Overview

Details about the fourteen manuscripts in The Brautigan Library's "Spirituality" (SPI) category.

Background

These manuscripts are included in the "Spirituality" (SPI) category using The Mayonnaise System, a classification system developed for The Brautigan Library. Manuscripts are cataloged according to fourteen general categories, the year of submission, and the order of acquisition into the category. For example, LOV 1992.005 indicates the manuscript was the fifth one cataloged in 1992 to the LOV(e) category. Manuscript synopses provided by authors at time of submission. Comments from The Librarian provide additional information.

Stats

Manuscripts in SPI category = 14
1993 = 2 manuscripts
1991 = 3 manuscripts
1990 = 9 manuscripts
Missing = 0 manuscripts

Make Me An Instrument: Parts I, II, III, and IV

Alice Weiland
MS #288
SPI 1993.002 A, B, C
Registered 1993/02/17 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
The "reason" of my work, Make Me An Instrument, is that I became an instrument, through light trance mediumship, for dawn-time messages from St. Francis of Assisi. His compassion and concern for today's anxieties shine through his first one hundred messages at the end of which he stated, "Now share these." Part One is autobiographical, essentially my path of growth toward this end. Part Two and Part Four consist of these messages. Part Three, "The Yoke," for which I wrote the book, music and lyrics, and which says, through a child, "Differences don't make no difference," is the essence of much of Francis' message to us.

God's Christmas Gift

Joan Costner
MS #284
SPI 1993.001
Registered 1993/02/12 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
God's Christmas Gift is a tender, read-aloud, poetic retelling of the birth of Jesus Christ. Simple, for young children and appealing to Christian families. Pictures are original watercolors by Sara Tuttle inspired by the author's family album.

Librarian's Comment
This manuscript is handwritten with illustrations. Each page is placed in separate plastic sleeve.

The Way of the Climber

James Eychaner
MS #217
SPI 1991.003
Registered 1991/09/19 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
The Way of the Climber concerns how a desperately empty man finds renewal and purpose after a series of high-risk mountaineering experiences. Newly-found spiritual strengths turn into terrifying glimpses of alternative realities before a center is found within. The action is set in the Cascade Mountain Range of the Pacific Northwest.

Poor Woman Prayers & Scripture Book

Mary Brown
MS #189
SPI 1991.002
Registered 1991/07/13 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
Poor Woman Prayers & Scripture Book is a practical book of prayer for everyday life.

Three Humologies

Myrrh Nisson
MS #155
SPI 1991.001
Registered 1991/01/17 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
Three Humologies is my way of sharing with you than which I find funny and contrary in America. I seek the meaning in my relationships with other humans, and I call my study "Humology." The lessons I learn and conclusions I draw, I put into story form and call "humologies." Happy reading.

To There Be It Not

Marshall Motz
MS #133
SPI 1990.009 A, B
Registered 1990/11/13 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
To There Be It Not concerns Virgil Hunt, aging perpetual student, comes to Santa Cruz, in the early seventies, to pursue a doctoral degree in "History of Consciousness." He is seduced by the city itself, a bizarre and completely unique place where the sixties somehow still survive, and he falls in with a group of middle-aged malcontents who live in the infamous St. George Hotel, on the colorful Pacific Garden Mall. Together they search for the "Total Truth," both on the Mall and at the newly created and innovative experimental campus on a nearby hill, and Virgil comes to identify completely with these zanies as they come increasingly to feel pressure from the local police and the intimidated merchants. The whole experiment, like a great illusion, seems to die as the book ends in the earthquake of 1989, and the Mall itself lies buried beneath the rubble.

Tales of We Three

Ralph Sbraccia
MS #131 SPI 1990.008
Registered 1990/11/11 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
Tales of We Three is a collection of short stories about God, His Son, and the rest of their family, us. Although he's a Christian, the writer does not belong to any denomination and is not a "church goer." In fact, to be perfectly honest with you, the writer is completely turned off by what organized religion has done to the true meaning of Christianity. This book attempts to show the true nature of God, Jesus, and us in very simple, human terms.

God's Gift Life's Greatest Love

Leafie Martin
MS #057
SPI 1900.007
Registered 1990/06/27 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
The title says it all.

Dazed by Too Much Light

Shirley Leonard
MS #045
SPI 1990.006
Registered 1990/06/21 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
The theme of Dazed by Too Much Light is transcendence with its ecstasies and terrors. In From the Devine to the Human Frithjof Schuon says, "Transcendence is not contrary to sense." To some degree I try to show this to be true.

Wax and Flame

John McHugh
MS #034
SPI 1990.005
Registered 1990/06/06 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
Sitting alone before lighted candles, Margaret Dineen awaits the arrival of her family for the holiday. She is haunted by the memory of a boy who had died years ago during a failed uprising in Ireland. The boy of her haunting draws her again into his overheated reality. As she eats with her family, she secretly fights the union of her life with death, of the present with the past.

365 Bits of Wisdom To Enrich Your Life

Albert Helzner
MS #024
SPI 1990.004
Registered 1990/05/26 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
365 Bits of Wisdom To Enrich Your Life contains three hundred sixty five bits of advice, philosophy and observations that I have developed over my lifetime. The passages are written in calendar format so you can open it on any date of the year and read an entry that I hope will enrich your daily life.

Librarian's Comment
Albert Helzner has contributed sixteen manuscripts to The Brautigan Library. They are 365 Bits of Wisdom To Enrich Your Life (SPI 1990.004), The Long Range Effect of Birth (NAT 1990.005), The Long Range Effect of Abortion and Other Essays about Life in the Universe (NAT 1990.006), Some Challenging Essays for You To Think About (NAT 1990.007), A Revolutionary Way of Looking at the Earth As A Planet (NAT 1990.008), More Challenging Essays for You To Think About (NAT 1990.009), Three Short Stories with Unexpected Endings (ALL 1990.017), October 6, 1984 to October 6, 1985, One Year To Life (NAT 1990.010), The World Is Wrong (NAT 1990.011), Life on Earth Before You Were Born (NAT 1990.012), October 6, 1990 (NAT 1990.013), From The Spirit of '76 and Other Thoughts (NAT 1990.014), Some Observations about the World We Live In (NAT 1990.017), Calendar Time and the Physical Meaning of Life (MEA 1991.001), Thirty Centuries (NAT 1991.001), and The Ongoing Condition of the Universe (NAT 1991.002).

Albert Helzner died in 2016. He was a chemical engineer with a patent in recovery of benzene gas in the production of ethylbenzene (US Patent 3,691,245, September 12, 1972) and was published in the professional journal Chemical Engineering (Helzner, Albert E. "Operating Performance of Steam-Heated Reboiler." Chemical Engineering, 1977, vol. 84, no. 4, p.73). He was a chess enthusiast who besides being in his High School chess club and enjoying postcard chess, won a Massachusetts Class A chess championship in 1966, as well as a Danvers, MA Chess Club tournament in 1967. Albert Herlzner left behind many writings and rejection letters from publishers. He did not talk about his writing, published or unpublished, but he was proud of his contributions to The Brautigan Library. We are proud to have his work as part of the collection.

Heaven: Fact or Fiction

Thomas Simmons #010 SPI 1990.003
Registered 1990/05/08 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
Heaven: Fact or Fiction is for the newly bereaved, those who grieve the loss of a loved one, those who believe but seek some confirmation, those who are nearing, or who have exceeded their three score and ten.

Writings and Drawings

Alex Stein
MS #009
SPI 1990.002
Registered 1990/05/08 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
Writings and Drawings features various poem/proses and an unrelated sequence of calligraphs culled from one overflowing box and thrust together under one cover for the sake of finances and plus-hopefully-the same spirit animates it all.

Librarian's Comment
Alex Stein has contributed two manuscripts to The Brautigan Library. They are Confessions of Saint Thomas (SPI 1990.001) and Writings and Drawings (SPI 1990.002).

Confessions of Saint Thomas

Alex Stein
MS #005
SPI 1990.001
Registered 1990/04/23 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
Confessions of Saint Thomas is what I would call a fictive poetic. Complete with pictures for the reading impaired. Its modus tempora is representational, but its delights are fragrances. The smells of youth and the smells of crotchety old age, as well as the smells of light and darkness. This is not a book for the foolish, nor for the monetary. There is nothing gained or lost. The moral is . . . well, there is no moral, only this life, condensed.

Librarian's Comment
Alex Stein has contributed two manuscripts to The Brautigan Library. They are Confessions of Saint Thomas (SPI 1990.001) and Writings and Drawings (SPI 1990.002).