1972 Notes

Fellowship of Friends members at "The Farm" in Oregon House, CA. Contributor's note:
Outside the [Lincoln] Lodge, Spring 1972. This photograph appeared on the cover of the
Via del Sol Journal, May 9, 1972. It is in the public domain. From the Internet Archive.

[ed. - Timelines provided by Harold Wirk, here and here.]

January

[Note: Robert will continue his 16-month period of silence throughout 1972.]

Fellowship consists of 82 members plus Robert (1/2/72)

Moved to Carmel [assumed to be Robert and some of his followers]

Paper printed in Vacaville

The Fellowship purchases a Cessna airplane

Whitman House [name of the Carmel "teaching house"?]

February

Robert's "not saving anyone" speech

April

Tree planting at The Farm (The Ranch)

May

Robert is presented a gold coin for his birthday [at Whitman House?]

Paper - magazine form

Lake Tahoe Center begins

June

Wedding of Miles and Helga (Guinevere Ruth)

July

Ended giving notebooks

First Mercedes-Benz purchased

Robert travels to Europe

August

Robert said that Miles Barth and another member will be Men #5 in a year, and announces that the "fourth conscious being  has arrived" in the Fellowship of Friends. [ed. - "another member" is possibly Donald Macdonald, who joined in 1970. Fourth conscious being is not clear. Yorgo(s) Savides and Daniel Davis are possibilities.]

A baby is born on the Ranch

September

Plane octave ends [airplane to be sold]

Party at Robert's in Carmel

October

Los Angeles Center begins

Payments are $30 per month

November

November 14: The "Other situation." In the first "Play of Crime," Yorgo Savides [George Ellis Savides] leaves Robert's teaching. "1/4 of school quits". 37 members leave. He invites members to follow him in creating "The School of the New Dawn." [see below]

 Hawaii Center begins

December

Robert ends his 16-month period of silence (see "Silence")

Party at Whitman House

[ed. - From the internet: Yorgo Wolfe Savides was born in Los Angeles 18 December 1943, got Social Security number 567-60-1267 (indicating California,) and died 23 May 2004. The following comments refer to Savides' "Play of Crime."]

"jomopinata: wrote on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, September 9, 2012:

...in 1972 Yorgos [sic] Savides mailed out invitations, printed on green paper, inviting recipients to join “The School of the New Dawn.” Even in a pre-internet age, one would think word would have spread pretty quickly of this opportunity in the small group.

"jomopinata" added:

I was not there, but I have been told by someone who was there that Yorgos [sic] made a public announcement at a meeting.

Via del Sol

Fellowship of Friends publication "Via del Sol" December 26, 1972, Volume 2 Number 10. From Internet Archive.

"Via del Sol" posted the following on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, August 7, 2007 at 6:41 p.m.:

Early in its history, the Fellowship of Friends produced a printed publication (published approximately once a week), called “Via Del Sol”. This issue (Volume 2 Number 9, December 19th 1972) featured a collection of Robert Burton’s intellectual gems and purest distillation of his high understanding on the subject of sex. Italics are in the original. [ed. - all quotes from Robert Burton]

Physical sex, in its deepest meaning, is designed to perpetuate the species, and insure nature of a vehicle for transmitting planetary and celestial influences to the earth. Man’s physical pleasures are secondary to this aim, and, in general, a by–product of nature’s hidden aim.

The sex center is not an intelligent brain. It has a dull, plant–like intelligence. At times, it is quite a vulgar brain, and may be easily aroused by uncivilized levels of intelligence.

If a person has a full relationship with another, then sex may be a part of the whole. Without this factor, then one is in tramp and their sex life does not relate well with the mass or whole of their being.

Humans have been tricked by having their sex organs covered or hidden since birth, making them appear mysterious. This is why some people move from person to person having sex. They try to discover (or steal) what is hidden about the other person, and having found the secret move onto another person seeking the same hollow goal.

To have sexual relations with a partner who is at a lower level of being is to be in tramp. Flirtations are a form of tramp in sex and are sex energy leaks.

Martians, as a type, have the least need or desire to abstain from sex. Mercuries follow them in this area.

The machine creates enormous quantities of sex energy; nevertheless, when we lose sex energy, it can be a weary day.

Most men deviate in the quest for their Self by being engulfed in a woman’s problems, which she often offers a man as a means to gain his attention. Women put themselves to sleep by being conditioned to accept a subservient role to men. This refers to machines in both cases and not thyself. One of the ways schools in the past avoided this mechanical manifestation was through monasteries. The higher we can raise our level, it will be seen we are a vacuum moving amongst life, each a monastery amongst humanity.

It is not generally harmful for students to be at a level in their life where they are confused about sex aims. They may fluctuate between a desire to engage in sex and a desire to abstain. Remember the Self is born as a result of friction; and sex is most often an area of friction.

The sex center is a machine designed to seek out its magnetic opposite in physical union. It does not care for abstinence or transcending itself.

"veronicapoe" wrote on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, August 9, 2008:

Reposting again for those interested: the following is now online:

Miscellaneous Via del Sol journals, 1972-1973:

http://www.archive.org/details/TheEsotericHistoryArchive_404

"Innernaut" wrote on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, August 9, 2008:

I just read some of the Via del Sol journals that veronicapoe posted. They are from 1972 or so. You think Robert Burton is spouting nonsense now? I couldn’t believe the crap in those journals, or that I ever fell for them. This particularly struck me:

“People do not have a soul. They have to create one.”

How did we ever start believing in this? I can’t say with any certainty that people have souls, but I am equally uncertain that we don’t, or that they could be created by any means. This statement just has no relationship to reality. Yet it is one of the fundamental premises of the Fellowship of Friends, and always has been. Why would anyone believe this? Fear? It certainly looks like an excellent way to motivate people to do your bidding — scare people by telling them they don’t have a soul, but that, by happy chance, you can provide them with one, if they only pay enough, make enough of the right kinds of efforts…oh my god, what a con.
I was struck by the lunacy of many of the statements — just sheer insanity. I was also struck by the incredibly trite observations, offered in serious, heavy, pretentious tones, as though Robert had the secrets of the universe for sale. It’s all in the presentation — that’s where the big money’s at.