self love

Gentlemen, with all due respect, what you are discussing is not self love, but rather narcissism and self-indulgence/self-pity, which I agree are the other side of the coin of self hate.

True self love is of an entirely different ilk, it is simply allowing compassion to touch us in the same way we would counsel compassion toward others. Without such self love, the insight and wisdom of "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is rendered meaningless, with it, the door into transformation may well swing open.