Introduction


Robert Earl Burton founded The Fellowship of Friends in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1970. Burton modeled his own group after that of Alex Horn, loosely borrowing from the Fourth Way teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. In recent years, the Fellowship has cast its net more broadly, embracing any spiritual tradition that includes (or can be interpreted to include) the notion of "presence."

The Fellowship of Friends exhibits the hallmarks of a "doomsday religious cult," wherein Burton exercises absolute authority, and demands loyalty and obedience. He warns that his is the only path to consciousness and eternal life. Invoking his gift of prophecy, he has over the years prepared his flock for great calamities (e.g. a depression in 1984, the fall of California in 1998, nuclear holocaust in 2006, and most recently the October 2018 "Fall of California Redux.")

According to Burton, Armageddon still looms in our future and when it finally arrives, non-believers shall perish while, through the direct intervention and guidance from 44 angels (recently expanded to 81 angels, including himself and his divine father, Leonardo da Vinci), Burton and his followers shall be spared, founding a new and more perfect civilization. Read more about the blog.

Presented in a reverse chronology, the Fellowship's history may be navigated via the "Blog Archive" located in the sidebar below.

Monday, March 31, 1975

March 1975 Notes

March 3:
There is a new exercise [at The Farm]: for housework to continue until 2:00 a.m.
March 4:
In order to create the “third state”, Robert announced he would stop “playing the fool”. [Playing the Fool: Acts designed to create an altered state of consciousness in oneself, and in others. According to Burton, these occasions "create memory."]
March 18:
[ed. - Contradicting his earlier announcement, at the Bay Area Meeting:]

Robert “borrowed” a dollar from Joel Friedlander, then took off his shoe [likely a Gucci], placed the dollar inside and set it afire. When the dollar had been consumed, Robert poured the ashes back into Joel’s wallet.