His first effort was to find a common denominator to all men. He had seen man in both his more primitive state and his highly cultured states, and he knew that if we could isolate a common denominator that embraced all men, then perhaps from that we could unlock this riddle.

After exhaustive research, he isolated one word which embraced the finite universe as a dynamic principle of existence.

He discovered that the common denominator—the dynamic principle—was survive. Whatever else man was trying to do, whether he was cultured or primitive, he was attempting to survive. Well, what of such things as morals, ideals, love? Don’t these things go above “mere survival”? Unfortunately or fortunately, they do not. Ideals, honesty, love of one’s fellow man—one cannot find good survival for one or for many where these things are absent. Even the most esoteric concepts fall within this understanding of survival.