Whether one ought to love oneself or Another most???
2007-07-23 14:26:26 · 15 answers · asked by Rita 6 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
You know, psychologists (at least pop-psychol.) say that you have to love yourself before you can love others... they don't say you have to love yourself MORE than others.
And I think it is open as to whether 'love' can be quantified. If you have 10 children, do you have a limit to your love? Can't you love each equally but for different reasons?
A person should care as much about themselves as they would their best friend.
Peace
2007-07-23 14:35:56 · answer #1 · answered by zingis 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To love is to understand, and embrace for what one is. Until you understand and have compassion for yourself, you cannot do the same for others - and without that I don't believe you can truly love. Love is not unalloyed, or some infatuation with a perfect illusion, and it is more than mere tolerance or acceptance. It is also not a competition. There is no "most" - how would one choose between a life-long beloved companion and a child? As the poet Kipling said "To thine own self be true, and it follows as the night the day, though canst then not be false to any man" (or woman!). That means one must strive to be worth being true to. That's nurturing oneself. It's how good parenting and love is perpetuated and extended. It's a hard road, and no thoroughfare for hubris or narcissism (which the Greeks knew as self-love carried to sickness). But it pays in self-respect, and respect for others, which is the foundation of love, I think.
2007-07-23 18:16:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
One should love one self as far as that love does not lock the heart because once a persons heart is locked, it's hard to figure out the combination. (Meaning: too much love for oneself may prevent others from ever having the chance to get in.)
One should love God first and foremost.
Only God can fill you with pain and only God can take it away
Only God can put happiness in you heart and only God can take it away
You do not have the power to do this, nor the power to take it away
No other person has the power to do this , nor the power to take it away
Only through Gods power and will will it come to you and go away
2007-07-23 17:20:43 · answer #3 · answered by Dalila 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Loving yourself is not a crime, and it is justifiable because we all deserve to be loved, starting with ourselves. I don't really see what you mean by how far can this go. Of course it should be a balance between ourselves and others, especially if we have children and others close to us. If the balance is tipped too far in either direction, it is unhealthy. We can't really love others well enough unless we love ourselves, and it is self-destructive to give our all to everyone else and neglect ourselves [personal experience here on that one]. Also, if we love only ourselves and never another or others, it seems as though we are flawed and rigid. Perhaps people who do that are just afraid. So it must be a healthy balance.
2007-07-23 14:38:43 · answer #4 · answered by Zelda Hunter 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First, and the hardest lesson is to learn to love oneself. Not until then may one love another--unconditionally without reservation. For trust is a shadow, betrayal the sun growing light in a virgin spring that never stops a fountain of water. It is here at the fountainhead we drink. It is here that the single lives of a man and a woman become one--at the fountainhead we drink the eternal water of life.
2007-07-23 15:09:46 · answer #5 · answered by Ke Xu Long 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One just lets it flow. There is no measuring, no justification. The energy simply flows in and out, in and out, in and out. There is no priority as to what or whom, it just flows. There is no worrying as to whether this person or that entity flows it back, it doesn`t matter. As long as there is no resistance, it feels great, better than great, divine. It is really simple and it is really difficult at the same time, but once one gets what it is all about, it is impossible to forget. Go for it!
2007-07-23 15:03:05 · answer #6 · answered by canron4peace 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Strangely, the peak of self love lies in ensuring self emancipation leading to freedom from self... and that happens only when the love for self is overtaken by the uniform compassion for all else..... it could be achieved through extreme faith in God leading to love for all His creation... or it can happen to atheists through an understanding of where lies sublime joy that can last for ever.
At a very base level, we enjoy the most when we forget ourselves while enjoying!!
2007-07-23 19:05:31 · answer #7 · answered by small 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The justification is nature and the distance is to death or beyond. 'Too far' is when it is not love but sickness identified as love (as in the answer above from Nikki: narcissism). Love is not quantifiable, it is classifiable; brother, sister, mother, father, friend, neighbor, lover, wife, husband, daughter, son, work mate, game mate, ......
2007-07-23 14:33:21 · answer #8 · answered by Psyengine 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Oneself of course!
2007-07-23 15:46:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I love to hang out with myself. I love the stories I come up with, but I can get pretty lonely with myself. I know, I spent years with myself in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I could love myself all I want and with no one there with me besides myself it made no difference.
I would have to say love yourself enough to make your love worth something to the others you love.
2007-07-23 14:51:53 · answer #10 · answered by Meng-Tzu 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋