Fellowship of Friends recruiting in Italy

[ed. - During April, Fellowship of Friends recruiters in Italy used Il ricordo di sé. Pratica e tradizione spirituale, a Facebook “Study Group” administered and moderated by Fellowship members, to promote a series of "open meetings." According to inside sources, these presentations (known within the Fellowship as “prospective student meetings”) were conducted in Milan, Venice, Rome, Naples, Palermo, and Catania. They succeeded in luring several new members to their ranks. The Fellowship of Friends is a California-based religious doomsday cult that claims to continue the Fourth Way lineage of George Gurdjieff and Peter Ouspensky.]

[English translation provided by Google:]

MILAN - Saturday 7 April, at 15
Conference on:
THE TWO WORLDS: FUNCTIONS AND CONSCIENCE

George Gurdjieff said that man is a machine, equipped with four functions: sensation, movement, emotion and thought. According to the tradition of the Fourth Way, this machine can work in a completely unaware way - in sleep.
But man also has the potential to develop awareness. Through special efforts and disciplines learned in a school, he can live in two worlds: that of functions and that of conscience [consciousness]; the human and the divine.
In an open meeting, we will talk about how it is possible to live simultaneously in these two worlds.

Reservation is required.
Admission: € 5.

Self-remembering: practice and spiritual tradition.
To learn more about us and subscribe to the Facebook group:
https://tinyurl.com/quartavia

[ed. - About "Il ricordo di sé. Pratica e tradizione spirituale."]

Questo gruppo è rivolto a chi è interessato a sperimentare il ricordo di sé, o Presenza, attingendo a diverse tradizioni spirituali: dall’esoterismo delle grandi religioni alla Quarta Via come trasmessa da Gurdjieff, Ouspensky ed altri maestri consci. Questo è uno studio pratico, non teorico. Lo scopo è fornire osservazioni e scambiare domande che aiutino a incoraggiare e coltivare lo stato di Presenza nella nostra vita.

[English translation provided by Google:]

This group is aimed at those interested in experiencing the memory of self [ed. - self-remembering], or Presence, drawing on different spiritual traditions: from esotericism of the great religions to the Fourth Way as transmitted by Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and other conscious teachers. This is a practical, not theoretical study. The aim is to provide observations and exchange questions that help encourage and nurture the Presence state in our lives.

[ed. - For two cautionary tales about why it's important to research a group before you become a member, see "A long farewell to members of the Fellowship's Milan, Italy center" and "Fellowship of Friends - a cult for intellectuals".]

The Fellowship of Friends gets one star on Yelp!

[ed. - It should be noted that "no stars" is not an option on Yelp.]

Charles S. wrote on Yelp, April 4, 2018:

I was a member of this organization 36 years ago for six years. I've been aware of its "esoteric" (hidden or hiding) activities ever since I left. That the leader of this organization is an individual you don't want your male children around is a given. That you don't want your boyfriend or husband to be around him also is a given. If you're a good-looking heterosexual male, and you don't want to be "converted," stay away. If you're an average-looking homosexual male, there's nothing here for you except what, below, I say you'll find: enslavement/conformity. The "Teacher" has a prohibition against homosexuality (except whereas his own homosexual needs are concerned). Whoever you are, do​ your due diligence and research the hell out of this organization​​ and its leader on the Internet and in old and recent newspapers before you do any serious decision-making in trying to join and taking your orders from a sociopathic homosexual man who refers to himself as a goddess.

This organization is a pseudo-spiritual group of pseudo-psychological self-development but one of the most expensive cults in the world to join. I worked three jobs to afford the fees and paid $5,000 a year back in the day. It has an alluring surface-front but a slavish, nefarious underbelly, not unlike most cults if you're objective. This cult and its leader have hurt and destroyed countless lives. Joining the group is a risk that has the potential for scarring you for life. That being said, there are many individuals in this organization who have been members for decades and are even grandparents now. That they remain inside a homo-pedophilic operation and don't even try to leave is a major symptom of their mental and moral enslavement to the material seductions this cult and its leader offer: wine, theater, and music, with all the pretensions of owning or having "culture." Instead of finding truth like a true seeker and a true sense of belonging, should you join, you shall find perversion, group-think, domination, corruption, and vanity. Hypocrisy, however, runs through every level of this group like an air-borne infection.

"Joey Virgo" wrote on the Fellowship of Friends Discussion blog, August 14, 2019:

Just sayin’. . . .

I learned today that the Yelp review published last year about the Fellowship of Friends and which Cult Survivor mentioned on this blog back in February 2018 is now gone. Yelp removed it – stating, “We typically remove reviews that address culturally sensitive subjects in ways that reinforce negative stereotypes or make light of physical or sexual violence. ”

Yelp doesn’t much care whether a group is destructive for others or that it’s a mind-control cult that’s out of control. We don’t want to be “culturally insensitive” these days — ever — to anyone about anything, right? That’s what Yelp’s “explanation” to the author seems to say. Telling the truth is now much too triggering for so many “sensitive” people. Thanks Yelp for aiding and abetting yet more criminal activity in our society with your false concern for others’ “feelings.”

In reading the Yelp review, I did not find the writer making “light of physical or sexual violence” anywhere in the review and I saw no negative stereotyping either, except to say a cult is a cult is a cult. There’s very little else one can say about such an organization but call it for what it is.

https://robertearlburton.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-fellowship-of-friends-gets-one-star.html

https://www.yelp.com/biz/fellowship-of-friends-oregon-house

https://fofdiscussion.wordpress.com/2019/02/18/fellowship-of-friends-fourth-way-school-living-presence-discussion-page-168/

I’m guessing only someone who is very SJW and progressive might succeed in posting a Yelp review about the FoF that will stay up longer than a year and. a half, perhaps an ex-FoFer who is also a member of the Democratic Socialist League or such.

[ed. - August 16, 2019: "Charles S." has given it another go. And since Yelp probably won't allow the review to stand, I'll include the full text below.]

Read Charles S.'s review of Fellowship of Friends on Yelp

(Screenshot of review)

Yelp doesn't allow less than one star for a review, and Yelp doesn't allow objective criticism of any organization, no matter how vile or corrupt, in case some SJW reading it might get his or her feelings hurt and become "triggered." Yelp also does not care whether an organization is a cult, whether members of such an organization are risking their sanity as well as their lives or not -- so long as sensitive SJWs' feelings aren't hurt while reading the review.

So, because my original review of the Fellowship of Friends, posted in April of 2018 , a review which never made light of the physical and sexual violence described going on at the Fellowship of Friends compound, as Yelp viciously, falsely, and stupidly emailed me today was in fact the case, contrary to all fact, Yelp deleted my original review after having had it up for more than 13 months, with 13 thumbs-up votes from other readers. I have been forced to replace my review with a new one in the hopes of avoiding Yelp's Communistic censorship and not making any criminals reading this review cry. Yelp is, of course, on the side of criminals and corruption when it comes to protecting any deviant's "feelings." Equality is its own morality for Yelp.

I was a member of this organization 36 years ago for six years when it was near its infancy. It began in 1970 and continues to this day -- fifty years later. I've been aware of its "esoteric" (hidden or hiding) activities ever since I left. That the leader of this organization is an individual you don't want your male children or male partners around is a given. Many legal cases against him have been settled out of court and with gag orders attached. This claim is verifiable. For one, see this link: robertearlburton.blogspo…

Whoever you are, do do your due diligence and research the hell out of this organization and its leader on the Internet and in old and current newspapers before you make any decision to join this group and play follow-the-leader with a man who has no respect for you or your feelings, but highly values your money just as the U.S. government does its citizens: pay or get out.

This organization is a pseudo-spiritual group of pseudo-psychological self-development based, in part, on the dubious but clearly distorted teachings of Russian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff and science fiction writer Peter D. Ouspensky, the L. Ron Hubbard of modern, esoteric Christianity. It's also one of the most expensive cults in the world you'll ever encounter. I worked three jobs just to afford the fees and paid $5,000 a year when I was a member. It had an entirely alluring surface-front but a slavish, nefarious underbelly, not unlike most cults of the past or present, and it still does.

That being said, you can grasp that there are many individuals still in this organization, elderly men and women who have been members now for five decades and are grandparents too. That they remain inside a nefarious operation as if trapped and don't even try to leave is a major symptom of their mental and moral enslavement to the mind-control and material seductions offered by this group: wine, theater, and music, with all the pretentious attitudes of ones who feel they have created a "culture." Instead of finding truth like a truth seeker and a true sense of belonging, should you join, you will find perversion, group-think, domination, corruption, conformity, and vanity, and like an air-borne infection, hypocrisy runs this organization from the bottom to the top -- no pun intended. Far from Christian, esoteric or otherwise, the Fellowship of Friends is an organization that only a Beelzebub could envy.

I hope no Satanists or devil worshippers, sexual predators or pedos were hurt or injured in their reading of this review.