Appendices
Conclusion
References
Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The following people deserve explicit credit and appreciation for their contributions to Genuine Power:

Introduction

Genuine Power is a universe-centered journey that is unlike anything else on planet Earth. A new, integrated control will forever replace that out-of-control feeling by anyone who develops genuine power. That control develops slowly at first. It then builds astonishing momentum after subsequent readings. One will never be the same person again.

This journey begins with the mind. It then expands throughout evolution, civilization, self- knowledge, conscious control and culminates with the good life. No matter what one's current level of knowledge is, one will be ready to capture genuine power.

Can a person integrate the contents of his or her mind? Can a person gain an integrated view of existence? Is it possible for all knowledge to come together to produce a powerful new picture of life? One needs to understand every idea in this document to discover that these things are possible and necessary to gain genuine power.

This document will provide genuine power to everyone who integrates its ideas into his or her life. Each part contains thoroughly researched concepts and is one part of a dynamic picture. One needs to begin with part one and then move on to each subsequent part in sequential order to discover the full power of this document. That power comes from the integration of all the parts, which forms a new, dynamic picture. That picture radiates genuine power, certainty and security for everyone who grasps its essence. One will then achieve all of one's values and goals forever.

Part One
The Power Source: The Self

What the Self is

Power: This idea held man's attention for thousands of years. He searched for power in leaders, animals, mountains, planets and stars. He tried to discover power in religion, God, saviors, angels, devils and dreams. Man hoped to find power in government, physical strength, prayer and mysticism. Publications describing various powers are everywhere. But the great paradox of man is that the power he consistently looked for resides in the last place he would look.

Man had to remove many layers of myths before he could locate the source of power. After speculating that the source of power comes from things throughout the universe, man finally turned inside himself. What did he find?

Man was not content to discover flesh and bones in his attempt to discover power. Man had to find the self. This is exactly what he found. What is the self? The self is the mind. It is the sum of the conscious mind and the subconscious. The mind operates in the brain, mostly in the cerebrum.

The conscious mind functions primarily in the left hemisphere of the brain. Language, math, science, logic and analysis occur in the conscious mind. The subconscious functions primarily in the right hemisphere of the brain. Art, music, imagination, emotions and integration occur in the subconscious. The two hemispheres of the brain exchange information through a large bundle of nerves called the corpus callosum.

The brain contains many neurons that make connections with each other. As the human being grows, these neurons form a continuously evolving network. Electrochemical messages pass among neurons throughout this evolving network. The result of this activity is the human mind.

What is the human mind? The mind is consciousness. It is the experience inside each person that is invisible - though not undetectable - to other people, yet undeniably real for each person. What is consciousness? Consciousness is a representative model that parallels the external world. It is generated with words that are metaphors of things and behavior in the physical world. Consciousness, like mathematics, is an operator which enables a person to develop superior solutions in his or her mind before taking action in the world. The mastery of reason, logic, grammar and a large vocabulary enhances the ability of a person's consciousness to perceive and integrate reality.

Each person's self is the controlling entity of his or her life. It is where the person's thoughts, convictions, values, goals, plans, feelings and emotions reside. The self learns and grows - or stagnates and dies - during life. The self eventually becomes conscious of itself. This consciousness of self comes from self-knowledge. The more self-knowledge it generates, the greater is its ability to control its own life.

All other forms of life survive by adapting to their environment. Only the self survives by altering the environment according to its own requirements. By working within the laws of reality (i.e., the laws of physics and mathematics), the self controls nature. From nanotechnology to astrophysics, the self integrates and controls the physical environment. One can witness this control in semiconductors, nuclear fusion, cyclotrons, architecture, spacecraft, etc.

Power ceased to be a mystery when man examined the faculty that is unique to human beings: Volitional, conceptual consciousness. Man discovered that genuine power comes from the disciplined use of his own consciousness combined with productive effort. By learning about the history of the self, one can understand where the self is heading.

The History of the Self

Between four and a half to five billion years ago, an event occurred which altered the Milky Way galaxy. That event was the emergence of the sun and its solar system. Three and a half billion years ago, life evolved on the planet Earth. The first forms of life were simple, single-celled organisms. These primordial organisms evolved into multi-celled organisms. This flow of evolution continued from multi-celled organisms into a large variety of marine and land creatures. Mammals and primates evolved from this diversity of life. As trees receded in Africa, some primates were forced to come down from their dwelling to live in the African plains. This new breed evolved into primitive man.

Fifty thousand years ago, the species Homo s. sapiens emerged from this new breed of primitive man. Homo s. sapiens is the last surviving species of the genus Homo. Ten thousand years ago, man had a consistent oral language. Five thousand years ago, man recorded events using writing. Three thousand years ago, man invented the alphabet. Written language evolved from the pictograph, to the hieroglyph, to the ideogram and then to the alphabet.

The alphabet enabled greater precision in thought and communication. Man generated a new array of metaphors and analogies using letter-based words that were not possible using picture-symbols. This new control of language allowed man to gain a clearer and deeper understanding of the world. Using an increasing array of metaphors and analogies, man discovered his self. These alphabet-based metaphors and analogies enabled man to invent consciousness (see Neo-Tech III by Frank R. Wallace). Using mental models and metaphors, man became conscious of his surrounding world, his self and his relationship to the world. This newly invented power called consciousness enabled man to break free from the present moment and tribal association so he could control his own life. In fact, consciousness gave man a new power over his own life.

Man began to philosophize a few centuries after evolving into consciousness. Philosophers speculated about the nature of the universe. They attempted to discover how man could know things. They proposed how man should conduct his life. Finally, philosophers undertook the task to design a society that is proper for man. At this crucial time - the planning of conscious man's civilization - the only disease of the conscious mind became institutionalized (1). That disease is mysticism (see Definitions by Frank R. Wallace). Mysticism blocks mental integrations, which leaves a person unable to deal with reality in those blocked areas. Mysticism - which is irrationality - is why man constructs societies that continually collapse. An irrational civilization arose on planet Earth as mystical errors spread through spurious philosophy. From ancient Greece and Rome, to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, societies rise and fall like a house of cards in the irrational civilization.

Irrationality is what prevents every individual from developing genuine power. The cause of irrationality or mysticism is camouflaged dishonesty and laziness. Mysticism was present throughout the history of the self. Fortunately, the future of the self reveals a different picture.

The Future of the Self

The self evolved on earth approximately three millennia ago. Before the discovery of the self, man was amoral. Man became morally responsible after the discovery of the self. Man's free-will consciousness gave him the power to choose his own actions instead of following prehistoric rituals. With this new power of choice came the responsibility of moral conduct. Many men chose to be moral, while other men chose to be immoral. Because of mysticism, certain immoral men - such as Odysseus, from the epic poem The Odyssey - gained the status of heroes. Subsequent generations learned that these immoral men were heroic and their deceptive, destructive characters were virtuous (see Rise and Fall of the Anticivilization by Frank R. Wallace). These teachings, along with mystical errors in philosophy, culminated in the rise of an anticivilization.

Anticivilization is a dead-end social organization controlled by parasitical elites and professional value destroyers who cause endless cycles of destruction, suffering and death. An anticivilization can exist only when mysticism is widespread.

The degree that mysticism is in the mind of a person is the degree that his or her mind is detached from reality. Mysticism encourages a person to act on his or her emotions. Emotions, however, are not tools of thought. Thus, emotions require clever deceptions - backed by physical force - to be acted on. The result of emotion-based actions is the destruction of values and decreased quality of life for everyone. This is the source of false power.

By contrast, genuine power grows when a person removes the mysticism from his or her mind. One can then understand greater realms of reality. When one is free from all mystical limitations, one can potentially achieve anything that is possible within the laws of nature. The man or woman who is free of mysticism wields genuine power.

Man has been searching for power throughout the ages. He learned that by turning inward, he could become conscious of the methods and contents of his mind. Then man learned that he would gain genuine power by removing the mysticism from his mind. From the perspective of a mysticism-free consciousness, the anticivilization is a grotesque aberration of the mysticism-plagued mind. Man discovered that he could forever vanish the anticivilization from his life by removing the mysticism from his mind.

In essence, the future of the self is the mysticism-free individual living in a rational civilization. Rational civilization is the Civilization of the Universe. The Civilization of the Universe is the open-ended universe filled with value producers providing endless wealth, happiness and life. This transformation of consciousness and civilization is now occurring. There was a transformation from preconscious man to conscious man three thousand years ago. Today there is a transformation from mysticism-plagued conscious man to mysticism-free conscious man. This transition, like the one that occurred three thousand years ago, is nonstoppable. Anyone who removes all the mysticism from his or her mind will gain genuine power and enter the Civilization of the Universe. He or she will wield power that is unimaginable to those who are still crippled by the disease of mysticism. The mysticism-free person inevitably discovers paradise on earth.

The following table displays the history and future of the self.

Part Two
The Passport to Genuine Power:
Self-Knowledge

Removing Limitations

How could one remove mysticism from one's mind? One must first develop the ability to focus one's awareness on the contents of one's own mind. One will then encounter defense mechanisms attempting to protect one's mysticism. This is common. If genuine power is one's goal, one must persevere in self-analysis by dismissing all defense mechanisms (i.e., rationalizations, denials, projections). Protecting one's mysticism seems natural at first. Yet, when one removes all mysticism and discovers the omnificent mind (4), nothing feels more natural - or more powerful.

Self-understanding is the prerequisite for genuine power. There cannot be a genuinely powerful person who does not fully know his or her own self. From self-understanding comes self-control. From self-control comes the ability to control every area of one's life. This complete control leads to consistently increasing genuine power.

Most people have never achieved a thorough understanding of self. Perhaps this is because they avoid the constant effort and relentless honesty needed to gain self-understanding. As more people overcome the barriers to self-understanding, they will isolate and remove their own mysticism. They will then evolve into the mysticism-free omnificent mind and discover abiding prosperity. This healthy state of mind is available to every person. One's level of intelligence does not matter.

When one makes a commitment to persevere in self-analysis, one is ready to achieve self-understanding. But one needs to learn the tools for self-observation to fully understand one's self.

Tools for Self-Observation

When a person understands the logic underlying any thing or situation, that person achieves mastery over it. From computer software, to a scholarly subject, to an artistic skill, if one does not learn the logic behind it, one inevitably experiences frustration. Yet a person literally makes an activity look easy once he or she masters the logic behind it. This is so, because for that person it does become easy - and often enjoyable. This principle also applies to self-observation. Self-observation, when approached rationally, becomes a skill that one can master and enjoy.

One hundred generations of human beings lived in the anticivilization. The anticivilization discourages self-observation. Thus, many people never mastered the valuable skill of self-observation. The result is a lack of self-understanding. This lack of self-understanding enables deceitful people to control the citizens of anticivilization. Thus, dishonest people's wishes, feelings or dogmas manipulate the citizens of anticivilization. Allowing other people to control one's self prevents one from developing genuine power.

When a person masters the tools for self-observation, the person enjoys learning about his or her relationship to reality. One will probably not like everything one discovers, but self-knowledge and self-acceptance are the foundation for change and growth. One will experience pleasure from achieving self-understanding because one is gaining control over one's life and future.

A person could learn a lot about human nature simply by observing human beings in a variety of situations. Recognizing facial expressions, body postures and voice qualities of people reveals many different states of consciousness. Many babies and children seem happy and curious most of the time. Young adults seem energetic and eager to live. Adults seem serious and often bored. Many elderly people seem drained and disoriented. By observing different people, one could recall one's own various states of consciousness.

Questioning other people - from children to the elderly - about their experiences in life could provide key insights into one's own experiences. Studying biographies of different people could provide new perspectives on one's own life. A benefit of studying the lives of other people is that one can learn how to put one's own life experiences into a total context. This context could reveal the consistent patterns, direction and meaning in one's own life.

Gaining mastery over self requires the combination of studying the lives of other people and studying oneself. The process of self-observation is much more comprehensive than the process of observing other people. Self-observation consists of directing one's awareness on one's body, facial expressions and voice quality across a span of time. One can use this awareness to discover the obvious and subtle characteristics of one's posture, motions, gestures, breathing, voice quality, etc. A videotape recorder, audiotape recorder, mirror, photographs and relevant information from others can help one develop a full awareness of one's physical presence.

One needs to become conscious of all of one's attributes to gain a thorough understanding of self. Some attributes to discover and integrate are one's posture, motions, expressions, dimensions, colors, sounds, aromas and textures. The analysis and integration of one's attitude and character are also important for a thorough understanding of self. Clues to one's attitude and character come from recalling how one approached and handled previous situations. But discovering one's soul or self - in the deepest sense - requires that one advance beyond self-observation and master the art of introspection.

The Art of Introspection

Knowledge of one's physical presence - how one presents oneself to the world - is a necessary part of self-understanding. Knowledge of one's internal experiences - one's various psychological states - is also necessary for self-understanding. The former knowledge comes through extrospection and the latter knowledge comes through introspection.

Extrospection is the process of using one's senses of vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch to observe the world. A person gains sensations from the world through these senses. The person's brain automatically integrates these sensations into percepts. Then the person volitionally integrates these percepts into concepts to condense his or her endless percepts. Next, the person uses these concepts to form complete thoughts. These thoughts are then integrated into fundamental generalizations or principles. Principles enable the person to understand and use the data of the reality so he or she can successfully deal with reality.

Introspection is the process of using one's conscious awareness to observe one's internal experiences. A person becomes aware of the conditions of mind and body by focusing his or her awareness on them. The person then explicitly identifies these conditions, in conceptual terms, and integrates this data with the rest of his or her knowledge. Introspective knowledge enables the person to understand and successfully deal with his or her internal experiences.

The anticivilization encourages extrospection while discouraging introspection. In fact, the teaching of introspection is rare. Learning and mastering the art of introspection is essential for genuine power. Introspection becomes easier and more rewarding when one practices it consistently. Introspection is the foundation of self-knowledge.

One captures awesome power by discovering the contents of one's own consciousness. Diligent introspection will reveal these contents. Contents of consciousness are: Convictions, principles, values, goals, plans, thoughts, emotions, feelings and memories. Identifying, evaluating and integrating these contents of consciousness is necessary to gain genuine power. Eliminating invalid concepts and contexts along with repressed emotions is also necessary to experience genuine power. Psychotherapy (5), guided imagery (6), sentence completion exercises (7), journal work and purposeful conversations are mighty tools for identifying the contents of one's mind. After identifying these contents, one can scrupulously analyze, validate and integrate the contents of one's consciousness. By integrating all of one's knowledge - using the master plan in part three - and derepressing (8) buried emotions, one will achieve a clear, brilliant mind and graceful body movements. Many people lose this state of mind and body after childhood.

People could be helpful in untangling severely confused thoughts one might have. But the responsibility to accurately understand self, reality and one's relationship to reality rests on each individual. No person is in a better position to know one's unique self other than oneself. And no person can give any one else that intimate understanding of self. Since journal work is a personal process, it could be the most effective tool to gain self-knowledge. Journal work - if approached rationally - will provide a coherent picture of one's life. It could also reveal the stages of one's character development and knowledge expansion. This coherent picture allows one to seize control of one's life. Before seizing control of one's life, however, one needs to seize control of the guiding forces of the self.

The Guiding Forces of the Self

The journey along the path to self-knowledge is not complete without discovering the guiding forces of the self. Discovering these guiding forces is necessary to develop genuine power. When one discovers and seizes control over these guiding forces, one becomes the conscious master of one's own soul.

What are the guiding forces of the self? They are the convictions and value judgments stored in one's subconscious. Once formulated, these guiding forces act like instant decision-makers which influence all of one's thoughts and actions. Where do they originate from? Amazingly, people seldom consciously choose and validate their own convictions and value judgments. Thus, these are often acquired through the culture: The educational, political, governmental, media, religious, art and entertainment institutions of a society. The convictions and value judgments of the culture are usually absorbed by the people within that society.

How do convictions and value judgments reach these institutions in society? The intellectuals of the society spread them: The scientists, teachers, writers and artists. Finally, where do the intellectuals derive their convictions and value judgments from? They come from the fundamental ideas generated by the predominant philosophers in their era of history (9). Tragically, most philosophers throughout history promoted ideas that decreased the power of the individual and increased the power of the ruling elite. By identifying and validating one's own convictions and values, however, one can end the absurdity of being guided by other people's emotions or edicts.

A conviction is a belief or assumption that one holds to be true. Convictions direct a person's actions. One acquires convictions throughout one's life: From early childhood through one's adult life. Once acquired, these convictions remain in one's subconscious unless one chooses to replace them. Many people do not examine their convictions. Thus, they are unaware of their irrational convictions. Typically, people acquire convictions from cultural osmosis, desires or fears instead of logical thought. The person's subconscious then stores these convictions despite their truth or falsity.

To successfully deal with the facts of reality, which is the essence of genuine power, one needs to consciously identify and validate one's own convictions. Disciplined thought, reflection and journal work enable one to identify his or her own convictions. Once identified, one can check their validity according to the facts of reality using logic. One can then dismiss irrational convictions and consciously discover other rational convictions.

A Value is a worthy thing or situation that one works to achieve or retain. Values are the motivating force underlying a person's actions. If one wants to experience control and abiding fulfillment, one needs to consciously choose and rank one's values. The alternative is to arbitrarily accept values, which leads to chaos and a lack of fulfillment.

Using the same methods to identify one's convictions, one can bring one's value judgments into conscious awareness. Once identified, one can eliminate any contradictions in one's values. One can then consciously discover new values and arrange them in hierarchical order. Without prioritized values, decision making becomes precarious and sometimes frightening. If one holds contradictory values, one will achieve some values at the expense of the others. But by explicitly choosing and ranking one's values, one will experience a pervasive sense of clarity, tranquility and control in one's life.

Secondary convictions and values evolve as one expands his or her knowledge. By becoming fully conscious of one's convictions and values, one can efficiently manage these throughout one's life. One will then seize control of the guiding forces of the self. This results in self-assurance, security and warmth which remains with oneself for life.

Part Three
The Master Plan for Genuine Power

Planning for Success

One needs to evolve into the state of full consciousness to develop genuine power. What will a person focus his or her full consciousness on? A master plan will provide the material to focus one's consciousness on. A properly constructed master plan provides purpose and order in one's life. Without an explicit master plan, the many choices in life can be overwhelming. Uncertainty and anxiety become common experiences for the person without an explicit master plan. But with a rational master plan, certainty and fulfillment become one's prevalent experience of life.

The Master Plan for Genuine Power consists of ten sections. By understanding each individual section and integrating all ten sections into a complete document, anyone can evolve into full consciousness and genuine power. The ten sections are: Philosophy, convictions, principles, metaphysical value judgment, values, virtues, life mission, goals, plans and time line. Philosophy lays the foundation for all the subsequent sections.

Philosophy

Genuine power and long-range success grow out of philosophy. False power and long-range failure also grow out of philosophy. Genuine power comes from one specific philosophy, and false power comes from its opposite philosophy. Unfortunately, conscious man's history grew out of the philosophy of false power. Except for a few noteworthy epochs, conscious man lived under the influence of bad philosophy.

Human beings endured the destruction brought on by bad philosophy for two millennia. Dishonesty, rule-by-force, collapsing empires and world wars are the products of bad philosophy. Fortunately, a valid, practical philosophical system arose during the last half of the twentieth century. That philosophical system is Objectivism. Ayn Rand discovered Objectivist philosophy. Ayn Rand's legal heir, Leonard Peikoff, systematized her philosophy. Objectivist philosophy exposes earth's anticivilization while revealing the entire Civilization of the Universe. Its essence resides in the thirteen words listed in the right column of the following table.

A person could spend an entire lifetime studying philosophy without fully grasping its power to guide one's life. Fortunately, one needs to learn only Objectivist philosophy to gain and cash in on this power. This philosophy is necessary to step out of the dangerous anticivilization now infesting planet Earth. Anyone who understands the essence of Objectivism can forever dismiss the anticivilization and step into the Civilization of the Universe.

Integrating this philosophy into one's master plan will lead to total self-guidance. The format for the first section of one's master plan is:

Convictions

One's convictions influence all of one's thoughts and actions. It follows that irrational convictions lead to failure and frustration, while rational convictions lead to success and fulfillment. If genuine power is one's goal, then rational convictions are necessary. This means that one needs to identify one's convictions and check to see if they correspond to reality. By becoming conscious of one's convictions, one can discard any irrational convictions and validate the rational convictions. One can then continue to discover new, rational convictions to expand one's knowledge and efficacy.

Many people are not conscious of their convictions. They are unaware of the profound influence their convictions have in every area of their life. Since they do not validate their convictions, they are unaware of any false or contradictory convictions that are at the base of their knowledge. In several cases, their convictions are floating abstractions detached from the facts of reality. This translates into uncertainty and inefficacy in thought and action.

Validating one's convictions is crucial to attach the contents of one's consciousness to reality. With consistent effort, one can integrate all the contents of one's consciousness with reality. When the contents of one's consciousness correspond to reality, and one has a valid method of thinking, one can generate knowledge without limits.

The following list contains some validated convictions. One needs to check one's own convictions and, if necessary, discover new, valid convictions. Integrating these logically-validated convictions (10) into one's master plan will lead to certainty. The format for the second section of one's master plan is:

Principles

The essential difference between man and all other animals is that man has a conceptual consciousness and all other animals have a perceptual consciousness. Animals can only deal with the perceptually given in their environment. They cannot integrate their percepts into concepts. Thus, animals are unable to use conceptual thoughts to guide their life and produce life-enhancing values such as cars, buildings, books, advanced technology and art. In fact, the concepts of past, present and future are beyond the grasp of animals.

Man has to organize and condense his endless percepts by integrating them into concepts. Next, man has to integrate his concepts into rational thoughts. He then has to form principles to organize and condense his many thoughts. Principles - such as scientific, ethical and legal principles - enable man to expand his knowledge without limits and efficiently access any portion of his knowledge. Finally, man's actions have to arise from his principled thinking - not from random thoughts, emotions or immediate perceptions. Since man cannot escape the consequences of his actions, he has to know if his actions will further or threaten his life. Principles enable man to know what the consequences of his actions will be in the present and future. Man, unlike any other animal, has to think and act long-range. Principled thinking and action make this possible.

Principles guide one's thinking (i.e., cognitive principles) and actions (i.e., moral principles). There are only two fundamental alternatives concerning principles. One alternative is to consciously choose rational principles to guide one's life. The other alternative is to reject rational principles and, by default, be guided by subconscious irrational principles. But if man's nature requires that he think and act long-range, then rational principles are necessary to survive as a human being. Irrational principles encourage man to act expediently while ignoring his long-term requirements. The inevitable results of irrational principles are painful experiences and long-range destruction - both to self and others. By not consciously choosing rational principles, one inescapably lives by undefined, arbitrary principles. This is the principle of being unprincipled.

Developing and increasing genuine power requires that one choose rational principles to guide one's thinking and action. The following list contains some rational principles. One can add other principles to this list as one discovers them. Integrating these rational principles into one's master plan will lead to self-confidence. The format for the third section of one's master plan is:

Metaphysical Value Judgment

Each person holds an all-encompassing view of the universe. Many people hold this view implicitly as a feeling or sense of life. Some people formulate this view explicitly - in conceptual terms - through a deliberate process of thought. No matter how a person holds this view, there are only two alternatives. One alternative is the benevolent universe judgment. This means that the universe is favorable to human life and man can achieve his values on earth. The other alternative is the malevolent universe judgment. This means that the universe is hostile to human life and man is incapable of achieving his values on earth.

Due to the pervasiveness of bad philosophy, many people throughout history held the malevolent universe judgment. This judgment diminishes the power of anyone who holds it implicitly or explicitly. Genuine power grows from the benevolent universe judgment. Like a self- fulfilling prophecy, the person who holds the benevolent universe judgment inevitably experiences a harmonious and fulfilling life.

Integrating the empowering metaphysical value judgment into one's master plan will lead to security. The format for the fourth section of one's master plan is:

Values

As explained in the philosophy of Objectivism, man's life is the standard of value and it is the ultimate value. In other words, the highest value is the individual self. All other values are meaningless without the individual self. Following the highest value are the three supreme values: Reason, purpose and self-esteem. These make all of one's other values possible. Reason is the faculty that identifies and integrates a person's sensory data - such as sights, sounds and smells - into concepts, which enable one to deal with reality. Purpose is the central focus of one's life which takes the form of productive work. One's values and goals need to integrate with one's purpose. Self- esteem is the state of knowing that one's person is good and one can achieve his or her values and goals. It is the appraisal that one is worthy of living and achieving happiness.

Following the highest value and the three supreme values, one can add other values to this section. Examples of such values are: Freedom, happiness, achievement, prosperity and romantic love. One can then rank all self-chosen values to pursue them rationally. Integrating the following values into one's master plan will lead to self-control. The format for the fifth section of one's master plan is:

Virtues

A virtue is a moral quality that a person exercises to achieve or retain a value. Objectivist philosophy identifies and explains that the primary virtue is rationality. The six derivative virtues of rationality are: Independence, integrity, fully integrated honesty, justice, productiveness and pride.

Rationality is the volitional process of keeping one's consciousness attached to the facts of reality through the consistent use of reason. Independence is the acceptance of the need to live by the work of one's own mind, whatever type of work one chooses to do. In essence, it means that a person's primary orientation is to reality, not to other people. Integrity means that a person is loyal to his or her convictions and values, and acts on rational principles. Fully integrated honesty means that one refuses to fake reality. One lives in reality; therefore, one has to correspond to reality. Justice means judging people's character and actions. It requires that each person receive exactly what he or she deserves - for good or bad. Productiveness means that one creates material values (i.e., goods or services), and one produces more net tradeable values than one consumes. Pride means that one shapes one's self in the image of one's values, which makes one's life worth living.

Following the primary virtue and the six derivative virtues, one can add other virtues to this section. Examples of such virtues are: Courage, perseverance and enthusiasm. Integrating the following virtues into one's master plan will lead to happiness. The format for the sixth section of one's master plan is:

Life Mission

The life mission is the central focus of one's life. It establishes the hierarchy of one's values and integrates one's goals. All of one's actions - either directly or indirectly - need to support one's life mission. When all of one's actions are directed toward a single mission, each action has a cumulative effect. One's productivity then increases exponentially to a remarkable level of efficacy.

Consciously choosing one's life mission, and arranging one's life to support this mission, provides one with the self-assurance needed to make businesslike decisions. The life mission - which is one's unifying purpose - is the work one chooses to do. While each person will choose a different form of work, there are two fundamental alternatives to choose from. A person can work to replace the anticivilization with the Civilization of the Universe. Or a person can work to prevent the Civilization of the Universe from replacing anticivilization. Genuine power flows from the former mission while false power flows from the latter mission.

Some examples of people who held genuine power by implicitly working to replace the anticivilization with the Civilization of the Universe are: Aquinas, Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Kepler, Galileo, John Locke, Newton, Adam Smith, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Adam Weishaupt, Charles Darwin, James J Hill, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Calvin Coolidge, John D Rockefeller, Albert Einstein, Ayn Rand, Sam Walton.

Some examples of people who held false power by implicitly working to prevent the Civilization of the Universe from replacing anticivilization are: Augustine, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant, Alexander Hamilton, Napoleon, Georg Hegel, Karl Marx, Woodrow Wilson, Lenin, Sigmund Freud, Franklin D Roosevelt, Hitler, John M Keynes, John Dewey, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Ayatollah Khomeini.

False power inevitably leads to the destruction of values, people and entire nations. Genuine power inevitably leads to the production of values and the increased well-being of people and entire nations. Integrating this empowering life mission into one's master plan will lead to stardom. The format for the seventh section of one's master plan is: