62｜How Do We Love Our Neighbors?

Scripture says: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39). It also says: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.” (1 John 4:20). Jesus pointed out that loving one’s neighbor is not a moral task, but the practical entrance to the path of salvation. Because only in the "neighbor" do we truly confront: the Self, comparison, envy, vanity, anger, judgment, and fear.

This article reveals:

• Why "loving your neighbor" is the core practice for dismantling the Self;
• Why the hardest people to love are not those far away, but those nearby;
• How to practice Kingdom love in daily relationships.

(1) Why Is It Hardest to Love Our Neighbors? Because the Self Is Only Triggered "Nearby"

A law of human nature is: toward strangers, we often feel no hate; true hate mostly occurs between neighbors. There are three reasons:

1. Little comparison with those far away. People at the ends of the earth do not affect our self-evaluation. Toward celebrities, we feel awe; toward distant sufferers, we feel pity; toward the weak, we feel compassion. These rarely threaten our Ego.
2. The pain of the Ego is intensely activated only by the "Neighbor." Who is the neighbor? Colleagues, classmates, peers; siblings, relatives, neighbors; community members and companions. These people most easily trigger the inner voice: "If he is better than me, I feel miserable"; "His success exposes my failure"; "If he is liked, it proves I am not good enough." Envy, competition, and hostility are almost always directed at those most similar and closest to us.
3. To dismantle the Self, one must practice where the Self is most easily triggered. Thus Jesus said: “Love your neighbor.” That is the true refining forge.

(2) The First Step to Loving Your Neighbor: Not Comparison, but Blessing

The logic of comparison is: "If he has it, I have none"; "If he gains, I have lost." Loving your neighbor means that when comparison is triggered, you deliberately turn your heart toward Kingdom thoughts: "It is good that he has this; may God grant me similar blessings." Rewrite "envy" into "blessing" and "hostility" into "gratitude":

• Seeing others' strengths → Sincere blessing;
• Seeing others' progress → Thanking God that He is still at work;
• Seeing others' success → No longer viewing it as a negation of oneself. This is not faked positivity, but spiritual training: transforming the comparing mind into the Kingdom mind. This is the first step in dismantling the Self.

(3) The Second Step to Loving Your Neighbor: Shifting from "Vertical Comparison" to "Horizontal Parallelism"

Psychologist Alfred Adler pointed out: vertical comparison inevitably breeds superiority and inferiority; only horizontal parallelism produces peace and acceptance. The Kingdom’s perspective is:

• Everyone is different;
• Everyone is granted different gifts and positions;
• Others' strengths are not threats, but supplements;
• My weaknesses do not cancel my value before God. When you see your neighbor this way—accepting differences, appreciating talents, and blessing their shine—you move from the "Structure of Competition" to the "Structure of the Body." We are no longer rivals crowding each other out, but different members of the same body.

(4) The Third Step to Loving Your Neighbor: When a Neighbor Offends You—Practicing the Wisdom of "Turning the Other Cheek"

As stated before: “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” This is not weakness, but the supreme wisdom to terminate the chain of revenge. When a neighbor offends you:

• Do not return an eye for an eye;
• Do not return a tooth for a tooth;
• Do not join the cycle of verbal or silent violence;
• Do not retaliate or slander behind their back. Instead, choose: Use love to let evil stop at your doorstep. This is not passive, but a proactive Kingdom choice: refusing to let hatred continue through your hands. Loving your neighbor means choosing love precisely where it is easiest to hate.

(5) Summary｜Original Doctrine 62

1. The neighbor most easily triggers the Ego; thus, loving your neighbor is the most authentic and sharpest form of practice.
2. Through non-comparison, sincere blessing, horizontal acceptance, and non-retaliation, we dismantle the old self bit by bit.
3. Loving your neighbor is not an extra credit task, but a necessary path to enter Kingdom life and obtain true freedom.

In one sentence: It is not hard to love those far away; loving those beside you is the true lesson of the Kingdom.