Paul Dolan told me that Fred's performance on
the Ph.D. oral exams had been slightly above average. Gerald Nelson
told me that while he had taken a liking to this graduate student,
he had never thought much of Fred's get-rich-and-famous schemes,
including the one to boost his credentials via a mail-order
minister's degree.
"Fred once asked me what I thought of his idea for a book called The
Thirteen Mystics," Nelson told me. "I joked that he would already have
a built in market for the sequel, The Return Of The Thirteen Mystics."
But Nelson had not taken lightly the way young Frederick had been
affecting undergraduates during his free lectures on meditation.
In 1975, Nelson recommended that Fred read about Ken Kesey and about
Charles Manson. The lesson was that while both charismatic leaders
had experimented with drugs and with young peoples' lives, Kesey learned
to check his power over others. Manson did not.
"Yet it was difficult for me to guide Fred," Nelson explained.
"Though he was my student, he was Chinmoy's disciple."
Professor Nelson was a tall man with a strong, kind voice.
I wondered if Fred had been drawn to him in his search for a caring
father figure.
I asked Nelson if he had read the newspaper accounts of Fred's
recent schemes.
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