Article March 16, 1987 Issue

The spiritual basis for loving others as ourselves

Probably most people would agree that loving others as ourselves is a nice ideal. But is it practical? How do we love the "unlovable" individuals we encounter in life?

Margaret Coleman Brown

When a young man asked Christ Jesus what he should do in order to inherit eternal life, Jesus' reply was that he should keep the commandments. And when further queried, Jesus cited the command "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" along with several of the Ten Commandments, making this rule as important as the ones not to murder, steal, commit adultery, or bear false witness. (See Lev. 19:18; Matt. 19:16-19.)

The love for one's neighbor of which Jesus spoke should not be mistaken for mere human emotion, which can be highly variable. Nor is it just a benevolent attitude toward someone, however important this quality may be. It goes much deeper than that. The Bible tells us that God is Love. Christian Science illuminates this truth with the revelation that man is the very image of Spirit, of Love, and therefore wholly spiritual and loving.

This scientific understanding lifts human thought into the realization that Love is All-in-all and into the proper conception of man in God's image. Because God's man is spiritual, pure, holy, and undefiled, he cannot lapse into states and stages of erring finiteness so as to express evil qualities. He can express only Love, and it is this spiritual sense of loving—seeing man as God's own likeness—that heals the root causes of hate and discord.

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