Self-love
Self-love, defined as "love of self" or "regard for one's own happiness or advantage",[1] has been conceptualized both as a basic human necessity[2] and as a moral flaw, akin to vanity and selfishness,[3] synonymous with amour-propre, conceitedness, egotism, narcissism, et al.
Cicero (106–43 BC) considered those who were sui amantes sine rivali (lovers of themselves without rivals) were doomed to end in failure.
[5] Early follower of Jesus, Paul the Apostle (c. 5–64/65 AD) wrote that inordinate self-love was opposed to love of God in his letter to the Phillipian church.
Augustine (354–430) – with his theology of evil as a mere distortion of the good – considered that the sin of pride was only a perversion of a normal, more modest degree of self-love.
Robert H. Wozniak later wrote that William James's theory of self-love in this book was measured in "... three different but interrelated aspects of self: the material self (all those aspects of material existence in which we feel a strong sense of ownership, our bodies, our families, our possessions), the social self (our felt social relations), and the spiritual self (our feelings of our own subjectivity)".
[14][15] In the 1960s, Erik H. Erikson similarly wrote of a post-narcissistic appreciation of the value of the ego,[16] while Carl Rogers saw one result of successful therapy as the regaining of a quiet sense of pleasure in being one's own self.
[17] Self-love or self-worth was defined in 2003 by Aiden Gregg and Constantine Sedikides as "referring to a person's subjective appraisal of himself or herself as intrinsically positive or negative".
[19] The association conducted a study in 2008 which researched the impact of low self-esteem and lack of self-love and its relation to suicidal tendencies and attempts.
After witnessing the devastating consequences of World War II and having troops still fighting in the Vietnam War, western (especially North American) societies began promoting "peace and love" to help generate positive energy and to promote the preservation of dissipating environmental factors, such as the emergence of oil pipelines and the recognition of pollution caused by the greenhouse effect.
These deteriorating living conditions caused worldwide protests that primarily focused on ending the war, but secondarily promoted a positive environment aided by the fundamental concept of crowd psychology.
This post-war community was left very vulnerable to persuasion but began encouraging freedom, harmony, and the possibility of a brighter, non-violent future.
These protests took place on almost all continents and included countries such as the United States (primarily New York City and California), England, and Australia.
This historical essay suggests that a lack of self-esteem and fear of self-love affects modern women due to lingering post-industrial gender conditions.
This form of self-love and empowerment during the 70s was a way for African-Americans to combat the stigma against their natural hair texture, which was, and still is, largely seen as unprofessional in the modern workplace.
