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Chapter Three
Inside Knowledge

Valid Principles Apply in Cyberspace

"Hey wait," one might say to oneself, "What if the principles revealed throughout Perfect Mind/Perfect Body are obsolete in the rising cyberspace civilization?" After thinking over the matter, one realizes that valid principles are timeless and universal. They are eternal; time and space do not negate valid principles. Thus, for example, self-reliance and individual rights are applicable to conscious beings at all times and in all places. This means they apply in cyberspace as well as the pre-cyberspace world. And that means learning and discovering valid principles are never a waste of time. In fact, valid principles rule cyberspace—principles such as rationality, honesty, productiveness, and property rights. Unprincipled behavior at best provides short-term advantages in cyberspace. But principled behavior generates compounding benefits that outcompete unprincipled behavior. As a side note: the traditional mind is unprincipled. Thus, it will become obsolete in cyberspace.

Human Thought and Action is Conceptual

To a traditional mentality, the idea that human thought and action is conceptual might sound foreign. But human thought and action are conceptual phenomenon. Human cognition consists of conceptual thinking, which arises from perceptual material. Human action, while physical, originates from concepts and ideas—even if the person is not completely aware of those ideas.

The Value of Subjectivist Philosophy

What value could Subjectivist philosophy possibly hold for people throughout the world? How can Subjectivist philosophy have any value for human beings? Subjectivist philosophy, while destructive when applied to conscious actions, does provide one unique value to rational people. From Plato to Kant and beyond, Subjectivist philosophy provides an ideal contrast to Objectivist philosophy. That contrast enables everyone—from ordinary laborers to philosophic savants—to grasp the essence and supreme value of Objectivism. One can compare and contrast Subjectivism with Objectivism for a crisp, clear understanding of what Objectivist philosophy is and why it is a major value.

Without Subjectivism—without the irrational, life-destroying philosophy implicitly used by mass murderers epitomized by Lenin, Mao, and Castro—people could not understand Objectivism. Those who apply Subjectivism to conscious actions, such as Don Juans, con artists, murderers, politicians, and theologians, concretize the opposite of Objectivism. They provide de facto proof for the need for Objectivist philosophy—the philosophy that underpins all advanced civilizations throughout the universe.

The following is a summary of Objectivism in the absence of Subjectivism.

The above summary provides a basic understanding of Objectivism. But comparing Objectivist philosophy with Subjectivist philosophy clarifies what Objectivism is and what it is not. That powerful comparison lets individuals grasp the essence and value of Objectivism. The table below compares and contrasts the two opposing philosophies. Note how Subjectivist philosophy illuminates Objectivism.

Self and Anti-Self

In science, there are known entities that have opposites. For example, in physics there are protons and antiprotons. Protons have the same mass as antiprotons, but whereas the proton is positively charged, the antiproton is negatively charged. Another example of opposites in physics is the positron and electron. The positron has the same mass as an electron, but it has a positive charge and the electron has a negative charge.

Throughout infinite existence, essentially all things have a corresponding opposite or anti-thing. The following is a brief list of opposites that occur in existence:

Along this line of thought, there is a hypothetical opposite for the self. That hypothetical opposite is the anti-self. This opposite would have characteristics that are the exact opposite of the self. For example, if a person’s self is moral and productive, that person’s anti-self would be immoral and destructive. Steven Hawking says that if you meet your anti-self, do not shake hands with it; you will vaporize each other.

There is no Religion or Philosophy in a Rational Civilization

No one on planet Earth lives in a rational civilization. Everyone lives in an anticivilization, which is a life-destroying juggernaut. To cope with the endless losses that everyone endures, man conjured up religious and philosophical doctrines. Those ideologies are an attempt to cope with the inevitable suffering and pain that comes from living in an upside-down world.

In a rational civilization, endless losses are unknown. Everyone who lives in a rational civilization experiences endless prosperity—real, limitless gains in wealth, love, and happiness. In such a civilization, religions and philosophies do not exist. No one needs to rationalize value destruction or murder because these are obsolete.

Religion is the traditional mind’s attempt to understand the universe. Using specious concepts such as God, saviors, heaven, and hell, religious pontificators attempt to justify the pain, suffering, and death everyone endures in the anticivilization.

Philosophy is the widest integration of knowledge. It is an idea system or matrix that is the foundation for society and man’s conduct. In the anticivilization, philosophies arise to explain or provide support for the destruction of values.

Once civilization replaces anticivilization, religion and philosophy simply vanish. When everyone moves into a rational civilization, the need to justify value destruction and murder vanishes. Specious concepts such as God, faith, saviors, etc. also vanish. In short, rationality replaces irrationality. In such an environment, individuals do not belong to a religion or follow a philosophy. Essentially everyone engages in productive work, romantic-love relationships, and artistic enjoyment—activities that build personal happiness. In short, individuals fulfill their nature as conscious beings by producing more values than they consume to experience ever-greater realms of happiness.

God is an invalid concept; it has no referents in reality. As such, there is no need to give oneself a label, i.e., atheist, for not believing in a false concept. Objectivism is the foundation of a rational civilization: Objective reality, objective cognition, objective values, objective law, and objective art. Thus, there is no need to label oneself an Objectivist; it is self-evident and fades into the background. And unbreached honesty is a natural part of conceptual conscious beings. Thus, there is no need to label oneself a Neo-Tech person.

In the anticivilization, labels such as "atheist" and "Objectivist" do help differentiate people. But in a rational civilization, religion, philosophy, and their myriad labels are unnecessary and obsolete.

Labels For Human Beings

As mentioned above, people are not theists, atheists, Subjectivists, or Objectivists. They simply are conscious human beings. Atheism, Objectivism, and Neo-Tech are useful terms to differentiate individuals who live in an anticivilization. However, in reality, once individuals extirpate their mysticism and apply fully integrated honesty to their thoughts and actions, they become fully human; they become rational human beings. No other names or terminology are necessary. Today, when so many people are caught up in mysticism, terms such as Neo-Tech are helpful, even crucial. But once a person heals his or her self—i.e., cures his or her self of the stupidity disease of mysticism, that person becomes a rational human being.

The No-Escape Nature of the C-of-U System

The combination of Objectivist philosophy and cyberspace culminates in the C-of-U System.

Once a harmful person becomes entangled in the C-of-U System, he or she can never escape. And, that system always grows stronger. This means that criminals—ranging from small-time con artists to dangerous humanoid predators—are finished forever. The C-of-U System delivers prosperity, happiness, and life immortal. Anyone who blocks or destroys these values becomes permanently entangled in the C-of-U System.

Consider, for example, a petty nuisance, such as pickpocket. Once that pickpocket becomes entangled in the C-of-U System, he’s going to be driven into a productive livelihood…or into suicide. That may not happen immediately. But it is inevitable. Once a value destroyer enters the C-of-U System, he or she can never escape.

Virtues versus Non-Virtues

What are virtues? They are human traits that increase the quality of life for one’s self and others. Virtues are those attributes that can be developed through one’s own volitional effort. Characteristics that cannot be developed through one’s volitional effort are not virtues. The following comparison distinguishes virtues from non-virtues.

Possessing the above non-virtues is not bad. However, relying solely on non-virtues does not make a person virtuous. Virtues require self-development. If one has not exerted effort to develop admiral qualities, one does not have virtues.

One can compare virtues and non-virtues by using the list above. The non-virtues on the left side of the comparison require no thought, planning, or effort to achieve. As great as these attributes are, they are not virtues. By contrast, the virtues on the right side of the comparison require thought, planning and effort to achieve—usually very hard thought, diligent planning, and constant effort.

If one is fortunate enough to have any of the above non-virtues, one can turn them into virtues. How? By applying thought and effort to increase and enhance those natural gifts or traits. For example, Ludwig van Beethoven was born with a proclivity for producing beautiful music. That is not a virtue. But, to Beethoven’s credit—and humanity’s benefit—he worked throughout his entire life to develop and increase his musical talent. Thus, his self-developed capacity for producing superlative music became his most memorable characteristic.

Conceptualizing Existence

What is the essential feature that separates man from all the other animals? Conceptual consciousness. What can man do with his consciousness that animals cannot do? He can conceptualize existence for survival and prosperity.

Animals have a perceptual consciousness. That is, they are capable of perceiving entities in their environment. But they can not integrate their percepts into concepts and perform conceptual thinking. For example, if a horse is in a field, he can perceive the things in that field. The horse can perceive grass, bushes, trees, and other entities. But that horse cannot bring those percepts together to form concepts. Thus, that horse is incapable of, for example, integrating grass, bushes, and trees into the concept "plant". Furthermore, that horse is incapable of understanding that plants can be cultivated and sold for money.

Man has a conceptual consciousness. That is, man can integrate his percepts into concepts. Man also can integrate his concepts into thoughts, and integrate his thoughts into principles. Yes, man’s consciousness functions on the conceptual level, from low-level concepts to the most abstract concepts and ideas.

Using his faculty of consciousness, man can conceptualize existence. To grasp what this means, examine a concrete-bound person. This is a person who has not developed his rational faculty, and, thus, remains stuck at the perceptual level. He functions at the level of the animals. He only knows what is in his immediate environment. For example, if this person is at a park, he is only aware of his surroundings; he is oblivious to what is a thousand miles away. If one asks him what is beyond his range of vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, he would reply, "I don’t know and I don’t care." He remains at the perceptual level of consciousness on principle. Perhaps he rationalizes that abstract thinking is impractical or requires too much effort.

Now look at a fully conceptual person. This is a person who has developed his rational faculty. He functions at the conceptual level of consciousness. Such a person can grasp everything in existence, including existence itself. Beginning with perceptual data—material provided by his five senses—he integrates his knowledge objectively. He uses logic to keep his concepts and thoughts linked to reality. Then he pushes into ever-wider realms of abstract thought until he grasps the concept "existence". At this point, he has conceptualized all of existence: universes, galaxies, solar systems, stars, planets, life, land, water, molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles. He grasps that existence is all encompassing; nothing can exist outside of existence. Space, time, matter, and energy are in existence. Existence itself is infinite and eternal; it is omnipresent.

This person who functions on the conceptual level of consciousness has not conceptualized every single entity in existence. There are countless things that man has not yet discovered. But this person has conceptualized many things in existence, ranging from the smallest units, i.e., gravitons, to the largest units, i.e., universes.

Knowing how to think rationally and having conceptualized existence culminates in real power. One can use one’s thinking and knowledge to decide what one wants, overcome any obstacles, and achieve one’s goals.

The Value of Independence

Independence means living by the work of one’s own mind and effort. Once one grasps the profound value of independence, one can never again be dependent on anyone. Suicide becomes more appealing than letting oneself become dependent on others for survival.

The human organism is designed for independence. It has a conscious mind, which is the mechanism that enables man to be independent. The conscious mind lets the individual make plans, decisions, and actions that lead to independence. All children are dependent on their parents for survival. But upon becoming an adult, humans are fully capable of living independently.

Why is independence so valuable? It lets the individual make his own decisions based on his own knowledge and self-interest. Input from others can be helpful. But an individual’s plans, choices, and actions need to arise from one’s own mind, not from external authorities.

A person can have a job, boss, and spouse and still be independent. Independence is a way of dealing with life. The implicit foundation of independence is "I will get it done—regardless of what it takes." Rather than running to one’s boss, coworkers, lover, family members, friends, or other people, the independent person depends on self. And that self-dependence increases one’s ability to solve all one’s problems through one’s own thinking and effort. What is the result? One evolves into a mature human being and captures permanent prosperity, romance, and happiness.

Plato’s Definition of "The Good"

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote one of the most influential books in history. That book is The Republic. In it, Plato sought to discover the meaning of abstract words like truth, beauty, and justice. One of his primary objectives in writing the book was to discover the meaning of "the good".

In his masterwork, Plato determined that the good is "each person doing one job." He came to this conclusion by looking at what would keep the state functioning smoothly. Plato held the group as a higher value than the individual. Thus, he asserted that what benefits the state was "the good", despite the needs of the individual.

What, in principle, was Plato really doing? He was laying the philosophical foundation for specialization. Roman leaders understood Plato. A few centuries after Plato’s death, Roman leaders began to specialize knowledge, learning institutions, the professions, and jobs. They understood that if each citizen became specialized, no one would have the integrated power to challenge their corrupt leadership. A Superstar named Jesus Christ arose—who was not specialized—and began to threaten the entire power structure of the Roman world. Those Roman leaders murdered Jesus in order to protect and advance their harmful livelihoods.

Since Plato asserted that the good was each person doing one job, parasitical elites have aggressively specialized the entire anticivilization. Today, most people are locked in the specialization mode, unable to grasp the gigantic hoax of specialization. In fact, parasitical elites, professional mystics, and professional value destroyers rule the entire anticivilization. They control and drain everyone who is locked in that moribund world.

What can one do? How can one discover open-ended opportunities? One needs to leave the anticivilization behind and enter the Civilization of the Universe—the newly arising cyberspace civilization. One simply needs to dissolve one’s investments in that dead-end world and enter the newly arising cyberspace civilization.

Controlling Nature

Throughout all of human history, man has lacked the tool that controls nature. Without this tool, man has been able to control nature to various degrees, such as through building dams and bombs. But most people are still controlled by nature.

Today, the tool that controls nature is available for everyone’s benefit. That tool is the perfect mind—the creator of all things. Such a mind is the de facto controller of nature.

The perfect mind is, by definition, mystic-free, honest, and integrated. When a person develops this mind, he or she wields omnipotent power—power to control the entire universe. To be sure, this mind cannot violate the laws of physics or mathematics. But within the laws of nature, the perfect mind can and does control nature, reality, existence.

How does this mind operate? It identifies reality in conceptual terms; it develops non-contradictory knowledge based on the facts of reality. Such a mind forever grows in knowledge and gains a magnificent understanding of nature. As Francis Bacon stated, "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." Once the perfect mind understands nature, it begins to take control over nature. Suddenly, the cycles of nature—such as the human life-and-death cycle—become obsolete.

Through constant effort and undivided honesty, the perfect mind takes control of nature. By integrating every thought and action with time, this supra-powerful mind quickly obsoletes nature’s evolutionary and natural cycles. Soon after the perfect mind is discovered and spread throughout society, conscious beings:

1. Vanish the anticivilization and its products of envy, crime, poverty, and suffering
2. Develop commercial immortality products and services
3. Discover the scientific and mathematical nature of existence
4. Harness near-free energy perhaps from stars, gravity, or black holes
5. Move beyond earth by inhabiting asteroids, planets and manmade space colonies

The perfect mind is the tool that easily outcompetes and then takes control over nature. That mind leaves all natures’ preset plans in the dust. And finally, that mind is available today for everyone’s immediate benefit.

The Philosophy of the Universe

Throughout the universe, technologically advanced civilizations have existed, currently exist, and will exist forever. This assertion arises from inductive reasoning based on probability statistics. Today, scientists are searching for and gaining empirical evidence for life on other planets and in other solar systems.

In advanced civilizations, philosophy probably is unknown. In any advanced civilization, rationality is self-evident—it does not need to be expounded through philosophical doctrines. Thus, philosophy would become unnecessary. But here on earth with its mortal anticivilization, all kinds of philosophies arise to rationalize endless cycles of destruction and death.

The philosophy of the universe would be implicit among conscious beings in advanced civilizations. The following is the philosophy of the universe:

These five branches of philosophy reveal the philosophy of the universe. The essence of metaphysics is existence. Going below existence to quarks or gravitons is beyond the scope of philosophy; this belongs to the realm of science. Principled thinking is the essence of epistemology, as it encompasses the full range of the conceptual faculty. Ethics reduces to honest effort, which is the moral means of survival for conscious beings. Politics reduces to free enterprise, which means that no authority or individual can block the voluntary production and trading of values among conscious beings. And esthetics comprises emotional refueling: individuals produce and enjoy art to refuel their emotional self and experience stimulating pleasures.

Someday on earth, individuals will never know about philosophy. As a rational civilization overtakes earth’s anticivilization, valid philosophy will become self-evident to all. And those who try to use invalid philosophy will discover—quickly—that it does not and cannot work in a rational civilization.

The Value of Stories

What is the value of stories? The primary value of stories is entertainment. One reads stories for one’s own pleasure. Stories that interest oneself provide one with joy, happiness, laughter, tears, and so on. Stories also have a didactic value; they transmit messages, values, and knowledge to readers. In many cases, one reads stories, not to be educated, but to be entertained. But upon completion of certain stories, one realizes that one has learned new things, such as new attitudes, cultures, and so on.

In the context of the anticivilization, stories take on a whole new dimension. What is that dimension? Stories become a vehicle that transports readers out of earth’s anticivilization and into the Civilization of the Universe.

Yes, stories let Earthlings temporarily escape the anticivilization and enter rational civilization. This is one of the most powerful and valuable aspects of stories. Stories use colorful metaphors and playful analogies that let readers escape the anticivilization, at least for a few precious moments. Often, such metaphors and analogies are tightly woven throughout the entire story so they are not immediately identifiable. If such metaphors were obvious to everyone, those stories would be attacked and suppressed by protectors of the anticivilization: dishonest journalists, evil academe, politicians, religionists, and liberal intellectuals.

Rich metaphors and analogies flowing throughout stories are a powerful way Citizens of Earth can understand the differences between the anticivilization and the Civilization of the Universe. Examples of such stories include works by fairy-tale masters The Brothers Grimm, masculine-poet Robert Bly, justice-writer Alexandre Dumas, and the illusion-exposing playwright Tennessee Williams.

Robert Bly is a master of taking Citizens of Earth into other worlds to broaden their perspectives on life in the anticivilization. Bly’s stories such as Male Naiveté and Giving the Gold Away or Iron John are journeys that take the reader/listener to different space-times. Readers/listeners can contrast earth’s anticivilization with other possibilities while in these different space-times. At the very moment of contrasting different worlds, readers can identify the Civilization of the Universe. During this time of unhindered imagining and thinking, readers/listeners can briefly experience the Civilization of the Universe.

Even in Tennessee Williams’ plays such as The Glass Menagerie, viewers can imagine what might happen if anticivilization illusions and self-deceptions collapsed. Those people would have no alternative except to identify, integrate, and act on objective reality. Viewers could then imagine the results of such dynamics: those people would build values, prosperity, love, and happiness rather than illusions, losses, loneliness and sadness.

Such are the values that stories deliver to Citizens of Earth. And fortunately, stories containing otherworldly metaphors and analogies abound today. Stories by The Brothers Grimm, Tennessee Williams, Robert Bly, Gaston Leroux, Alexandre Dumas, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Maurice Maeterlinck, Daniel Defoe and even Gustave Flaubert can temporarily transpose readers/listeners/viewers out of earth’s dishonest anticivilization and into the pristine Civilization of the Universe.

Collectivist versus Individualist Approach to Language

In the anticivilization, language is primarily taught via the method called whole language. In the Civilization of the Universe, language is taught via the method called phonics. Whole language is a collectivist approach to learning words, while phonics is an individualistic approach to learning words.

In whole language, children do not learn the sounds of each individual letter and put letters together to form words. Instead, whole language teaches children to memorize whole words and pragmatic definitions. This serves the establishment. Why? Those children who learn via whole language have a terrible time deciphering new words and are unable to create new words. Such children are dependent on external authorities for meanings of words and the creation of new words. Thus, external authorities easily manipulate and control the vulnerable minds of children by attaching bogus definitions to words. Such children become trapped in closed-circle thinking that leaves them dependent on others.

Phonics, by contrast, teaches children the sound of each individual letter of the alphabet. These children then learn how to unite letters into words. Additionally, children can identify new words by sounding them out. This breeds healthy, independent minds. And that is exactly why establishment authorities constantly strive to bury phonics while advancing the whole language method.

Consider that in an anticivilization, parasitical elites must invert reality. They must invert the meaning of words and concepts. For example, they make "good" mean "bad" and "winner" mean "loser". By doing this, they subvert everyone’s mind. Once everyone’s mind is subverted, parasitical-elite leaders and authorities rule with little or no opposition. They live off the efforts of every productive person while skillfully concealing justice.

But reality cannot be contradicted. In order for such criminal-minded authorities to implement their mind-crippling agendas, everyone becomes chained and then dies.

However, the ghost of death is now sweeping over the parasitical-elite class and their hoaxed civilization: The discovery of the perfect mind and body—culminating in Advanced Man—will leave all force-and-fraud agendas behind forever. With the commercial release of the Perfect Mind/Perfect Body breakthrough, everyone will become clean, healthy, and limitlessly powerful. Everyone will transpose from narrow-range thinking to wide-open thinking. That will occur through the freely competitive dynamics made possible by cyberspace.

New World Literature

What is new-world literature? It is a new breed of prose, poetry, and other literary works. Those works will come from the Civilization of the Universe.

Consider that most literature in the anticivilization—both fiction and nonfiction—arises from the masterworks of Homer, Plato, Virgil, and Kant. Those civilization dominating works are the base of most writings to date. The future, however, will be different.

New-world literature may parallel old-world literature in structure, but it will have radically different content. Instead of coming from a mystical/dishonest base, new-world literature will come from a mystic-free/honest base.

Aristotle, the unknown author of Beowulf, Francis Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, and others prepared the way for a valid base of literature. But it was Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Leonard Peikoff, and Frank R. Wallace who founded, developed, and spread the valid base on which future literary works will arise. That base consists of an irresistible blend of objectivity, principled honesty, and romantic heroism.

From the base of objective reality and objective cognition will flow valid writings and teachings. Such works will eventually give rise to a rational civilization—the Civilization of the Universe. This kind of writing is brand new and has never been known to Earthlings before. Yet, these works will embrace the future. The mystical/dishonest writings of the past will be seen as ridiculous, like waking up from a weird dream.

What is the mechanism that will usher in this new-world literature? Intense survival pressures will create the demand for valid new writings that deliver (1) power, (2) prosperity, (3) happiness, and (4) health to every individual. Old-world literature will not be able to stand up to the heat of this competitive pressure. People will demand and pay for works that deliver objective values to oneself, one’s family, and one’s society. Hoax-based works will eventually be left behind with the entire anticivilization, perhaps to be studied as relics by historians and archeologists.

As new-world literature rises, the quality of life on earth will also rise until everyone lives in the Civilization of the Universe. Then everyone will capture permanent power, wealth, happiness, and immortal life.

The Unreal versus the Real

In a rational world, such a distinction would be unnecessary. But in today’s irrational anticivilization, everyone needs to clearly distinguish between the unreal and the real. Why? Because criminal-minded authorities constantly strive to conceal reality behind facades of look-good illusions—so they can usurp unearned livelihoods.

Let’s begin with the unreal. This is what does not in fact exist. The unreal does not correspond to the facts of reality; it comprises an entanglement of illusions. Furthermore, the unreal delivers no genuine advantages or values. One might ask, why do so many Citizens of Earth embrace the unreal notions that the parasitical-elite class conjures up? They do so to avoid exerting constant productive effort and unyielding honesty.

Yes, people believe that by embracing the unreal, they can avoid exerting constant high effort, integrated honesty, and self-discipline. And many people do avoid constant effort and honesty. But the price of upholding the unreal is unnecessary aging and death.

Embracing the unreal merely destroys those who accept it. Errors are different than the unreal. If one makes an error, one can correct it. But adopting the unreal is nothing more than a desire to escape the essence of a prosperous, happy life: productive effort and principled honesty.

Now let’s look at the real. The real is what is. It corresponds to the facts of reality. The real is in no way dependent on what other people think or say. And the real is omnipresent and eternal. Anyone can determine what the real is by using his or her conscious mind rationally.

In essence, upholding the unreal requires using the conscious mind irrationally. Upholding the real requires using the conscious mind rationally. So, to distinguish between the real and unreal, one needs to think conceptually and keep one’s thoughts linked to facts of reality.

Stated simply, the unreal does not exist and the real does exist. One differentiates the unreal from the real by using one’s mind rationally, objectively, honestly. Doing this gives one unbeatable advantages from within the anticivilization—and then leads one directly into the Civilization of the Universe.

Consciousness Creates Pressure Disturbances in the Existence Field

What follows is a scientific look at the relationship between existence and consciousness. It is a non-technical look at these two entities. Also, it is a theory, not proven fact. (Reference: Zon's Force Field)

Across all space and time is an ether-field of existence. Endlessly evolving existence consists of matter-energy fields that continuously transmute into energy-matter fields, and vice versa. Matter-energy fields dominate where there is no physical matter, such as in spaces between galaxies. Energy-matter fields dominate where there is physical matter, such as in planets. Forces—such as electromagnetism—traverse or, more accurately, propagate across eternally evolving existence. All transmutations, forces, and subatomic actions combine to form the open-ended plasma of existence, which is the existence field. The particles that underlie the existence field are Gravity Units, which have zero mass and near-infinite density. All of physical reality arises from the existence field.

This description of existence omits consciousness; now add consciousness. In reality, consciousness is the unifying force that controls the existence field at every point in existence. Volitional, conceptual consciousness—humanlike consciousness—is the fifth and unifying force of existence. Consciousness integrates with electromagnetism, gravity, and the strong and weak nuclear forces to generate every entity in existence: from nuclear power plants and cars to computers and spaceships—even to black holes, galaxies, and universes.

Without consciousness in the existence field, everything would flow smoothly, although there would be no conscious creations such as clocks, pianos, or skyscrapers. But with consciousness in the existence field, things appear chaotic to the uninformed mind. As consciousness controls and directs the forces of nature in order to, for example, break the symmetry of a Gravity Unit to unleash a new universe, the existence field appears incredibly complex. But the existence field is simply a plasma of Gravity Units and forces, of which consciousness is one force.

As explained by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, there is no single, absolute reference point in existence. And as explained by Cassandra’s Secret, each individual conscious being—individual humanlike consciousness—is the fixed center of existence. From that fixed point, each conscious being controls existence by using infinitely wide principled thinking arising from the facts of reality. From this perspective, everything does revolve around oneself.

Each individual consciousness creates subtle pressure disturbances in the existence field ether, which would require a highly sensitive instrument to detect. Such pressure disturbances cause energy and matter to flow toward and away from individual consciousness, somewhat like gravity causes objects to fall toward and away from physical entities. Open-ended principled thinking and value-producing actions on the part of conscious beings relieve these pressure disturbances. In other words, conscious beings relieve these pressure disturbances through their own volitional effort. That is why conscious beings are volitional: so they can control and direct existence to fulfill their needs and wants. The process of relieving pressure disturbances in the existence field by conscious beings is what leads to unbounded riches for everyone.

Understanding the Primacy of Existence

Many philosophers held the erroneous primacy-of-consciousness philosophy. From Heraclitus to Plato, from Plotinus to Hume, from Kant to Sartre, most philosophers believed that consciousness is primary in reality, and that existence is secondary. Such a primacy-of-consciousness philosophy states that the mind creates reality. The primacy-of-existence philosophy, by contrast, holds that existence is primary; consciousness follows the laws of reality. Aristotle and Ayn Rand are the major philosophers who upheld the primacy of existence.

To experience the primacy of existence, one can do a thinking experiment that lets one understand this philosophical position. Simply close one’s eyes and relax. Release all the tension from one’s facial muscles, torso muscles, and legs. Let one’s mind wander freely for a few minutes. After one’s mind and body are completely at ease, one can begin the thinking experiment.

With eyes closed, mind calm, and body relaxed, one can think about this world. One can think about government, religion, business, the arts, and history. How do these things interrelate with each other? Also, one can think about all the death and destruction that governments wrought on individuals. One might recall the horrors of Lenin’s Communist Russia, Mao’s Red China, and Hitler’s Third Reich. Then one can think about one’s own life. One can become aware of one’s own wants, needs, and aspirations. Now, one can imagine that one has been killed. One can visualize one’s own funeral and burial, with loved ones crying over one’s death.

Next, one can imagine the world going on essentially the same as it did before one’s death. One can imagine that after a few months, most people forgot about one’s death. Thus, the world continues to buzz along. At this point, one can glimpse the primacy of existence. One will realize that the world continues to function without one’s consciousness. One understands that plants, animals, people, and organizations continue to function without one’s consciousness. One grasps that existence is in no way dependent on one’s consciousness; existence simply exists—eternally.

While still imagining that one is no longer in the world, one can clearly see that planets, stars, solar systems, and galaxies continue to exist. Widening one’s perspective, one can see that the billions of people who have died since man became conscious did not stop existence from existing. Even though more than a billion people died, existence continues to exist. Finally, one can make the widest integration: if all the conscious minds on earth perished, existence still would exist. All the laws of nature and physics would still hold throughout the universe. This concludes the experiment.

By doing this experiment perhaps a couple times, anyone can see the wide-scope error in the primacy of consciousness. Assertions such as "mind over matter" or "the mind creates reality" become blatantly irrational. The fact that existence exists—independent of what anyone thinks or says—becomes obvious. Then one becomes free to use the conscious mind according to its nature. One can consistently integrate the facts of reality instead of attempting to "create reality". From the primacy-of-existence philosophy arises limitless prosperity and happiness for all conscious beings.

Philosophy Consists of Thinking in Principles

Will philosophy exist in the forthcoming rational world—the Civilization of the Universe? Yes, it will. However, it will be self-evident to everyone. Perhaps the primary function of philosophy will be to teach individuals how to think.

The idea of sitting around philosophizing, theorizing, and speculating will be unknown to most people in the Civilization of the Universe. Everyone will see this activity for what it really is: a general waste of time. The only valid philosophy—Objectivism—arises from the competitive marketplace, not from the halls of academia. Armchair philosophizing and academic theorizing will be seen as an incredibly inefficient use of one’s time.

So, what really is philosophy, anyway? This subject has been reserved for ivory-tower scholars, and most people do not have a clue to the nature of philosophy. In fact, mystics have done everything they can to obscure this discipline and prevent ordinary people from understanding philosophy. Why? Mystics obscure philosophy in order to continue their unearned survival without opposition.

Once a person bypasses all the mysticism that is rampant in philosophy, he or she will discover the simple yet powerful nature of philosophy. This person will realize that philosophy consists of thinking in principles about things. That is the essence of philosophy. There is nothing more sacred or profound about the subject. Once one grasps this point, one can philosophize about anything without needing an ivory tower, academic degrees, or acceptance by any establishment intellectual.

In order to develop the perfect mind, one does not have to become a philosopher. In fact, becoming a philosopher will, with very few exceptions, impede the use of this open-ended mind. The perfect mind lets one think in all directions of human knowledge, not just in philosophy. And the perfect mind is a principled mind. That is to say, the perfect mind operates through wide-open principled thinking. That principled thinking lets one philosophize about all things.

The value of the perfect mind does not lie in its capacity for philosophizing. The value of this supra-competitive mind lies in its capacity for limitlessly wide-scope inductive/deductive thinking. When one thinks in principles about things, one moves beyond mysticism, non sequiturs, minutiae seeking, and other cognitive impediments. One begins with reality and integrates all the way up the hierarchy of knowledge until one reaches the temple of knowledge: principles.

Principled thinking lets one soar beyond everyone that is stunted by irrationality. With principled thinking, one can form a limitless array of principles (via induction) and, in turn, discover limitless applications to one’s principles (via deduction). In this way, one can literally think about anything...and easily out-think peers who are crippled by mysticism.

In essence, philosophizing consists of thinking in principles about things—thinking in principles about health, business, money, emotions, art, and so on. Philosophizing—i.e., principled thinking—is not limited to philosophical issues.

Those who develop the perfect mind can integrate percepts into concepts, concepts into thoughts, and thoughts into principles. They will discover that they, too, can philosophize. Soon after, however, they will realize that philosophizing is a general waste of time. They will intellectually understand and emotionally feel that using the perfect mind to capture prosperity, romance, and happiness through business dynamics is infinitely more rewarding than academic philosophizing.

The Temple of Knowledge

Throughout the ages, man has sought after the Temple of Knowledge. In prehistoric civilization, man built great pyramids as a symbol for the Temple of Knowledge. In anticivilization, man constructed immense churches and universities to serve as the symbol for the Temple of Knowledge. And in the Civilization of the Universe, conscious beings know that the Temple of Knowledge resides in their own consciousness.

What is the Temple of Knowledge? How can one enter it? And what will happen upon entering it? By understanding the answers to these questions, one will unexpectedly find oneself in a super civilization of endless power, wealth, and romance.

The Temple of Knowledge is a metaphorical place where one can access all knowledge. One enters this Temple by developing the perfect mind, which is the controlling force of existence. By doing this, one will control existence for unprecedented freedom, power, riches, romantic love, and happiness. In short, one enters and profits from the Temple of Knowledge through a new way of using the human mind.

The psychological nature of thought consists of asking oneself questions and answering those questions. The philosophical nature of thought consists of forming concepts, thoughts, and principles. The metaphysical nature of thought consists of using metaphors to understand new things by drawing an analogy between something known and something unknown.

In summary, one enters the Temple of Knowledge by thinking in principles. Such an open-ended method of thinking lets one understand anything and generate an ever-expanding body of knowledge. And using metaphors is a powerful way to expand one’s awareness of reality.

The greater one’s knowledge, the more metaphors one can generate. Using these metaphors lets one understand ever-more knowledge. This, in turn, lets one generate an ever-larger array of metaphors. And the cycle continues forever in an upward spiral of open-ended knowledge, power, and wealth.

Such limitless knowledge leads one directly into the Temple of Knowledge—the "place" where all knowledge comes together for one’s own benefit. As Francis Bacon asserted, knowledge is power. When one enters the Temple of Knowledge, one wields supra-power—genuine power.

Entering the Temple of Knowledge requires that one fully develop the conceptual faculty. It also requires that one build a base of valid knowledge. By doing this, and continually growing in new knowledge, one will enter the Temple. How will one know that one has entered? One will no longer be controlled by events; one will control all the events concerning one’s life, future, prosperity, and happiness. Then one will realize that one is the controller of existence. Upon reaching this stage, one will have entered the Temple of Knowledge.

The primary value for entering the Temple is (1) to survive and (2) to prosper. The advantages of entering the Temple are just too great to avoid. The alternative is to function with the less-competitive traditional mind. That mind is limited by mysticism and stunted by narrow-range thinking. Thus, with the traditional mind, everyone always loses the values of life and then dies. But upon entering the Temple of Knowledge, one taps into eternal riches, romance, and life.

Philosophy is Inescapable

Philosophy? What does that have to do with living in the real world? Isn't philosophy some academic game played in an Ivory Tower?

Throughout history, professional mystics and authorities have done a masterful job at burying the power of philosophy while exercising their own false power over conscious man. These people must distort, becloud, and destroy philosophy; their livelihoods depend on it.

In reality, philosophy is the most powerful tool a person can wield. This tool can work for good or bad: good in Thomas Aquinas’ case, bad in Adolf Hitler’s case. But philosophy is the widest integration of knowledge and, ultimately, it is inescapable...even if people shun it.

Why? Conscious beings have no choice but to use their consciousness to interact with the physical world. Philosophy teaches man the abstract knowledge needed to interact with the world. Prosperity and happiness result from acting on valid philosophy, while poverty and sadness result from acting on invalid philosophy.

People might think if they do not learn philosophy, they will not be affected by it. Those who believe that philosophy is a mental game reserved for academic cloisters will not bother learning it. But these are the people who are profoundly controlled by philosophy—and they do not even know how they are controlled.

Just because a person does not understand a subject does not mean he or she is exempt from its implications. Philosophy affects everyone and moves the world, for good or bad. If a person does not make an effort to understand philosophy, then that person is controlled by a dynamic he or she knows nothing about. And, in the anticivilization, invalid philosophy controls nearly everyone. Invalid philosophy brings losses and death to all that are in its grasp.

Yet, when one learns valid philosophy, one can immediately take control over one’s life. That control is total and magnificent. Additionally, this person can reject invalid philosophy while integrating valid philosophy into his or her life. By doing this, the person wields the most powerful tool available to man.

One can remain unaware of philosophy and be helplessly in its power or one can learn about philosophy and wield its omnipotent power. That is one of the most crucial choices a human being will make in his or her life. This is because everything else flows from philosophy: one’s judgment of the universe, thinking, values, goals, work, relationships, and destiny. Yes, philosophy affects every aspect of man’s life—from his most private feelings and thoughts to his most public words and achievements.

The key here is to consciously choose one’s philosophy of life using deliberate, rational thought. If one thinks through the implications of the available philosophies, one will realize that Objectivism is the only valid philosophy for conscious beings—here on earth or elsewhere in existence. All other philosophies, no matter how absurd or brain-twisting, serve to clarify the wide-scope harmony and value of Objectivism. And by integrating Objectivism into their lives, conscious beings create the conditions for unbounded freedom, prosperity, and happiness for everybody.

Integrating Einstein’s and Spinoza’s Work

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) is most famous for his Theory of Relativity. He showed that matter can be converted into energy and energy can be converted into matter with the equation E=Mc², where E equals energy, M equals mass, and c equals the cosmological constant: the speed of light.

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) is most famous for his assertion that thoughts and things are one and the same. Rational thoughts can be converted into things, and things can be converted into rational thoughts.

To begin with, one already converts matter into energy. One eats food (matter) and digests it. That matter is converted into molecules—protein, carbohydrate, and fat—that one’s cells use to carry on the life process. Upon digestion of one’s food, one becomes energized. That is to say, one now has new energy to fuel one’s thinking and actions. But one converts this matter into energy without any conscious effort.

Now, say a man has a thought to create a universe. He can convert that thought into a thing by converting energy into matter. How does he do this? He begins with the thought of breaking the symmetry of a gravity unit. Then he harnesses a gravity unit with a scientific device and explodes it. Such an action theoretically will release the matter/energy potentials of an entire universe. Upon the controlled explosion of a gravity unit, a new universe emerges.

In the above examples, a human being converted (1) matter into energy, (2) energy into matter, and (3) thoughts into things. This is the awesome power available to conscious beings.

Best versus Worst People

Who are the best people? Who are the worst people? Moreover, how can one determine if a person is the best or worst?

Due to bad philosophy—Subjectivist philosophy—most people on earth today are baffled about life in general and making moral judgments in particular. "How can anyone determine who is good and who is bad?" decry mystics and establishment intellectuals. This culminates in the grotesque scenario where human beings avoid making moral judgments.

To survive as a human being, one must not only learn how to think conceptually, one must learn how to judge the character and actions of others. The biblical edict, "Judge not lest ye shall be judged" is harmful. Survival and prosperity demand that one accurately judge other people, especially those whom one brings into one’s life. At root, this is a life-and-death issue.

No doubt about it: avoiding the effort to judge other people is easy—in the short-term. One does not have to integrate seemingly unrelated bits of information about a person to come up with an overall understanding of that person. And, one does not have to scrupulously check one’s conclusions to see if one made an error in one’s judgment. Furthermore, one does not have to integrate future actions by the person into one’s evaluation, which might require that one alter one’s conclusion about the person. One does not need to exert this effort because one simply does not judge others. But it takes only one person who is furtively dishonest and destructive to ruin one’s life, future, and happiness. That person could even end one’s life.

So, how does one determine who is the best person and who is the worst person? The answer, ironically, is simple. One needs to ask the question, "Does the person produce values or destroy values?" In other words, one needs to determine if the person in question is a net value producer or a net value destroyer. Those who are net value producers are good; those who are net value destroyers are bad. It follows then that individuals who produce far more values than they consume are the best. And, individuals who consume or destroy far more values than they produce are the worst.

The following chart reveals some of the worst and best people throughout history.

Benefits and Harms of Quotes

Most people have at least one favorite quote. Usually such a quote comes from their favorite author. Sometimes a quote strongly reinforces a person’s own understanding of an idea. Other times, a quote enlightens the reader. In either case, the quote provides the reader with a benefit.

Quotes can be both beneficial and harmful. If used arbitrarily or unthinkingly, quotes can harm the person who adheres to a particular quote. For instance, people can and do take quotes out of context. They pluck them from the author’s original context and attempt to twist them into different contexts. In this way, people pervert the original intention of the quote and mislead themselves and others. And often, quotes that are plucked out of context sound good, which catch people’s interest. Theologians, for example, use this technique in their sermons by plucking quotes from the bible and arbitrarily interpreting them.

Another way that quotes can be harmful is if a person substitutes a quote in place of rational thought. Sometimes a person will reiterate one or more quotes in a conversation. If the listener is careful, he or she will realize that no rational thinking has occurred. The speaker simply dropped in one or more quotes during the conversation. But essentially nothing was said other than the quote itself. In this case, the speaker attempts to impress the listener with lofty-sounding ideas that come from popular "authorities". When listeners are not fully paying attention to the speaker, they can erroneously think that the speaker communicated something new. In reality, nothing new has been said.

Just as quotes can be harmful by misleading others or averting thought, they also can be beneficial. If one derives the meaning of a quote using the full context from which it came, that quote can be used as a maxim in similar contexts. For instance, look at the quote by James Allen from his book As A Man Thinketh: "Circumstances reveal the man to himself." Taken out of context, a person could say, "Hey, that’s not true; the irrational anticivilization forces a man into totally bizarre situations that do not reflect the man at all." But upon adhering to James Allen’s original intention, one would not make such a statement. Instead, one would realize that James Allen’s quote refers to a man’s volition or free will. A particular man’s choice to do something creates a unique set of external circumstances. And those external circumstances expose the man’s inner world to himself.

In order for such a quotation to be beneficial, one would have to delimit the quote to similar contexts. By doing so, one could use the above quote to increase self-understanding in various situations. One could then use such insights to improve one’s life. In this case, the quotation would be beneficial.

The following are a couple quotes that people typically use out of context: "Money is the root of all evil" and "Nothing is certain except death and taxes." Such quotes are harmful when people present them as dogmatic truths devoid of context. They become devices that block or distort thinking, which enables some people to profit by misleading others.

By knowing how people misuse quotes, one can bypass harmful effects. And by using quotes honestly, one can gain new understandings and valuable inspiration.

Understanding People

Many individuals have not taken the time to fully understand people. Yet, this is a great way to make one’s life exceptional. By understanding human beings, one can drastically reduce frustration and stress while experiencing ever-increasing fulfillment. Most people have not experienced this kind of living since early childhood.

How do people fit into the world? Universes, galaxies, solar systems, stars, planets, air, water, animals, and plants all are part of existence. They always have been, and they always will be. Now, just as, say, metal and electricity are an integral part of existence, so too are human beings. People have existed eternally and will exist forever throughout infinite existence. Man is a part of existence just like galaxies are a part of existence.

Like all other entities of existence, man has a specific nature. When one understands this nature, one gains tremendous advantages over everyone else who remains baffled by man.

To fully understand people, one needs to conceptualize the nature of man. And, importantly, one needs to conceptualize the essential nature of man, not all his varying attributes that differ from person to person. What is the essential nature of man? Man is a volitional, conceptual conscious being. This differentiates him from all other forms of life.

To understand people, one does not have to conceptualize all of man’s non-essential attributes, which typically vary from person to person. Non essential attributes include hair color, eye color, skin color, height, weight, voice quality, strength, beauty, intelligence, creativity, and so on. But one does need to grasp the fact that man has a conceptual consciousness. This means that man—and only man—can use his consciousness to understand and control reality. Also, only human beings are capable of acting from conscious thought. Thus, only human beings are responsible for their actions and can be moral or immoral.

All other animals lack a conceptual consciousness; they have a perceptual consciousness. Thus, animals lack the mechanism needed to jump beyond their preset nature. Animals cannot integrate their perceptions into new knowledge, which would enable them to act better than their preset nature. Animals are equipped to function automatically within their preset nature. But they cannot become aware of what their nature is. And they cannot decide to improve or destroy their lives. They cannot, for example, engage in business activities or commit suicide. They simply survive in a non-conceptual mode. Plants and lower forms of life lack even a perceptual consciousness. These less-sophisticated forms of life have a simple system to sense certain conditions in their environment. But they lack the mechanism to identify what is in their environment; they either move toward or away from what they sense.

In essence, human beings have (1) a conceptual form of awareness and (2) free will. This means that each person has the capacity to think about life in abstract terms and act from his or her own thinking. Benevolent/productive actions beget positive emotions such as love and fulfillment. Malevolent/destructive actions beget negative emotions such as hatred and misery.

Man’s form of consciousness requires freedom. To survive as a human being, an individual must be free to exercise his or her volition. Human beings need a rational, defensive government to protect people from force and fraud. Prohibiting initiatory force, fraud, and coercion does not interfere with man’s freedom. This is the most effective way to guarantee man’s freedom.

Moral and Immoral People

Today, as has been the case throughout history, most people are baffled when it comes to making moral judgments. To them, passing moral judgments is like passing a death sentence: they try to avoid it except in the most egregious cases where no other alternative is available.

The main reason why so many people desperately want to avoid judging other people—labeling them as moral or immoral—is because they lack a valid base on which to make moral judgments. In short, without a valid standard of morality, individuals do not know what they are doing when it comes to judging the character and actions of people. But to survive and prosper as independent human beings, individuals must be able to accurately determine who is moral and who is immoral. They need to do this not merely to scorn immoral people; they need to do this to protect and advance their own interests.

As stated above, determining who is moral and who is immoral requires a valid standard of morality. What is the standard of morality? Man’s life is the standard of morality. All values reduce to a common denominator: man. Values are applicable only to man, not to animals, plants, the earth, ozone, outer space, or anything else. Only man has the ability—his volitional consciousness—to override nature to produce goods (values) that deliver survival, prosperity, comfort, and happiness. All other forms of life act on nature’s preset instructions to survive. They do not require values; they do not require airplanes, electrical appliances, computer networks, and so on.

If man’s life is the standard of value, then anything that advances man’s life is moral and anything that harms man’s life is immoral. Furthermore, any person who advances man’s life is moral and any person who purposely harms man’s life is immoral.

When evaluating a person using the above moral standard, one needs to put an individual’s words and actions in full context. For example, a man might have accidentally caused an explosion in a chemistry lab that killed ten people. Without the full context, some might say this man is immoral: he killed ten human lives. But, accurately putting facts in the widest context would reveal the whole story. This man was developing a chemical solution for storing cloned body parts. These stored body parts would let sick people replace their damaged heart, lungs, and kidneys with healthy organs that perfectly match their own organs. Thus, in the widest context, this man is moral; he worked to advance human life.

Along with the development of consciousness came man’s ability to choose. With man’s newly acquired power of self-choice came self-responsibility. For the first time in history, man became responsible for his actions. Some men chose to be immoral, other men chose to be moral. By putting people’s words and actions—including their effect on civilization—in the widest possible context, a new picture emerges that reveals who is immoral and who is moral. The following chart exposes some immoral people and some moral people.

Integrating With Reality

What is the purpose of integrating with reality? To survive and prosper. Trying to evade, distort, or conceal reality can bring short-term advantages to mystics and criminals. But the ultimate price is death to everyone.

Human beings increase their longevity and prosperity by (1) dismissing mind-created realities and (2) fully integrating with objective reality. That two-step process will eventually bring everyone into a rational civilization.

How does one integrate with reality? One does this by developing the perfect mind, which is a principled mind. That mind is not only integrated with objective reality, but is unbeatable. With the perfect mind, anyone can accurately understand and act on objective reality.

The process of building valid knowledge requires keeping abstractions united with concretes, which are perceivable entities. By keeping abstractions attached to reality, one can continuously advance in knowledge, power, and prosperity. Integrating with reality lets one discover knowledge without limits.

By keeping knowledge fully integrated with reality, one will gain unbeatable advantages over everyone with the traditional mind. The traditional mind does not exert the effort required to keep abstract knowledge attached to reality. Thus, it comes up with endless absurdities, including the God concept, mystical religions, environmentalism, socialism, collectivism, ad infinitum. One can forever discard the traditional mind by developing the perfect mind. Such a mind generates knowledge that is fully integrated with reality. And that valid knowledge opens the door to limitless new knowledge, which is super power.

Inversion of Concepts in Anticivilization

Criminal minds throughout history¾including many Establishment intellectuals¾clearly understood the unearned advantages they could gain by subverting language. Such people constantly corrupt, invert, and distort meanings of concepts. By doing so, they block everyone from thinking clearly and accurately understanding reality.

Concepts refer to things in reality. But many concepts in the anticivilization do not refer to anything real. Worse, they refer to the opposite of what they objectively stand for. Because of this, people are befuddled when trying to understand reality. This inversion of concepts and language prevents citizens from identifying the AC System¾a system of purposely integrated dishonesty.

The inversion of concepts also prevents people from becoming sovereign individuals. With citizens’ minds corrupted by specious concepts, people cannot break into integrated thinking. Without integrated thinking, each citizen becomes dependent on the rulers of the anticivilization. Who are those rulers? They are well-camouflaged criminals.

When a person explicitly understands that concepts in the anticivilization are inverted, he or she can reject such corruption. He or she can then formulate accurate concepts¾based on the facts of reality. Once a person has valid concepts in his or her mind, that person can break into integrated thinking. In fact, honest integrated thinking is the next step once a person clears away bogus concepts and formulates valid concepts.

The following are some examples of inverted concepts, along with their objective meanings:

The inversion of concepts and language is so common that people use inverted concepts unthinkingly. For instance, people in the anticivilization routinely respond with the word "nice" when something bad happens. If a person spills his drink on a clean rug, another person will unthinkingly respond with the word "nice" or "good". All one has to do is tune into people’s responses to everyday circumstances to notice the pervasive inversion of concepts. From that point, one can reject such errors and eliminate one’s own inverted concepts. This leads to integrated thinking, which culminates in abiding prosperity and happiness.

Deduction, Induction, and the Scientific Method

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) is the father of deductive logic. In the fourth century BC, Aristotle identified the laws of deductive reasoning. Aristotle is best known for the Aristotelian syllogism. Deductive reasoning enables people to infer specific facts from a generalization. But where do generalizations come from?

Valid generalizations come from inductive reasoning. Aristotle did not identify the laws of inductive reasoning. John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) did develop a method of induction, but he did not develop a complete theory of induction.

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) set out to identify true induction in his masterwork Novum Organum. In this work, Bacon developed a ‘new organon’ that was to replace Aristotle’s original Organon. An organon is an instrument for the mind that enables it to generate knowledge.

In Novum Organum, Francis Bacon argues that there is too much emphasis on deduction and not enough emphasis on induction. Bacon then attempts to identify the rules of induction. In the process, he reveals the scientific method, which is an objective method for investigating nature. Unfortunately, Bacon never developed a complete theory of induction. But he did provide a valid method for investigating natural elements such as minerals, plants, animals, planets, and stars.

The leading Objectivist scholar and Ayn Rand’s intellectual heir, Leonard Peikoff (1933– ), is formulating a complete theory of induction. Leonard Peikoff is identifying the nature and rules of induction. Based on Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, Peikoff is formulating inductive reasoning, which will be as significant as Aristotle’s deductive logic. Peikoff’s explicit identification of inductive reasoning combined with Aristotle’s deductive reasoning and Bacon’s scientific method will eventually lead to rationality in all fields of knowledge.

Why will people embrace rationality? People around the world will embrace rationality to survive and prosper. Consider that earth’s anticivilization is based not on reality, but on mysticism. Thus, in that insane world, people do not use rational thinking; they use mystical thinking. However, the forthcoming Civilization of the Universe is based on objective reality. To survive and prosper in that sane world, individuals will use rational thinking—valid thinking based on the facts of reality.

Therefore, Aristotle, Leonard Peikoff, and Francis Bacon will rank as supreme value producers who gave mankind deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, and the scientific method.

Fairness to Plato and Kant

Earth’s first-and-final valid philosophy—Objectivist philosophy—openly attacks Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). The practical application of Objectivist philosophy to everyday situations—Neo-Tech—openly attacks Plato (427–347 BC). Both idea matrices assert that Plato and Kant are the most evil men in history.

While The Local Group arises from Neo-Tech and Objectivism, it takes a broader and more benevolent view toward Plato, Kant, and similar people. What is The Local Group’s view?

The only way a person can be evil is by initiating force or fraud against another person or group of persons. Plato and Kant probably never initiated physical force or fraud against anyone. In fact, both of these people probably were gentle men; they probably did not mistreat other people. Equally important, both probably did not defraud people to gain values; these men probably were fairly honest in their interactions with people.

Now, what about the ideas they promoted? Are they evil? Yes, the ideas that both Plato and Kant developed and promulgated are evil. What about the division of labor? Did other men rely on the work of these philosophers to construct societies, moral codes, and methods of thinking? In a division-of-labor society, men do rely on the goods, services, and ideas that workers produce. However, neither Plato nor Kant forced anyone to accept and implement their ideas. They formulated their ideas and offered them to anyone who would listen. But they did not force or coerce anyone to accept such ideas. If they had, they would be evil.

Since man has volition—free will—he can choose to accept or reject a product, service, or idea. Men, therefore, could have rejected Plato’s or Kant’s spurious philosophies. While a valid, fully integrated philosophy did not exist in the past, there were more accurate, pro-man philosophies available. Men could have rejected Plato’s and Kant’s work in favor of, for example, Aristotle’s or Spinoza’s work. As history reveals, this did not happen. Whatever the reasons, men embraced Plato’s and Kant’s ideas as the basis of civilized society. This resulted in the rise of mysticism, sacrifice, the Dark Ages, world wars, Marxism-Leninism, corporate-welfare statism, and more.

There is no doubt that Plato and Kant provided the ideology that let the criminal mind flourish on planet Earth. And, they certainly brought this ideology to the public via their teachings. But no force or fraud was used; men remained free to choose Plato’s and Kant’s ideas or their competitors’ ideas.

Plato and Kant can even be admired in a certain sense: Plato for his stunning creative powers and Kant for his wide-ranging intellect. Of course, in the widest context, neither man deserves respect, since they spent their life formulating philosophies that provided rationalizations needed for the criminal mind to rule everyone. But to be fair to both Plato and Kant, they did not initiate physical force or fraud against anyone and thus are not evil people. Those who did initiate force and fraud—such as Hitler and FDR—are in fact evil people.

Validating Faith

We have all heard throughout history to have faith—in authorities, God, religion, the occult. Faith, the traditional mind asserts, is the way people overcome problems.

Any rational person knows that merely relying on faith to overcome problems is at best ludicrous—at worst, dangerous. Yet, the concept of faith persists to this day, and is used by people across the entire social spectrum, from the uneducated to the literati. Why? Can there be a valid use for the concept of faith?

If a person’s thinking and actions are based on reality, then faith is justified. For example, look at a goal-achieving person. He decides what he wants to achieve—clearly, specifically. Next, he does the background research to learn how to achieve his goal and the most effective way to achieve it. After that, he formulates a plan—a strategy consisting of concrete actions that will bring him to his goal. Now, in this example, the person knows what he wants, knows how to achieve it, knows the necessary steps, and takes consistent action.

In the above example, the person has integrated his desire with existing facts. He has worked out any contradictions between his thought and reality. Therefore, he advances with confidence toward his desired outcome. Here is where faith enters the equation.

This person is acting rationally. However, he cannot and does not need to know everything in existence to achieve his goal. Any number of things can happen to prevent him from reaching his goal. But since he approaches his goals in a rational manner, he can have faith that everything will turn out fine. Having faith in the achievement of his goals is valid in this scenario. Why? Because this person correctly relies on the laws of reality—the universal laws of nature, the laws of cause and effect—to remain consistent. Thus, this person can legitimately have faith that his actions will lead to success, to the achievement of his goals.

Faith, when put in the context of rational preparation and principled action, is valid. A person might take actions today that do not lead to immediate results. But if his thoughts and actions correspond to reality, he can have faith that he will meet with success in the future. This holds true, despite negative influences such as doubters and doomsayers.

In many cases, faith is nothing more than a gimmick. It is a substitute for effort-based thinking and action. In a case like this, a person can dump faith by realizing that it is grounded not in reality but in illusions. Then this person can integrate with reality to determine the most effective way to deal with his situation.

In summary, much faith throughout history is based on illusions, not reality. Thus, it leads to negative consequences. But by linking one’s thoughts and actions to reality, one can correctly have faith that one will achieve one’s goals. One probably will have to make adjustments along the way, but one knows that success is inevitable.

Range of Values

The ability to conceptualize—to think abstractly—is what separates man from all other animals. Man’s conceptual faculty enables him to understand everything in existence. It also enables him to experience complex emotions such as love and happiness. But for man to consistently experience happiness, he needs to pursue self-chosen values.

Values are things that deliver survival and prosperity to human beings. They range from tangible things that young children can easily understand to abstract things that many adults do not completely understand. Tangible values tend to meet physical survival needs; abstract values tend to meet psychological needs. Achieving abstract values adds to one’s well-being and happiness. Achieving concrete values lets one physically survive.

The following list reveals the range of values for man’s life, but it does not include every value. Tangible values are at the bottom and abstract values are at the top.

Values
Romantic love
Happiness
Art
Friendship
Freedom
Knowledge
Business
Money
Health
Housing
Clothes
Food

In order to live as a human being, one needs to eventually achieve all of these values. One does not need to achieve all of them at once. Most people achieve one or two at a time. But to live a life that is proper for man, one needs to achieve both material and abstract values.

Of course, in the anticivilization, each human being does not achieve all of these values. Subjective laws and regulations, along with a web of illusions, prevent each person from living a completely fulfilling life. By preventing everyone from experiencing the entire range of values, criminal-minded leaders of the anticivilization ensure that no one resists death. If people were free to pursue and achieve all values throughout their entire life, they would reject death. They would refuse to abandon their own intense fulfillment for a cemetery plot.

Disaster in the Humanities

What’s this—a disaster in the humanities? Yes, a stark disaster now exists in the humanities. Human knowledge has made spectacular advances in certain fields such as mathematics and physics. But the field of humanities is a nightmare.

Nearly all philosophers, poets, and literary writers created a disaster. That disaster consists of a bizarre view of man and the universe. Today, as throughout history, man is portrayed as a loser who lives in a can’t-win universe.

What is the result of the humanities portraying man as a cipher destined to fail? World populations read such works and formulate ideas about man and life. The humanities profoundly affect the thoughts and lives of individuals, societies, nations, and civilization.

Those few who portray man as a hero endure endless attacks and criticism. The many people who portray man as a farce enjoy praise and celebrity status. Of course, this is par for the anticivilization. In that upside-down world, nearly everything must be inverted—especially man’s life.

Highly celebrated poets and literary writers—from Homer to Virgil to Kafka—promote man as a thug, sacrificer, and absurd being. Highly celebrated philosophers—from Plato to Kant to Sartre—advocate a life of slavery, irrationality, and nihilism. From the anticivilization perspective, they are right. But from the Civilization of the Universe perspective, their views become ridiculous.

In reality, man is the most powerful being in the universe. Why? His conceptual consciousness enables him to control existence. Furthermore, man lives in a can’t-lose universe. Why? From the Civilization-of-the-Universe perspective, which prohibits initiatory force and fraud, everyone can achieve essentially any value through his or her own productive effort. Mystics and criminals cannot survive in the Civilization of the Universe, which means no one exists to confound, drain, plunder, or destroy another person’s life. In the Civilization of the Universe, essentially everyone is a hero producing ever increasing values for self and other people. The idea of man as congenital loser is unknown in that rational civilization.

What will happen to the disaster in the humanities? It will vanish down a black hole of nothingness as the rational Civilization of the Universe overtakes earth’s unstable anticivilization. When that happens, concepts of ‘man as evil’ or ‘man as a failure’ will disappear and be forgotten forever.

Power of Phonics

Two methods to learn how to read exist. One method is phonics. The other method is whole language. Whole language is a collectivist approach to language and phonics is an individualist approach to language.

With phonics, a person associates the 26 letters of the alphabet to each of the 44 speech sounds in the English language. Learning to read via phonics consists of learning the 26 letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make, such as "ch" and "sp". Once a person learns the 26 letters of the alphabet and their sounds, he or she can read essentially any word in the English language. In short, phonics unlocks the code of written language, which lets a person read both familiar and new words.

Whole language requires that a person recognize complete words apart from all the other words he or she currently knows. This requires memorizing the appearance of a word, learning its definition, and storing it in one’s memory. Then, every time the reader comes across the word, he or she has to recall its definition. This approach does not unlock the code of language. It relies on the reader’s ability to associate a definition with the appearance of a word. In cases where there are many new words, the reader hopelessly falls behind other readers who learned to read via phonics.

In fact, the Phoenicians invented the alphabet in 1500 BC by means of phonics—by tying the sounds of oral language to 19 symbols. Throughout the millennia, those original 19 letters evolved into today’s 26 letters of the alphabet. And, people have successfully learned how to read via phonics ever since the Phoenicians invented the alphabet.

The whole language approach to reading basically hampers a person’s ability to read. A person can read via whole language. But this method is too inefficient to keep up with the vast amount of information in today’s knowledge society.

The following is a comparison between whole language and phonics.

Unlocking the Code of Knowledge

Man has been building conscious knowledge for millennia. Today there is more knowledge than ever before. And, with computer/cyberspace technologies, that knowledge is becoming increasingly available to everyone around the world.

Knowledge is power; without knowing the cause of a thing, one cannot produce that thing. But by knowing the cause of a thing, one can repeatedly produce that thing in various settings across time. Moreover, full-context, widest-range knowledge is supra power. Such power lets one control the future to generate riches and romance beyond anything previously known.

But in order to gain the power available from knowledge, one needs to unlock the code of knowledge. If one has not unlocked the code of knowledge, one is like a child who never learned to read. The child stares at piles of letters and words, but remains clueless as to what it all means. To that child, those words are meaningless and, thus, useless. To a person who has not unlocked the code of knowledge, the vast array of human knowledge boggles the mind. Where does this person begin? How can this person actually benefit from all the knowledge in the world?

The key to unlocking the code of knowledge is essentials. Yes, that’s it. Dealing with knowledge in essentials opens the door to The Temple of Knowledge. Once in the Temple, one taps into knowledge in all fields. Nothing is closed off to the man or woman who has unlocked the code of knowledge.

Thinking in essentials is the key to understanding all knowledge. This is starkly contrasted with the concrete-bound mode of trying to deal with all the minutiae of any given piece of knowledge. By thinking in essentials, one condenses an item of knowledge down to its most-basic attribute. That fundamental attribute can then be integrated with other knowledge to beget new knowledge. This process of reducing to essentials and integrating with other knowledge is an open-ended process that yields limitless knowledge.

For example, consider the following: A person sees a high-performance car with glowing red paint, chrome wheels, an open top, and a powerful engine. That car has numerous features, including a leather interior, a fabulous sound system, and other luxurious options. The concrete-bound approach to knowledge would be to store this information in one’s mind using many of its details. That is: a red, fast, powerful, convertible, sexy, low-profile car. Storing knowledge this way quickly clogs the mind and stifles its vast integrating powers.

The essentialized approach to knowledge consists of reducing this information to its most basic form: sports car. Then one can integrate this sports car with other information such as a motorcycle, boat, and airplane to form the concept motor vehicle. One can do this with all the knowledge one acquires: with directly observable concepts such as a sports car and with abstract concepts such as romantic love. By doing this¾ by thinking in essentials—one will unlock the code of knowledge. One will then enter the Temple of Knowledge where all knowledge exists for one’s own profit, power, and romantic ecstasy.

Aristotle’s Work is not Enough

The moral purpose of human life is to achieve abiding happiness. Aristotle first identified this 2300 years ago, but he did not provide an unmovable foundation for his assertion. In order to experience abiding happiness, human beings need to live in a certain philosophical framework. They need to live in a pro-man, pro-life world—a world based on reason, self-interest, and individual rights.

During the anticivilization’s 3000-year reign on earth, reason, self-interest, and individual rights were buried. That opened the door to unchecked mysticism, self-sacrifice, and group rights. This, in turn, let the criminal mind shoot to the top of the anticivilization to rule, usurp, and destroy everyone.

Philosophy brought on the conditions where few if any people can achieve abiding happiness. And it is only philosophy that can bring on the conditions where everyone can achieve abiding happiness.

Aristotle’s philosophy is a pro-reason, pro-man philosophy. But it is not enough to create the conditions necessary for abiding prosperity, romance, and happiness. History has proved this. Mystics and criminal-minded people were able to bury or outmaneuver Aristotle’s work in order to advance harmful agendas. Such harmful agendas include the Roman Catholicism-created Dark Ages and collectivist plunderings exemplified by Hitler.

To create a world where everyone can experience abiding happiness, man needs a complete, consistent philosophical system. Such a system has to be grounded in the facts of reality and in the nature of man. Aristotle’s philosophy does provide man with logic, which is a major breakthrough for advancing man’s life. But he was not able to develop a complete, consistent philosophical system during his lifetime.

Today, through the titanic efforts of Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff, man has a complete, consistent philosophical system. That system is Objectivism. And it provides the framework for a world where every man, woman, and child can rapidly, permanently capture abiding prosperity and happiness. Objectivism is fully grounded in reality and man’s nature, and it provides an unassailable defense of reason, self-interest, and individual rights. Because of Objectivism, everyone will eventually live in a free, rational world filled with wealthy, healthy, happy individuals.

To be sure, Ayn Rand needed Aristotle’s work—particularly his epistemology—to discover Objectivism. But before Objectivist philosophy, there was no way to bring a completely free, rational world to people on earth. Until now, Aristotle’s work provided the most ammunition for a free world. Yet, because it was not a fully integrated, consistent philosophical system, his work could never take permanent hold in this world. Today, that no longer matters…because the rise of Objectivist philosophy means the inevitable fall of all criminal-minded rulers, initiatory force, and the anticivilization itself. Good times are coming for everyone.

Knowledge Revolution

Unbeknown to most people, Citizens of Earth are at the eve of a Knowledge Revolution. That revolution is going to change human life more than any other revolution in history.

The American Revolution, in 1776, brought about unprecedented change to this world. Lead by Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and others, this revolution brought the first semi-free country to planet Earth. In the newly formed United States of America, citizens were basically free to pursue their own interests and happiness.

The Industrial Revolution, which spread across the western world during the early 1800s, also brought about unprecedented change. Lead by John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and Andrew Carnegie in America, this revolution lifted the masses from working with hand tools to working with machines. Many people switched from working in the fields to working in factories. By combining scientific knowledge with business dynamics, industrialists produced spectacular wealth for society: home heating, lighting, trains, cars, bridges, communication networks, capital, investments, and much more.

Today, everyone—not just the western world—faces the newly arising Knowledge Revolution. This revolution will begin to take affect during the dawn of the third millennium. It will lift every man and woman into self-guided sovereigns who capture endless power, riches, romance, and happiness. Historic contributors to the Knowledge Revolution include Aristotle, Bacon, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill. But their contributions have always remained unintegrated—until today.

With the rise of Objectivism, everyone will supercharge his or her mind and knowledge. People will break away from the traditional mind and its mysticism to break into mystic-free integrated thinking made possible by the Knowledge Revolution.

What is the essence of the Knowledge Revolution? The American Revolution consisted of freeing citizens from oppressive government by constitutionally protecting each individual’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Industrial Revolution consisted of greatly increasing the output of workers so workers, businesses, and society could boom into prosperity. And the Knowledge Revolution consists of an explicit method for generating valid knowledge without limits. This enables the individual to act on his or her own thinking to capture exquisite prosperity and happiness.

The rising Knowledge Revolution means the end of (1) external authorities, (2) criminal minds, (3) forced poverty, and (4) human death. With the discovery that knowledge is hierarchical and contextual, and that knowledge begins with sense perception and builds inductively to principles, individuals will no longer rely on specious authorities. Instead, people will think for themselves. They will do this not because it is a good idea; they will do this to survive and prosper. Man is a rationally thinking animal. To survive any other way—such as by thinking irrationally or by letting others tell one what to do—is to live a subhuman life. With the approaching Knowledge Revolution, everyone will transform into a smart, rich, healthy, sexy, happy, self-guided individual who creates endless values and prosperity for self and others.

Elements of Thought

Mankind is now evolving into a higher consciousness—a higher life form. That higher life form is Advanced Man. Those who evolve into Advanced Man will possess the power to bring his or her rational dreams into reality for boundless joy and riches.

To evolve into Advanced Man, one needs to understand this higher consciousness. One can take a closer look at the nature of Advanced Man’s thinking to understand how he or she generates limitless knowledge and success.

The following diagram reveals the elements of thought for Advanced Man. Anyone can use these elements to generate open-ended, reality-based concepts, ideas, and knowledge. And that knowledge is the key to limitless success.

Elements of Thought

Reduction back down the hierarchy of knowledge to validate one’s thoughts

æ ­ å
Mind

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Principles

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Mind

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Ideas

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Mind

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Concepts

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Mind

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Percepts

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Brain

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Sensations from one’s eyes, ears, nose, mouth, & skin

ä á ã
THE PHYSICAL WORLD

Six Steps to Form Concepts

Abstract, conceptual thinking separates man from all other animals. Man is a rational, conceptually thinking animal. Man’s knowledge is in the form of concepts, thoughts, and principles. The foundation of his abstract knowledge is concepts; this is where conceptual thinking begins.

The key to limitless knowledge is to form concepts accurately and consistently. What is a concept? A concept is a mental unit that unites entities sharing the same fundamental attribute. For example, the concept "computer" unites all computers: handheld computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, and mainframe computers.

What is the value of concepts? They enable the mind to condense a vast amount of information (e.g., all computers on earth) into one concise unit (e.g., the concept "computer"). What does one do with concepts? One integrates individual concepts into complete thoughts and then integrates those thoughts into principles. What is the advantage of conceptual thinking? Conceptual thinking enables the mind to think in the widest ranges of knowledge while taking up minimal mind space. For example, a principle might consist of only a few concepts, yet contain valuable information about the actions of thousands of entities.

Before one can consistently form thoughts and principles (i.e., perform integrated thinking), one needs to know how to form concepts. What follows are the six steps to form concepts:

1. Differentiation: a person mentally isolates two or more entities from other entities and notices that these two or more entities are different from the other entities.
2. Similarity: one then sees how these two or more entities are similar to each other.
3. Measurement omission: by seeing that these entities are essentially similar but not exactly the same, one omits the particular differences in measurement (i.e., specific differences in weight, height, length, color, etc.).
4. Integration: omitting specific measurements enables one to unite these similar entities into one unit, which is a concept.
5. Labeling: one labels the concept with a visual/auditory symbol, which is a word.
6. Definition: one attaches a definition to the concept to distinguish it from all other concepts.

For instance, a person sees entities moving around in a room that has non-moving objects. He notes that these moving entities are different from the other things in the room because they move around and make noise. He then notices how these entities are similar: they are living entities that move around, think rationally, and talk. He omits the particular measurements of these entities, such as their varying height, weight, and color. Then he integrates these similar entities into one concept. He labels the concept with the word "man". Lastly, he gives the concept a definition: a rational, conceptually thinking animal.

Sinking the Titanic Mess in Philosophy

Philosophers from Heraclitus, to Plato, to Augustine, to Duns Scotus, to Hume, to Kant, to Marx, to Sartre, to Wittgenstein, to today’s establishment philosophers have created a titanic mess in philosophy. Such establishment-correct philosophers have created a bewildering corpus of distortions, confusions, and evasions that pass for philosophy. Such is the foundation of earth’s force-backed anticivilization.

From these insane philosophies arise an infinite array of illusions. Those illusions permeate politics, government, education, the media, many professions and businesses, the arts, and nearly everyone’s mind. Philosophy permeates every nook and cranny of civilization.

But what a mess! Such mind-warping ideology rejects reality in metaphysics, dismisses reason in epistemology, abhors self-interest in ethics, and recoils at laissez-faire capitalism in politics. There is a higher realm, say establishment intellectuals, that philosophy seeks. That higher realm is a supernatural dimension, which is known through revelation and faith, and can be reached through selfless sacrifice backed by force.

Those philosophers and intellectuals, along with their beneficiaries and followers, are not open to alternatives. They are the builders and profiteers of a titanic ship called the anticivilization. As such, they attack anything that will alter their course.

The rise of uncompromising Objectivism—the philosophy of Ayn Rand—is the iceberg that will invariably sink the titanic mess in philosophy. The development of Objectivist philosophy here on earth marks the end of all bizarre philosophies that have been conjured up for past 2500 years. Interestingly, Ayn Rand needed those irrational philosophies in order to differentiate Objectivism and develop it into a complete philosophical system. But now that Objectivism is available to everyone, all irrational philosophies will fade away like bygone civilizations—never to return to planet Earth.

Upon obliterating the schizophrenic mess in philosophy, life on earth will surge in an upward direction. Scourges that arise from bad philosophy—including communism, fascism, socialism, environmentalism, liberalism, and conservatism—will dissolve. Citizens will finally be free from the shackles of gun-enforced subjective laws. As a result, everyone will rise to new heights of peace, prosperity, power, romance, fun, and happiness.

Conscious beings on earth will become eternally free—like advanced conscious beings that most likely populate the universe. Upon sinking the titanic mess in philosophy, no Julius Caesar, no Caligula, no Napoleon, no Woodrow Wilson, no Lenin, no Hitler, no Pius XII, no FDR, no Khomeini, no Castro can rise to power and harm everyone. As Objectivism overtakes planet Earth, all bogus philosophies will drown—to the permanent benefit of everyone.

Immoral versus Evil

An important distinction in the realm of ethics is one between immoral and evil. At first glance, this distinction appears superfluous. Yet, upon understanding the difference between these two concepts, one realizes that a person can be immoral without being evil. Conversely, one realizes that a person who is evil is always immoral.

Consider the following four premises in the realm of ethics:

1. Conscious actions that advance human life are moral
2. Conscious actions that intentionally harm human life are immoral
3. Conscious actions that use persuasion (e.g., actions arising from business) to get others to gain values are good
4. Conscious actions that use initiatory force or threats (e.g., actions arising from anticivilization governments) are evil

Thus, for instance, a man who sells harmful products to other people is immoral. But if he does not physically force or threaten others to buy his products, he is not evil. In other words, if customers voluntarily purchase his harmful products (e.g., cigarettes or drugs), then evil is not an issue.

But if a man initiates physical force or initiates threats against others, (e.g., to pay taxes or stop using drugs), then the man is evil. Ends can never justify the means. No matter how "noble" the cause, anyone who initiates force, coercion, or fraud against another person is evil.

Certain intellectuals such as Kant and Hegel were immoral but not evil. They created full-blown ideologies that caused great harm to human beings during the twentieth century. But these men did not initiate force, coercion, or fraud against anyone. Actually, these and similar men such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Karl Marx probably were mild, non-threatening men. As such, they were immoral but not evil.

Certain political leaders such as Stalin and Hitler were immoral and evil. They created societies that openly initiated force against citizens. These and similar men such as Lenin and Mao literally survived by initiating force against innocent citizens—especially the productive class. As such, they were immoral and evil.

Rising into the Temple of Knowledge

What is the temple of knowledge? It is a metaphorical place where all knowledge exists. How does one enter this temple? One enters the temple of knowledge through wide-open principled thinking, which is mystic-free, reality-based integrated thinking.

Today, as throughout history, no one has fully entered the temple of knowledge. A few people glimpsed inside, such as Isaac Newton and Thomas Edison. And their brief glimpse enabled them to move the world. But no one on planet Earth currently knows the power that unfolds upon entering the temple of knowledge.

Tomorrow, everyone will enter the temple of knowledge to discover and generate knowledge without limits. As a result, each person will become a giant of power and wealth. Average people everywhere will rise into the temple of knowledge, thereby transforming into commanders of prosperity and romance.

People around the globe will rise into the metaphorical temple of knowledge. That rise consists of eradicating internal mysticism and rising first from the perceptual level of cognition to the conceptual level. Then, people will rise from the conceptual level into the pinnacle of conscious thinking: principled thinking. And the realm of principled thinking is the temple of knowledge.

Consider a child learning how to ride a bike. That child uses training wheels to learn how to ride a bike. Then an adult holds onto the bike as the child learns to ride it. Finally, after a few minor accidents, the child rides all by himself—without any training wheels or adults keeping the bike balanced. The child, through his own effort, keeps the bike balanced as he rides wherever he wants to go.

Switching now to the temple of knowledge, individuals will begin their rise using various resources such as books, teachers, and the Internet. Then, after some mistakes, they will explicitly understand how to do reality-based principled thinking. They will not need anyone or anything to help them at this point, just like the child who learned how to ride a bike. Each individual will then operate from the temple of knowledge to uncover new knowledge without limits. And that limitless knowledge is awesome power.

The purpose of knowledge is to take efficacious actions that make life easier, happier, and more profitable. Knowledge generation is not an end in itself. Its actual value comes from applying knowledge to human life to improve the quality of life for one’s self, family, business, society, and world. However, prior to the discovery of the temple of knowledge, people were dependent on outside sources for knowledge. Those outside sources, in many cases, were external authorities operating from clandestine, self-serving agendas. But now—for the first time in history—individuals can and eventually will dump external authorities. Individuals will personally rise into reality-based principled thinking to become their own source of new, competitive knowledge. When that happens, humanity will never again regress. Rather, humanity will lunge forward into a heretofore unknown world of riches, romance, and exciting fulfillment.

Non Sequiturs versus Sequiturs

One of the most powerful ways to break free from the criminal mind is to become conscious of its prime survival tool. That survival tool is the non sequitur. And the criminal mind’s nemesis is the sequitur.

What is a non sequitur? What is a sequitur? Those who do not know the answer to these questions can easily be controlled, manipulated, and drained by criminal-minded people.

The non sequitur is a fallacious form of reasoning: a person makes an assertion and then draws a conclusion that does not logically follow. Criminal-minded people use clever techniques—such as equivocation and context dropping—to make their assertions sound valid. But, criminal-minded people have no interest in valid assertions. Instead, they manufacture non sequiturs to justify their widespread theft, destruction, and murder that enable them to survive without producing competitive values.

The sequitur is a valid form of reasoning: a person makes an assertion and then draws a conclusion that logically follows. Business-minded people rely on sequiturs to produce and market competitive products and services.

The use of non sequiturs leaves people confused about what is right and wrong. While citizens are confused, criminal-minded people maneuver into positions of tremendous unearned power and wealth. Historical leaders who survived via non sequiturs include Caligula, Tertullian, Lincoln, John Sherman, Pope Pius XII, and many others. Today, institutions that survive via non sequiturs include the Roman Catholic Church, communism, socialism, democracy, the IRS, the FDA, the DEA, the EPA, and many others.

The use of sequiturs leaves people clear about what is right and wrong. In fact, sequiturs are an important tool in the knowledge building process. Sequiturs enable people to advance in knowledge and gain valid understandings of reality. The certainty that is born from sequiturs enables citizens to reject harmful ideas, individuals, and institutions. And that is why criminal-minded people relentlessly attack and bury sequiturs. They accomplish this by prohibiting free speech, which is among the first action that a criminal government takes. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao blocked free speech in order to usurp, destroy, and murder their way to "greatness".

Non sequiturs and sequiturs apply to deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, and reasoning by analogy. The following is an example of a sequitur in deductive reasoning.

Premise one: Rational people desire immortality.
Premise two: Immortality requires that people exit earth’s anticivilization.
Conclusion: Therefore, rational people need to exit earth’s anticivilization.

Both premises in the above example are true and the conclusion logically follows. The conclusion is a sequitur: it is a valid conclusion.

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