1 result for (book:tps1 AND heading:"introduct by rob butt" AND stemmed:object)
[... 42 paragraphs ...]
It wasn’t too long however before Jane, already writing rudimentary poetry, began to have creative conflicts with the doctrinaire priests. She told me how eventually one of the older priests burned certain “forbidden” books of hers in the backyard incinerator, including one she particularly admired: Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. There were other conflicts also, that Jane didn’t reveal to her mother: certain persistent hints and requests as she began to mature, Jane told me more than once, for favors from a young priest that she intuitively rejected. She left the church when she was 19, despite Marie’s bitter objections.
[... 35 paragraphs ...]
Jane was still productive during much of that last stay, however. With Seth she dictated, if slowly, The Way Toward Health. For herself she dictated poetry. I read to her the fan mail I brought each day, and between the two of us we kept up with answering it. She had periods of modest motion improvement, but they didn’t last. Various medications helped a little (with side effects at times), but the medical establishment had no cure to offer. Jane obtained her greatest relief from the daily baths that were given her so lovingly by staff members. We became friends with a number of them; they helped us celebrate birthdays and holidays in 330. At no time did we tell anyone what we were writing about, or its sometimes nonphysical source, so to speak. Staff knew only that Jane dictated to me often, that we got a lot of mail, and that I kept copious notes. We had a few visits from local friends, but it didn’t take us long to learn that many people avoided hospitals as much as possible. We could hardly object to that: after all, for whatever strong personal reasons Jane had done her best to stay out of the hospital, and I had acquiesced to her decisions. People out there in the world had their own challenges.
[... 13 paragraphs ...]
I’m sure that Seth and Jane, whether or not they’re together, per se, have each been more than a little amused to watch me at my labors here—but also compassionate and sharing from “where they are now.” I’m pleased to believe that they have psychically joined me as I write this introduction, and that they know I have tried to be objective. I also feel that they will be with me as I enter into this account’s final episode, one involving Laurel’s and my most interesting meeting with a group of visitors.
[... 62 paragraphs ...]