"Loving yourself" Who does not love does not love your neighbor? (Part 1)
Marcos Roberto Martinez

 
I would like to propose a reflection on Buddhist thought that this is interpreted wrongly in my view and as disclosed in the Spiritist today. 

It is true that the logic "who loves wants to improve," and that thought is used with the noble goal of encouraging people to increase their retirement with positivism, without which hinder the recovery of falls and moral imperfections that occur naturally evolving spirits at the stage where we are, and also that self-forgiveness is an essential tool for inner reform, but analyzing this place the way it is pronounced, we understand why we find so much distortion in the misinterpretation of this teaching so deep. 

Let's analyze this philosophical reasoning to make a parameter between the two extremes. According to my understanding, the desire to improve self-esteem and are already contained in all beings, of course, by the laws of conservation (LE 703, 719 and 727) and progress (LE 776, 779, 781 and 783). Consider the children, for example, more pure and docile they may be, already carry within them the seeds of selfishness in the form of self-love, embedded in his developing personality, wanting more for themselves (including games, contests, food, attention etc..) course within their individual variations. 

It is the predominance of "selfishness" by the influence of the material world and the strength of personality on earth, this is who we want to expose and combat, mostly because he has a hidden way, "natural", potentially hindering its combat. 

The individual who is in the "wrong way", for example, also loves his way through the law of affinity that does not only understand what is best for himself, believes that what he is doing is the best for you , the addict believes in background drug use is what he should do now; think the masochistic feeling pain is good for himself, feels an affinity with it, even depressed or suicidal within its intimate feel he is doing what is right. 

There is a fund of selfishness in all these evils, need, yes, change the concept of what is best for you, change the way you understand things, working their affinities, and the thought of loving becomes quite distant at this stage and may including encouraging selfishness, that was the beginning of their downfall and should be worked first the concept of what is good for himself with detachment from things, including himself. 

For another perspective, one that already has some elevation and follows the teachings of Christ need to think differently, because the pronunciation "Loving yourself", by itself, leads us to slip into the cliffs of narcissism. This misinterpretation has caused much confusion among spiritualists, therefore, believe that thought should be studied and replaced by detachment from self, through the work of Christ. "Whoever loves God wants to sacrifice himself for the sake of his fellows" - yes this is the true guarantee of improvement, because every Christian who goes off to grow his brother finds it true comfort, and support of higher spirituality. Therein lies the true happiness that only the highest spirits can feel and understand, because that is the law of God "Love Others". And never, under any circumstances, the Christ or any of his phalanx envoy mentioned that our next closest ourselves: who really believes it denotes not assimilated the lessons of the Master Jesus, for being just the opposite that he demonstrated and taught - to love one's neighbor as oneself, selflessly of themselves and selflessness, which means: surrender of one's will, letting go of self-interest. 

It is understandable that we find many of our brothers with very low self-esteem, and need to improve to be happier, but what I mean is that it may not be directly related to "love your neighbor". We know many people in these conditions, fulfilling its role very well with similarly. On the other hand, we see people with high self-esteem as well, forgetting his neighbor.  

By Spiritism, we know that the greatest scourges of mankind are: Selfishness and pride, and that thought (love yourself) thoroughly analyzed leads us to find the principle of those moral vices camouflaged in misinterpretation of "love your neighbor as yourself ". 

Now, as himself, because it is innate in the creature by law to preserve self-esteem. It's natural; any creature, even the irrational, prefer to be treated well, even regardless of high or low self-esteem. 

The attempt to increase this natural tendency leads to exaggerated and therefore to a possible imbalance, which can create psychological barriers that hinder our inner reform, alleviation of defects, for example, the miser is believed simply economic, the proud thinks virtuous, strong personality, because of overzealous to himself. 

Love your neighbor as yourself, to me, means simply that we should treat our neighbor as we would like to be treated by him, or do as much for our fellow man, and would that make us, and not that we must love ourselves first in order to love your neighbor. We must, rather, to love God above all, to be able to love our neighbor. 

Another phrase often used to justify this thinking is the "knowledge of self" that in no way means that we know we love us and love our neighbor. Not so. We must know, yes, but mainly to know our faults and our flaws, because that is the best way to combat them. 

Some examples cited by the Superior Spirits, taken from The Gospel According to Spiritism: 

Chapter X - Indulgence – item 16 e 18 

Therefore be harsh to you, indulgent to others.

(Joseph, Holy Shield, Bordeaux 1863.) 

Dear friends, be harsh to you, indulgent to the weaknesses of others. (...) Why, then, ye shall show you as clairvoyant regarding the next and so blind to yourselves?

(Dufêtre, Bishop of Neves, Bordeaux.) 

Whoever rises will be lowered, and everyone who will stoop high.

Luke XIV, v.7-11. 

Whoever wants to become the greatest, be your server.

Matthew XX, v.20-29. 

Whoever humbles himself and becomes like this child small, will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew XVIII, v.1-5. 

You can not try to be the lowest among men and indulgent with his fellow loving yourself first and then love others. 

CHAPTER XVII - The duty  

The man who does his duty loves God more than the creatures, creatures and love more than yourself.

(Lazarus, Paris 1863.) 

CHAPTER XVII - Virtue 

All these good men (St. Vincent de Paul, Curé of Ars and many others) were unaware that virtuous; let themselves go at the whim of their holy inspirations and well practiced with complete indifference and forgetfulness full of themselves.

(François-Nicolas-Madeleine, Paris, 1863.) 

Loving creatures more than himself - as Lazarus says - and have an entire self-forgetfulness - as Francois is saying - is completely antagonistic to love yourself first and then love your neighbor. 

CHAPTER XVII - The Good Man  

Possessed of a sense of charity and love of neighbor, do good, the good (...) and always sacrifices his interests to justice. (...) His first impulse is to think of others before thinking of you, is to look after the interests of others before their own interest. 

Chapter V - Evidence voluntary. The real scourge – paragraph 4 

If you bear with the cold and heat and hunger to feed someone who needs to be warmed and fed and if your body that suffers, you make a sacrifice that God blesses. (...) You finally that despendeis your health in the practice of good works, you have it all in your hair, and truly blessed sackcloth. (A guardian angel, Paris, 1863.)

(This article will be concluded in the next edition of this magazine.)