by Jason Stotts
True Love is spoken of by many, tasted by few, and known to almost none. True Love is one of the most profound expressions of Nobility open to Man – it is perhaps the highest state of existence. True Love surpasses Virtue; Virtue is a stepping stone on its path. True Love surpasses Justice; Justice is its motive force. True Love is the expression of the divinity of the lovers, of their faultless Virtue, of their unbridled Justice, of their great Magnanimity.
Is not Love open to all? In the same way as Excellence – to those worthy of it.
True Love requires two individuals – a man and a woman – the masculine and the feminine – each of whom are complete and Good. These lovers must each be worthy of their role, they must be independent and self-sufficient: only people who do not need Love to be happy are worthy of Love. Those who claim that they need love in order to be happy do not understand happiness or Love. What is happiness if it cannot be found in yourself? To deserve Love requires knowing human Excellence – to deserve Love one must deserve Eudaimonia.
You say that you can know Love and not be Eudaimon? Revel in your shadows.
To be Eudaimon requires growth, development, striving, Excellence, Nobility – to be Eudaimon means to be living a proper human life and living that life excellently. To be Eudaimon requires understanding what it means to be human and knowing how to achieve the best kind of human life possible: to be Eudaimon requires being ruthlessly Ethical. It means the immolation of all internal decadence and despise for all external decadence. It means becoming a champion of Justice and a paladin of Reason; Rationality is the path to greatness and a criterion for Eudaimonia. If one is to know True Love then one must become Proud.
But is not Pride the most deadly of sins? Indeed, if that which you seek is decadence.
Long ago the greatest scholar to have ever lived, the only person who has ever or will ever deserve the appellation The Philosopher, said that Pride is the crown of the Virtues. Indeed, the Proud man is Noble and understands his own Nobility – the Proud man is Good and understands his Goodness. Pride is earned through self-actualization, virtue, and becoming Eudaimon.
Do you still not see? To be Proud is to deserve Love.
Love is reverence for Life: for your own, for your lovers. To exclaim your joy in existence, to proclaim your Eudaimonia, to assert your Pride, to exert your right to the most sacred and most divine thing open to Man – that is to Love.