The Unclad Soul

One of the ancient mystics wrote, “Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” I need that journey. It is time, in this tumult of meanness, to absorb the beauty of autumn. I must leave the hollow vulgarity of politics and get lost in the trees with their tumbling treasures of color. Across this vast country, through open grasslands and the upland passes, over deeply textured mountains and along stone path streams, there lies before us nature’s unbiased beauty. There is something spiritual about nature, something wise and instructive. Yes, it has its turbulent side, which is simply a part of the mystery of the universe. But even with its blasts of snow and desert heat, even with the ferocity of hurricanes and the damaging winds of tornados, the pounding of hail and lightning’s deadly strikes, the earth is still filled with a luminous glow that stirs our deepest longings and leaves us motionless, breathless, awed. There are experiences waiting for us far...

I saw “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” over the holidays. I had already seen the original Swedish movie. In fact, I’ve seen all three of the Swedish films and they are all terrific. The English version of the first one is equally good. I liked Daniel Craig as Mikael Bloomkvist, the intrepid journalist and owner of Millenium magazine, a magazine that gets at the truth of things and exposes all of those nasty realities that most people don’t want to read about, like corrupt politicians and corporations and how they destroy people. I thought Rooney Mara, who plays Lisbeth Salandar, the genius geek and computer hacker who is not to be messed with, was excellent. I didn’t think there was any way she could be as good as the original Lisbeth played by actress Noomie Rapace who is in the latest Sherlock Holmes movie. But Mara held her own. The story is complicated and filled with endless fascinating details but basically Bloomkvist and Lisbeth eventually team up to try and find out...