"Simplify, Simplify"

"How much is enough?"

That's the question posed by this new multi-media work by blog contributor Phyllis Cole-Dai. It's a fitting question for a nonviolence blog, she believes, since much of the world's violence seems to stem from "the insatiable desire for More."

In this video, which is less than three minutes long, evocative photographs and gentle guitar accompany a few selected verses from The Book of the World, an unusual spiritual text created by an unknown author. This unique book of contemporary scripture, which represents no particular religion and speaks from a human rather than divine perspective, was first published on the Internet in 2007. It soon disappeared, however, having apparently been censored. To resist its suppression, writer/composer Phyllis Cole-Dai joined with a colleague to edit and publish a bound version of the anonymous work. "The Book of the World" is now available on her website, www.phylliscoledai.com, and on Amazon.com, with net proceeds being donated to charity.

The music in this video is Cole-Dai's arrangement and digital recording of "'Tis a Gift to Be Simple." Credits for the photographs appear at the end of the piece.

Note: If for some reason you have trouble watching the video in the viewer below, try clicking here to see it in low-resolution on YouTube.

Simplify, Simplify from Phyllis Cole-Dai on Vimeo.