Imagine scripture created for today.
Scripture intended not to replace other holy books but to offer alongside them its own poignant witness.
Scripture written not by prophet or saint, mystic or messiah, guru or god, but by the world.
Scripture nearly 3,000 verses long, woven from quotations from around the globe.
Scripture whose creator is unknown and whose origins are a mystery.
Scripture that first appeared on the Internet, only to be suppressed.
Scripture meant not only to be read but also to be tested, and transcended.
Imagine it no more. That scripture is here.
“The Book of the World is a powerful book,” Phyllis says. “I was privileged to have the opportunity to edit and publish it. Reflected in its pages I see many of the values and concerns that are central to the living of my own life—among them, the cultivation of compassion, the expansion of peace and justice, the growth of respect for this planet and all living things.
“I don’t necessarily agree with everything that The Book of the World says. If I did, its author, I imagine, would surely take me to task. But its words call me out of complacency, urging me to keep on with the great work of making my soul—which is, at the same time, the great work of making the world.”
The Book of the World first came to Phyllis’s attention when a friend, who wishes not to be identified, told her something she had heard from one of her close relatives. This relative, a long-time employee of a major Internet portal, had confided in her about a “modern-day holy book that had been censored from the Web.”
Suspicious of the story but still intrigued, Phyllis arranged a meeting with her friend’s relative, whom she calls Q. “I promised not to divulge the person’s identity,” she explains. “Q feared repercussions in the workplace if discovered, as well as strife in the family.”
Q told Phyllis that The Book of the World had originally appeared on a Web site in mid-2007. Readers could view but not download its text, whose author and origins were unknown. “Internet traffic to its Web site increased over a short time,” Phyllis reports. “Then, suddenly, the document vanished. Q checked into it and learned that the domain name registrar had disabled the book’s Web site. Access to the site was blocked. In other words, it was censored.”
“I had trouble believing that at first,” Phyllis confesses. “Then I did a little digging of my own and learned how entirely possible that censorship was.”
At the end of their first meeting Q surprised Phyllis with a jump drive containing the original text of the The Book of the World. She never learned how Q had acquired the document, which supposedly wasn’t downloadable. “Initially I thought that Q had created the book,” she recalls, “but as the two of us got better acquainted, I realized it wasn’t possible.
“Who the author is remains a mystery. I hope one day it will be solved. I encourage the author to step out of the shadows. Conclusively identify yourself. All you have to do is point out a signal change I've made to the book’s text, a change only you would recognize. I’ll be waiting.”
The Book of the World: A Contemporary Scripture is not divinely revealed. No god dictated its words. No god stands behind its words, backing them up. The Book of the World, in all its glory and all its pain, is a fully human document. Unapologetically human.
“I don’t know of any other book like it,” Phyllis says. “Not a single line of the book is original to its author (who really should be called an editor or redactor). Every verse is a quotation, its verse number referring to a note at the bottom of the page, naming its source. Contained in the document are nearly 3,000 quotations from more than 1,200 spiritual teachers, ethicists, philosophers, theologians, political prisoners, refugees, human rights advocates, environmentalists, laborers, and so on.”
This book of scripture, Phyllis stresses, was clearly not created to supercede or replace other sacred texts, such as the Bible, but to offer alongside them its own beauty and witness. “The Book of the World may not be regarded as scripture by any particular religious group,” Phyllis says. “It doesn’t wish to be. But it could be regarded as scripture by anyone who receives it with an open heart and spacious mind. This is its intention: to speak not to some but to any and all, regardless of religion, regardless of country, regardless of race, regardless of gender— regardless of difference. ”
Q eventually proposed that Phyllis lend The Book of the World her name as editor and publish it as a paperback. “I really balked at that idea,” Phyllis says. “Like Q, I wanted the book to gain an audience, but look, I’m an author. I know how laborious and costly is the work of writing, what an investment of time and money and sweat and self it involves. And I know how I would feel if someone somehow procured materials I had written and published them without my permission.
“But Q made a convincing case for our working together to publish The Book of the World, citing several reasons. First and foremost, the world at large would reap some benefit, however modest, from its publication. Second, The Book of the World was unlikely to reach the public at all unless Q and I published it as a bound book. Online publication seemed impossible, the censorship unavoidable. At my urging, Q had twice attempted to publish the book online, as its creator had previously. Those attempts were censored. It was evident that somebody did not want this document on the World Wide Web.
“Third, by concealing his or her identity the author of The Book of the World had deliberately cut all ties with its future, not wanting to take credit for the work. By helping to produce and distribute the book without laying any claim to it, Q and I would honor the author’s wishes.”
To produce, promote and distribute a book costs money; the more widely available a book is made, and the larger the demand, the greater the expense. In order to recoup their costs, Phyllis and Q would need to sell copies of The Book of the World rather than simply give them away. “Q suggested that we donate to charity any income we happened to raise above expenses,” Phyllis says. “Since my own custom is to donate to humanitarian organizations a portion of the sales proceeds from my books and recordings, Q’s idea held immediate appeal.”
Phyllis acknowledges that while Q’s arguments in favor of publication were convincing, in the end it was The Book of the World itself that persuaded her to act. “There’s a passage in the book that talks about how in the vast mass of things in the world, the act of creation cuts through them, dividing the things that might happen from those that do. It says, `Learn to know ever more deeply: from now on every single thing demands decision, and every action responsibility. You are the decisive element.’
“I read that, and I had to act. In good faith, I had to act.”
Phyllis laments that Q, who passed away just weeks before the book went to press, isn’t here to see its publication. “Q’s death saddens me beyond words,” she says. “We had quickly become friends, in the rare way of true friends. The grief cuts deep. Yet I’m glad that Q’s vision for the book—the vision that had caused Q to agree to meet with me in the first place—is now coming to pass.”
To read an excerpt from The Book of the World, visit the Library. The book can now be purchased online in Phyllis's Store ($18 plus shipping & handling, where applicable) but won't be available to ship or otherwise deliver until early October. If you would rather make your purchase by mail or in person instead of online, contact Phyllis. Top
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When Phyllis returned to Columbus this past spring to do a concert fundraiser for the 
Last September Phyllis was commissioned to compose a piece of solo piano music for the White Coat Ceremony at the Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota (see article below). This ceremony is an annual rite of passage in which the school initiates new medical students into their first year of studies and welcomes them as colleagues dedicated to patient care. Central to the ceremony is the cloaking of each student in a white lab coat, the symbolic garb of the medical profession for more than 100 years.
Phyllis has just been commissioned to compose a piece of solo piano music for the White Coat Ceremony at the Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota (Vermillion, SD). The event will take place in August, 2008.
Phyllis has now launched personal fundraising pages for two humanitarian organizations whose mission she strongly supports. The first is the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, or CIVIC, which advocates for civilians caught in the crossfire of war. The second is Heifer International, which seeks to end world hunger by providing impoverished families in the U.S. and abroad with livestock and agricultural training.
"Old Love" is a composition that will be included on Phyllis's next CD, Child of All Earth, due out in the fall. Its inspiration was a poem with the same title that was composed by her friend, the prize-winning poet Mary O'Connor.
out in the elements, scarred and broken amidst the rubble of war, disaster, poverty, loss. Its parts are fragmented, laid bare, its power robbed, the whole thing threatening collapse. The questions it now poses are not so simple. They seem not only unanswerable but, at times, unaskable; its invitation to play, to make music, here, amidst the rubble, a sad mockery. We see the lonely piano, and we can do nothing but stand silent, bear witness to it. The thing is what it is.
"Many thanks for sharing your Friends CD," read his brief note. "I listened to your beautiful music today as I was working on my mail, and I am looking forward to sharing it with Eleanor. . . . Thank you for your continued care for our world and her people."
The cover of Phyllis's first solo piano CD features this photograph taken by her dear friend, James Murray. The clasped hands, a detail from an old Scottish gravestone, represent all sorts of relationships that the music celebrates and challenges the listener to carefully maintain: relationships with family, friends, strangers who are suffering, the planet we inhabit, even our own spirits.