I have a hard time calling myself an author. Or even a writer. When I'm asked what I do, I say, "it depends upon the day, and even then, it depends upon the time of day." Week days, I'm an Internet consultant working with big brands we all know, helping them market and improve their online properties. Woven in and around my day job, I'm husband to a woman far better than I, and I'm the father of two little boys to whom I am utterly addicted. And then at night - when all is quiet on the home-front - I'm an entrepreneur, a musician, an avid reader, a social rabble-rouser, and ahem...a writer. As I said, it depends upon the day, but one thread runs throughout - I don't sleep much.

I do, however, think a lot - about a ridiculously wide range of topics. This is somewhat uncontrollable, as I have developed a pretty good knack for spotting patterns in seemingly unrelated fields of inquiry. Things dawn on me, and I dwell on them, research them, discuss them, and then I finally settle on them - or more precisely, I decide where I stand pending further information. One pattern, or maybe uber-pattern, in particular, that I've dwelled on quite a bit is human nature. My investigations into areas such as evolutionary psychology, cognitive neuroscience, complexity theory, and even quantum physics, as well as metaphysics (both formal and kooky), epistemology, archaeology, and human history have led me to settle on a fairly involved train of thought...

• Humans are animals, first and foremost - sophisticated to be sure - but animals nonetheless
• The human mind (as it exists today) was designed by natural selection to facilitate human survival in time that no longer exists (at least 10,000 years ago)
• The human mind accomplishes its survival enhancing duties via a set of mental modules, each of which evolved to solve specific problems, problems that existed thousands of years ago
• The human emotional infrastructure is the tool of choice for many mental modules - it provides the motivational impetus to respond to the world around us
• Human emotions are evolutionarily older than the human cognitive infrastructure, and they are guiding our interpretations and responses to our environment a great deal of the time
• Many of the problems that the mind is designed to solve are not problems for modern humans in the modern, western world
• It is possible to evaluate our "out-of-the-box" emotional responses in terms of our modern aims - to determine which ones are helping us and which ones are not
• It is possible to control most (maybe all) of our wayward emotions, but only if we know how, and we work diligently at it

This train of thought is detailed in Healing The Unhappy Caveman. Writing the book was nothing short of a transformational experience for me as a person, one that continues to this day. It was transformational because it forced me to look inward more than I ever had before. It forced me to recognize my weaknesses, and it forced me to come to grips with doing what it takes to address them. I emerged with a set of ethics about what it means to be a good person and to get the most out of life - a tentative set.

One of the most useful of those ethics is the idea that the getting it wrong is a good thing, so long as we have the courage to accept the truth and act accordingly. The obvious consequence of such an ethic is the embrace of truth - nay, the relentless pursuit of truth, no matter where it hides. That includes the truth about ourselves, which means the window inward must always stay open. So I consider myself a work in progress, and I always will. (Incidentally, you can be sure that my wife and closest people would strongly agree.)

Another useful ethic is the notion that we can be both teacher and student to anyone. It has proven true - on many levels - too many times to count. I suppose that's what compels me to publish and blog - I'll tell you what I know and what I think, even if you don't ask, but I'll listen, too. So if any of this Enlightened Caveman concept appeals to you, jump in. There's plenty to keep you busy, from the book to more than two years of blog posts (and often high-energy comments). And the discussion is renewed with vigor following the release of my book and the launch of this updated site. Let me know what you think. You can reach me at ec at enlightenedcaveman dot com.