An Unauthorized Blogography of "The Teacher" and His Cult
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.
[ed. - As of 2022, official Fellowship of Friends websites report a membership "over 1,500" worldwide, suggesting membership has plateaued over the past dozen years. At the end of its first decade, the average age was 32. Now it is over 60 and, increasingly, senior members are "completing their tasks" (as Burton euphemistically refers to death.)]
Fellowship of Friends membership from 1970 to 2019
For the first dozen years, the Fellowship routinely published membership censuses which proudly demonstrated the success of early recruiting efforts. However, by 1980 growth had slowed and subsequently showed a slight decline. In November 1981, it was announced census numbers would no longer be published. From 1982 until 2007, membership figures are drawn from articles published in the media, and occasionally found in legal documents. Typically, a Fellowship spokesperson provided an approximate population (giving rise to plateaus in the chart.) From 2007 to 2019, official Fellowship rosters were often "shared" with non-members, resulting in fairly transparent membership counts.
In 2006, a blog article published by The Esoteric Sheik of Inner Confusion generated a public dialog that eventually contributed to the Fellowship's decline. It remains unclear whether the Fellowship ever reached the peak of 2,200 active members "officially" reported between 2005 and 2007.
This coming Sunday, December 15th, Asaf Braverman is hosting another workshop on his site, BePeriod.com. The subject this time is:
Transitioning from searching for a teaching to practicing one
Introductory workshop hosted by BePeriod students
When is the right time to stop searching and begin practicing a teaching? What are the obstacles in this transition? Join us for an introductory workshop hosted by BePeriod students aimed at opening a window into this process.
Readers who have found this site for the first time while searching for more information about BePeriod.com and its founder, Asaf Braverman, might be puzzled as to the connection between Braverman and Robert Earl Burton, founder of the Fellowship of Friends. There is a simple answer: Braverman was Burton’s faithful, obedient follower and appointed successor for two decades. They had a falling out, and now Braverman seeks to apply what he was taught to you, a sincere seeker who is doing due diligence.
When you read through these pages, as you learn more about Burton’s depravity, his greed, his insatiable sexual appetites, his enormous lies, his lust for absolute control over every aspect of the lives of his followers—keep this in mind: Burton was Asaf Braverman’s teacher. In fact, for many years, Burton was training Braverman to take over the organization, both materially and spiritually. Braverman joined the Fellowship of Friends shortly after completing his Israeli army training, and was in his forties when he left. Think of how you were or are at the various stages of life, and thus how central to his life the Fellowship became, how much space his indoctrination into Burton’s fantasy took.
Now, Asaf’s defenders may say, “He finally realized the truth about Burton”, or, “He has gone back to a purer Fourth Way, only updated”, or any number of rationalizations about his history and present actions. I, of course, have no way of finding my way through such a minefield, nor am I interested. But, I’d say to any seeker, beware. And ask yourself, how likely is it that somehow he can slough off twenty years of mental conditioning, of being Burton’s right–hand man, of being adored and looked up to by thousands, of being assured of and accepting a luxurious lifestyle courtesy of those thousands? And how exactly does that qualify him to teach anybody anything? Except as an object lesson, of course.
No, Asaf Braverman was central to Burton’s con for two decades. And Burton was central to Asaf’s life for twenty years. It is not enough for Braverman to slough off any enquiries into his past relationship with Burton with, “It is like a bad marriage, one doesn’t talk about such things”.
I strongly advise you to look elsewhere, if indeed you believe that guidance from others is somehow vital to your spiritual well–being.
[ed. - "Cult Survivor" has taken down the original video he posted. In its place, I've substituted a clip from that video. Together, the three videos below are examples of the Fellowship's damage control efforts following Asaf Braverman's departure in 2016. In November 2021, it was reported that "Cult Survivor" rejoined the Fellowship. Perhaps they'll adopt the new moniker, "Cult Advisor."]
Thanks for posting that video, CS, above, a useful reminder of Burton’s shallowness and lack of gratitude.
Those who are looking into Asaf Braverman’s BePeriod.com ‘school’ will want to know that this is Braverman’s ‘teacher’, Robert Earl Burton, lecturing his followers about how Braverman went wrong. Have a good look at this caricature, and listen to his words. Assuming you can make any sense of his mumblings…
Think about it. Asaf Braverman learned pretty much all he knows about spiritual matters from this man, over the course of two decades. Of course, Braverman had his own unique experiences before, during, and after his stay in the Fellowship of Friends, but certainly Burton was at the core of his psyche for most of his adult life. Further, Asaf Braverman’s knowledge of the “Fourth Way” consists entirely of the bastardized version taught by Burton, plus what he has gleaned from books that are freely available to anyone. So, why would you place your trust in Braverman? Not to mention, there is no legitimate lineage, a requirement of the Fourth Way, if that is what you are interested in. Recall that Burton’s ‘teacher’ was also a vicious conscienceless charlatan, the infamous Alex Horn.
Furthermore, in this intimate relationship lasting twenty years, Asaf Braverman was the apple of Burton’s eye, designated by Burton to be a ‘future conscious being’, one of the splendid supposed fruits of Burton’s ‘school’. Yet Burton only discovered that Asaf was a ‘snake in the grass’ at the end of the relationship. That doesn’t say much for Burton's perspicacity or powers of observation, let alone ‘consciousness’, does it? And vice versa, Asaf only discovered that Burton was not what he claimed after two decades of constant contact.
Remember also, that though Burton claims his organization is a ‘school’, there is no graduation. Over the last fifty years, not a single person has left with Burton’s approval. Fifty years! (that doesn’t say much for his skills as a ‘teacher’ or the the efficiency of his method, does it?) This list includes Asaf Braverman. The parting was acrimonious; see the video above for a small sample. Asaf had to be forced out, he did not leave on his own initiative (full disclosure, I was also ‘given the boot’ rather than walking out under my own steam, but not for setting myself up in competition as a ‘teacher’). So, if Asaf has a conscience, and it was stirred, it was not enough to lead to action. This is who you would want as a teacher?
Regarding this, it is worth recalling that Burton said, in 1994,
“Conscience is just a collection of I’s. Anyone accumulating too much should leave the school”.
The exact opposite of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky or Bennett or Pentland or Nicol or Salzmann, whose teachings claim conscience is as important as, and inseparable from, consciousness, and as strong an indicator as any that Burton doesn’t have conscience—and hence, consciousness—himself. This is the teaching that Asaf Braverman absorbed for twenty years (ditto all the other followers, some for as much as fifty years!)—conscience is just a bothersome collection of ‘I’s.
You will also be interested to know that Burton and his followers discarded the Fourth Way for a decade or more, until declining membership and funds made it necessary to bring out that particular bait again. In the meantime, Asaf Braverman and Burton filled the gap with an invention of their own, the so–called “Sequence”, a sort of mantra that they claimed they had ‘rediscovered’ and refined by study of ancient schools going back to caveman philosophers of 150 centuries ago. You will notice that Braverman still claims the rare talent of being able to discern traces of these ‘ancient schools’ and talk about them in the most convincing way!
Now Braverman has returned to the Fourth Way (that is, to the distortions he learned from Burton and books, plus his own ‘improvements’ and observations made while jetting around the world during the time he was banned from entering the U.S. due to being married to two people at once), using it as bait to attract followers plus plenty of moolah and adoration for himself.
Ironically, Burton has given up the “Sequence” and replaced it with some new mixture of superstitious goobledegook and outright lies, which his followers are lapping up with their usual enthusiasm. And, he has anointed other ‘future conscious beings’ that will take over after his demise to replace Asaf. Hey, easy come, easy go. Although I do feel sorry for those ‘conscious’ cavemen, who apparently labored to produce drawings of rhino poop laden with esoteric messages for Burton and Braverman to interpret 150 millennia later—all that effort, wasted!
An outsider’s view of that video: – A lot of bitterness, anger, and pure insanity in those eyes. – The person on his left doesn’t believe a word. He thinks there’s an opportunity and is waiting things out. Delusional, like so many cult followers are, but also opportunistic. – Similar to the rally of a deranged authoritarian. He can say nothing wrong, do nothing wrong.
71. A.Z. [above] The person on REB’s left is Alexandr “Sasha” Shalapanov — according to REB he is one of the 2 people in the FoF that “is on the ninth lifetime” and will become a conscious being (the other one is Dorian Matei). Asaf Braverman was the third one before he fell from grace. 72. John Harmer [above] Brilliant.
How Natural Wine Became a Symbol of Virtuous Consumption
The mainstreaming of natural wines has brought niche winemakers capital and celebrity, as well as questions about their personalities and politics.
By Rachel Monroe November 18, 2019
(Excerpt)
Rozman arranged to apprentice with one of the early natural-wine-makers in the U.S., a wiry, philosophical sixty-four-year-old French-Israeli man named Gideon Beinstock. Beinstock and his wife, Saron Rice, farmed eight acres of grapes in the western foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada. Clos Saron, their two-person operation, had proved that natural wines could please élite palates; at one point, Beinstock told me, their bottles were on the wine lists of a quarter of the San Francisco Chronicle’s top hundred restaurants.
Beinstock had studied to be a painter, but when, in his twenties, his paintings started to sell, he hated how even that small amount of success activated his ego. He had a seeker’s temperament and an appetite for discipline. Like many New Age dabblers in the nineteen-seventies, he was drawn to the Fourth Way—a brand of mysticism established by George Gurdjieff in the early twentieth century. The Fourth Way drew from, among other things, Zen Buddhism, Sufi Islam, and the occult; followers strove for unceasing self-awareness and self-mastery. In 1978, Beinstock came across a bookmark advertising a Fourth Way study group called the Fellowship of Friends, founded in the Bay Area a few years earlier. (The Fellowship recruited by strategically placing bookmarks in New Age texts in bookstores.) Beinstock attended a meeting and joined the group later that year. “The Fellowship was bursting with poets, writers, artists, musicians, actors—it was vibrating with an amazing energy,” he told me. The group’s founder, Robert Earl Burton, claimed to be in communication with forty-four angelic beings, including figures such as Plato, Shakespeare, and Abraham Lincoln. The Fellowship believed that humans spend their lives as if hypnotized, lulled into a trance by mental, physical, and emotional habits; in contrast, members of the Fellowship sought at all moments to awaken.
In December 1978, a bizarre theater company headed by an actress
from the “Slaughterhouse-Five” film was run out of San Francisco.
Members of Sharon Gans’ so-called Theater of All Possibilities had
come forward to claim they were pressured into arranged marriages,
beaten if they didn’t sell tickets and had gone broke paying for classes
— while Gans and her husband lived in a tony home in the posh
neighborhood of Pacific Heights.
With the police asking questions and the ex-members’ claims splashed
across the pages of local papers, the actress and her theater group
closed up shop and seemingly disappeared from public view.
But they never really went away.
A new group sprang up in the 1980s in New York under the name Odyssey
Study Group and has been operating here quietly ever since — still led
by the washed-up actress, now 84, who reigns from an $8.5 million
apartment at Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel that was mostly paid for by
devotees, according to public records.
A dozen former members have spoken to The Post — telling stories
similar to those shared more than four decades ago, including claims
that they forked over huge sums to Odyssey while being emotionally
abused and exploited.
“In my 30 years of working in this field, this is one of the most
secretive groups I’ve encountered,” said cult expert Rick Ross, a key
witness in the recent Brooklyn trial of upstate sex cult Nxivm who tried unsuccessfully to stage an intervention for a member in the early 2000s.
“After San Francisco, everything was hush-hush.”
—–
Hot on the heels of her role in the 1972 film version of Kurt
Vonnegut’s sci-fi novel, Gans fell in love with Alex Horn, a playwright
and mystic who ran a fledgling theater in the Golden Gate City’s Mission
District, and moved from New York to San Francisco, according to
divorce proceedings from her first husband.
Their acolytes became known in the neighborhood for aggressive
panhandling — stopping passersby and begging them to buy tickets to the
shows that were mocked by local theater critics as “punishing,” the San
Francisco Chronicle reported at the time.
Inside the theater, members alleged to the paper they were invited to
join a class that could help them improve their lives — but were
instead brainwashed, beaten and told to sell hundreds of tickets that
enriched Gans and Horn.
The group denied doing anything “illegal, immoral or dangerous” — but the couple closed up shop and left town.
They eventually resurfaced in Manhattan in the 1980s, starting a new
group with the Odyssey name, real estate deeds and court documents show.
When Horn died in 2007 at the age of 78, Gans took the throne, former
members said.
Today, Odyssey is headquartered in a fourth-floor loft space in the
Garment District. There is a smaller branch in Boston, Mass., where at
least another hundred members have passed through over the years,
according to former devotees.
It’s unclear how many have joined Odyssey since the 1980s, but
ex-students estimate the group has had up to 250 members at any given
time over the past 30 years.
Members continue to recruit unwitting New Yorkers — cultivating
friendships with strangers in coffee shops, supermarket lines and other
public spaces before inviting them to a “philosophy group” or “acting
class,” according to former students involved in the recruitment
process.
Esther Friedman, 54, says she was recruited when another member
struck up a conversation with her in the checkout line at a Whole Foods
in Cambridge, Mass., in 2006 and invited her to “meet a group of
friends.” It all seemed aboveboard.
“This is not a group where you live in a compound,” said Friedman, a
mental health counselor who left Odyssey in 2011. “This is not one of
those cookie-cutter images of living in a cult.”
Members meet twice a week to study the teachings of philosophers
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff and his protege P.D. Ouspensky, who believe
that the path to self-development involves labor and intentional
suffering.
In their pursuit of enlightenment, ex-students say, they were told to
recruit others — up to 50 people a week, according to one follower who
quit in April this year and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Spencer Schneider, a Big Apple attorney who left the group in 2013
after nearly two decades, says Gans asked students to divulge their
greatest weaknesses and insecurities to the class –– and then verbally
assaulted and berated them.
Students are also forbidden from discussing their participation with
anyone, including their spouses, and are warned not to use the internet,
former acolytes said.
Cult survivor Esther FriedmanJosh Reynolds for The New York P
—–
Sleep deprivation and hard labor are cornerstones of Odyssey’s teachings.
Former students recalled working on the organization’s 19-acre
property in upstate Pawling in the 1990s and 2000s — staying awake for
24-hour periods to build large lodges — under the guise of doing
Gurdjieff’s advanced work.
“We would pretty much work around the clock the whole weekend for 48
hours and I was probably working 100 hours a week,” said member Don
Raskopf, 61, who lived on the Pawling estate as a supervisor with his
wife and two children in the 1990s. “After about six months of that, I
learned I had a psychotic break just from the stress.”
Each summer, the highest-ranking Odyssey members would do the same at
the Gans family ranch in Montana, according to Schneider, who said
students coughed up thousands of dollars to go to the property between
the 1980s and 2000s.
He likened the abuse to Nxivm’s ritual of branding female members with leader Keith Raniere’s initials — a bizarre practice in the group exposed during Raniere’s trial.
“Sure, my genitals don’t have Sharon’s initials on it, but my brain, my psyche has Sharon imprinted on it,” Schneider said.
The Pawling estate was purchased by the nonprofit organization Hudson
Valley Artists Foundation Inc. in 1998 and sold in 2004 for $1.4
million, according to public records.
The group thrived on wealthier devotees. A small group of
deep-pocketed members poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the
foundation from 1997 to 2007, according to tax filings obtained by The
Post.
Members say they were also expected to pay monthly dues ranging from
$100 to $400 — making the checks out to “OSG,” according to documents
obtained by The Post.
Meanwhile, the money and hard work were flowing into Gans’ pockets,
according to Schneider and Raskopf, who said students labored on the
apartments, condos and ranches that Gans later sold for big sums.
Odyssey Study Group Christmas party 1997
“She’s a multimillionaire,” said Raskopf. “It comes from profit on flipping real estate built by students and from fees.”
Gans purchased a villa in Mexico City in 2004 — paying $310,000
before selling it to a student for $754,000 just four years later,
according to public records.
Robert Klein — who listed himself as the manager of OSG LLC, a “study
group” associated with Odyssey, on tax documents — transferred a
three-bedroom West Village condo he owned to Gans in 2006, the records
show.
Gans then sold the condo for $3.1 million in 2010, according to public records.
And one wealthy hedge-fund investor poured $3.2 million into Gans’
Plaza Hotel abode in 2008, according to a deposition in a 2014 upstate
lawsuit he filed against another member. He said she kicked in $2
million of her own money, while Klein and two others named as followers
in the Chronicle investigation paid for the rest, he said.
The sprawling, 2,100-square-foot apartment ultimately was purchased
for $8.5 million, according to the deed. According to Schneider, the
luxurious pad is decorated with bold colors, strewn with replicas of
Renaissance art and has a stunning view of Central Park South.
In a 2012 legal spat between two members, ex-member Charles Ward
claimed the group had been accused of “sexual predation, child abuse,
racism, anti-homosexual behavior, illegal adoption, financial chicanery,
coerced labor, sustained emotional cruelty, and the systematic looting
of member’s wealth” — and that he had personally witnessed some of that
alleged behavior.
Ward called it a “cult.”
Members
of Sharon Gans’ so-called Theater of All Possibilities came forward to
claim they were pushed into marriages, beaten if they didn’t sell
tickets and had gone broke paying for classes.
“I was, and the plaintiff still is, a member of a cult known as the Gans Group,” said Ward, a member from 1988 to 2009.
In 2015, Gans’ own son, David Kulko, left the group and sued his
siblings in an effort to dissolve the corporation that owned the Montana
ranch.
Kulko said in Montana Supreme Court papers that after he left the
“cult” in 2000, his family cut him out of the business and kicked him
off the ranch that they used to “support, finance, and shelter the
operations of the Odyssey Study Group.”
Many former members who spoke to The Post say they experienced severe
PTSD, depression or even suicidal thoughts after leaving Odyssey.
“It was like this world was opened to you and then it was suddenly
ripped away,” recalls actress Betsy Winslow, 56, who fled Odyssey 29
years ago.
“For me, I think having a community is one of the biggest things,”
another member of 19 years confessed. “I think it’s a part of the modern
condition. We are lonely. I think we are all really lonely.”
For Friedman, part of her “recovery” is talking about the group.
“The more honest I am, the less power they have. That’s the trick of it,” she said.
Reached several times by phone, Gans said she’d never heard of Odyssey Study Group.
On one call, a woman who answered as “Sharon” later denied she was Sharon Gans and then hung up.
Repeated attempts to reach Robert Klein were unsuccessful.
“What is greatest in our existence, what makes it precious beyond words, is the modesty to use sorrow so that it penetrates our soul.” - Rainer Maria Rilke
[ed. - On Halloween, Peter Morrow, a member of The Fellowship of Friends and patron of Robert Earl Burton for over 40 years, died when his airplane crashed on a Florida highway. In the days following, official Fellowship events seemed to indulge a morbid fascination with Peter's death and "signs" that angels choreographed the event for the exclusive benefit of Robert Earl Burton and his followers. These records demonstrate, in all its glory, Burton's "magical thinking."
The excerpt below is from Peter Morrow's Elysian Society memorial page. That both Morrow's and Burton's mothers died on a Halloween offered Burton an opportunity to remind followers that he defeated his mother's "feminine dominance," a story he's told countless times (suggesting the "victor" may have indeed been his mother.)]
Dear Friends,
Peter Morrow, a beloved member of the Fellowship of Friends, completed his task on October 31 at 1:00 pm ET in an airplane crash in Florida while piloting his own plane. A mechanic was flying with him, testing electrical equipment. Peter would have turned seventy-four this coming January 30th.
Peter joined the Fellowship in the New Haven Center on May 1, 1979. He has been part of centers in New York, London, and Apollo, where he has lived since 2001.
Peter had a deep commitment to the Fellowship and to supporting and beautifying Apollo. He expressed his love of presence and of sharing presence by hosting students at his home at Apollo and his hotel in Jamaica. His passion for flying was central to his play, and many students will remember flying with Peter in his plane.
Robert said that it is a strong shock for the school that happened on Halloween, and that it is much worse than the death of his mother. Nothing wrong occurred with Peter.
[ed. - That simple introductory statement of facts then veers off into Robert Burton's magical thinking. Burton fills his narratives with 44s and other usual "signals" (often in the form of license plates) to assure followers that 44 (now 81?) angels are indeed watching over his flock. There is commonly an all-hands effort to collect and decipher these coded messages from the gods. Note: The crash occurred on State Road 200, near SW 43rd Court. And, per the NTSB's Preliminary Report, it happened at 11:30, not 11:44.Robert Burton cannot be accused of modesty in his use of sorrow.]
[Quoting Rilke, above] “What is greatest in our existence, what makes it precious beyond words, is the modesty to use sorrow”—Peter Morrow—“so that it penetrates our soul.” It certainly does penetrate our soul. I said the other day, “You do not know how much you love a person until he [ed. - or she] dies.” Even so, we are in the business of not dying, and it is working perfectly. A student observed that this is the forty-fourth week of the year and that today is the last day of the forty-fourth week. After Peter’s crash, the emergency vehicles were directed to go to the 44th block, between 43rd and 44th Streets. Then a former student who used to fly with Peter, Peter Ingle — meaning 'angel' — came to the scene. An angel attended Peter; that is why he came. No harm has been done. Their aim is to make the state we have stronger. That is strictly why Influence C did it. It is a brutal shock, but that is the nature of evolution: Trick or Treat, my mother is dead, her name is Shock, it is Halloween [link added]. My mother’s shock meant virtually nothing compared to Peter’s death. She had no presence while Peter had a lot of presence. He met an objectively useful death. He received what he needed from this life. And now we are getting what we need from this shock. - Robert Earl Burton
[ed. - In the days following Peter's death, Fellowship meetings and dinners at Apollo focused on the subject and its "esoteric" significance. The Apollo Miracle newsletter captured meeting highlights. (Excerpts below.) In the following transcriptions, I have retained the full names of well-known Fellowship leaders.]
[ed. - An anonymous Fellowship insider reported on November 16, 2019:]
Peter died on Thursday, October 31st. His death and related "information" was the sole subject of the Friday night meeting, Saturday morning meeting, Saturday dinner, and Sunday morning meeting. I don't know if it extended into the following week (most likely it did, beginning with the Wednesday night meeting.)
I believe the reason for all the attention is the simple matter of Robert Burton taking advantage of a pretty major, unexpected "shock" to reaffirm his position as the wise, detached, all-seeing, all-knowing island of stability, security and relativity amidst the emotional chaos and identification of his immature and dependent children. I guess he needed so many meetings and dinners in order to make sure everyone knew what to think, what to say, and what to feel (or not to feel). I'm certain that Burton's status as conscious-immortal-enlightened wise man is sky-high right now, and the ability of Fellowship members to come to their own understanding and conclusions is at an all-time low.
During the meetings, Robert mentioned a few times something related to the ark, the future role of the Fellowship, etc. He said something about Peter's Italian-inspired house (photo), how it might become a learning center of Italian culture, or something like that. He dragged out a real oldie-but-goodie about everyone speaking Italian someday. Well, he said that 20-30 years ago, and nothing whatsoever came of it. (Burton certainly did not lead the way in learning to speak Italian.) [ed. - In the 70s, Burton wanted his students to learn French. As far as I know, he didn't learn French either.] It's almost as though Peter's death and the fact that he had this "Italian" home, stirred up these old dreams in Burton, like long-past military exploits in an old man, which will soon retreat back into his sub-consciousness.
It's clear that Burton was not going to let pass a huge potential financial opportunity.
Another possible explanation involves the Fellowship's elite.The Fellowship financial elite include Rowena Taylor (beneficiary of her father's jade mines and retail business in Guatemala,) Geraldine R.'s family (with land and livestock holdings in Australia,) Ethan Harris, Marcus Lasken (with a large inheritance from his father's business,) Diana Kay (however she became rich,) Alisanne Frew (consummate wheeler-dealer,) three members in Mexico City (Javier G. and a couple, Emilio and Lourdes), all with high connections within the government (at least the previous government); an Indian fellow named Rathin, the "Godfather" of the Indian centers (like Robert Taylor was in Russia for many years); and, of course, Peter.
No doubt Burton was somehow hoping to be willed Peter's house, but found out quickly that that would not happen. He wanted the Fellowship to buy the house for him. And, of course, this is where the wealthy elite come in. Can he get them, collectively, to donate $750,000, more or less, or maybe even $1 million; depends on what Peter's heirs or trust would be asking? What would he have to do, or promise to them (hint, hint: something about "Paradise"), to get them to donate such a large amount of money?
This venture would also include a major, year(s)-long funding-raising effort throughout the Fellowship, so that everyone can feel part of the endeavor. One of the selling points might be that Peter paid the ultimate price, and the least we can do is to honor his death by keeping his house within the Fellowship and, at the same time, showing how much we love and worship Robert Burton. Even $10 (a week) will assist in this divine effort. There will be a collection plate at every meeting. Jewelry gladly accepted. The great gods hovering in the room right now will be eternally grateful.
Finally, per a member who heard it from the horse's mouth, Robert Burton did not attend Peter's funeral service, burial and reception (at Peter's house) this past Saturday afternoon, so that he could save his energy for the dinner. (Of note, he has not attended a funeral service for many years.)
[ed. - The double entendre below was likely unintentional, though Peter Morrow was a member of the Fellowship during the era when present-day Apollo was referred to as Renaissance, California.]
"He was a true Renaissance man if there ever was one."
A definitive account of the psychology of zealotry, from a National Book Award winner and a leading authority on the nature of cults, political absolutism, and mind control
In this unique and timely volume Robert Jay Lifton, the National Book Award–winning psychiatrist, historian, and public intellectual proposes a radical idea: that the psychological relationship between extremist political movements and fanatical religious cults may be much closer than anyone thought. Exploring the most extreme manifestations of human zealotry, Lifton highlights an array of leaders—from Mao to Hitler to the Japanese apocalyptic cult leader Shōkō Asahara to Donald Trump—who have sought the control of human minds and the ownership of reality.
Lifton has spent decades exploring psychological extremism. His pioneering concept of the “Eight Deadly Sins” of ideological totalism—originally devised to identify “brainwashing” (or “thought reform”) in political movements—has been widely quoted in writings about cults, and embraced by members and former members of religious cults seeking to understand their experiences.
In Losing Reality Lifton makes clear that the apocalyptic impulse—that of destroying the world in order to remake it in purified form—is not limited to religious groups but is prominent in extremist political movements such as Nazism and Chinese Communism, and also in groups surrounding Donald Trump. Lifton applies his concept of “malignant normality” to Trump’s efforts to render his destructive falsehoods a routine part of American life. But Lifton sees the human species as capable of “regaining reality” by means of our “protean” psychological capacities and our ethical and political commitments as “witnessing professionals.”
Lifton weaves together some of his finest work with extensive new commentary to provide vital understanding of our struggle with mental predators. Losing Reality is a book not only of stunning scholarship, but also of huge relevance for these troubled times.
The Daily Beast
Updated 10.13.19 7:18PM ET / Published 10.13.19 5:11AM ET
[Excerpt]
"When I was in the Moonies, I was so indoctrinated that I was prepared to take up arms and die for the cause. I wasn’t alone. My fear is that Trump might order his followers to take their weapons to the streets if he is not re-elected. In a recent tweet, he quoted his Christian Right ally, Robert Jeffress, that his removal from office 'will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.' Worse still is the possibility that, if feeling sufficiently threatened, Trump might, like Jones, try to take others everyone with him, using his access to the nuclear codes. It’s a dark scenario, but not entirely outlandish.
"The good news is, I woke up and got out of a cult, as have millions of people. What I have learned in working with cult members, as I describe in my book, is that attacking their beliefs is doomed to fail. To help them recover their critical faculties, it is essential to develop a warm and positive relationship before teaching them about how mind control works. I often do that by showing how it operates in other groups, like the Jonestown cult or Scientology. We might use the same approach to heal the 'us versus them' mindset of Trump’s followers—and also of some of their more rabid opponents. Ultimately, the goal is to educate and inspire people to regain their capacity for critical thinking, and to free their own minds.
"I have seen people throw off the mental and emotional shackles of many years—even a lifetime—of destructive conditioning. I believe that love is stronger than fear and that truth is stronger than mind control. But I also believe that the dangers of mind control are greater now than ever due to the digital world we are so plugged into. We ignore the lessons of history—of Jonestown and other destructive groups—at our own peril."
"The Thirty Imperishable Stars"
Once part of The Fellowship of Friends' essential "Sequence," they are now unnecessary.
"...we are all conscious beings with staying power now. We have uncreated
light with staying power, without the sequence." - Robert Earl Burton, November 1, 2019
So Burton jerks people around with one fanciful idea after another. Out of nothing, he decides that the greatest secret in the universe is the “Sequence,” and that every “school,” including the “prehistoric school,” practiced it, and subtly passed the secret to succeeding generations. With a well-practiced formula of “repetition plus receptivity” (i.e., the hypnotic state of “essence”), this idea got implanted in the Fellowship hive mind over the past 14 years.
Now (guess what), Burton has gotten rid of the “sequence.” It is no longer to be practiced or spoken of. Without any doubt, soon enough hardly anyone will remember that this “sequence” was once the center of everyone’s (faux-) spiritual life. “We never had a sequence, nor do we need it,” the hive will buzz.
I was thinking how incredibly advanced, spiritually, are the current Fellowship of Friends followers, both from the point of view of their unsurpassed “level of being,” and also based on their amazing flexibility in regularly altering what they believe in.
This ever-deepening realization was strengthened recently when Robert Burton announced the end to the practice of the “Sequence,” including speaking about it, and finding evidence of it in artwork from previous so-called “Schools.” The reason given for abandoning this spiritual practice, at the core of Burton’s so-called “teaching” since 2005, is that everyone now is at such a high level, that consciousness/light no longer has to be created, or can be created, by a practice such as the “Sequence,” but rather exists eternally, with no beginning or end, “uncreated light,” as Burton is calling it.
I’m not sure how this state of “uncreated light,” now manifesting in virtually every Fellowship member, can be reconciled with the behavior of one of the flock at the post office recently, who was haranguing the postal worker about the absurdity of having to know a zip code before a package could be mailed. But I’m quite sure I would understand if my level of being were not so low.
I’m beginning to think that Burton is wrong about something he has been saying for a few years now, that consciousness exists in only 2 places in the universe: in Paradise, and at Apollo. It might be that consciousness actually exists only at Apollo, since the 30,000 residents of Paradise can raise their “level of being” only by helping others to “escape.” Thus they clearly still exist on the level of “created light” (and, by extension, in Time), whereas Fellowship members no longer have to do any sort of work whatsoever, since they embody “uncreated light” (which, as everyone knows, is out of Time).
So, just as Burton is on the same level as “The Absolute,” having crystallized together (per Mr. Burton), and are on regular visiting terms with each other, so too are members of the Fellowship of Friends at least on the level of the angels in Paradise, but likely higher.
I suppose, given the foregoing, it’s mere child’s play for Fellowsheepers constantly and easily to alter their belief system, based on whatever Burton decides to put into his “reality bubble” that particular month or year. And I must say that this flexibility is both remarkable and admirable. It clearly demonstrates an exceptional level of non-attachment, which, according to Van Morrison, is at the heart of enlightenment.
In a heartbeat, they move from the study of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, to eliminating and even denigrating them; from embracing the “Sequence,” the greatest secret in the history of the Universe, to casting it off like an old coat; to accepting that “effort” can “awaken higher centers,” (i.e. a somewhat silly idea that matter can create spirit, that what is unconscious and limited can produce something conscious and limitless), to rejecting the need for any further “efforts” or studies; from teaching each other the necessity of verifying everything, to preaching that one must never question or doubt anything that Burton says or does.
So, here’s to you, Fellowsheepers, whoever and wherever you are.
Insider [above], thank you for letting us know that the Sequence is now officially abandoned (#84 and 98 above). As you say, it will soon be forgotten that it ever existed. And I’m sure sales of Excedrin and Ibuprofen at near Fellowship of Friends centers around the world have plummeted, now that followers no longer get daily headaches trying to make sense of it all. Even though Burton claimed the basics were apparently passed on through great trials and tribulations from School to School over a period of 150 centuries—hey, easy come, easy go, according to the God Emperor of Oregon House.
This leaves Asaf Braverman, who I gather was mostly responsible for its invention in the first place, free to lay full uncontested claim to the phenomenon and inflict it on his own followers over at BePeriod in due course. One question to observers is, will Burton give up the superstitious numerology and unique interpretation of ‘omens’ so central to his psyche, now they are no longer actually necessary to bind his followers to his fantasy? Yup, you guessed right.
And my second question to you in particular, Insider, is, any more news of the ‘Final, final, final coming of Armageddon’, predicted for some time in 2019?
It’s difficult to know exactly what Burton said about this “abandoning” of The Sequence. He says different things at different events. Plus people hear what they want to hear, may not have been fully focused at that point in the meeting, misconstrue what they heard from someone else, etc.
Putting it together as best as I can, it seems that Burton still believes that the practice of The Sequence is the greatest gift and secret handed down ever since the Prehistoric School (and their 6 immortal rhino poops). However, this practice is no longer required within the Fellowship, since everyone’s level of consciousness, being described as “uncreated light,” cannot be increased further by any spiritual practice, not even The Sequence.
About Asaf: Yes, he (along with Mihai) claims to have invented The Sequence as a means to engage all the “lower centers” simultaneously. Afterwards, Burton, having been oblivious for 35 years to the hints and omens coming from 44-80 “men who became angels,” finally recognized the magnitude of what Asaf invented and, as they say, “ran with it.”
(It should also be noted that, after Asaf was kicked out of the Fellowship, Burton then began giving Dorian credit for discovering The Sequence. No, Dorian did not correct Burton.)
Finally, “Armageddon 2020” is very much still on the table. And it’s supposed to be really, really, very, very big, affecting (wiping out) much of life on Earth. But not to worry about Burton: Apparently, he is already planning his refuge in the bottling cellar at the winery. And lest we think he will be inconvenienced by living in close quarters with 1500 followers, preparations for the Oct 21, 2018 non-California-falling event made it clear that 98% of the Fellowship membership will not be welcome at the winery or anywhere at Apollo. Good luck suckers; see you in Paradise.
Presumably since all fulling paid up members are cooking on “uncreated light” global armageddon is just the friction required to propel them into the lux aeterna flagrante delicto.
[ed. - An ad from the October 5, 2019 online version of the Ahmedabad Mirror. The meeting is led by David Tuttle, contributor to the Fellowship's Fourth Way Today website. David began following Robert Burton 45 years ago, when he was just 19.]
[ed. - Following a recent makeover, the Fellowship of Friends "Living Presence" website (below) now offers an "Online Introductory Membership." The new recruiting campaign may be an attempt to mimic and compete with Asaf Braverman's BePeriodonline faux Fourth Way group (see video below). With the help of many Fellowship members, Braverman developed his platform prior to involuntarily parting ways with Burton in 2016. While the Fellowship hassteadily drifted from it's Fourth Way roots and into the realm of faith, the Fourth Way Today "online magazine" (below) continues to recycle the old Gurdjieff and Ouspensky talking points ("the hook") while, at Apollo, Burton takes followers into a fantasy world all his own.]
Text of offer:
We offer a six-month introductory online membership for those who live far from our network of worldwide centers. We strongly recommend face to face contact as the way of meeting us and participating in our school. Actual attendance in activities with other students can accelerate one’s work on awakening relative to efforts done alone. These shared activities increase the opportunities to be reminded of presence and to observe one’s mechanicality. Nevertheless, we hope online membership will provide an opportunity for those for whom this contact is not possible or possible only periodically.
Online membership offers a weekly online meeting in English with Fellowship students, entry in a private discussion group where personal observations can be shared and questions about our teaching can be asked, as well as the possibility to visit our spiritual headquarters, Apollo. We ask a small monthly donation for this membership.
Full membership offers additional benefits. For more information about full membership, contact the one of our centersthat is closest to you or send us an inquiry.
For more information about online membership, click here.
In their obvious desperation for money, sex partners for Burton, and even more money and sex partners, a new hook is being cast by the Fellowship: an online membership. No mention upfront of the cost; but since the “face to face” membership fee is now only about $50 a month for the first couple of years, the online fee is probably no more than half that. No doubt the pressure will be intense (especially for the males) to become a “real” member once the online membership has expired.
Hello. I am the journalist who has been mentioned in previous posts. It came to my attention that I have been referenced on this blog [the Fellowship of Friends Discussion, linked above]. I wanted to take the opportunity to speak for myself as there are some inaccurate statements about me. For starters, it seems people are overestimating the access I have had.
I am attempting to make a great effort to understand the Fellowship and its history. I aim to be as objective and neutral as possible. I come with no agenda and no preconceived notions.
I am not muckraking and I am not digging for dirt or criminal activity. I am not a spy, and I am not an agent for the Fellowship. I have no mission beyond understanding the community and being factually accurate. I think that anyone hoping for an exposé may be disappointed.
I am happy to speak to anyone who wants to share their experience. I think everyone who has been or who is currently involved in the community has a valid and important perspective that is worth sharing, if they choose to do so.
It seems that a lot of people believe the Fellowship has brought value to their lives. I also know that many people have had bad experiences. There’s a lot of nuance and complexity within this community that has had thousands of members over the course of many years.
Former and current members have reached out to me to talk. I’ve spoken to many people and I hope to speak to many more. If you would like to connect with me, or if you have any questions, please reach out.
Post #3 [above] is a new contributor. He has given me permission to post his email address and can be contacted at; journoj@protonmail.com.
[ed.- Below is some of the scuttlebutt, leading up to the "intervention" by said journalist. It has since been learned that "Cult Survivor's" statement below is disingenuous, as he had already met with the journalist when he posted the following comments. We are led to question his motives.]
Somebody told me that this weekend a journalist is visiting Apollo and interviewing current and former members for a documentary about the FOF.
Anybody knows anything about that?
I spoke with a person that is a former member but is still in touch with current members and he told me that the journalist interviewed people, had lunch with Robert and members outside the Galleria and attended a performance of “Much Ado About Nothing”. The plot thickens.
This journalist who flies to and from New York to cover the Fellowship of Friends story called me and we spoke for about 20 minutes. I directed him to my series of videos[link added]. I heard Burton has a new biography coming out called “50 Years In Prison.”
You wrote: “I spoke with a person that is a former member but is still in touch with current members and he told me that the journalist interviewed people, had lunch with Robert and members outside the Galleria and attended a performance of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. The plot thickens.”
I have been in contact with people who work in the Galleria and Apollo D’Oro kitchens. They tell me that, for all days up until the time you posted #63 above, Robert had lunch at Apollo D’Oro, not the Galleria, and that there was no “outsider” at his table.
I think your sources are lying to you. It now seems likely that whatever they told you about this “journalist” is untrue. And since you seem to be completely reliant on these “former members” for your information, I have to question just about everything you post here. Either they are bullshitting, or you are.
I checked again and this time I was told that he sat at a a table close to Robert’s table outside the Galleria. You know how it is when you hear things second hand.
Anyway, is this really important? Next thing you will say is that the play that he attended was not “Much Ado About Nothing”, it was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” [ed. - which it was], so everything I say is BS.
Come on, man, chill out. I know you have a problem with me but let’s not take too much space here.
When I read your post about RB having lunch, etc. with an outsider, especially a journalist, I immediately had red flags come up as to the validity of this information. Those of us who have been in the FoF know very well that RB never exposes himself to ‘outside people and forces’ unless they have been fully vetted by his protectors. He borders on the paranoid. This is not credible information and you need to verify the reliability of your so-called ‘source’. Gossipy, unsubstantiated and questionable rumors such as this are not useful on this blog, IMO.
I was a server at the Galleria for many years and saw Robert having lunch outside the Galleria several times with people that were non-members, like Bolshoi/Mariinsky ballet dancers, friends of the ballet dancers, friends of rich members, etc., so it’s not unheard. At any rate, the information is corrected now.
Here is the accompanying YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRn4UDM86xY&t=1010s [Link defunct]
Here is the excerpt from the back of the book:
"OCEAN
TIGER ON A VOLCANO is the true account of Eric Albert Costa, a whistle
blower and former member of the Fellowship of Friends. In this book he
describes details of the mind control and human trafficking cult called
Apollo in Yuba County, California, and shares never before released
information and photographs exposing the cult's ring leader Robert Earl
Burton and his Inner-Circle members for crimes against humanity. Eric
lived at the mind control facility Apollo for one month and opens a
window into a world rarely seen before. His book outlines hundreds of
different mind control methods used by Robert Burton which had been kept
under lock and key until now. Eric dedicates this book to the thousands
of survivors and their family members affected by the criminal
organization the Fellowship of Friends, and to medical practitioners who
work with the traumatized victims to heal. Finally, this book was
created to answer the many questions posed by journalists and law
enforcement agents who now have the missing piece to the puzzle that is
the Fellowship of Friends: MIND CONTROL. May this story fully embody the
light and healing energy it was designed for. Aho/Amen."
Thank
You to everyone who has supported me through this writing process. I
know you are really going to enjoy this book. Please share my book with
whoever you feel may benefit from reading it. Every penny of income goes
towards my daily necessities. A special thanks to the
robertearlburton.blogspot.com moderator for helping this information get
out to the public.
Visit my website AGEOFGAIA.TUMBLR [Link defunct.] If you have any questions or comments you'd like to share, please email me at [ed. - email omitted].
[ed. - It should be noted that William Patrick Patterson, founder and editor of The Gurdjieff Journal, has been an outspoken critic of Alex Horn, Robert Burton, and The Fellowship of Friends since the 1990s. A short excerpt about Robert Burton from William Patrick Patterson's 1998 book, Taking With the Left Hand, and another anecdote about close encounters with Patterson's group can be found here.
The Gurdjieff Journal below features the story of "Ex-Robert Burtonite" Geoffrey March who, after three years in the Fellowship, left to join Miles Barth's New Being Institute. In 1999, March became a student of William Patrick Patterson.]
[ed. - For years it has been rumored that a warrant exists for Robert Earl Burton's arrest within the European Union. Due to their inconsistencies (e.g. "Czechoslovakian" versus "Italian" passports, "two" versus "3" Russians), it is not clear if the comments below refer to the same case. Having no confirming evidence, I must consider this gossip (a misdemeanor in the Fellowship!) Meanwhile, "Golden Veil" nobly struggles to uncover the truth.]
Forgive my anonymity, but what I am about to write concerns my friends, to whom I don’t wish any troubles with the authorities.
Some 4 years ago two of Robert’s boyfriends, both Russians, were rejected visas to the US. Robert then came to the aid of students (then in Rome) to acquire forged Czechoslovakian passports through Italian mafia with which they tried to enter the country.
Immigration officers discovered the forgery and the two boys spent some time with police at the airport.
Decision was made to send them back to the country from which they came from, i.e. France. They spent about 3 months in prison there, after which time they were sent back to Russia.
Being in the prison did some good to one of them, as he had time to ‘come to his senses’ and finally decided to leave Robert and the school.
The other, however, is still ‘serving’ Robert, although hating it, but such is the price of staying in the country of his choice.
The one who was leaving told Robert about his decision, to which he said that if he does leave him, his wife is going to leave him and he’s going to loose some attractive things offered to him by his teacher. Still, he left and after a while his wife left him.
After a while, he decided to blackmail Robert by writing an article about his experiences with him in American papers. I told him to get a good lawyer if he were to do so, but he went ahead alone and had to deal with Mr. Lawyer A.G., who blackmailed him back, using his knowledge of certain circumstances of the boy’s life. The whole thing was settled for a pitiful $3.000 in exchange for a signature on a paper stating that the information about Robert should not be disclosed to anyone.
I. Buttocks [above] – this story is true. I heard it too from the guys themselves and from many other students. I’ll never mention any names here for the same reason – I don’t wish any trouble for the guys, both of whom I like very much and wish them well.
Funny how an illegal thing could be almost glorified in the Fellowship of Friends because Robert went against feminine dominance. So many things that are immoral and simply wrong or criminal can be justified and glorified based on a belief that the teacher can do no wrong.
I only wonder if Department of Homeland Security thinks that crossing US or European border under fake name using a forged passport is OK and is no wrong doing… Especially in post-2001 era.
What shocking is that RB went to such risky extreme only with a purpose to get personal sexual pleasure out of these 2 young males. He would have never done a similar thing for a female student or an older male student from a different country.
Many students knew about this story, news spread quickly in Isis. Friends would secretly tell each other: Robert got him a fake passport so he can come here to be with him uder different name, but – psst! – don’t tell anybody it’s a secret…
I guess as long as Robert goes against feminine dominance, doesn’t inner consider and uses intentional insencerity [sic] he can do whatever he wants. He can even bend the US law if he wishes and students will have to faithfully keep his secrets.
The context was that after 11 years in the school I had done some thinking about Burton’s claim to get messages from Influence C, and had concluded that the most likely thing that was happening is that he was subject to delusional thinking often described as “ideas of reference”. I wished to confront him with the possibility that he was deluding himself. His answer certainly shows he had spent no time wondering whether the simplest explanation, ie that these were spurious connections he was making in his own mind, best fitted the facts of the case.
[ed. - Burton later preferred the more macabre version, as shown in these two clips from March 2019 Apollo Festival Hall meetings.]
[ed. - In a promotional video for the "Ancient Crafts Festival" at Apollo on July 27th, Dorian Matei makes bread at his Artisan Lavinia Bakery. I guess what Dorian is conceding in the title, contrary to Robert Burton's teaching, is that there are conscious beings everywhere. Because there are true artists everywhere. For those who have eyes to see...]
"Where I begin is with Robert's visions, which are really on the scale of a few thousand years. I believe they're 100% true. I believe these have happened, actually, these visions have happened already and that's why he has them. I feel it's almost an element of danger in only looking at them as spectators."
[ed. - Last December, "Taylor R" (Fellowship of Friends director Rowena Taylor?) attempted to whitewash the Yuba-Sutter LocalWiki Fellowship of Friends page. ("LocalWiki is a grassroots effort to collect, share and open the world’s local knowledge.") As shown below, Taylor wiped all critical content, regardless how valid, from this community resource. On March 4th, Gayle Madwin, the creator of this LocalWiki, reverted many of Taylor's edits, commenting, "Restoring links. Please do not delete working links to outside sources," (Those sources include the Sacramento Bee and Marysville-Yuba City Appeal-Democrat.)
"Ocean Tiger" commented on the "Robert Earl Burton and The Fellowship of Friends" blog, September 27, 2019: