My entire interaction with life is guided by a few basic philosophies; any time I ramble about people, interpersonal relationships, and life in general my brain is referencing some core ideas. There's a kind of nebulous mix of classic philosophies (Christianity, Buddhism, Plato, Nietzsche, Sartre, Sun Tzu, Shakespeare and Warner Brothers cartoons) but these are pretty much in everybody. Here are, like, my greatest hits of deep thoughts 'bout life (I'm being deliberately provocative with some of these, I want to engage you, dear reader.find out what you think 'bout stuff):

Nature: People have essential natures, which determine how they interact with being alive. At the very core of every nature is the basic nature. People are either sensual (body/feeling-centric) or aesthetes (mind-centric). Anything we do flows from these natures.

The rest of these are things deal with the notion of "life relationships" a guy from the Bauhaus (German school of design, rather impolitely destroyed by the Nazis) imparted to me (another story, to come).wish I remembered his name, but this stuff didn't start ringing true till long after I knew him.

The "locked in a room" assertion: My German geezer pal said, "if you're thinking of marriage, think about this, if all the external accoutrements of life (good times, sex, travel, health, common friends, material comfort, etc.) were gone, with nothing left but you and your "significant other" locked in a room.would you feel liberated or trapped? Specifically, is the essential "you" nourished or depleted by the other? Do you instinctively feel that you and your mate could entertain and sustain each other without the external? An interesting idea, at its core, it's helpful in terms of how you value the companionship of others.how much you're willing to give.

The "ten people on earth whom you can truly love" postulation: This only applies if you "believe" in the concept of romantic love. If you're lookin' for somebody to hang out with, do a little procreatin' and share household chores it's really not applicable. I don't know if my old pal really meant ten "physical" people, but more the idea that love is a rarity and a gamble. And you gotta' "look" to find it, can't offhandedly dismiss what is not obvious. If you wait for it, its not guaranteed to come (the possibility of the "alone" life).however, its possible discovery outweighs all risk. At a real high level, it's the idea of running into someone with whom you can have, both, a teacher and student relationship with the other. Both alternating teaching and learning.always. Where the common human dynamic of "up or down" is replaced by a real respect. Too complicated to get into here.hell, I'm still trying to figure out how to display cartoons on this site, can't get bogged down in these random thoughts. But, needless to say, this concept resonates with me.

His greatest gift to me? You must always be aware of what you need, want and fear. And that if you aren't you're sort of condemned to a kind of flailing life, like a fish on a counter-top. His core point was that if you confuse desire with need you're screwed.

Ooooohhhh, aren't I deep? I'm beginning to realize the difficulty in rendering thoughts to word; I'd best stick with pictures.

This is a logical continuation of the screed above, needs to be integrated when I get around to it and time is more of a pal to me.

What do I want?

What do I need?

What do I fear?

Once you've done this you've pretty much got all the answers you'll need. I'll revisit this when I've figured out how this site's gonna' look!

While I'm at it, here are a few slang terms that'll be popping up as the site progresses. Think I'll need to create a glossary someplace...these were excerpted from an earlier attempt to explicate these "gregisms" so pay no attention to the syntax and whatnot:

"Hoosier": Literally the nickname of residents of Indiana. The figurative "Hoosier" (this is anybody, regardless of regional origin) represents the polar opposite of the life affirming spirit. Things are just what they are, ain't' no reason to be trying nothing different. So if I want to beat my wife and kids to make myself feel better, that's just the way it is. Needless to say, these people annoy me.

"It's all gonna' come together": Phrase used to end conversations I see as pointless, or simply insoluble. Frequent office use.

"The Lumpen": (or simply lumpen): Derivation of "lumpen proletariat". Sort of like the term "dopes". Same thing. It's just easier to use to their face.

"Kitty": Beautiful woman who possesses more than beauty, in the twenties I believe it was called "it".

"Meow": Derivation of "kitty". Used when normal flattery seems insufficient. Enunciated me-ow.

"BoHo": Creative people who, however talented, don't seem to have a grasp of reality. Thus rendering their creations somewhat light and insubstantial.

"Gibberish": Speaking things that sound profound, but not qualifying it with real life modifiers. This term is usually used only in reference to myself.