We think for a purpose. Actions are following a purpose too. Could it be there is an underlying purpose to every single action, every thought we ever have?

The founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, was a philosopher of acclaim. See if this data is true for you, and if it can help you.

All life is attempting to do one thing and one thing only. Every action you do, every thought you have is governed by one overriding single impulse. That impulse is survive. It does not matter if the life is your own, that of a dog, a cat, a tree or a bee, the impulse is still survive.

So walk the streets and look, and see people trying to survive. See the motorist as he swears, as he honks his horn, as he parks. He is trying to survive. As the tree sends its roots down to water, as the bee pollinates the flowers, or stings you, it is trying to survive.

You educate yourself, you work, you relax, you sleep, and all you are trying to do is survive as well as you can. By survival we mean not just breathe, we mean, to the highest that one can attain, the most happiness, the most abundant way you can.

So, if this is so, then why are we not happy? Well, happiness is derived from overcoming the barriers to that survival. You must attain survival and then one can be happy. The person who has an ability to run an empire, but is thwarted by opponents will find he is not happy. A person who does not wish for empire, but simply wants to play the violin, may be thwarted by other barriers. Only when they surmount these barriers to their survival will they be happy.

By knowing that all one is doing is trying to survive puts some calm on the confusion of life and living. Living can seem pretty confusing at times. But knowing that we are simply surviving is not all there is to know about life. There is also some other very elementary data.

This impulse to survive can be broken down further so that one can fine tune his actions and analyse his own thinking, to better himself and his overall survival.

There are eight overall categories or subdivisions in this survival urge or impulse. In Scientology L. Ron Hubbard called these urges the dynamics of existence. There are eight dynamics.

The first of these urges, or dynamics, we call the first dynamic. It is the self dynamic, the urge to survive as self. This means your body, car, hair, things that are yours or that you own.

The second dynamic is your urge to survive though family, children, the sexual act. It is also the creative dynamic.

The third urge to survive is the group dynamic. This is you trying to get your business to survive, your club, church, nation or even race.

The fourth dynamic is species and for us it is mankind. We want all man to survive. We abhor war, and if we do not, then there is something wrong with us on this dynamic.

The fifth urge to survive is as all living things. This includes the trees, flowers, bees, insects, and even bacteria. And while one may think we do not want really bacteria to survive, we need certain bacteria in our bodies otherwise we cannot stay well.

The sixth urge to survive is the physical universe.

The seventh urge to survive is the spiritual dynamic. We want to survive spiritually. Here we find all forms of spiritual learning and practice. Meditation, prayer, bible study, and maybe the human rights of people to practice the religion of their own choice could be included.

The eighth dynamic is the God dynamic, the infinite, or the allness of all.

There are eight dynamics in total. When we know this we can see if our decisions are balanced or not, for we can become fixated on just one or a few of these dynamics which can be to the loss of the others. It is unhealthy to do so, but happens often enough. For example, the war monger, who sells arms to exploit third world nations for profit, is not surviving on the fourth dynamic, mankind. He may also not have much strength on his eighth dynamic, or perhaps his fifth is weak and so on. If he was to realize that there are other dynamics than merely his own first and second dynamics, he may become a better person.

The same applies to the industrialist who drops toxic waste in the ocean, or the whaling ships that may decimate a species beyond its ability to recover.

The correct decision in life is not to deny these survival urges, for they do exist. It does not mean that one cannot destroy a virus that threatens oneself, or a swarm of bees that threaten our child, or even defend ourselves from an invading army. There will always be conflicts on the dynamics, for one must eat, one must seek shelter and one must defend. But if one can see that by balancing the dynamics and selecting those decisions that result in the greatest good of the majority of the dynamics, then one will be making the right decisions and he will be surviving well in life.