Zukav identifies authentic power as the opposite of external power. While external power is rooted in fear, authentic power is motivated by love. Zukav argues that consciously removing fears and replacing them with loving intentions helps people build authentic power, bringing love and prosperity into their lives and helping to heal their souls and resolve their karma.

Military or physical might, economic superiority, and exploitation of other people and the planet are examples of what Zukav considers external power. People may pursue external power in individual relationships as well as in their workplaces, communities, or nations. Zukav feels that people’s five-sensory behaviors encourage them to live in fear of others, fostering hatred, jealousy, and a desire for control. While those with external power may look successful, the quest for external power only generates negative feelings and bad karma.

Zukav believes that emotions have different “frequencies” depending on their quality. High-frequency emotions include love, joy, and compassion. By feeling and extending these emotions, Zukav argues, people enjoy better mental and physical health.

Zukav defines the law of attraction as a principle that dictates that people’s behavior will “attract” similar intentions, feelings, and actions into their life. For instance, a person motivated by greed will find themselves surrounded by similarly greedy people.

Zukav warns the reader against experiencing and extending low-frequency emotions, such as fear, hatred, and envy. He believes that these feelings create bad karma and result in deteriorating health.

Zukav believes that temptation can be highly beneficial, as it draws people’s attention to their fears and weaknesses, giving them an opportunity to overcome them and build their authentic power. He calls this silver lining the “Luciferic Principle,” referencing the devil’s temptation of Jesus, as described in the Bible.

Zukav claims that people are increasingly becoming what he calls “multisensory.” According to him, these people embrace prayer and ask for spiritual guidance, are able to interpret and act on intuitive signs, and acknowledge the existence of the soul and consciously try to “heal” it by acting with love and compassion. He claims that multisensory people learn spiritual lessons more quickly than five-sensory people and are therefore more easily able to change their karma and make progress in healing their soul.

Zukav defines the “personality” as everything about a person that doesn’t include their soul: their body, their appearance, and the particulars of their life (character traits, gender, talents, etc.). Souls take on the form of a personality to continue their healing journey.

Zukav believes that historically, everyone was a sensory, or “five-sensory,” person, meaning that they engaged with the world through their five physical senses. This mode of living yields pragmatic learning through experience but generates limited spiritual insight. Five-sensory people tend to focus on building external power and are ignorant of the soul and its needs.