Love thy neighbour
As you love yourself.
I can love myself as a self-conscious being.
But my neighbour exists in their own realm of consciousness
Completely separate from mine
And never the twain shall meet.
Like trying to be here and there simultaneously
Impossible. (except in quantum mechanics).
At the risk of being labelled selfish,
The closest we may come is the state of “being in love”
Which is close, but not quite the same as the original injunction.
That is, I cannot love you as much as I love myself.
You could argue the premise that “greater love hath no man”.
But in that act you are thwarting the instinctive imperative
Of self-preservation built into our genetic code.
If you surrender your life for another
You cannot love your neighbour as yourself.
If ever there was a puzzle within a paradox within a conundrum
This surely must be it.
I can get along with you. I can like you. I can love you.
Even to love myself is a tricky proposition.
Pride, egotism, egoism, even onanism
Requires a substantial degree of selfishness,
All traits that are discouraged in polite society.
