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Those who have influenced my thoughts...

Parmenides of Elea (515 BC) - Greek philosopher of the Eleatics and the father of metaphysics and Zeno of Elea (495 BC) - the greatest student of Parmenides whose paradoxes on time/space still cannot be solved by most people today.

Diogenes of Sinope (412 BC) - Greek philosopher of the Cynics, ascetic and anti-authoritarian philosopher who carried a lantern and searched his entire life to find an honest man but could not. He was rumored to rebuke an offer of any reward by Alexander the Great.

Socrates (469 BC) and Plato (427 BC) - Greek philosophers who challenged humanity to question, even though it may cost one's own life. I especially like Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) (563 BC) - the founder of Buddhism who left a life of luxury and rule to seek truth and enlightenment. Existence is suffering (dukhka); suffering is caused by desire (trishna).

Lao Tzu (6th century BC) - father of Taoism and the Butterfly Dream of Taoist writer and poet Chuang Tzu.

Dogen Kigen (1200) - Chinese Zen Buddhist master who said that reality is only now.

David Hume (1711-1776) - Scottish arch-skeptic philosopher and historian. Hume said that like all other matters, causality has no basis in reason and is merely a matter of belief.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) - German philosopher influenced by Hume who reiterated Parmenides problem of perception in the form of the Phenomenon (the thing perceived) vs. Noumena (the thing itself). Although I am profoundly impacted by his Noumena theory, I strongly disagree with much of Kant's other theories, such as his ethical system, the ludicrous "categorical imperative" or his belief in the existence of God.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) - German philosopher who continued Kant's principle of Noumena (thing-in-itself), was known as a pessimist and was one of the first Western philosophers to interweave Eastern thought such as Buddhism and the Upanishads. Schopenhauer believed that the will is the fundamental reality to which all knowledge and reason are subject, that following its dictates leads to illusion and suffering, and that the goal of the good life is its extinction. His stress on the strength of the impelling will influenced Friedrich Nietzsche and the psychology of Sigmund Freud.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) - German social philosopher and the father of modern socialism and communism, for his influence on economics and class struggle. Most Americans are taught to fear these ideas even though most have never even explored them.

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) - Indian leader, for proving beyond all reasonable doubt, that an occupying power and oppressive force which appears to be overwhelming and insurmountable can in fact be expelled without violence.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) British philosopher, mathematician, and social reformer and Noam Chomsky (1928-) - for their understanding of logic, propaganda and their anti-war activities. Chomsky's controversial bestseller 9-11 (2002) is an analysis of the World Trade Center attack that, while denouncing the atrocity of the event, traces its origins to the actions and power of the United States, which he proves is "the leading terrorist state."

Dali, Escher, Giger, Bosch and various artists.

A vast multitude of composers and musicians from classical music to heavy metal.

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