Question: There is a rule: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and in it, love for oneself is not cancelled by love for one’s neighbor. Is it possible to love one’s neighbor without loving oneself?

Answer: Love for one’s neighbor is impossible without self-love! Therefore, egoism is not destroyed. I always have to check relative to myself: I love myself, and the neighbor—just a bit more.

Why more? Now you love yourself more than you love others, so, based on the rule “love as yourself,” you have to love others a little more than yourself. Moreover, you need to constantly watch, compare, and take an example from how you love yourself. Thus you begin to know yourself.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/8/12, Lesson 4

Related Material:
Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
“Love Your Neighbor” Is the Condition Nature Has Set for Us
To Love “As Yourself” Is To Love More Than Yourself

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