I observed “how the mind works” as founder of my boutique law firm which, among other areas of conventional trust and estate law, helped families of the mentally ill. I have studied neuroscience at the National Institution of Health and, as a Visiting Researcher, at Harvard University and its hospitals. I also taught law and psychiatry at law and medical schools. I now indulge my fascination with the beauty of Old Growth Forests and the ability of trees, without a brain or central nervous system, to communicate and remember. I also develop my interest in trying to understand how contemporary operas, with their new strategies of singing and socially relevant text, affect us viscerally, thus creating a strong empathic response to the story presented.