The love of others

It's human nature to love others.

Seneca explained this in one of his letters to Lucilius:

“Then comes the second problem, – how to deal with men. What is our purpose? What precepts do we offer? […]
Shall we advise stretching forth the hand to the shipwrecked sailor, or pointing out the way to the wanderer, or sharing a crust with the starving? Yes, […] all that you behold, that which comprises both god and man, is one – we are the parts of one great body.
Nature produced us related to one another, since she created us from the same source and to the same end.
She engendered in us mutual affection, and made us prone to friendships.
She established fairness and justice; according to her ruling,
it is more wretched to commit than to suffer injury. […] Let us possess things in common; for birth is ours in common. Our relations with one another are like a stone arch, which would collapse if the stones did not mutually support each other, and which is upheld in this very way.” ¹

If you love others {{username}}, you also love yourself, and to love also means to strive for wisdom, doesn't it? Because we're all part of the same Whole. The wisest people you know - the Stoics we're talking about here, but also the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Princess Diana - weren't they all inspired by the same universal goodness, the same altruism?

When you hear their reassuring words, don't you ultimately hear, deep in the meaning of the words, the same unique message of love?

Altruism is a vast and dense topic that is beyond the scope of our course, and I won't go further into charity and benevolence today. I'll leave you with these two quotes from Marcus Aurelius and encourage you, {{username}}, to look into this question: Isn't love of others the most moral and noble of all human values?

“ […] A property, too, of the rational soul is love of one's neighbour, truth, and self-reverence.” ²

“Fit yourself into accord with the things in which your portion has been cast, and love the men among whom your lot has fallen, but love them truly.” ³