od life, where the days are spent living in accordance with reason, and obeying nature. One gains knowledge by questioning, and one should use his superior intelligence to help his brothers who may not be so fortunate as to be living the reasonable life. Virtue, or "the good will," according it Aurelius, are such things as wisdom, justice, fortitude, and moderation. Attaining wisdom, pursuing justice, showing fortitude, and practicing moderation were all signs of a virtuous soul. Ignoring both pleasure and pain was also considered virtuous. One interesting point to mention is that Aurelius considered pain an opinion. An important belief in Stoicism was that a man is simply one small part of the whole universe. Therefore, if one person was hurt, then all people were affected, and hurt, also. However, God would never create such a fault so that everything was hurt. So, there was no point when everyone in the universe hurt. In turn, one person couldnt be hurt, either. Pain was an opinion, formed by ones body, and an opinion that should be ignored. Pleasure, on the other hand, was false, and tried to lead a person from what is true, nature and reason. Both should be ignored if a person were to live a virtuous life as a Stoic. Reason and nature were the most important virtuous things a person could attain. Aurelius also believed in numerous philosophies which do not fit into the above categories. For example, he believed that man should never think anything that he would be embarrassed to share with others. Inferior things exist for the sake of superior things. Even things on earth which are considered by humans to be ugly are beautiful because they are natural. (Aurelius finds the cracks present in homemade bread beautiful, even though they are "contrary to the purpose of the baker.") A person who commits generous acts and expects rewards from them is on the same level of a man who commits no such acts. The best way of ...
