gioiaverdi pointed out to me that loving my neighbour as myself requires me to love myself, as well as my neighbour. This was a key insight at the time for me.This evening, Kim's sermon also used this passage (actually, I think she used the version from Mark's Gospel, but... *shrugs*). She discoursed on how loving your neighbour as youself is not just about loving them as much as yourself, but also about loving them in the manner in which one loves oneself, with all the detailed knowledge of self that one can bring to bear in that context. Her illustration for this was that it was not merely like ensuring that everyone got a boiled sweet, but picking out their favourite boiled sweet for everyone, much as one would do for oneself.
This adds yet another dimension to the instruction, and once again makes it harder to do, but more worthwhile to attempt. It remains to be seen, of course, if I will find it as memorable and pertinent an insight as
gioiaverdi's was. 