“Love thy neighbour” is wonderful, since we then have nothing to do about ourselves; but when it is a question of “love thy neighbour as thyself” we are no longer so sure, for we think it would be egoism to love ourselves.
There was no need to preach “love thyself” to people in olden times, because they did so as a matter of course.
But how is it nowadays?
It would do us good to take this thing somewhat to heart, especially the phrase “as thyself.”
How can I love my neighbour if I do not love myself?
How can we be altruistic if we do not treat ourselves decently?
But if we treat ourselves decently, if we love ourselves, we make discoveries, and then we see what we are and what we should love.
There is nothing for it but to put our foot into the serpent’s mouth.
He who cannot love can never transform the serpent, and then nothing is changed. ~Carl Jung, Psychological Reflections, Page 249.
