Any writer, especially one whose aim is the elucidation of a theoretical framework, wrestles with the question of the appropriate point of departure. How to lead oneself and others into the details of a philosophy? Here in Part I, my strategy is to identify the most general features of Deleuze's thought. The first such feature is that Deleuze's philosophy is systematic. The second is that Deleuze's system is a Problem or Idea, a differential content permitting heterogeneous expressions. Moreover, this problem or differential content is its past, present, and future expressions. The third general characteristic is a slogan moving across the system's surface — that of the middle. The fourth is a description of the acts of thought or ways of thinking comprising the differential content itself.