The Bible also asks us to love “the stranger that dwelleth among you” as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:34). “To love a stranger as oneself implies,” says Weil, “that we love ourselves as strangers.” Like many of her formulations, this one is a challenge. It is not just that we do right when we love a stranger. It is that we see ourselves as a stranger might see us, see what is strange in us, which is what we need to see. When we see ourselves as others see us, we know ourselves better. This is liberating. We experience the restraints of the external world and push against them, in the
...more
