We actually say in 'Nightbreed,' 'God is an astronaut, Oz is over the rainbow, and Midian is where the monsters go.' There's a lovely sense in which there's a simple thesis being played out here. These are things you understand as a child out on the play yard.
Conflict is good in a negotiation process... it's the clash of two ideas, which then, all being well, produces a third idea.
