The Unclad Soul

Beyond the expanding urban cities, and past the secluded rural towns, awaits the wilderness. That is where I want to go; what naturalist and environmental philosopher John Muir called, “the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed” places. They are Thoreau’s, Walden Pond. They are conservationist Ansel Adams,’ Kings Canyon where the giant General Grant tree grows, or the Sierra Nevada, where groves of the massive sequoia rise into the sky, the tallest trees in the world. Those great places also exist in poet Mary Oliver’s nature settings, who said of flowers, “There is nothing in the world that can be said against them.” Wouldn’t it be nice for a change, to be there? A place where nothing could be said against anyone. I want to follow an overgrown trail that leads into a deep green forest and hear and feel the sounds of the earth. I’m looking for wildness, for untouched beauty, for scenes of nature’s glory abandoned and left alone in the quiet. I seek the mountain, the riv...

“We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may not ever need to go there.”  ~ Edward Abbey, Environmentalist/Author

American voters have to decide who can best lead our country out of its failed political system. Who can govern the nation wisely, with intelligence and confidence, with fairness and compassion? Who can unify our people instead of further dividing them? Who can help heal our racial wounds; end our class warfare; and empower all of our citizens to add to, not take away from, the deeper meaning of our human existence? Who can guide Congress, and the military, and all of us to make decisions in life based on informed awareness and truth and not on ignorance and fear? In Tana French’s absorbing novel, “Broken Harbor,” one of the main characters, detective Scorcher Kennedy, is worn down by the crime, the political corruption, the moral decay, and cynicism in his city. He reflects back on a time when life seemed to have meaning and there was a rational balance in people. He says to his partner, “ I remember this country back when I was growing up. We went to church, we ate family supper...

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yelp over the roofs of the world.”  ~ Walt Whitman, American Poet