Kingdom of Heaven is Green

Our strange visitor was not doing so well. She lay motionless on the water's surface, apparently face down.

I quickly helped her out of the watering hole and took a closer look. What happened next was a natural encounter of a very strange kind, not for the faint of heart.

Her inch-long body looked like a miniature helicopter in camouflage colors of black, white and gray. With palpable concern, her grasshopper-like eyes assessed me and my intentions. Glints of red revealed her eyes' movements.

I must have passed the security screening as she quickly switched gears and started to clean up and get ready to fly after her extended swim.

Despite her intense preparation for takeoff, it didn't seem like the eager pilot was going to go anywhere anytime soon. She appeared to have lost a wing in her aquatic misadventure.

As I pondered her maimed future, she took off at the speed of light--whole and ready for action just moments after the rescue! Arthropods excel at self-renewal, maybe we can learn something from them.

Was a random act of kindness something this bug's mind could grasp?

Maybe that's how the Kingdom of Heaven will finally evolve here on Earth--humans will pass kindness along back down the food chain, and genetic programming will take over. OK, so this might take a few million years, but that is nothing to God!

Then again, we first have to show kindness to other humans, or our species' self-destruction will set the plan back a bit. But it won't stop God.

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and it is looking very, very green--even here in the Desert.

The coyote shall lie down with the jackrabbit
The rattlesnake will curl up with the packrat
The hummingbird will play with the gnat
The Harris hawk will nest with the Gambel's quail
And a little child shall lead them...
They will not hurt or destroy
For the Desert will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.

We've been there, done that with the Kingdom of Mean
Let's all work together for The Kingdom of Green.

A New Desert Mother

Why was she doing that--up, down, back, and forth right in front of me?
Once she had my full attention, she showed me her secret. Gracefully this Costa hummingbird lowered herself down into a tiny nest near our back door.

Quickly her intentions became clear: she wanted my help. The wind was vigorously throwing her nest about like a yo-yo; no egg or baby could endure such a joyride.

Two weeks earlier, we had discovered a broken egg the size of a miniature jellybean in a nearby location. Was it the same hummingbird? Was she so determined to achieve maternal success that she was humble enough to ask for help?

After fetching some wire and scissors, I tied up the long, flowing branches of the cape honeysuckle. She watched intently, bobbing around on her nest poised between fear and hope. After I was done, the nest seemed more stable.

We left for two weeks that morning. While we were gone, the Weather Channel indicated high winds at home on two days. I wondered how the would-be desert mother was faring.

When we arrived home, the first thing I did was check the nest. There she was, right in place!

A week later, there were two little heads sticking up out of the nest, adorned with the same distinctive white throats as their mother.

All three of them became quite used to us walking by and looking up at them. In the hot afternoon sun, she would go to the nearby fountain and sip mouthfuls of water to take back to them.

Another week later, just in time for Mother's Day she coaxed the fledglings out of the nest much as a parent encourages a child to walk.

Just today, I saw her feeding one of the fledglings in a nearby tree.
But soon enough, this desert mother will be alone again, making her way through the world with a body that weighs less than an ounce and a spirit strong enough to ask for help.

If she can figure it out, maybe I can too.

Dance, hummingbird, dance
back and forth in the cooling mist.
Your babies have flown
and once again
you’re all alone.
So dance, hummingbird, dance.
Dance for the joy
of being alive
on a warm spring morn in the Desert.

L.A. Johnson, Midwest Book Review
June 26, 2004

I have always imagined deserts to be nothing but sand dunes. The Richest of Fare changed that ill-informed idea. Blending scientific fact, spiritual truths, and stunning photographs with thoughtful prose, the author has created beauty for our senses. Visually appealing and emotionally comforting, this book is one you'll want to keep.

In ages past, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed all sought spiritual renewal in the desert. Stark beauty, blessed silence, and the awesome nighttime sky drew them closer to God's message. On a daily basis, modern man has been estranged from the natural world. Artificial lighting prevents city dwellers from seeing the stars. Concrete and sprawling subdivisions separate us from earth's spirit. We sense an isolation; wonder at a feeling of indifference; and struggle unsuccessfully to create a finer meaning for our existence.

America, especially, the richest and most blessed of all countries, is floundering. To paraphrase Thoreau, civilization has improved our houses but not the men who inhabit them. This richest country in the world boasts 44 million uninsured citizens; 10 million illegal immigrants; 9 million unemployed; and 4 million homeless souls. Something is wrong with this picture and Ms. Strupp makes a compelling argument in explanation.

Quotes by Thoreau, Francis of Assisi, H.G. Wells, Marcus Aurelius, Charles Darwin and others are combined with Old and New Testament writings to make her point. Poetic metaphors enhance Ms. Strupp's well-written prose. In the desert monsoon season, "air clings to you like a desperate beggar." Runoff deposits after a hard desert rain become "little shards of eternity." Earth has been transformed by warring humans into "a sponge to sop up blood." Those who plunder Earth like a commercial commodity are "spoiled children betraying their mother." The writing, photographs, and well-chosen quotes create a spiritual picture I won't soon forget.

The Richest of Fare is not a "religious" book It's spiritually encouraging, emotionally comforting, informative and educational. It may impact how you look at life, your fellow man, the desert and the cosmos. This one is highly recommended for readers who are searching for true meaning in their lives.

Joyce Handzo, www.inthelibraryreview.com
June 18, 2004

The Richest of Fare offers readers a wealth of ideas!

This book explores the connection between great spiritual leaders and their times in the desert. The author makes the point that the solitude and barrenness of the desert actually gives life to the spiritual side of man, thereby allowing a deeper understanding and relationship to develop between man, nature, and God. To bolster her opinion, the author quotes from a variety of sources, including the Bible and Darwin. This eclectic assortment of ideas gives the reader much to contemplate.

Since the author actually lives in the Sonoran Desert, her insights about this area were wonderfully described. With over fifty color photographs of the desert, as well as interesting commentaries on the plant and animal life, this book causes readers to understand the inherent beauty of this area. While many may consider the desert to be only sand and sun, the author digs deeper, to show with words and stunning photographs, the
life that is present. This, of course, backs up the premise of the book, which states that there is a richer, deeper life for everyone, if we only step outside of the boundaries of this modern world and slip into the solitude of nature and ourselves.

The author leads her readers on a journey into the realm of spirituality, not religion. Many of the ideas expressed are outside of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs. While readers may disagree with her on several points, this book could produce stimulating conversations. There is definitely a connection between great spiritual leaders and their desert experiences. A thoughtful and prayerful reading of this book will encourage readers to verbalize and internalize their beliefs.

The Richest of Fare offers readers a table full of New Age ideas, gleaned from both ancient and contemporary sources, as well as nature itself.

Angela Hutchinson, Spirit-Works.net
May 26, 2004

The Richest of Fare is an intelligent, thought-provoking book that takes the reader on an educational journey traveling from cosmic consciousness to modern day spirituality. Phyllis Strupp's literary style is fresh, highly organized and beautifully detailed. I felt her reverence for the Earth, particularly with her use of the Sonoran Desert. It is an understandable love to those of us who have come to appreciate the desert's blistered beauty. Strupp manages to present an incredible amount of information from evolutionary concepts through an impressive biblical history and finally to current-day difficulties in only 233 pages, also including breathtaking pictures of our most beautiful natural inspiration, the desert.

Strupp presented a compassionate and loving Christianity in The Richest of Fare, more along the lines of the original teachings of Jesus. “How we act toward others is more important to God than what we believe.” It is a refreshing view of the bible with a new perspective on its meaning.

We learn about the collaborative and destructive forces at work here on Earth, the “soul-ache” that occurs when we are blind to the will of God and close ourselves to our own peace and happiness. When we realize “the Kingdom of God is the Divine Dimension-and it's in our current space and time,” it is an amazing truth and a life-changing reality.

The author asks us to ponder the question “is the world a friendly place?” several times. By outer appearances it would not appear so. However, when we live in a God consciousness, “The Kingdom of God,” it can only be a friendly place and nothing outside of ourselves can change that.

Strupp addresses the current state of the world, specifically the United States, and is consistent in her nonviolence-based views, much as Jesus was in His teachings.

After reading this extraordinarily intelligent volume, I have to say I feel better for having read each word. In a world of intolerance and violence, it is a blessing to share the author's journey. It is about where we place our consciousness . . . the Kingdom of Heaven awaits you.

Spirit-Works is an organization developed to promote spiritual enlightenment. http://spirit-works.net/Reviews.htm

Author finds spirituality in the desert

Interview with Michael Ferraresi
The Arizona Republic, March 22, 2004

Question: Why are you drawn to the desert?
Answer: I've had family (in the Northeast Valley) for more than 20 years and have come here a lot. The wide-open spaces and the sense of mystery are what drew me to the desert. I do believe there's another level of attraction I can't put into words. I feel at home in the desert like I never did back home.
Q: How did you find God in the desert?
A: I'd say God found me. My connection to God in the desert started with a little hummingbird that nested in our yard. Watching it every day transformed my view to be a participant in nature rather than an observer.
Q: How does your spiritual community here in the Northeast Valley differ from back in New Jersey?
A: To me, spirituality is all about relationships. That's from Genesis. That's not New Age. But what I find different here is that people relate to nature more regularly and differently, whether they're religious or not. That's a sign of spiritual life. But in affluent communities, there's a lot of spiritual insecurity.
Q: How do people react to your ideas about desert spirituality?
A: Intuitively, I think people are really drawn to finding God in nature.

Author Phyllis Strupp seeking The Richest of Fare: Book examines role desert plays in spirituality

By Curtis Riggs
Sonoran News, February 19, 2004

CAREFREE—Author Phyllis Strupp examines the crucial role the desert has played in the paths of spiritual leaders throughout the ages in her book The Richest of Fare: Seeking Spiritual Security in the Sonoran Desert.

The book is the seven-year Carefree resident's first.

Strupp uses 50 photos of the Sonoran Desert, quotes about the desert and spirituality, and tales about life in the Sonoran Desert to illustrate her point about how the desert has been important to the lives of spiritual leaders throughout the ages. She talks about how the desert played a crucial role in the paths of spiritual leaders like Jesus Christ, Moses, and Mohammed.

“I see the desert as the doorway to our spirituality,” she said about the theme of her 264-page effort. “I try to use the pictures of the desert to open the doors of spirituality.”

To her, the book “helps paint the ‘you are here' dot on the map of one's spiritual life.

“I try to get people to relate to the desert,” she said, adding that many have left something behind—the spiritual wisdom of the ages—in modern times. “We get all hung up on religion, creeds, and dogma. I think that we are missing something.”

She also weaves a great deal of information about the history and geography of the 120,000-square-mile Sonoran Desert that stretches into California and Mexico. The Desert Foothills is the upper edge of the Sonoran Desert.

She learned a lot about the Sonoran Desert and her own spirituality in the five years that she wrote the book from her Carefree home.

“I learned that the Sonoran Desert is about 8 million years old, and that Black Mountain and Continental Mountain are about 13 million years old,” she said. “The current ecosystem in the Sonoran Desert is about 4 thousand years old.”

On the spiritual level, she writes, “The desert is trying to wake us up to the truth about our existence.”

She seeks answers to questions posed by Albert Einstein about the universe. She asks if the universe is a friendly place.

“The universe has never been a friendly place,” she said about one thing she learned in her study. “But the universe is a friendly place as long as people look for love in their relationships and not in the physical world around them.”

Strupp is Episcopalian. She says many deeply religious people may be disturbed by the position she takes on spirituality.

“Many people may be surprised that I bring nature into the picture,” she said. “People who think that they have all of the answers may find the book disconcerting, but people who don't have all the answers may find it to be interesting.”

She knows the exact day she got the idea to explore spirituality with The Richest of Fare. It was on July 4, 1998, when she picked up Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Many consider Thoreau's embracing nature by turning his back on society with Walden one of the first great books about nature.

To Strupp Walden is about spirituality.

“He encountered God in nature and became connected to God in nature,” she said. “I decided that I would write a book about the desert that would open people up to it the way that Thoreau opened people up to nature with Walden. ”

She questions why spiritual geniuses throughout the ages have typically visited the desert on their quests and not lived there.

“My thing is that we live in the desert so we should be looking at what it can offer us spiritually,” she said.

Sonoran Cross Press LLC published The Richest of Fare. Phyllis's husband, Peter Strupp, was instrumental in getting the book published.

It will be available this summer. To learn more about The Richest of Fare, visit the website www.desertspirituality.com.

Reprinted with permission from Sonoran News, February 18–24, 2004. © 2004 Sonoran News.