His reference occurs in the context of a reflection on the theme that the biblical mandate to love our neighbors as ourselves assumes that we do indeed love ourselves. Kierkegaard observes that “self-love is egotism unless it is also love for God — thereby love for all,” and he goes on to insist that the love in question should be an abiding heartfelt inwardness, and not a concatenation of mere external deeds (JP 3, 2399).
