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.

Friday, October 31, 1975

October 1975 Notes

October 2:
The “poultry octave” is abruptly ended by slaughtering the entire lot of chickens during a night-long effort. David G., rung necks, and wielded the hatchet. Others boiled, plucked, then wrapped the carcasses for the freezer.
October 3:
Electric lighting is introduced to "The Court of the Caravans” [ed. - Airstream trailer park on the property]
October 5:
A new vineyard road was being bulldozed into the hillside above the Lincoln Lodge.
October 7:
 A new exercise is introduced: no placing of hands in one’s pockets.
October 11:
The “Lao Tzu Library” was inaugurated today.
October 12:
Tonight, John G. offered a group waltz lesson at the Lincoln Lodge.
(On Saturdays, a delicious flank stank is now served, something many Renaissance residents look forward to.)
October 20:
At Mt. Carmel, breakfast was served “at table” for the first time. (Previously, it was informal, sitting wherever we could, plates in our laps.) [ed. - Another step toward refining the dining experience.]
October 26:
“Burger Barn” opens in Oregon House. (“We have arrived!”)
October 28: 
A helicopter sows mustard seeds on the vineyard slopes for winter ground cover and erosion control. [ed. - The Fellowship drew the ire of neighbors for silting up their ponds, a result of the heavy clearing on Mt. Carmel slopes.]