What is Rational Self-Interest?
Rational Self-Interest is the practical application of Enlightenment philosophy whereby the most able and productive men and women of a society are allowed to choose a level of success and happiness determined only by their own individual desires, talents, and abilities.
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| Restore Reason "Truth, Freedom, Beauty, Romance" |
Rational Self-Interest expresses itself in the philosophical branches of aesthetics and politics in order to define the conditions that make an ideal man or woman possible.
Aesthetics
Overhumanism: the conceptual model of men and women as erotic and heroic beings of free will, with their own happiness as the moral purpose of their lives, productive achievement as the noblest activity, sensuality and adventure as expressions of the self-esteem, and reason as their only absolute.
Politics
Capitalism: the social systems based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned. The recognition of individual rights entails the banishment of physical force from human relationships; in other words, individual rights can only be violated by means of force. In a rational society, no person or group may initiate the use of physical force against others. The only function of the government, in such a society, is the task of protecting individual rights, i.e., the task of protecting individuals from physical force; the government acts as the agent of every individuals right of self-defense, and may use force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use.
Federalism: a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (such as states or provinces). Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments.
Limited Government
- Separation of State & Expression
- Separation of State & Religion
- Separation of State & Commerce
- Separation of State & Property
- Separation of State & Information
- Separation of State & Self-Defense
- Separation of State & Personal Responsibility
- Separation of State & Sexual Behavior
- Separation of State & Education
- Separation of State & Association
- Separation of State & An Individual's Mind and Body
The only model for a limited government based on Enlightenment principles, with explicit checks and balances on political power, can be found in the Constitution for the Sovereign States.
Values & Virtues of Rational Self-Interest
Rational Self-Interest begins with the understanding that men and women have the natural right (i.e., a right they are born with) and free will to choose the values they live their lives by. A "value" is that which one acts to gain or keep; a "virtue" is the action by which one gains and keeps what they value. A set of values consciously chosen becomes a code of morality.
The Sacred Value
- An Individual's Own Life: It is the concept of "Life" that makes the concept of "Value" possible. There is only one fundamental right (all others are its consequences or corollaries): a man's or woman's right to his or her own individual life. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action - which means: the freedom to take all actions by the nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment, and the enjoyment of his or her own life.
- Reason: One's only tool of knowledge and only means of survival. Reason is implemented by basing knowledge on observation from sensual data, then forming concepts according to the actual (measurable) relationships among concretes, and applying these concepts according to the rules of logic - a concept being the mental integration of two or more units which are isolated by a process of abstraction and united by a specific definition.
- Purpose: One's choice of happiness, which reason must proceed to achieve. Purpose is implemented by setting goals that define one's life as it might be and ought to be.
- Self-Esteem: One's inviolate certainty that their mind is competent to think, and they are worthy of happiness. Self-Esteem is the expression of a value-oriented life lived with Reason and Purpose.
- Romantic Love: One's response to their own highest values in the person of another - an integrated response of mind and body, of love and sexual desire.
- Rationality: The recognition and acceptance of reason as one's only source of knowledge.
- Productiveness: The process by which one's mind sustains one's life.
- Pride: The recognition of the fact that one's own being is their highest value.
- Sensuality: The enjoyment, expression, or pursuit of physical, especially sexual, pleasure - the celebration of one's highest values and of existence - acts which are only possible in self-exaltation, and only in the confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire.
- Independence: The acceptance of the responsibility of forming one's own judgments, and of living by the work of one's own mind.
- Integrity: Never sacrificing one's convictions to the opinions or wishes of others.
- Honesty: Never attempting to fake reality in any manner.
- Justice: Never seeking or granting the unearned and undeserved, neither in matter nor in spirit.
- Non-Aggression: Never resorting to coercion or force in order to impose one's beliefs on others or to take the property of others.
- A conceptual model of men and women as erotic and heroic beings of free will, with their own happiness as the moral purpose of their lives, productive achievement as their noblest activity, beauty and sensuality as expressions their self-esteem, and reason as their only absolute;
- A social system where every man and woman is free to choose the work they like, to specialize in it, to trade their product or service for the products and services of others, to go as far on the road of achievement as their ability and ambition will carry them, to live within a total environment of their own choosing, and to leave a legacy of good health, high intelligence, and noble character to future generations;
- A system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent units, with the power of the government strictly limited to the protection of individual rights and private property, and with explicit checks and balances on its ability to exert force or regulate commerce.
- Truth: the nature of reality as discovered through rational investigation
- Freedom: the individual right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness
- Beauty: the manifestation of values that evoke feelings of order, delight, pleasure, and wonder
- Romance: the recognizing, creating, trading, sharing, experiencing, and admiring of conscious and physical values
The Eleven Statements of Rational Self-Interest
- I mold my appearance and environment to suit my aim
- I take full responsibility for my life
- I use reason to understand the realities of existence
- I communicate patterns that influence outcomes
- I live my purpose everyday
- I never give up
- I keep myself in peak physical condition
- I make money work for me
- I indulge my senses regularly
- I only associate with individuals who share my values
- I survive by the strength of my mind and body
Emblem of Rational Self-Interest
The Sign of the Dollar emblem of Rational Self-Interest is the conceptual expression of Enlightenment philosophy and a symbol of hope for a new age of reason:
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| Emblem of Rational Self-Interest |
The yin-yang symbol represents the ability of an individual to recognize the values they admire most within themselves and within the person of another - the Sign of the Dollar represents the free exchange of ideas, goods, and services to the mutual benefit of each of the individuals involved. Taken as a whole, they symbolize the ideal of men and women as erotic and heroic beings who possess free will, with their own happiness as the moral purpose of their lives, productive achievement as their noblest activity, sex as an expression of their self-esteem, and reason as their only absolute.
The Five-Point Program
Rational Self-Interest is a life-loving system based on objective reality and reason that we, the members of Restore Reason, passionately adhere to. We are now ready for something that goes quite a few steps beyond just explaining our principles. Every revisionist movement needs a set of goals and guidelines that are clear, concrete, and that will effect significant change.
The following Five-Point Program reflects attitudes which allow others to decide whether they wish to align themselves with us or not. Each is necessary for change to take place. When you're asked what we're "doing," here's the answer:
- Overhuman Ideal: the conceptual model of men and women as erotic and heroic super-beings of free will, with their own happiness as the moral purpose of their lives, productive achievement as their noblest activity, sensuality as an expression of their self-esteem, and reason as their only absolute;
- Rational Self-Interest: the thoughts, choices, actions, and feelings that express a morality based on objective reality and reason - best expressed in the Eleven Statements of Rational Self-Interest;
- Private Property: the individual right of every man and woman to choose their own values, to control their own existence, to achieve their own goals, to choose the work the they like, and to trade their own product or service for the products and services of others;
- Individual Sovereignty: the natural and inalienable right of every man and woman to life, liberty, property, voluntary association, self-determination, and the pursuit of happiness;
- Natural Order: the ability of every man and woman to survive by their own strength, to succeed by their own merits, and to leave a legacy of good health, high intelligence, and noble character to future generations.
This is the encapsulated version of our current thrust of defining the conditions that make an ideal man or woman possible. So now when someone asks you, "Well, what do members of Restore Reason do?", you will be qualified to tell them.
Life Experience Patterns
The basic principles upon which Rational Self-Interest is built hold -
Restore Reason Curriculum
Life Experience Patterns
- Philosophy & Science: objective reality, reason, rational self-interest
- Mythology & Culture: aesthetics
- Ritual & Ceremony: hypnosis
- Strategy & Tactics: values
- Career & Playmates: virtues
- Business & Investing: financial statements
- Persuasion & Negotiation: communication
- Association & Management: contracts, resources, time
- Health & Fitness: diet, exercise, sleep
- Costume & Decoration: fashion, grooming, interior design
- Sensuality & Adventure: playboy/playgirl lifestyle
The ABC's of Rational Self-Interest
The basic principles upon which Rational Self-Interest is built hold -
a. that existence, reality, the external world is what it is independent of human consciousness - independent of anyone's knowledge, judgment, faith, beliefs, feelings, hopes, wishes, or fears;
b. that everything happens for a reason and for every effect there is a specific cause;
c. that the primary biological imperative of all life is survival and cellular replication;
d. that the survival of the human race is due to the evolutionary development of the human brain and its capacity for deep visual focus, social intelligence, pattern recognition, and pattern mirroring;
e. that reason - the faculty that perceives, identifies, and integrates the material provided by human senses and tools - is fully competent to know the facts of reality;
f. that existence is identity, consciousness is identification, and logic is the art of non-contradictory identification;
g. that one's perception of the facts of reality must constitute the basis of their choices and actions - just as reason is one's only guide to knowledge, so it is their only guide to choosing their own values, achieving their own goals, and controlling their own existence;
h. that a rational human being can experience the reality of a benevolent universe, where success and happiness are to be expected, where ideas, knowledge, truth, and justice matter, where a proper, human way of life is possible on earth, where the pursuit of sexual, recreational, and material abundance can be attained without guilt or remorse, and where injustice, terror, falsehood, frustration, pain, and agony are the exceptions in life, not the rule;
i. that an individual can experience any reality that has ever been experienced by any human being by recreating the physical, mental, and emotional patterns that cause the state, trait, or characteristic;
j. that every human being has the natural right (i.e., a right they are born with) to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness;
k. that the primary values of a rational human being are reason (one's only tool of knowledge and only means of survival) , purpose (one's choice of happiness, which reason must proceed to achieve), and self-esteem (one's inviolate certainty that their mind is competent to think, and they are worthy of happiness) and the primary virtues of a rational human being are rationality (the recognition and acceptance of reason as one's only source of knowledge), independence (the acceptance of the responsibility of forming one's own judgments, and of living by the work of one's own mind), integrity (never sacrificing one's convictions to the opinions or wishes of others), productiveness (the process by which one's mind sustains one's life), pride (the recognition of the fact that one's own being is their highest value), honesty (never attempting to fake reality in any manner), and justice (never seeking or granting the unearned and undeserved, neither in matter nor in spirit);
l. that every human being is an end in themselves, not a means to the end of others;
m. that one must live for their own sake, with the achievement of their own rational self-interest and happiness as the moral purpose of their lives, neither sacrificing themselves to others, nor sacrificing others to themselves;
n. that the master skill needed for the achievement of any goal or outcome is one's ability to define and organize their life as it might be and ought to be;
o. that no one has the right to seek values from others or impose their beliefs on others by the initiation of force against the person or property of another;
p. that every individual (regardless of race, creed, color, or gender) has the absolute right to ownership of their own body, control of the material resources they have found and transformed, and the absolute right to exchange or give away the ownership of such titles to whoever is willing to exchange for them, or receive them;
q. that romantic love and sexual desire are the integrated response in mind and body to one's highest values and virtues expressed in the person of another;
r. that the process of evolution has naturally selected women who are attracted to larger, stronger, more competitive men, and men who desire smaller, sleeker, comelier women;
s. that embracing the fact that one is a man or a woman is determined by the non-contradictory nature of being a male or a female;
t. that a hero or heroine is an abstraction of mankind's best and highest potential, applicable to and achievable by every man or woman, in various degrees, according to their individual choices;
u. that the aesthetic expression of an ideal man or woman is an erotic and heroic being of free will, with their own happiness as the moral purpose of their lives, productive achievement as their noblest activity, sensuality and adventure as expressions of their self-esteem, and reason as their only absolute;
v. that the human body is a living work of art expressing the beauty of values and projecting the erotic and heroic nature of humankind;
w. that a rational, self-confident woman desires a man who is a hero, who strong enough to dominate her sexually and romantically, and a rational, self-confident man desires a woman who is a heroine and hero-worshiper (i.e., a woman of exacting standards, not to be conquered save by the man who is able to meet or exceed them), who is strong enough to be dominated by him;
x. that the only function of government is the task of protecting individual rights (i.e., the task of protecting people from physical force) - government only acts as the agent of an individual’s right to self-defense, and may only use force in retaliation, and only against those who initiate its use;
y. that the voluntary and unregulated exchange of goods and services to the mutual benefit of the parties involved is the only system that allows men and women to deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as free and equal traders - the practical expression of reason being free trade; and
z. that the absence of these principles from the minds and actions of mankind is what is responsible for the present state of the world.
b. that everything happens for a reason and for every effect there is a specific cause;
c. that the primary biological imperative of all life is survival and cellular replication;
d. that the survival of the human race is due to the evolutionary development of the human brain and its capacity for deep visual focus, social intelligence, pattern recognition, and pattern mirroring;
e. that reason - the faculty that perceives, identifies, and integrates the material provided by human senses and tools - is fully competent to know the facts of reality;
f. that existence is identity, consciousness is identification, and logic is the art of non-contradictory identification;
g. that one's perception of the facts of reality must constitute the basis of their choices and actions - just as reason is one's only guide to knowledge, so it is their only guide to choosing their own values, achieving their own goals, and controlling their own existence;
h. that a rational human being can experience the reality of a benevolent universe, where success and happiness are to be expected, where ideas, knowledge, truth, and justice matter, where a proper, human way of life is possible on earth, where the pursuit of sexual, recreational, and material abundance can be attained without guilt or remorse, and where injustice, terror, falsehood, frustration, pain, and agony are the exceptions in life, not the rule;
i. that an individual can experience any reality that has ever been experienced by any human being by recreating the physical, mental, and emotional patterns that cause the state, trait, or characteristic;
j. that every human being has the natural right (i.e., a right they are born with) to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness;
k. that the primary values of a rational human being are reason (one's only tool of knowledge and only means of survival) , purpose (one's choice of happiness, which reason must proceed to achieve), and self-esteem (one's inviolate certainty that their mind is competent to think, and they are worthy of happiness) and the primary virtues of a rational human being are rationality (the recognition and acceptance of reason as one's only source of knowledge), independence (the acceptance of the responsibility of forming one's own judgments, and of living by the work of one's own mind), integrity (never sacrificing one's convictions to the opinions or wishes of others), productiveness (the process by which one's mind sustains one's life), pride (the recognition of the fact that one's own being is their highest value), honesty (never attempting to fake reality in any manner), and justice (never seeking or granting the unearned and undeserved, neither in matter nor in spirit);
l. that every human being is an end in themselves, not a means to the end of others;
m. that one must live for their own sake, with the achievement of their own rational self-interest and happiness as the moral purpose of their lives, neither sacrificing themselves to others, nor sacrificing others to themselves;
n. that the master skill needed for the achievement of any goal or outcome is one's ability to define and organize their life as it might be and ought to be;
o. that no one has the right to seek values from others or impose their beliefs on others by the initiation of force against the person or property of another;
p. that every individual (regardless of race, creed, color, or gender) has the absolute right to ownership of their own body, control of the material resources they have found and transformed, and the absolute right to exchange or give away the ownership of such titles to whoever is willing to exchange for them, or receive them;
q. that romantic love and sexual desire are the integrated response in mind and body to one's highest values and virtues expressed in the person of another;
r. that the process of evolution has naturally selected women who are attracted to larger, stronger, more competitive men, and men who desire smaller, sleeker, comelier women;
s. that embracing the fact that one is a man or a woman is determined by the non-contradictory nature of being a male or a female;
t. that a hero or heroine is an abstraction of mankind's best and highest potential, applicable to and achievable by every man or woman, in various degrees, according to their individual choices;
u. that the aesthetic expression of an ideal man or woman is an erotic and heroic being of free will, with their own happiness as the moral purpose of their lives, productive achievement as their noblest activity, sensuality and adventure as expressions of their self-esteem, and reason as their only absolute;
v. that the human body is a living work of art expressing the beauty of values and projecting the erotic and heroic nature of humankind;
w. that a rational, self-confident woman desires a man who is a hero, who strong enough to dominate her sexually and romantically, and a rational, self-confident man desires a woman who is a heroine and hero-worshiper (i.e., a woman of exacting standards, not to be conquered save by the man who is able to meet or exceed them), who is strong enough to be dominated by him;
x. that the only function of government is the task of protecting individual rights (i.e., the task of protecting people from physical force) - government only acts as the agent of an individual’s right to self-defense, and may only use force in retaliation, and only against those who initiate its use;
y. that the voluntary and unregulated exchange of goods and services to the mutual benefit of the parties involved is the only system that allows men and women to deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as free and equal traders - the practical expression of reason being free trade; and
z. that the absence of these principles from the minds and actions of mankind is what is responsible for the present state of the world.
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