The investigation of ‘human nature’ by 19th Century Enlightenment philosophers arrives at ‘needs’ as the process that produced civilization. This discovery parallels the fundamental premise in Buddhism, which states that attachment is root of suffering.

Everything can be seen in metaphorical terms: everything can be seen as a ‘relationship’; everything can be seen as ‘text’; everything can be seen as ‘war’; everything can be seen as ‘facilitation’. With each metaphorical lens that is taken up, different elements of the comparison are highlighted.

Rhetoric is the study of how people represent, express, and construct social realities and personal identities through language/text/symbols. In particular, Rhetoric examines how language is used and organized to describe and create. In more jargon terms, Rhetoric operates in semiotics and is mimetic at its core.