Is There Anything Better Than This?
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Marcus Aurelius said that if you ever found anything better in life than courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom, those four Stoic virtues, that it must be an extraordinary thing indeed. Which raises the question, is there anything better? Well, here's one pretty extraordinary thing. Love.

Sure, you could argue that love fits within the virtue of justice, but it's notable how much the Stoics speak about it. Hakata said, I can teach you a love potion made without any drugs, herbs, or special spell. And it's this. If you would be loved, love.

Marcus Aurelius himself says in meditations that he learned from his teacher, Sextus, that the key to life was to be free of passion but full of love. Indeed, there is almost no situation in which hatred helps, but almost every situation is made better by love. Love is something that transforms us. Pure love, careless of all other things, kindles the soul, Seneca said. It makes us selfless and inspires us to be better. In the end, the Beatles wrote,

The love you take is equal to the love you make, and that love is the thing that gives us meaning. Love may not be better than the four virtues, but it's certainly their equal. It emboldens courage, it inspires discipline, it strengthens justice, it gives purpose to wisdom, and it is an extraordinary thing indeed.

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