What's wrong with the diet? What is the role of self-love?

Chapter 3. The Origins of Self-Hatred

What we will explore: How do the reformed ideas of Calvin and Luther influence us today?

What is new: What is the greatest vice according to Calvin and why?

What we will learn: What contributes to the development of self-hatred and how to avoid it?

1. Even today, the ideas of this movement [Calvin and Calvinism, author's ed.] still influence Western culture in one form or another, although not everyone recognizes it [realizes, author's ed.] (McGrath A.* 2016) [1].

2. The views of man held by Calvin and Luther have had an extraordinary influence on the development of modern Western society. They laid the foundation for the idea that man's happiness is not the purpose of his life, but that man is merely a means to achieve ends that lie outside himself: the goals of an almighty God or equally powerful secular authorities and laws, the state, business, success (Fromm E. 2012) [2].

* Alister McGrath is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford and Director of the Ian Ramsay Centre for Science and Religion. McGrath is the author of The Life of John Calvin, in which he traces how Calvin's ideas influenced the development of Western attitudes toward work, wealth, civil rights, capitalism, and the natural sciences.

3. The Extraordinary Influence of Calvin and Luther's Ideas Today. The modern culture of Western society was built on the ruins of ancient Greek and Roman civilization, the basis of which today is Christian values ​​(III fr. 13. 3) [3]. The basic ethical norms that are taken for granted today were formed 5 centuries ago during the era of the Reformation [4, 5]. According to the teachings of Calvin and Luther, a human should become a tool for anyone and anything, but not for himself. In their opinion, all Christians should devote themselves and their entire lives to the devoted service of "their god, created in their image." Why "their god" and with a small letter? Because this is not a real god, but an artificially created god according to the way of thinking and behavior of Calvin and Luther. "Their god" required serving the state according to the laws of secular authorities, carrying out entrepreneurial activity, and increasing one's capital, which should contribute to the development of the state and society. Success in these matters indicated that "their god" approved of serving his interests and the interests of society [4, 5]. They considered the refusal to achieve these goals, in the name of man's natural need to strive to achieve his happiness, to be the greatest vice of man.

4. The greatest vice of man. In order to live not for oneself, but to be completely focused on the implementation of the interests of "their god" in life, Calvin transferred the principles of monastic asceticism from the walls of the monastery to the everyday life of a Christian [2, 4]. What does this mean? Asceticism means a voluntary renunciation of one's rights to happiness in the name of someone or something higher than the private happiness of man. Taken to extremes, it becomes fanaticism. On the path of asceticism, the main obstacle was self-love, so Calvin branded self-love as the greatest vice of man.

• "None of us keeps himself from the mad and dangerous tendency to love himself" (author's italics) (Calvin J. 1998) [6].

Since then, self-love has become synonymous with egoism - a vice, according to Calvin, inherent in very bad people [2]. What person brought up in Western culture would want to be an egoist? By not wanting to be an egoist, a person imperceptibly destroyed the basis for self-love.

5. Destroy the basis for self-love. Self-love is formed internally based on the ability to discern good in one's thoughts, impulses, desires, intentions, and actions and to live by this. With the help of his teaching, Calvin consistently destroyed the basis for a person's love for himself. He convinced people that all their thoughts, impulses, desires, actions, and even good deeds are completely devoid of good. Consequently, the essence of man - his heart and soul - is constant evil.