Self love and god?

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Omcc256

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Is self love ok. I have been learning to love myself I feel like I have grown closer to god
 
At this moment it is difficult to say. Could you give more examples of how you self-love?
 
Self-love makes us prefer ourselves to God. You might be using a different definition.
 
Our Lord taught us to love God with all our being.

He also told us to love our neighbour as ourselves, but I translate that as caring for our neighbour as we care for ourselves and having a charitable disposition towards them.

I think it’s a good idea to have a neutral view of ourselves, that avoids self pride and other judgements which might hinder our spiritual progress .
 
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Well, i am a bachelor.
And during my single life , i inherited some habits, which are not always good.
I like solitary atmosphere, i like quiet room, silence,books, jazz. I like to organize my day by my self, according to my life of a single person.
When you realize that you need to marry,to build your family, you also realize that your comfortable self-love should come to the end.
 
I guess ‘self-love’ is a bit hard to understand as we are inclined to seek it at face value, but it is more than that. When we can accept ourselves for who we are, what we are, what we are to become it certainly draws us closer and INTO God. We set aside the humanity of ourselves and become immersed in God. For some it is a natural process of mental, spiritual growth, for others it can be an awakening, and for some it can be a very rude wake up call. Even the Saints had some problems with self-love but sought it in the quest of Adoration and Love of God. They tend to compliment each other like PB&Jelly. Separate they are good but together they make a slice of bread just about royal…but still not 100% perfect.
Only God is perfect, but we should strive for perfection just as the Saints did. We need to leave all the baggage behind or as much as possible. After all, we are visiting guest and are dependent upon our host for what we need while we transit. Travel light. The more junk of our persons leav behind, the more room for our Lord.
Have I explained self-love well? Is it possible? Probably not. It is a ‘God Thing.’ And we have our limitations and walls to climb. Don’t look down. Always ‘look up.’
 
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Omcc256 said:
Is self love ok. I have been learning to love myself I feel like I have grown closer to god
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Self love is normal, healthy and good. All evil is a perversion or lessening of some natural, created, good. So Aquinas says that pride is “inordinate self love”. It’s to want to be more than who we are, to desire excellence inordinately, beyond our true ability. In my understanding it’s rooted in the desire to “be like God”, but “without God, before God, and not in accordance with God”.279 (CCC 398)

And shame of self is the other side of the same coin. When we think we measure up to the standard that pride sets we feel superior, for awhile anyway. When we feel we fail at measuring up, we feel inferior. Both are extremes rooted in not being comfortable with our “creaturely status”, again from the catechism. Recognition of God, as God, puts everything in better balance. Humility is the key.
 
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I don’t disagree, but he is closest to you when you are broken-hearted:

 
Omcc256 said:
Is self love ok. I have been learning to love myself I feel like I have grown closer to god
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As others have said, it depends what you mean. Its a good and important question though. Im reading a book now on self-esteem by a Benedictine monk. He says we should feel good about ourselves, have a healthy self-esteem. Hating ourselves will only cause a projected hatred of others.

“Self interest” is possibly what you mean. I suggest we should make God our number one focus and everything else is dependant on Him. Better not to focus on ourselves too much any way.
 
In the sense that most modern people mean it certainly yes. Just beware that a lot of older Catholic literature means a lot of different things by “self-love” which as some have said better translates to self-interest.
 
And God said, “let us make man in our image and likeness.” Realize that, realize how you are made, and you must love yourself. It would be wrong not to. Loving yourself is a great good, how you manifest that feeling is where one can go off the reservation. Love yourself and realize how much more your Creator loves you. And then take what Christ taught us, and, as St Francis is said to have said," preach the gospel always, if necessary, use words."
 
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