There’s a thing called the dynamics. A dynamic is an urge toward survival. And there are eight of these dynamics. —L. Ron Hubbard

What motivates life? What motivates Man? Those were the questions L. Ron Hubbard posed when seeking workable answers to the problems of both the individual and society.

After examining the whole of life in its variety and complexity, he isolated a common denominator to all living things—the Dynamic Principle of Existence: Survive! Here was a watershed breakthrough in Man’s understanding of Man. For while “everyone knows” that life forms are surviving, survival as their sole motivation was a brand-new discovery.

How, then, did survival apply to Man and his everyday existence? By examining the full range and depth of his activities in the light of this new discovery, the infinitely diverse behavior of human beings all aligned and fell into place.

As Mr. Hubbard discovered, the Dynamic Principle of Existence actually breaks down into no less than eight separate but interdependent urges toward survival: An individual survives for himself (1); for the family and future generations (2); for the group (3); for Mankind (4); for all life organisms including the animal and plant kingdoms (5); for the physical universe of matter, energy, space and time (6); as or for the spirit (7); and of or for Infinity (8).

Moreover, as he further reveals in this lecture, so interdependent are these dynamics that a failure to work along any one dynamic can drag down the rest while, similarly, a concentration on a single dynamic will also injure the others. But an understanding and, hence, balance of all Eight Dynamics provides the path to achieving the lasting success and happiness that are the very essence of survival—for oneself, one’s family, one’s fellows and, indeed, the whole civilization.

This, then, is not just wisdom about life. This is life.