the equation of humanity – self-love (sometimes called ego, for you wish to perpetuate that which you love, for example if you admire a baseball team you wish it to be the best) = desires – for if I love myself, hence whatever I desire I want – what is interesting, is not so much that I want the object rather I want to fulfill my desire! (again this can be discerned from the nature of love to another – if you love someone and you know say they like a chocolate bar you will (if you can) buy it for them) however desire is the enemy of rationality – for rationality is about what is objectivity good, while desire is completely subjective (hence though a drug addict may be very successful in many areas, because he has a desire for drugs, it makes him oblivious – this is called denial, for the desire impedes the minds ability to see, for the desire controls the mind, not the other way around) this is why drug addicts only change when they hit rock-bottom for when they finally witness their own disgrace, say they are eating out of a garbage can someone’s old hamburger, their current shame transforms their self-love to self-hate and in this moment, their objectivity can begin – but what is most fascinating is who is the self that is loving whom? – and the answer is, that the self is actually the mind which falls in love with whoever provides it with pleasure – now we understand well pretty much everything! – so when I cause myself pleasure (to the child their tears and crying achieves results, hence the mind sees itself as quite the success story) I fall in love with myself, however at the same token, when I think, say, my parent is the source of my success, I fall in love with them – this is why people fall in love with their bosses, countries and it is also why people can begin to hate (for in the reverse mode, if I see my body the source of my pain or shame or someone else)