103 // until help finds us here...
Talking about basic human needs naturally brings up the subject of relatedness/mutuality -- love. And my professor raised a couple interesting points. I'm not sure I agree with everything he said, but...it was thought-provoking. He said anyone who can only love another cannot love at all. In other words, if you cannot love yourself, you cannot love anyone else either - love always returns to the giver. Similarly, if you cannot forgive yourself, you cannot truly forgive others. When we do that, we are holding ourselves to a higher standard than others and therefore proclaiming ourselves better than others, because we can be held to that standard, but they can be excused, because they can't reach it anyway.
I've honestly never thought of it like that before and it makes me uncomfortable.
I've honestly never thought of it like that before and it makes me uncomfortable.