Zinoviev's ethics was a response to the social laws of existential egoism, in which there is neither morality nor freedom. Ethics complements the pessimistic sociology, which, by its own admission, Zinoviev developed to create a "teaching about life" and find a place in society for himself as an "ideal communist". In "Yawning Heights", Zinoviev wrote: "The point is not to discover the truth about yourself. There is no need for a lot of mind. The point is how to live after that". The machinery of society is subject to cruel and inhuman laws, inevitable, like the laws of nature; but a separate individual can overcome them, build his life as a "paradise" in a social "hell". Zinoviev often quoted phrase: "When people want to spit on the laws of gravity, they build airplanes". The quintessence of Zinoviev's ethics is contained in the phrase: "I am a sovereign state"; he argued that he adhered to this principle all his life, even making his own constitution. As Abdusalam Huseynov noted, Zinoviev developed an ethical teaching exclusively for himself. The system of Zinoviev's views, which he called the ""Zinovyoga"", echoes the tradition that goes from the Stoics to Kant. General provisions were developed in the early 1960s and set forth, in particular, in the "Gospel for Ivan", "Go to Golgotha" and "Live".