Is there life beyond mere survival? Yes, there is more to life than eating, drinking, and enjoying the work of your hands. In fact, I’ve come to believe that the whole reason we’re even here in the first place is to learn to love each other well. Our brains get programmed poorly during childhood, often with the best of intentions. We learn to fear people who are different from us. We learn to use physical violence, intellectual reasoning, or emotional manipulation to get what we want. We learn to crush the other guy because the only way for us to win is for someone else to fail. We learn to hate the people who don’t follow our rules or conform to our standards. It is easier to live in a world of absolutes, of black and white, of right and wrong. It’s easier, but it’s not more loving. Loving is painful. Loving is costly. Love is giving someone else the larger half of the last cookie. Love is accepting the larger half of the last cookie when it’s offered. Love is giving up the life of our dreams in order to be there for someone else, and love is letting go of a relationship we desire so our beloved can pursue the life of their dreams. Love is a complex paradox. Love is dangerous and alarming. Love is suffering and celebrating in our relationships with others. Love is binding and freedom. Love requires a lifetime to learn to love well. Love empties us, fills us, and flows through us as much as we’re able to allow. Love is not a sentimental, romantic notion. Love is a path of goodness and truth. Love hurts sometimes. Great love can be excruciating. And yet, learning to love well is rich and rewarding because love truly is always the more excellent way.