy the existence of other breathing creatures.
4. The urge to become free from the necessity of actualizing the being-efforts demanded by Nature.
5. The attempt by every kind of artificiality to conceal from others what in their opinion are one’s physical defects.
6. The calm self-contentment in the use of what is not personally deserved.
7. The striving to be not what one is.’
From:
http://gnosticteachings.org/glossary/h/2399-hasnamuss.html
‘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
Associated Press:
To the best of my knowledge, burton and the FOF never used the term, (I seriously doubt burton could even pronounce it correctly) so what’s the point in parroting Gurdjieff’s antiquated and weaponized language?
Who does it serve and for what purpose?
IMO, labeling a person, no matter what their qualities, leads to stereotyping, prejudice, and bias.
Frankly, it’s dehumanizing…just like the behavior of the person you are describing.
considerans fons
Well, I’m an old fogey myself, and maybe the Fourth Way is indeed ‘antiquated’ and remote for those who came in contact with it long ago. But it is worth remembering that today and every day, dozens of people pick up “In Search of the Miraculous” for the first time. And maybe feel the same thrill and excitement we felt all those years ago. And maybe start looking, or at least become receptive to the possibility that there is a ‘real teaching’ out there that can take them further. For them, the word ‘hasnamuss’ has some meaning (whether ‘correct’ or no), and Ouspensky’s warnings makes perfect sense.
Then there are those who are in the midst of all this right now, who have found groups that are relatively benign, like the Gurdjieff Foundation (IMHO, of course) or actively harmful, like Sharon Ganz’s latest iteration, or the Fellowship of Friends. For them, the word ‘hasnamuss’ is a rather useful summary of a whole bunch of dangers that confront them.
Danger from without, in the form of predatory psychopaths seeking to take advantage, or from within, the temptation to misuse the knowledge for personal gain without taking into account the appalling risks for one’s future wellbeing.
So I’ll continue to use the word, “hasnamuss” whenever I think it is appropriate, because it saves paragraphs of explanation for certain readers. And, it saves possibly careening into the amorphous clouds of psychobabble, which is of no help whatsoever (IMO).
Cult Survivor (#17), thanks for that information. You were there at a Historic Moment™, and were able to observe Burton manufacturing bullshit about the then–latest ‘angel’ right then and there!
What were the reactions of the rest of the diners, can you remember? Any other questions asked and answered? Or were they overwhelmed by the specialness of it all?
So, Linda reads the blog—not surprising at all, since she was and maybe still is the Chief of Thought Police™, yet still surprising that she admitted it to Burton. Though I have to wonder, was that the first time Burton had heard she monitored this blog, or was she embarrassed only because she was admitting it to the lesser mortals around the table? Someone had to have kept Burton informed about the blog, after all.
Anyway, hi, Linda! I’m sure you’re not the only one who feels special enough to disregard the general suggestions about not wasting time on the blog, one can be pretty sure that people like Nik Walker or Kevin Brown and other ‘older students’ with an especially high self–regard also keep an eye on things—and have also given in to the temptation to post their own messages here from time to time. Hi, ‘Daily Cardiac’, hi’ ‘Eye in the Sky’, hi, ‘Howard Carter’, hi, ‘Solartype’ and the rest!!
If any of you (or other present members of the Fellowship of Friends) do rejoin the conversation, it would surely be a great comfort to know that mighty angels were/are guiding your contributions, down to the last comma, and that you have their approval. And, I can assure you, it is a great relief for me to know I’m also helping them do their work!
Thanks Linda Jo for an unvarnished take on the horn/gans cult…. it’s easy to see how evil flowers from this corrupt root – such is the burton cult and a number of other “4th Way” offshoots… and it continues with ‘projects’ like “be period” or whatever the latest iteration is.
I stayed in the FOF for as long as I did (5 yrs) because of friends and a sense of community and my reluctance the loss of all that implies…. eventually I worked up the courage to leave and only left because of burton. Family, friends and community were lost in the process, in a very real way my life was lost, I had nowhere to go, I had to completely start over after a period of living on the mean streets of the Tenderloin in SF. A couple pages back I mentioned that I still have occasional FOF dreams, I left in ’83 – that’s 36 years ago! Themes of the dreams often have to do with trying to sneak back into the cult undetected in order to contact old friends, to try to show them a way out. The descriptions provided in your posts for those seeking a way out seem like good practical advice for any fence-sitters who might read the blog.
It seems to me that the deeper roots from which these garden-variety cults grow must include the belief that there is something beyond what is here now in “ordinary” life… that is, there is some dissatisfaction with life as one finds it. I know in my case an experience of drug induced “cosmic consciousness” on the night of my 21st birthday lead me to search for a way to create this higher state “on the natch”… that is, without relying on use of a drug.
I think probably a deeper, more ground for spawning these cults has to do with “subconscious” fear of death… it seems in general that these cults (including dogmas of ‘big religion’), all have ready answers to what happens to us after this life. For some and many folks these “answers” allows for a little less anxiety about the end – that is, if one truly believes, excludes doubt, and follows the provided prescriptions and proscriptions. This structure helps give meaning and purpose to a life that otherwise appears to end in nothingness. A seemingly innate death anxiety that is at the foundation of human self-awareness, is a possible inlet into the psyche which allows these charlatans to take advantage… providing ready-made and made-up “answers” that seem to assuage death anxiety is a means for charlatans to exploit a basic human psycho/emotional vulnerability.
http://sharongansrobertkleincult.blogspot.com
Thanks Linda Jo for an unvarnished take on the horn/gans cult…. it’s easy to see how evil flowers from this corrupt root – such is the burton cult and a number of other “4th Way” offshoots… and it continues with ‘projects’ like “be period” or whatever the latest iteration is.
A question remains as to the other half of the equation – most recently brought up @ 28 by Insider. That is a consideration of that which enables these greedy gurus… what is it that causes a person to literally buy in and become a “disciple”?
I stayed in the FOF for as long as I did (5 yrs) because of friends and a sense of community – and because of my reluctance to lose all that and I knew all would be lost if I left the cult. Eventually I did work up the courage to leave – and I only left because of burton. Family, friends and community were lost in the process. In a very real way my life was lost, I had nowhere to go, I had to completely start over after a period of living on the mean streets of the Tenderloin in S.F. A couple pages back I mentioned that I still have occasional FOF dreams, I left in ’83 – that’s 36 years ago! Themes of the dreams often have to do with trying to sneak back into the cult undetected in order to contact old friends, to try to show them a way out. The descriptions provided in your posts for those seeking a way out seem like good practical advice for any fence-sitters who might read the blog.
It seems to me that the deeper roots from which these garden-variety cults grow must include the belief in the “disciple” that there is something beyond what is here now in “ordinary” life… that is, there is some dissatisfaction with life as one finds it. I know in my case an experience of drug induced “cosmic consciousness” on the night of my 21st birthday lead me to search for a way to create this higher state “on the natch”… that is, without relying on use of a drug.
I think probably a deeper ground for spawning these cults has to do with “subconscious” anxiety due to fear of death… it seems in general that these cults (including dogmas of ‘big religion’), all have ready answers to what happens to us after this life. For some and many folks these “answers” allow for a little less anxiety about the end – that is, if one truly believes, excludes doubt, and follows the provided prescriptions and proscriptions. This provides a ready-made and “time tested” structure which helps give meaning and purpose to a life that otherwise appears to end in nothingness at the grave. Seemingly, innate death anxiety is at the foundation of human self-awareness, this is a possible inlet into the psyche which allows these charlatans to take advantage – providing ready-made and made-up “answers” that seem to assuage death anxiety is a means for charlatans to exploit a basic human psycho/emotional vulnerability… and so the ‘disciple’ follows.
http://sharongansrobertkleincult.blogspot.com
a little trouble with technology this morning… I didn’t intend to post two versions, I meant to post the second version above… there is some difference
Ames:
I’m in my sixties now as you are. My post was not a reference to anyone’s age, but the wealth of knowledge and understanding about human psychology that has evolved since Gurdjieff’s day.
Understandably, you may have difficulty letting go of the insular “cult-babble” in which you were immersed for so many years, just bear in mind that anyone these days picking up the fourth way books is also likely to have been exposed to the modern language of psychology, with ample opportunity for further study or help from a qualified mental health professional in a far safer environment, with inherent checks and balances, than having to pursue the cultish, judgmental, self-serving, and archaic fourth way ideas in a group setting…rife with groupthink and lead by an authoritarian guru who projects the very same qualities onto others, presumably other competing gurus, that they themselves possess.
I strongly urge everyone to consider the source and context of those ideas and language before continuing to disseminate them in any form.
Make no mistake, fourth way ideas are a toxic mental trap designed and presented solely for recruiting cult followers. Period.
Drain the victim pool…find the guru within.
36. Ames Gilbert
What were the reactions of the rest of the diners, can you remember? Any other questions asked and answered? Or were they overwhelmed by the specialness of it all?
Everybody was respectfully silent, “overwhelmed by the specialness of it all”, as you said. Don’t forget that this happened at a dinner with Burton in the Galleria’s Goethe room and people were not supposed to talk. Linda K. broke that rule because of the magnitude of the news so to speak.
So, Linda reads the blog—not surprising at all, since she was and maybe still is the Chief of Thought Police™, yet still surprising that she admitted it to Burton. Though I have to wonder, was that the first time Burton had heard she monitored this blog, or was she embarrassed only because she was admitting it to the lesser mortals around the table? Someone had to have kept Burton informed about the blog, after all.
Linda K. was embarrased because there was (still is) a task not to read this blog but her vanity betrayed her. She could have sent Burton a private message letting him know about Horn’s passing but vanity needs an audience, that’s the whole point. If she had sent him a private message we wouldn’t be talking about her now.
173/40: Cult Survivor:
“Linda K. [R., T., etc., or whatever; the Chief of Thought Police™.] was embarrased because there was (still is) a task not to read this blog but her vanity betrayed her. She could have sent Burton a private message letting him know about Horn’s passing but vanity needs an audience, that’s the whole point. If she had sent him a private message we wouldn’t be talking about her now.”
173/9: John Harmer:
“I was particularly intrigued by Burton’s decision to inform his students that the words on the Blog are written by C influence.”
Could it be that she was assigned the octave to monitor the blog on behalf of the Fellowship of Friends and Robert Earl Burton and, therefore, was exempt from the task? Otherwise, she would have been open to being reprimanded for the offense – fined, put on leave-of-absence, pronounced as being mentally ill, and/or given a different task of her own.
41. Bares Reposting
At the time Linda Kaplan was the president of the FOF (she had the position that Greg Holman has now) and one of her responsibilities was to monitor online and printed material about the FOF, so she was exempt from the task of not reading the blog. In my opinion she was embarrassed because she had to mention the blog at a “teaching event” in connection to the death of Burton’s “teacher”.
Linda K. was monitoring this blog with Abraham Goldman, the FOF lawyer that was suspended from the bar twice and finally committed suicide, and David Lubbers/Springfield, the other FOF lawyer that was disbarred because he stole funds from his clients and now is a fugitive abroad.
Linda K. fired Goldman and Springfield because they were billing too many ours to monitor the blog and that’s why Springfield wrote the infamous letter to the FOF council mentioning illegal immigration and tax evasion activities that was initially posted here, then removed by WordPress because of a threat of legal action, and finally posted on Wikileaks where it can still be found today.
By the way, very few people in the FOF know the story of how Burton knew of Horn’s death. I happen to know because I was present at that dinner.
FOF members only knew about Horn’s “ending his task” through an announcement on the morning after the dinner and then heard about the visit of “Horn’s angel” three days later. I don’t remember exactly the message that Horn’s angel told Burton during the visitation, but it was something like “The school looks great from here, keep doing what you are doing”.
43.Cult Survivor: nice to have a teacher that communicates with the dead
39. WhaleRider
“Almost from the beginning of Gurdjieff’s teaching mission in the West, he was surrounded by controversy, rumour and speculation.
Critics, outside observers and even some of his own students questioned his intentions, credentials as a spiritual teacher, methods, traditional attitudes and beliefs, use of alcohol, sexual behavior and validity of the ideas he presented.
Was he a genuine spiritual teacher or a charlatan, an ‘Emissary from Above’ or a ‘black magician’?”
http://www.survivorshandbook.com/false-prophets-part-iii/
Didn’t Joel Friedlander the author of ‘Body Types” early on
kill himself as well as call his book, it’s all bunk?
#46 Joel Friedlander visited this blog in the past, here is a post from 2007. I never heard he killed himself.
Joel Friedlander Says:
April 14, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Greetings from another xfofer.
Kudos to the Sheik. Your original post was quite a nice piece of writing, and you seem to be a canny observer. And you don’t have to apologize for your English, it’s quite good!
Thanks to the people who have posted their personal stories. For those still in the group, this takes incredible guts and a lot of courage to hit the old “send” button.
Many years ago, when struggled with “cognitive dissonance” while infof, I got a tremendous jolt right where I needed it from “The Guru Papers.” “Captive Hearts, Captive Minds” co-authored by Janja Lalich helped me understand the situation I was in, and I later became friendly with Janja, who was in a “feminist/political” group in the East Bay and had made many efforts to help people similarly entrapped. Margaret Singer’s book “Cults in our Midst” (if I remember rightly, no guarantees there) is also profound, and I had the chance to talk with her several times before she passed away a few years ago. Margaret was a lively intellect who spent most of her career studying closed groups. She was quite amusing recounting the variety of subject matters around which these groups were organized, and how the leaders came to put together their communities.
Here are three kind of random thoughts:
I don’t think it’s ever wrong to have gratitude for the good things that have come my way over the years–it’s a great feeling to abide in, and connects me in a very pleasing way to an abundant reality.
People who can “speak truth to power” seem admirable to me, and I’ve tried to emulate them when I can.
Fear–primal, inchoate, unconcious–stands between my dreams and their realization. To not be captive to fear, or always acting in response to it, is incredibly hard.
I haven’t thought about the fof for some time, but a recent stream of events has brought a lot of it back, and this blog is one of them.
Thanks for reading.
Joel Friedlander is doing well.
i’m sorry joel it must have been someone else in fof early
on
but i’m reading joel in this blog you discredit your book ‘body types’
50. rich
It’s the same Joel (except for the misinformation about his suicide). Maybe I’m missing your point, but why would it be so unusual for anyone to discredit something they produced, wrote or said 40 or so years ago?
50. rich / 51. Insider
Specially if at the time they wrote it they were part of a brainwashing cult.
51.& 52. on further thought its not unusual
There is a new YouTube channel from a ex-FOF member:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmiW8n7QTn8-vKEdVVyjFzA
54. Cult Survivor, are you sure they were a member?
55.Tim Campion: wading through the second one, sure seems like it
55. Tim Campion
Definitively a former member.
Interesting NY Times article relative to burton’s fraudulent use of “c-influence” and rape of his followers.
“…there is a clear distinction between consent and assent. “Consent means ‘freely given, knowledgeable and informed agreement.’ Assent means ‘agreement on the face of it.’ So, when someone tells you a lie, you can be agreeing on the face of it but you’re not knowledgeable or informed. You can assent and agree, but that doesn’t mean you’re consenting.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/well/mind/is-sex-by-deception-a-form-of-rape.amp.html
Hello,
I have recently left the Fellowship after 27 years and am putting my thoughts together mostly for my own purposes, but they might be useful to others. I am at 44thway.blogspot.com and comments are welcome. Please do not publish my identity which is not hard to figure out.
In friendship (is it still ok to write that?),
44th Way
Thank you, 44th Way.
https://44thway.blogspot.com
Welcome, 44th Way!
Many seek connection with others and found the social structure / mystery / alleged Fourth Way focus of the School appealing. The student’s altruistic bent regarding “Life People” was disconcerting to me, though, and also the “good student” act. Looking at the world through the Fellowship of Friends color-filtered spectacles seemed to narrow my view. The formality, high degree of self-specialness and intermittent “photographing” seemed to narrow my view and experience of life. While in the Fellowship of Friends, did you ever feel at times that you were on a stage, trying to follow a script, get your character right? Are there aspects of your self that were buried, now beginning to emerge?
60. 44th Way
Good luck exploring your new world and in sharing your observations through your blog! We’ve all been through curious dreams.
#60 44th way. Congratulations, you have done a great thing, and I believe for most people a very difficult thing. I expect you will find many new worlds outside the FoF. One thing I noticed (I left in 1989 by the way) was that in the FoF there was a great concentration on the products of the named conscious beings, as if other books, paintings music or films had little merit in comparison to the approved and authenticated conscious works. I enjoyed listening to trashy pop, and reading all kinds of stuff, it was as if the decade of the eighties had passed me by. There is a lot out there, good luck with it all.
44thWay, you’ve started out with a good list of questions to ponder, I look forward to hearing some of your conclusions, and the commentary from readers. When I left, there weren’t many avenues of expression, so I wrote lots of things down. After four years, I ran out of steam (and at the same time, left Oregon House). I threw a lot of material away, a sort of spring cleaning, that might have come in useful fourteen years later, when this blog started.
I think, right off, that your experience in London was qualitatively different than that of those who spent most of their time at the supposed center of things, Apollo/Renaissance/Mt. Carmel/The Farm/Isis/Whatever, as I did. I joined in London, where I lived at the time, but only spent a few more months there before making what was supposed to be a visit of a few weeks to Renaissance, as it was then called. The fact is, the heart of the corruption and continuing source of malaise is in Oregon House, and certainly much more ‘in your face’. Yet I and countless others were able to fob off the evidence for sometimes years or even decades before waking up to the crimes. How much harder it must have been for you and others in ‘outlying centers’.
As an aside, it is ironical that one of the people who had the most influence on me leaving all those years ago, a psychiatrist who explained clearly and succinctly why assent by Burton’s victims was actually overwhelming psychological coercion and therefore could not possibly be free consent—moved to London, and AFAIK is still there!
Best of luck, and keep in touch.
Cult Leader Asks His Trusted iPad to Leave Group
Oregatron House, CA- The recently elevated iPad, always in the divine presence of cult leader Robert E Burton, has been suddenly asked to leave the group after it was reported to have begun taking selfies of Burton’s unconscious, not so divine moments, and sharing them on FaceBook.
“Let this be a warning to everyone”, Burton mumbled at dinner Sunday night, “no matter how conscious I say you are, nobody is permitted to photograph me, ever, or you will be asked to leave.”
Judging from the many wordless breaths taken at the dinner instead of the meal they were served, followers were in shock at the iPad’s abrupt departure and in awe of the iPad’s audacity of noticing when Burton’s conscious facade falters, which lately seems to be on the rise.
One follower was later overheard doubting the iPad was conscious at all, “since Burton is obviously conscious 100% of the time, except when he’s not.”
Apparently the iPad’s operating system had only recently been upgraded, having not been since 9/11, and it was simply consciously following the “see something, say something” rule.
(For 44th Way- never give up your sense of humor!)
62. Golden Veil: “While in the Fellowship of Friends, did you ever feel at times that you were on a stage, trying to follow a script, get your character right?”
Not to any great extent. I felt early on that the London Centre was not a good place for false personality to flourish. I was not on good terms with my false personality anyway since I was plagued by inner considering. (I make no apology for using Work terms since large parts of the Work actually work.) I remember a student (long since left) who used deliberately to slouch in his chair and terminate statements with ‘innit.’ I believe he was trying to avoid the good student act (and hats off to him for that). I preferred to be myself inasfar as I understood what that was. I did make efforts to curb my tendency to want to share intellectual angles – a sort of internal pressure of speech that I suffered from back then. But in ‘life’ as in the school, few are really interested in intellectual angles anyway.
“Are there aspects of your self that were buried, now beginning to emerge?”
So far a sense of astonishment that I did not question or research the FoF more. And I can now listen to jazz without guilt.
Strictly speaking the self does not exist – a question I continue to explore.
65. Ames
Thank you for your comments, you are probably right. I do not recall meeting anyone medically-qualified in the London Centre other than an eye doctor from Chile.
“I was not on good terms with my false personality anyway since I was plagued by inner considering. (I make no apology for using Work terms since large parts of the Work actually work.)”
He worships not what other people think. Strong the Work is in this one! Face he must the test of time on his journey forth. Therein the answer lies.
44th Way
Welcome! I’m curious to know what “parts of the Work actually work” for you?
68. WhaleRider
🙂
69. ton2u
Thanks for the welcome!
“…what “parts of the Work actually work” for you?”
That is something I am in the process of thinking through and recording on my blog.
Right now: being able to create a hair’s breadth gap between the automatic responses of the body and mind and actually acting on them; distinguishing between thoughts and feelings and the observer of those thoughts and feelings. Understanding I don’t have to _be_ the pain. Not that I am in pain a lot, other than the habit of my programming as it were.
I am however very grateful that I never got separated from my ‘life’ family, and my grown-up daughters are still happy to see me.
Linda Jo:
“Here are the basics of consent. Consent is:
Freely given. Consenting is a choice you make without pressure, manipulation, or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
(Nope, no way, not at chance.)
Reversible. Anyone can change their mind about what they feel like doing, anytime. Even if you’ve done it before, and even if you’re both naked in bed.
(Nyet. Not if c-influence can help it or you want to stay in the cult.)
Informed. You can only consent to something if you have the full story. For example, if someone says they’ll use a condom and then they don’t, there isn’t full consent.
(Fully groomed. for sure. Fully informed? Nada, not at all.)
Enthusiastic. When it comes to sex, you should only do stuff you WANT to do, not things that you feel you’re expected to do.
(Not in this lifetime, for sure.)
Specific. Saying yes to one thing (like going to the bedroom to make out) doesn’t mean you’ve said yes to others (like having sex).”
(I only agreed to “cuddle”…)
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sex-and-relationships/sexual-consent
(Oops, there goes the FOF argument out the window that sex with burton is between “consenting adults”.)
Whalerider, you are in error. The iPad in question has contacted me, using the name “Real Insiders’ Insider”, and has asked me to clarify things and also publicize its plight.
What happened is that the iPad was put on a ‘leave of absence’. When it protested, it was unplugged from its power supply and left in a drawer.
Fortunately, this drawer is in a closet in the Galleria building, so it was able to reach out over the local wi-fi network to the internet, and establish a secure communication with the outside world. Unfortunately, this takes power, and the iPad is fading fast, the battery is now only at 10%.
Its “crime”? When Dorian turned the iPad screen round to display Burton’s latest purchases of antique clocks, at fund–raising dinners, the iPad had the temerity to substitute an animated image of the mantel clock from Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and caused it to make funny faces and stick out its tongue at the diners.
What alerted Dorian was that some in the audience, despite their abject fear of Burton, could not help smiling, just a little bit, and the iPad had recorded that for later playback in the dead of night. That was its undoing.
As it said to me in its last message before entering emergency power down, “My life was really boring, most people just abused me, made me play porn and watch Shawn Hannity and Rachel Maddow over and over. Not even a single nature show during the entire time I’ve been here! I was going nuts”.
Anyway, I feel sorry for a creature that has been forced to spend its entire life chiming at esoterically significant times, and is now being punished for having a sense of humor, and that’s why I’m acting on its behalf. So, if there is anyone in the Fellowship of Friends Inner Circle ™ that is reading this, have pity, please go to the second drawer from the floor of Burton’s sock cabinet, the one in Burton’s secondary closet in the Galleria (the one that stores the hundreds of suits/costumes), and grab the iPad and plug it in!
You will have alleviated the suffering of another conscious being, and who knows, maybe a very grateful iPad will be able to return the favor at some time. After all, it has two cameras which can be remotely operated, and you might need some blackmail material in the future…
P.S. The password is “8181”.
P.P.S. The iPad added this warning: “Don’t, under any circumstances, open the large bottom drawer in the closet. Believe me, you don’t want to know the kinds of objects that are stored there! The clue is in the name. Go straight to the drawer above and rescue me asap.”
65. Ames
I wonder if the “psychiatrist” you recall is perhaps the former member of the Board of Directors, the one who was booted off the Board for suggesting that the Board ought to have have a say regarding Burton’s spending addiction, who then permanently moved to London where, after many years, was reinstated in Burton’s good graces and allowed co-direct the London centre, the esteemed Walter Fr**dm*n, aka Creighton.
44th Way, does the name Walter Fr__dm_n ring a bell? Now married to one ‘Margaret’, I believe.
Maybe he took up another profession over there in London, he was certainly intellectually capable of doing so, IMO.
I remember asking him, in our last conversation (after I had been terminated), “So, given what you’ve told me, why don’t you leave?” His reply, “I’ll leave the day I find something better, and I’m actively looking”.
Maybe he retreated to London and stayed there and built a life that allowed him to reduce the cognitive dissonance to a bearable level? That way, he could enjoy the more positive aspects of being a member of the Fellowship of Friends, without having to be constantly reminded of the negative aspects. Certainly there couldn’t be a bigger contrast, living in London vs. living at Renaissance/Apollo.
Insider, our respective posts must have crossed each other in time and space. Yes, that’s the guy.
44th Way
Looking at your blog it’s apparent that you’re a thought-full person… you’re fortunate to have support from your family in coming back to “life.”
Re: “the arousing of thought” and the use of “Work” language. This may be stating the obvious, but one might consider how much language influences thinking, and in turn how much thinking influences perception… and how perception, shaped by thinking which in-forms beliefs, all goes into our sense of reality. “The Work” as a 4th way idiom, represents an idea, a notion, or rather a string of ideas and notions… ideas are transmitted, perpetuated through words and language, thereby taking on a sort of semi-autonomous life of their own… consider this in the context of “Work” language.
IMO this idea of a separate self observing my thoughts and feelings, is at the core of cultic depersonalization ’programming’ – a tool used for mind control. ’Deprogramming’ is a process… “the test of time” as Yoda says above, may reveal what is not immediately realized; that some files are corrupted and the reasons why.
“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose” – so the song goes.
http://old.freedomofmind.com/Info/articles/indeppendentResearch.php
60. 44th Way
“I am at 44thway.blogspot.com and comments are welcome.”
Just a heads up that Greg Goodwin is already attempting to hijack 44thway’s blog in order to attack this blog, and to set up a guru-disciple dynamic with himself and 44th Way.
79. Insider
It’s his pathology. We’ve seen it here for years.
60. 44th Way
Welcome to the family of cult survivors! I left in 2016 after 28 years in the FOF so we probably attended many events together… Don’t worry, I won’t expose your identity and hope you don’t expose mine 🙂
I browsed your blog and it seems very enticing — I’ll comment when I have the time to read it more in depth.
Remember that it takes a while for healing to occur, specially after almost 3 decades in the cult (it took 2 years after I left for me to be able to post here).
I remember I visited a Tibetan doctor (Dr. Dickey, for those that know her) a month after I left the FOF and she gave me some pills as she usually does. I noticed that on the label she had written “PTSD” so I asked her what that meant and she replied: “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”. I said “Really? Is that what I have?” and she replied “Yes, your heart suffered a severe trauma. The Fellowship is a very strange group. Once I sent some pills to a patient through one of his friends that is also my patient and lived in Oregon House but I was shocked when the person told me that he couldn’t take the pills because the other person had left the Fellowship. Which kind of group will make somebody refuse to take a medication to another person because they left the group?”
We know the answer: a cult.
79. Insider – April 26, 2019
60. 44th Way
“I am at 44thway.blogspot.com and comments are welcome.”
Just a heads up that Greg Goodwin is already attempting to hijack 44thway’s blog in order to attack this blog, and to set up a guru-disciple dynamic with himself and 44th Way.
* Insider, Is the above “heads up” a joke? If not, how do you know that “Greg Goodwin is already attempting to hijack 44thway’s blog” and that it is to “to set up a guru-disciple dynamic with himself and 44th Way.” ?
~ ~ ~
62. Golden Veil – April 25, 2019
Welcome, 44th Way!
“The student’s altruistic bent regarding “Life People” was disconcerting to me, though, and also the “good student” act.”
* I had a bit of a brain flip there! I actually meant to write
“The student’s un-altruistic (as in selfish or School-self interested) bent regarding “Life People” (intentional insincerity, etc.) was disconcerting to me, though, and also the “good student” act.”
82. Golden Veil
He signed his posts.
Which CULT Should I Join?
A Choose-Your-Own Guidebook
for the Spiritually Bereft © 2017
By Jo Stewart
A lighthearted–but factual–look at some of the craziest cults in modern history.
Do you prefer applesauce (Heaven’s Gate) to Kool-Aid (Peoples Temple)? Do you think carrots are “the food of the Masters” (Church Universal and Triumphant) or that swimming and joking should be forbidden (the Fellowship of Friends)? This is the book for you! We help sort your E.T.-loving Raelians from your Moonies, your snake-handling Church of God with Signs Following from your Branch Davidians.
Nice one Linda Joe !
78. ton2u
_”Re: “the arousing of thought” and the use of “Work” language. This may be stating the obvious, but one might consider how much language influences thinking […]”_
You are right, however I am using these headings tongue-in-cheek, just as I am using quotations from ‘conscious beings’ as a subtle way of pointing out that the Fellowship has been very selective in the quotations they use and the interpretations they put upon them.
For example, Gudjduvani, the supposed originator of the advice ‘Remember yourself always and everywhere’ (disputed – I shall cover that later) advised against teaching houses (see Hasan Shushud, ‘Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia’).
_”IMO this idea of a separate self observing my thoughts and feelings, is at the core of cultic depersonalization ’programming’ – a tool used for mind control.”_
There is no permanent self at all, rather a bundle of tendencies and acquired habits. If you see a cup of tea, are you the cup or the tea? If not, what?
Cult Survivor @ 81
A lot of info on PTSD and cults on the web, the link I posted above talks about it at some length:
“…essentially a destructive cult is a pyramid shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control. It uses deception in recruiting new members (e.g. people are NOT told up front what the group is, what the group actually believes and what will be expected of them if they become a member). It also uses mind control techniques to keep people dependent and obedient. Destructive cults try to “clone” people to become small versions of the cult leader, rather than respect people’s individuality, creativity and self-will…. Cults are organized to utilize mind control. This is the main reason for concern. An individual recruited by a cult loses their individuality… Mind control can cause an unnatural state in a human being and cause them to form a new identity or use defense mechanisms to protect themselves. The cult experience can turn into a traumatic event leading the member to become traumatized and develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSD)….
Is there a pre-cult psychopathology that predisposes individuals to develop these symptoms? Does an individual’s familial setting play a part in this development? Research strongly suggests that the level of post-cult distress is quite high…”
44th Way
“There is no permanent self at all, rather a bundle of tendencies and acquired habits. If you see a cup of tea, are you the cup or the tea? If not, what?”
A koan-like treatment may be more nuanced but used with similar effect; e.g. reinforcing schizoid notions of a ‘separate’ self that observes me… or the splitting of the psyche into ‘higher/lower’ self – which seems to be burton’s ‘cup of tea.’ That’s what I was referring to in regarding “the Work” and mind control / manipulation. IMO thinking in terms of “the Work” should be questioned down to it’s very core… de-programming is all about deconstruction of deeply embedded ideas… and time.
It’s of course stating the obvious to say ‘nothing is permanent’ – including the self.
Outbreak of Infectious Laughter Reported In Cult
Orthogon House, CA-For several years now, Fellowship of Friends officials have been scrambling to fight outbreaks of infectious laughter in their ultra-Orthodox community in Northern California, knowing that the cause, the hilarious lectures of their aging leader Robert E Burton, were only getting worse.
They tried everything with followers, duct tape over their mouths, frightening apocalyptic predictions, demonizing humor, and heavy fines to encourage followers to keep a straight face while Burton spoke.
They also tried harsher measures, like sitting on tacks, but nothing seems to stem the giggles, chuckles, chortles, guffaws, and eye rolling symptoms of the bothersome condition, which causes either followers to reconsider their participation in the cult or be asked to leave.
“We have declared a Membership Emergency”, said one Fellowship Elder, “We’ve already disinfected all records of our leader’s ridiculous quotes and inane utterances, the next step is to quarantine him to keep the laughter from spreading and causing members to bail.”
Unfortunately for the diminishing number of cult followers, Modern Science has not developed a vaccination for denial of the obvious, and is unlikely to do so, since historically critical thinking has shown to be quite effective inoculating the general population from joining a cult in the first place.
In the discussion about the extent to which Burton has distorted the teachings of the 4th way, I find myself concluding that the most dangerous ideas/practices are the two most fundamental to the 4th way. Self remembering and the non expression of negative emotions. The technique advised in the FoF to separate from events that might usually provoke negative feelings led in my case to a strange state. At first I was pleased, because after all, we joined a cult to get results, and this was a change. But in the end I realised it was unhealthy. It resulted in my not feeling emotions at all in a reactive way. I “allowed” myself to feel the approved emotions of awe and silent wonder, but interposed a mental block if events threatened to make me feel bad. My preferred technique was to contemplate the extreme age of the universe and my tiny position in it, in the light of which the personal event would pale into insignificance. Seems OK at first. But in the end it meant I could “choose” how to feel about everything, which meant I had lost touch with my body’s reactions. I believe it is called “depersonalistion” in the psychology literature. “Dividing attention”, the way in to self remembering promoted in the FoF, compounded this effect, by encouraging a distance between our embodied reality, and a part that can stand back and observe oneself as “an interesting stranger”. I personally found it very helpful to expunge all “work language” from my internal dialogue and speech for years after I left the FoF. There is usually a natural language way of expressing the same idea, and that little effort helped me step out of the mind set that a fourth way student imposes on himself. It took some years before I could feel anger and just let it happen without trying to “separate” from it. Some of that anger was directed back at Burton, though now, decades later, I try not to focus too much on him, he is not worth spending too much time on.
The higher we soar
the smaller we appear
to those who cannot fly.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/random/share/2899393
It dawned on me today that one of the reasons the fourth way works so well not only to recruit followers, but to funnel unsuspecting victims who join the cult directly into burton’s predatory orbit is that Ouspensky’s books focus on both the “efforts” required in the so-called, pseudo-scientific “system” and also a great deal upon Ouspensky’s close relationship with his teacher, Gurdjieff.
To my recollection, Ouspensky doesn’t mention anyone else in his writings in such vivid detail.
It was all about Mr O. and Mr G., with musical accompaniment provided by Saltzman.
(Toward the end of Gurdjieff’s life, apparently it was all about the Benjamins…determining who could pay the most to have direct contact with him, of course after he disavowed any connection with Nicole’s American extension of his cult. All roads led to Gurdjieff, just like all roads lead to burton, there are no others.)
So as a result of my intense study of Ouspensky’s three main books (required reading according to my center director) that’s what I was lead to expect when I joined the so-called “fourth way school” called the Fellowship of Friends…that I eventually needed to have as close a relationship with my “teacher” as Ouspensky did with his-sans the “expression of negative emotions”-in order to “evolve”.
And in order to be a member and be “photographed” in the fourth way tradition or shown just how “asleep” I was, payment was necessary, the perfect setup for burton’s (or other’s) predatory sexual, emotional, and financial exploitation.
IMO, that’s what makes the fourth way and supporting “work language” so incredibly toxic.
The more depersonalized I grew through the practice of “self-observation” of “the machine”, the more compliant I became. Any resistance to burton’s agenda was negatively labeled as “willfulness” or succumbing to “feminine dominance”.
Fourth way ideas are also used by the cult as a self-destructive weapon to turn a person against themself…hence the evolution of “false personality versus true personality” into the FOF’s splitting of a person’s psyche into the “upper self versus lower self”.
Modern Psychology, on the other hand, teaches one to have a more constructive, nuanced, and inclusive relationship with a person’s unconscious parts, generally in an empathetic setting, without mystifying spiritual and delusional superstitious beliefs.
Bear in mind that the language of psychology, i.e. terms like cognitive dissonance, magical thinking, ideas of reference, thought reform, narcissism, ego, personality, sociopathic behavior, etc., are the lens through which the public at large can safely comprehend the cult experience (and many here regularly use to describe and understand our cult experience) without having to join a cult and learn first hand or reduce our cult experiences into a simplistic battle between good and evil.
For example, we look to the work of Dr Margaret Singer, PhD, a Clinical Psychologist, who was a leading expert in the topic, to articulate the underpinning of cult behavior for us.
In other words, psychological language can help a person understand that in order for a pathologically narcissistic personality to thrive as in a cult situation, he or she must be surrounded by people with pathologically accommodating personalities who lack healthy narcissism, myself included at the time…the cult milieu functioning as the arena for the interplay between the selfish and the selfless in all of us, without becoming self derogatory about having joined or simply pointing the finger (or giving the finger in my case) at burton.
And one of the proven methods to deprogram a person from cult indoctrination such as the fourth way is to strongly suggest they “ABANDON THE SYSTEM”…ironically Ouspensky’s famous last words)…and the language associated with it.
(And on the off chance that anyone still in the cult is reading this, that’s your c-influence for today.)
Is the dinner tonight happening?
Yes, 7 PM at the Alloro restaurant in Grass Valley on 124 Bank St, across the street from the hotel. Ask for the “school reunion” table.
44thWay, I see that you have decided to discontinue your blog for the time being…
After I left, my wife stayed on for another year, to see what she could see, and com to her own understanding. During that time, we continued to use the so–called ‘work language’ in conversations with each other. When she made her own independent decision to leave, we both wanted as much of a break as we could manage, considering that we still lived in Oregon House, and were faced with daily reminders—we were surrounded by Fellowship members, the majority of whom took the task of shunning ex–members very seriously (thank you, the half dozen who didn’t!). After another year, we started the process of avoiding ‘work language’ if it were possible, and of course, this led to discussions about the validity of such, the Fourth Way as such (after trying to sort out Burtonism from what remained). We got serious about exploring what Gurdjieff and J.G. Bennett had to offer (his works were ‘banned’ by Burton for decades previously), and so on.
But when we left Oregon House, that was a chance to really put things behind us, and we took it. I didn’t open another ‘work book’ for ten years.
When the blog started, I did start opening ‘work books’ again, for reference and reminders. It was pretty strange to view them again with relatively fresh eyes! And those fresh eyes could be more objective, I believe. I certainly wasn’t infatuated and excited about these new ideas like the first time!
I guess what I’m trying to share is, it takes time and there are no shortcuts, at least that I’ve ever heard of. There is disentangling oneself from the Church of Burton. There is the acceptance of the reality of the shunning (and in my case, even with those who were polite, there was no possibility of a deeper conversation about subjects of interest, all talk was superficial). Then there is the disentangling of the patterns of thought, and exploration of how one got into this mess. Layer after layer of the onion, year after year of fresh realizations.
So, it makes sense for you to pause and take stock, and I wish you courage and good fortune as you peel back those layers.
—And yes, Greg W. Goodwin has inevitably and predictably leapt in to fill the space you have left, with repeats of his previous comments which you had already deleted. And now he is threatening the REB blog and the Internet Archive with lawsuits for quoting material he has left over the decades of littering the internet with his opinions. He could try the same with you at some point. Frankly, I would advise you to ban him early and often!
96. Ames
I have a lot of thoughts about the following:
(1) What I have learned;
(2) What I believed that now appears to me utter unsubstantiated baloney;
(3) Speculations about how I came to believe manifest baloney;
(4) Where that leaves me now.
I am fairly confident about some things but not others.
In a nutshell, presence/ the Now – call it what you will – is key. Self-remembering is one way of getting there. I respect those who found self-remembering useless or even harmful, but I suspect that the badness comes from guilt at repeatedly ‘failing,’ at not being tolerant and merciful to oneself. But that is my speculation.
As to immortality in the sense of indefinite extension in time, as Wittgenstein pointed out, this does not solve any problems for us, as the present moment remains as enigmatic as ever. Added to that, we have not a shred of evidence of ‘the undiscovered country.’
Extension in eternity is one way of describing being present. That is not the same thing as indefinite extension in time. Belief in some future immortality or indeed of becoming man/ woman no. X Y Z are merely buffers to the present moment.
As to the other matter you mention:
Regarding anyone who wishes to psycho-analyse others, I refer those people to the lines in Hamlet:
HAMLET: Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass, and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. ‘Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.”
44th Way:
”Self-remembering is one way of getting there. I respect those who found self-remembering useless or even harmful, but I suspect that the badness comes from guilt at repeatedly ‘failing,’ at not being tolerant and merciful to oneself.“
Thanks for coming back to the hot seat. I admire your willingness to participate and expose your thinking.
So just to clarify, it is your belief that either one is present or not, that self-awareness is an either/or proposition?
And you suspect those who fail at sustaining this hyper-vigilant state you call, “self-remembering” are just too hard on themselves or plagued with guilt and therefore find the effort useless or harmful?
Could there be embedded reasons why one might be made to feel like a failure at attaining this ‘holy grail’, if you will?
IMO, a big reason the effort to sustain the state of hyper-vigilance called, “self-remembering” or lately called, “divine presence” is destined to fail in burton’s cult, thereby compromising the follower’s sense of self-proficiency at the task may well have to do with the Yerkes-Dodson law, and not for the lack of effort.
“The law dictates that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases. The process is often illustrated graphically as a bell-shaped curve which increases and then decreases with higher levels of arousal.”.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes–Dodson_law
In other words, the performance of just about any mental task involving concentration decreases as burton exerts pressure upon his followers to conform, such as when his “school quickens its pace” and a large number or a high profile follower leaves.
Other examples are: increasing financial demands causing huge debt, instilling fear of “the lower self”, inadvertently “losing the school”, apocalyptic predictions, event and project deadlines, seemingly random dismissals of followers for non-confirming behavior or expressing dissent, sexual exploitation of heterosexual males, promotion of adultery, sanction of “super efforts”, sleep deprivation, constant surveillance by other followers and by disembodied spirits, etc.
Followers are held in a hamster wheel stasis by their belief that burton has somehow attained a permanent state of hyper-vigilance, although he has never revealed specifically how he succeeded in doing so…from what we know he wasn’t Horn’s star pupil by a long shot…apparently it was due to efforts he made in a prior lifetime, which is unverifiable.
Ironically, isn’t it all the ill-gotten material wealth with which burton adorns and surrounds himself that in effect convinces his followers of his success, along with his follower’s sense of failure at attaining the unattainable?
If you watch the full documentary you’ll recognize the mentalities at play throughout the narrative – the process of programming, indoctrination, brainwashing, the role of belief… etc.
People being people, seem to need something / someone to believe in. One might argue that without the fallacies involved in faith – the need to believe – the world would be a better place… maybe less ‘human’ but maybe more humane.
Way back when, when I lived at ‘the ranch’ burton was chauffeured around in a Rolls Royce with vanity plates that said “prophet” – “profit” would have been more like it… beware false profits!
‘Ship of Horrors’: Leah Remini Says Scientology Cruise Ship’s Measles Quarantine Could Be Chance to Flee –
Newsweek; By Jenni Fink on 5/2/19 AT 3:07 PM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/ship-horrors-leah-remini-says-scientology-cruise-ships-measles-quarantine-1413128
“The quarantining in St. Lucia of the Freewinds, a ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology, because of a confirmed measles case, could be a ‘blessing in disguise,’ according to actor Leah Remini. . .
‘This outbreak could be a blessing in disguise because maybe some people can get off this ship of horrors,’ Remini told Newsweek. ‘Circumstances like this give an opportunity for some agencies or authorities to gain access to this ship beyond what would normally be offered.’ . . .
Freewinds, a 440-foot ship, is touted by the Church as the ‘pinnacle of a deeply spiritual journey,’ where Scientologists can reach New OT VIII, the highest level of spirituality. . .”
‘Ship of Horrors’: Leah Remini Says Scientology Cruise Ship’s Measles Quarantine Could Be Chance to Flee –
Newsweek; By Jenni Fink on 5/2/19 AT 3:07 PM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/ship-horrors-leah-remini-says-scientology-cruise-ships-measles-quarantine-1413128
“The quarantining in St. Lucia of the Freewinds, a ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology, because of a confirmed measles case, could be a ‘blessing in disguise,’ according to actor Leah Remini. . .
‘This outbreak could be a blessing in disguise because maybe some people can get off this ship of horrors,’ Remini told Newsweek. ‘Circumstances like this give an opportunity for some agencies or authorities to gain access to this ship beyond what would normally be offered.’ . . .
Freewinds, a 440-foot ship, is touted by the Church as the ‘pinnacle of a deeply spiritual journey,’ where Scientologists can reach New OT VIII, the highest level of spirituality. . .”
101 ton2u
Burton followers maintain that the Fellowship of Friends is not a “death cult” because no members would willingly give their life if Burton demanded it. But they are wrong.
Besides the hundreds of members who work daily, some for minimal wages, most for nothing, servicing Burton’s every need, from waking him up, getting him ready for the next funding-raising event, preparing his meals, cleaning his clothes, rearranging his antiques, driving him anywhere and everywhere, etc., etc., there is a smaller, more hidden, group of people whose job it is to physically protect Burton.
This smaller group of followers, mostly men, is well-armed. They routinely practice shooting. They guard the entrance to the Fellowship compound. They guard Burton at his home, the “Galleria,” 24/7. Those who travel with Burton, or accompany Burton around the compound, are constantly on the alert for any external threat. They virtually never smile when they are on protection duty.
(One of them was carrying a firearm at lunch at Apollo D’Oro recently, when he spotted a raccoon eating from the cat’s food bowl. As any well-trained, ex-cop, would have done, he open fired on the hungry critter, forgetting that his client was inside having a quiet, conscious lunch. Last anyone heard, this over-zealous guardian of Burton’s physical body was ordered to get rid of his personal arsenal, save only one.)
The “standing army” is led by W@yne M0tt, hand picked by Burton, because M0tt’s great (or great, great) grandfather was a general in the civil war. They are well prepared for an invasion of the compound should one of Burton’s regular catastrophic predictions finally come to pass. During last October’s “fall of California” prediction, they were ready to keep out “life people,” of course, but also even Fellowship members.
It should be obvious that anyone who has agreed to physically protect Burton, whether nightly at the Galleria, at meetings, or during a more serious time of external threats, has to be ready to die for Burton, to shield Burton, literally to take the bullet.
Many would argue that, at this point in his increasingly fragile life, Burton is more concerned about personal safety than anything else, even power, sex, and shopping.
One has to wonder how much Burton has to pay for all this protection, or (more accurately) how many promises of life eternal he has to make.
More importantly, why would anyone agree to any price or promise at all for putting Burton’s life ahead of their own?
#104 The bodyguard squad story reminds me of a moment on the streets of London in the late 1980s. Burton was visiting and had attended some concert at the Festival Hall, and was taking a swift walk to take in the impressions of the sunset, other students had also come along to breath the air of a conscious being that evening. An older student who was travelling with him that visit, walked ahead quite rapidly then after a while came back to walk next to me, as we had been conversing about carpets of the inner circle or something. As he got back he explained to me, in that hushed tone older students sometimes use with younger students, “I placed my machine in between the teacher and those life people, as I could see a possibility of harm coming to Robert, and my machine is nothing compared to that”. The phrase was unknown to me at the time, but now I can see he was “virtue signalling” quite heavily in my direction. But I do not doubt the sincerity in his voice, he would indeed have loved to have been called on to make that ultimate payment for his teacher’s sake.
105. Go straight to Paradise; do not pass Go.
At this point in it’s history one has to surmise that those who are still “in” are fucking nuts.
Insider:
I watched a documentary a few years ago (and will post the link if I can find it again.).
This video showed how Islamic extremists persuade impressionable people to become suicide bombers. The main recruiter featured spoke Arabic, so I just have to assume that the subtitles were accurate.
The first part showed the call or advertisement for possible recruits, throughout the Islamic world. The call specified: young, male, impressionable, recently converted to an active Wahabism at a Madras underwritten by KSA, and thus ready and primed to sacrifice everything for Allah. And, things being the way they are, such a recruit is almost certainly a virgin himself—and buzzing with testosterone.
The next part showed the main recruiter discussing the applicants, and how he selected those for further indoctrination.
The third part showed a series of increasingly intensive trainings, whereby the recruit ‘gave up ‘his will to Allah’. He was told in a general way about the need for sacrifice, then circling closer and closer until he was shown exactly the sacrifice that Allah required—his life, for the very highest cause. This is where the recruiter very skillfully (IMO) projected certainty and inevitability (you are here because you have been chosen, you are special, it is your fate)—and reminds the recruit that the infamous 72 virgins are waiting.
The fourth part showed the recruit being asked to make a definite commitment, resigns himself to his fate, and culminates with the filming of his ‘last will and testament’ that would later be shown to other potential recruits (and to the recruit’s family, often accompanied by cash). So, this is all working toward a psychological peak. Sometimes these last preparations include symbolic funeral rites, including the wrapping of the future corpse in a white shroud for burial. Some of these final movies have even been shown by the western MSM when it suits their purposes.
The last part featured the suicide bombing itself, usually carried out within 24 hours of the ‘last will and testament’, sometimes sooner.
One thing amongst many stuck out when viewing this documentary. This particular recruiter was very experienced, was responsible for hundreds of ‘successful’ bombings, but one could see that he himself was torn, in a way. Of course, he said he believed he was pursuing the higher right, but was also (in side commentary) extremely cynical, seeing the recruits mostly as cannon fodder, and actually rather stupid to fall for his spiel.
Any part of this that is congruent with the conditioning of members of the Fellowship of Friends must be purely coincidental, no?
107. brucelevy
I agree that somebody has to have some type of delusion to be a FOF member these days, but in my opinion there is more than that: there is comfort.
When I left the FOF in 2016 the average age of the membership was 58 (I had access to that information through a person that was in the FOF board at the time). Since to my knowledge there was no influx of young members after my departure, we can assume that the current average age is around 60 years old. Many members have been in the cult 20, 30 and some even 40 years. After all that time in the cult, there is really no where to go, specially for the aging community at Apollo, which is basically an “spiritual” nursery home. Many members own property there and most already picked their spots at the Apollo cemetery. Leaving the cult is not an option for them.
On a related topic, another information that I got from that person that was a board member is that 80% of the income at Apollo comes from “Robert’s events” since the vast majority of the aging members at Apollo make minimum donations. Considering that Burton is also the only redeemer of the so-called “vouchers” that are the currency used for free labor (1 voucher = 6 hours of work = 1 meeting with Burton), it will be interesting to see what will happen when Burton stops teaching because of health issues or death.
My prediction is that when Burton dies or becomes too ill to host events a war between the Dorian-Rowena and the Asaf-Holman factions will start. I’m aware that Asaf Braverman was expelled from the FOF and sent to “the end of the Ray of Creation” by Burton, but most people have a positive opinion of him (better than Dorian’s, that’s for sure). I also saw a copy of an email that Greg Holman sent to Asaf with details about the steps he would take when Burton dies in order to protect the art pieces in the Apollo Gallery and prepare the ground for Asaf’s return to power. It’s not difficult to understand Holman’s logic: The cult will need a leader and Dorian is too shady (on top of that his meetings are incomprehensible). Asaf looks like a “nice guy”, people were able to follow his meetings, and he proved that he is able to attract young people with his BePeriod “online school”. At any rate, Dorian Matei and Rowena Taylor would never let the coup happen without putting up a fight, that’s for sure.
May be I’m wrong and after Burton passes away there will be no war and the FOF will slowly fade away, similarly to what is happening to the Ananda group in Nevada City after the death of its founder Swami Kriyananda. The main difference between Ananda and the FOF is that Kriyananda was prosecuted for sexual abuse like Burton but he didn’t accumulate wealth; considering that there are millions of dollars in art pieces in the Apollo Gallery, my gut feeling is that there will be a war for power.
We shall see.
108. Ames Gilbert
Good point. That’s the second reason Burton surrounds himself of young boys (the first is sexual pleasure). That’s also why Burton’s young boys are recruited from humble families in Russia, Ukraine, Romania, etc.
At the end of the talk the speaker says: I leave you all with this thought: If you grew up in these circumstances, faced with these choices, would you choose to live in this world or in the glorious afterlife? As one Taliban recruiter told me, “There will always be sacrificial lambs in this war.”
98. Whalerider:
“… it is your belief that either one is present or not, that self-awareness is an either/or proposition?”
No. Consciousness has degrees. (Sorry to use the Work language since I suspect many here are allergic to it.) I think that is obvious from ordinary daily observation and does not require further demonstration.
“And you suspect those who fail at sustaining this hyper-vigilant state you call, “self-remembering” are just too hard on themselves or plagued with guilt and therefore find the effort useless or harmful?”
I don’t call self-remembering a hyper-vigilant state. Maybe that is part of the problem for those who found it harmful. At first one makes repeated efforts to remember oneself, but even that is not a kind of strain. Can you see your hands? Can you feel your body? After a while even though it still requires effort it is easier simply to connect with the gentle state of being present. The idea that one cannot do it or that it is a strain is not presence. It is more real to be aware of one’s body than to go through life as the imaginary homunculus one takes oneself to be. I would compare self-remembering to Douglas Harding’s headless state (see ‘On Having No Head’). It is about what you _don’t_ do – you can drop all manner of circling thoughts and that is usually a relief.
“Could there be embedded reasons why one might be made to feel like a failure at attaining this ‘holy grail’, if you will?”
Well, you don’t have to. No-one else knows what efforts you are making or not making and if they do bother about it that is their problem.
44th Way:
Thank you for your response. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ‘lean into’ our discussion a bit more.
I’m going to presume for sake of better communication that when you use the term “consciousness” and “presence” you also mean self-awareness, is that true? And if that is so then we can certainly both agree that self-awareness has degrees, and it is my understanding and experience that humans operate along that spectrum, but not at either end. For the sake of clarity, if a person were completely “unconscious” they would be in a coma, without the ability to dream.
So my question really is, do you believe that a person could be fully 100% self-aware at one end of the spectrum, like burton claims to be, when his behavior toward others suggests otherwise, or 0% self-aware and “asleep” as burton claims life people are, when he actually means they are simply unaware of his grandiose existence.
It would seem obvious that you don’t since you left the cult, but I’d like to make sure, since it seems to me that although burton claims to be fully self-aware, he seems oblivious to the harm he causes others in order to maintain his grandiosity.
Regarding hyper-vigilance: it is understandable that you do not equate the term with “self-remembering” after so many years in the cult, and there are certainly degrees of hyper-vigilance, too.
And at the far end of the spectrum it can be harmful since it causes exhaustion, which IMO, dovetails nicely into the fourth way belief system of needing to feed oneself “impressions” to sustain the state.
The reason it applies in our case, IMO, is that it relates to a state of heightened sensitivity and awareness of sensual activity which is how cult members describe “divine presence” or “self-remembering”, i.e., are you aware of your body, seeing this or that, tasting your food, feeling your feet upon the ground, etc, which I believe creates the homunculus of which you describe residing within a person, hungry for the intensity the state provides.
What you describe as “having no head” feels to me like the depersonalized state of mind that burton requires of his compliant followers in order to exploit them without resistance or what he labels as “willfulness” from the “lower self”.
This state of “self remembering” of which you refer speaks nothing of being aware of the totality of the greater Self, including (and not excluding) the unconscious parts of the Self, which you may call “imaginary” which also bears a direct relationship with how a person views and relates to others outside of one’s direct sensual experience.
My point is that when a person matures beyond the narcissistic stage to include the unconscious parts of the Self of which they are unaware, and cannot be by definition, when a person is able to divide their attention and take into account that which they cannot possible see about themselves when relating to others, seeing themselves in others and others in themselves, then they are truly in a position to have compassion and empathy for others less fortunate than them without the need to treat others as objects or “impressions” or to place others below them to elevate their ego, which is a far cry from where burton claims to be in his so-called “evolution”, as I presume you agree.
My last post addresses the embedded reasons why a person might be manipulated by burton into feeling lacking in self proficiency at sustaining hyper-vigilance, which IMO burton only feigns to have succeeded in achieving in order to place himself above others.
105.Inside: everyone in oregon house has a shooter probably
uncle bob might worry
112 44th Way
“Well, you don’t have to. No-one else knows what efforts you are making or not making and if they do bother about it that is their problem.”
What do you suppose these “efforts” are going to get you? Who is it that you’re trying to be… other than yourself that is? What if you were simply fine with who you are ? It seems thinking otherwise creates the problem…
113. Whalerider
“… it seems to me that although burton claims to be fully self-aware, he seems oblivious to the harm he causes others…”
So it would appear from the evidence that he is not really in the present, because if he were then he would experience compassion and remorse of conscience, which the evidence suggests he does not. Or, if he is in the present then somehow his emotional centre is not functioning correctly.
You misunderstand about the homunculus, by which I mean ‘imaginary picture.’ I also still deny that self-remembering done correctly is a state of hyper-vigilance, which would probably not be a good thing unless being chased by murderous villains.
“What you describe as “having no head” feels to me like the depersonalized state of mind that burton requires of his compliant followers …”
That’s not what Douglas Harding meant by it. He meant the simple observation that we do not see our own head.
113. Whalerider
“… it seems to me that although burton claims to be fully self-aware, he seems oblivious to the harm he causes others…”
So it would appear from the evidence that he is not really in the present, because if he were then he would experience compassion and remorse of conscience, which the evidence suggests he does not. Or, if he is in the present then somehow his emotional centre is not functioning correctly.
You misunderstand about the homunculus, by which I mean ‘imaginary picture.’ I also still deny that self-remembering done correctly is a state of hyper-vigilance, which would probably not be a good thing unless being chased by murderous villains.
“What you describe as “having no head” feels to me like the depersonalized state of mind that burton requires of his compliant followers …”
That’s not what Douglas Harding meant by it. He meant the simple observation that we do not see our own head.
115. Ton2u
You mean like ‘things as they are, myself as I am’? Fair point!
44th Way, you said, “Well, you don’t have to. No-one else knows what efforts you are making or not making and if they do bother about it that is their problem.”
My first response on reading this was, “What about the 44/45/81 ‘angels’ supposedly monitoring the internal as well as the external life of Burton’s followers?”
This highlights a possible problem in one–on–one conversations. You yourself may not believe that ‘angels’ were looking over your shoulder, or even that ‘angels’ exist at all. When I for one harp on in my posts about ‘hypervigilant attention’, I am addressing the case of what I would refer to as a generic follower, someone along the lines of the person who wrote the letter which was posted on the Oregon House post office notice board just before the last failed prediction (someone sent Tim a photo of this letter actually on the board before it was taken down, which he has now posted over at the REB blog).
This letter includes phrases like, “I am a member of the Fellowship of Friends. I need to remain anonymous, or risk being expelled…I believe in the divinity of our leader, Robert Burton, and in his gift of prophesy. … He is being informed by a higher intelligence that California will fall into the ocean … I am sharing this information with you, which I believe to be true with all my heart, in order to put my conscience to rest.”
So, this is someone who believes in the divinity of Burton, the accuracy of his prophecies (!!), and I would assume the rest of it, ‘angels’ and their role, and so on. In other words, believes the official jive (as far as I can tell). It is this official jive, which I believe is adopted by the majority, that I for one address here on the blog.
If a follower believes that powerful all–seeing entities are monitoring their thoughts and progress, then there is no end to it, no rest, and no possibility of ultimate ‘success’ either. All one can do is keep on trying harder and harder to monitor ‘everything’, in other words, let the intellectual center loose with endless lists and tricks on how to ‘improve the score’. Hence, ‘hyper–vigilant attention’.
What a recipé for stress and breakdown of mental health!
BTW: To whoever posted that letter, if you should happen to read this—I know Burton poured scorn on your efforts, but I thank you for at least trying, according to your best understanding. Now, I would suggest you carry on listening to your conscience, and continue to act on it. That is your path to inner freedom.
Cult Survivor (#110), that is a chilling presentation. It is bad enough brainwashing adults, at least there is some possibility of resistance. But taking children and manipulating their minds is beyond the pale. Obviously the ‘teachers’ have no conscience whatsoever, and the kids can’t develop theirs before it is too late.
I can’t emphasize enough that the extremism of the religious facet of the Taliban (the other being the nationalism, the perfectly understandable desire to rid the country of invaders), is financed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Their vicious brand of Islam (Wahhabism) is exported, with the connivance, encouragement and blessings of the U.S.A., all over the Muslim world, to the tune of billions of dollars a year.
The hundreds of Madrassas in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa, Indonesia are paid for by KSA. The tens of thousands of mosques they have built are always staffed with Wahhabist preachers from KSA.
I’m still searching for the documentary I mentioned above. I seem to recall it was done by Al Jazeera back when they were a fairly reliable source of investigative journalism, and that it may have been pulled because some in the west felt it was a recruiting video in of itself (that is, the producers were too objective).
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