Blue,

You went to the wedding? What was that like? To whom was Horn married?

From my research so far it appears that Alex Horn hooked up to Sharon Kulko Horn (a.k.a. "Gans") in 1969 after his split with Anne Burridge (now "Haas"). But, it seems Alex and Sharon did not marry until 1972, according to the Supreme Court Kulko custody case records.

According to an excerpt from "Taking with the Left Hand", Alex Horn was also married to a woman called "Carol". Ever heard of her? I would assume this was before he met Anne Burridge of England.

***

[www.bookstoresarete.com]

"Though claimed to be a Fourth Way teacher, he himself never had an authentic Fourth Way teacher. The level of his understanding of the teaching was based on what he could pick up from Fourth Way books and
from his one-time teacher, the actor-director Alexander Francis Horn. Horn, himself a faux-Gurdjieffian without any real connection to the
Fourth Way, had based his own understanding on books and on that of his first wife Carol, a student of John Bennett's ten-month experimental program—an eclectic melding of the Fourth Way with other teachings and
practices. Horn first taught in New York and later in San Francisco where he created the Theatre of All Possibilities, a theater which purported to double as a Fourth Way school. Horn financially exploited his students, manipulated their lives, often physically brutalizing them—all in the name of the teaching.

Gans & Horn may still be married. I know they were still married as of '96 because I was involved in a "3rd line of work" project - ie: unpaid, unsafe, overworked labor to renovate their Greenwich Village coop, including terrace. Alex made very rare apperances in our "class", and was never introduced to the group.
Please email me @ my experiences with David.

Anne Haas should be sued for abuse. If anyone would like to join in a class action suit against her, please contact me.

This is my first post, so here goes... My parents were members of the Fellowship of Friends in the 80's and early 90's. I was 10 years old when my mom joined and then married one of the groups early members (now my adopted dad). I knew at that young age that this was no fellowship of friends but was more of a cult! I mean putting Robert on a pedestal as the all knowing infallible "teacher"?! I would greatly welcome contact from any other people out there that were children affected by Robert Burton's group as I would like to share my experiences and see if others were neglected as I was, etc. to help me work through this pain.

I almost died laughing when I was doing research on the Gans cult after finally getting out, and found that Supreme Court case. God I wish I knew that David's real name was Darwin when I was suffering through his classes, it would at least have made things a bit more bearable.

This article is a SCREAM! It rips on Alex Horn's former Sonoma and San Francisco Gurdjieff teachings and various students and describes how although over 35 years have passed, many ex-members have sadly drifted into insanity and/or remain in denial of the damage that cult has caused them and their children.

www.davearcher.com/magus.html

Thanks for posting this.
I was there too. around the same time but as a child so the perspective is different but reading between th elines of the article brings back a lot of memories. It was an evil time, Alex Horn is a very dangerous person.

Blue

I was involved with Sharon and Alex back in SF, Boston and NY. I liked them. Obsessive; dominating; and yes, probably dangerous, but nonetheless, I liked them.
Anyway. I also appreciate the link to Dave Archer. Based on my experience, he gives an honest perspective of who or what Alex was /did.
He seems to point out that he was on [b:0454f0c162]his [/b:0454f0c162] own hook regarding Alex and the Group. He didn't seem to blame Alex for his own problems. And, that seems to me to be important in dealing with cultish situations.
We do make our own beds. And we do lie in them.
Thank you again for at least writing about your experiences...

This thread may offer some material that could be a useful framework for some who feel perplexed reconciling good and harmful experiences they have had in relation to a controversial teacher.

One Framework for Recovery from Abuse

[board.culteducation.com]

If you derived real and solid benefits from A.H. and his school, which you have acknowledged as possibly dangerous, those benefits will remain real for you, no matter what others say about AH.

However, as Mr. Ross pointed out, quite a few persons have consulted him and report having had painful and disorienting experiences in relation to A.H., Sharon G. and their circle.

It may make a great difference what gender you are—men might be treated quite differently than women.

Many persons who are ejected or who voluntarily leave esoteric groups often suffer great anguish from social isolation. Until recently it was difficult for survivors to find places to discuss bad experiences in relation to esoteric work.

It appears that the RR.com message board is one of the few venues in cyberspace where survivors have been able to gather and begin comparing their experience. They would appreciate that this be respected.

If you’ve been happy with group work, there are plenty of other venues to celebrate this. Or you can create one of your own.

Hi Moishe3rd,

If you were involved with Sharon and Alex in SF, Boston, and NY then that means you have been with this cult for about 30 years. You said you "liked" them despite their "Obsessive; dominating; and yes, probably dangerous" behavior and since you said "I was involved", I assume you are not involved with them anymore. Then the question is why aren't you involved after being with them for about 30 years, traveling from SF to Boston and NY?

As a side note, when you say "We do make our own beds. And we do lie in them. ", you may need to acknowledge that applies to situations when you are fully informed about the decisions that you are about to make, which never happens when you're being recruited to a cult.

If a step further is taken to unmask the mental construct that subscribes to "We do make our own beds. And we do lie in them.", then we recognize one of the main principles of influence; "commitment and consistency". When someone makes a commitment (however small it might be), he/she will act consistently with this commitment regardless of their prior beliefs/opinions. Initially having cult recruits make small commitments to certain acts will ensure their participation and open a door to further seemingly reasonable commitments in the name of "higher development", "growing being", etc. to solidify their dependency to the cult. There is so much more to discuss with regards how cults use social psychology (not that they would name it such) to recruite and control their members.

Finnster