Mysticism and the Experience of Love Quotes

“A person who has grown up feeling always outside of the reach of other people’s caring has a dual handicap which may be paradoxical in character. On the one hand, because he sees himself as being beyond the pale of love and affection, he is apt to pass a judgment upon himself which insists on his own unworthiness. Because he feels despised, at long last he begins to despise himself. On the other hand, there may be a kind of inner compensation for this lack. This inner compensation may very easily result in an exaggeration of self-love, a preoccupation with one’s own needs, interests, concerns. In short, it may make such a person thoroughly self-centered. The result of the self-centeredness may be the building of a wall that shuts everybody out.”
― Howard Thurman, Mysticism: And the Experience of Love