Love?
I thought that all things considered, I should probably post on love today. It's a pretty big topic and there's a lot to say, but rather than adding to what has been said so well by our Lord Himself, along with a great multitude of saints and holy men and women, I'll share the issue that has preoccupied my mind most of the day.
Today in Philosophy of the Human Person we were talking about love and friendship. Ok, well, that touches pretty much on the whole course, but more specifically, we were looking at Aristotle and the Nichomachean Ethics (Books VIII and IX).
In Book IX, Chapter 8, Aristotle says "the good person must be a self-lover, since he will both help himself and benefit others by doing fine actions." In other words, a person must first love themselves in order to be a good friend to others. A person must first love themselves in order to love others.
Now, this isn't a news flash, unless you've gone through your whole life and somehow never been presented with the great commandment (Mt 22:36-40):
Ok, so most, if not all, of us will agree that you must love yourself in order to love others. We're not talking in a prideful and disordered kind of self-love, but a self-love based in the love Christ has for us.
While the argument that you must first love yourself in order to love others would seem to indicate that those who don't love themselves can't love others I really struggle with that.
Is someone who doesn't love themselves utterly incapable of loving others? I don't know. It's an interesting question. I think it's more that they're just incapable of perfectly (that is fully) loving others. In which case though, it would seem that none of us are capable of perfectly loving others until we are sanctified...
Sorry, this is a very random 'musing' kind of post and it might not make any sense at all but it's just been on my mind since class this afternoon. It's one of those, "Ok, I know the 'answer' but I don't get it" kind of questions.
Today in Philosophy of the Human Person we were talking about love and friendship. Ok, well, that touches pretty much on the whole course, but more specifically, we were looking at Aristotle and the Nichomachean Ethics (Books VIII and IX).
In Book IX, Chapter 8, Aristotle says "the good person must be a self-lover, since he will both help himself and benefit others by doing fine actions." In other words, a person must first love themselves in order to be a good friend to others. A person must first love themselves in order to love others.
Now, this isn't a news flash, unless you've gone through your whole life and somehow never been presented with the great commandment (Mt 22:36-40):
36: "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
37: And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38: This is the great and first commandment.
39: And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40: On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
(RSV Translation)
Ok, so most, if not all, of us will agree that you must love yourself in order to love others. We're not talking in a prideful and disordered kind of self-love, but a self-love based in the love Christ has for us.
While the argument that you must first love yourself in order to love others would seem to indicate that those who don't love themselves can't love others I really struggle with that.
Is someone who doesn't love themselves utterly incapable of loving others? I don't know. It's an interesting question. I think it's more that they're just incapable of perfectly (that is fully) loving others. In which case though, it would seem that none of us are capable of perfectly loving others until we are sanctified...
Sorry, this is a very random 'musing' kind of post and it might not make any sense at all but it's just been on my mind since class this afternoon. It's one of those, "Ok, I know the 'answer' but I don't get it" kind of questions.
posted by DP | 8:18 PM
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