X-Message-Number: 8149 Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 17:19:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: CRYONICS More Old Scandal Here are some final excepts from the interview with Robert Nelson conducted in 1992. See my message one day previous to this one, for explanatory information. ____________________________________________________________ Intrerviewer: I understand that Michael Worthington--the attorney who represented the people suing you--actually went to Boston to find out if you had a criminal record. Nelson: Worthington did everything he could, which crossed every line. What if I had a criminal record? So what? It had nothing to do with it, these weren't criminal charges. I had a--yeah, I had--one of the reasons he was very concerned, my father was a Boston gangster. One of the biggest holdups of all time, you know, the Brinks robbery, famous, they made a movie out of it. He was the person who held the money, hidden in a wall for years and years. Worthington found out about that. My father was a gangster, his life was ended the way gangsters' lives get ended, he got shot in the back of the head. But so what, that doesn't have anything to do with this case. _____________________________________________________________ Interviewer: Did the sudden death of your father have anything to do with your getting interested in cryonics? Nelson: Possibly, because I saw him, you know, in the casket. I was 21. Actually he was my stepfather. But he adopted me when I was, I think--3. No, he married my mom when I was 3. He adopted me when I was 15, because I got married at 15, was a father at 16, had three kids, and stayed married for 28 years, or something like that. My wife and I stuck together, and we're dear friends right now, still very very close. _____________________________________________________________ Nelson: My interest in astronomy, when I was a kid, this was my father's reaction to it: "You want to see stars, I'll show you some stars. Forget it. You gotta learn how to make money. That's what it's all about. I'll show you how to make money." Every time I saw him, he was either getting out of jail or going into jail. And my mom was an alcoholic, I just went from one foster home to another with my younger brother. At the age of 11 years old, I was on my own. I had a place to sleep, I would get on the train, go in town, shine shoes, pick up flowers where the trucks pulled in and go into bars and sell them, and I was able to make money. Then I fooled around at 15 and she got pregnant, I was already ready to take care of the family. I knew how to survive. So there wasn't any opportunity for me to study anything. I never went to high school. But when I came to California I went to UCLA and took class after class, writing, business, everything I wanted to know about. _____________________________________________________________ Interviewer: Are you religious? Nelson: I have always had a very strong faith in an almighty source. I don't necessarily have to call it God. When I moved into this house, I had a very strong religious experience. I stood out there one night and said to myself, well, I've got my business back, and eight or nine people working for me, I've recovered my life, I own my own home, I've weathered the cryonics storm, and I looked at the sky and said, what in hell am I doing here? What is this all about? Am I here to make love to as many women as I can, to eat as many gourmet meals as I can, or is there some other purpose to it all? Please, please tell me! And I got a very, very profound answer. I had for years been going to a place in Pacific Palisades, the Self Realization Fellowship. It's a man-made lake, it has a one-mile path, you walk around it. When I was younger, I came to California, I used to smoke pot, my wife and I were separated, together, separated, so whenever I had a new girlfriend it would be a very normal routine, wining and dining these ladies, take them to the self-realization place, smoke a joint while we walk around looking at all the flowers--you know, isn't this beautiful! And right after I had this experience in my back yard I went back there, and I looked around and said what is this place all about. Yogis. What the hell is a yogi? So I bought a book and I followed this self-realization fellowship, which is basically meditation. So now I realize the difference between cryonics and this: they're almost at complete odds. Because the yogi way of looking at life is that the purpose of being here is to get out of here. This life is a very painful experience, I nearly lost my life many times, I was attacked once in Boston, when I was 19, stabbed seven times and shot twice. I got mixed up with some very bad guys, got taken for a ride out into the woods, I managed to fight my way out of the car, and the guys that did it were sent to prison for 200 years. _____________________________________________________________ Interviewer: If you had a life-threatening condition today, would you make cryonics arrangements? Nelson: Yes. Although the financial aspect of it is a big consideration. And I do believe in reincarnation. I was brought up a Catholic, and all through my studies in self- realization, which take 3-and-a-half years, and I'm about 2- and-a-half years through these lessons. If you have ever felt what the yogis call bliss--which I have, just for a moment-- you will never in your life want anything more than that. So, I practice meditation, I would say I'm a Christian, a Buddhist, and also a cryonicist. _____________________________________________________________ Interviewer: How did you first learn about cryonics: Nelson: I weas 31, driving on the freeway, there was a bulletin about Bob Ettinger's book. I didn't catch its name, but a few days later I read an article in the National Enquirer. [Note: Nelson is possibly the ONLY person ever recruited to cryonics through the National Enquirer.] _____________________________________________________________ end of interview excerpts Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8149