Imagine how different the world would be if Jesus said “Love your neighbor AND yourself” instead of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus never told us to love ourselves, so many people don’t. Actually, most people hate themselves because of this omission—they are their own worst enemy, greatest adversary, and staunchest critic. They will never be good enough for themselves. They are hard on themselves to the point of self-destruction, and their inner world is full of hateful, degrading comments. And then those who say they love themselves are the most nihilistic of them all, refusing to believe any ideology but their own. They confuse self-love with a shadowing of their own reality; they cover up failures with narcissistic claims of blind acceptance and self-infatuation. They don’t really love themselves because they don’t really know themselves. All they know is a lie, and all they love is their ego’s status in the world.
To love yourself means to love yourself. Truly and deeply. To look yourself in the mirror and see your flaws, to stare into the depth of your soul and recognize your shortcomings and then to love yourself anyways. If you don’t learn how to love yourself, how on earth can you love another with the proper attention they deserve? How could you possibly share love with another if you haven’t planted and harvested any love of your own? Why did Jesus miss this?
Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe we have to read in between the lines. Perhaps, even, between two perpendicular lines. Lines with love between them.
Maybe.