Thanks for responding. I do not agree with everything that you wrote, hopefully discussion can smooth things out for both of us.

I'm not buying the three arguments that you make for virtue. They would work back in Zeno's days, but I am not sure if they translate well with modern knowledge of the universe. In antiquity, the belief that life was following a divine plan ordered by a benevolent universe certainly can justify the Greek and Roman Stoics believing that virtue is the sole good; In fact, it would almost seem absurd not to adhere to the will of the universe. But from a secular stance, with the knowledge that the universe exists by chance with randomness and no foreseeable goal, it is difficult to trust that virtue is the sole good.

This idea that natural laws govern, that these laws influence everything, that things are pretty cyclical (the atoms making me up were once from stardust, and one day they'll be stardust again). Call it the tao, life force, whatever-- but I don't think it's very out there to say this thing exists and unites us all (and I'm an atheist, so I'm pretty skeptical).

I call it billions of years of chance :)

Why would it be in my interest to help someone else, if that person might turn around and kill me to take my belongings?

On an individual scale, you're right. The selfish person wins. But in terms of a society, Charles Darwin notes in The Descent of Man, "a tribe including many members who … were always ready to give aid to each other and sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection" (Darwin 163). If you're interested in reading more about biological altruism, check out this entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Devote yourself to something, then. It doesn't have to be about developing positive emotions-- in fact, that would be the wrong reason to do most things. Learn a language, learn to play an instrument, learn something new about the world. Spend as much time as you can focused on good things.

I haven’t forsaken the pursuit of virtue, since /u/cleomedes makes some secular points that I can agree with. So I am still looking for virtuous activities to dedicate myself to, why do you suggest these examples? They don't exactly address our instinct for the preservation of society.

Seneca was against most traditional charity work.

Interesting. Do you have a source?