So is returning selfish love selfless and thus a virtue?
Again, this is retarded. Love involves yourself no matter what.
Again, this is retarded. Love involves yourself no matter what.
The only reason love would have to involve yourself is if it were perception based--- which it is-- proving that love doesn't exist.
It depends on the frame of reference.
In normal experience, we are subjects surrounded in a world of objects. We view these objects as conditional and we identify with certain conditions. This is selfish experience as the self (subject) is separated from everything else (object).
In a meditative state, subject and object become one. This is verifiable. There is a region of the brain that allows an individual to distinguish between their self and their environment; in meditation, activity in this region of the brain ceases such that from the meditator's perspective, he literally becomes one with his environment. It's also subjectively testable. "I've" had this experience on several occasions. I put "I've" in quotes because "I" takes on an entirely different meaning in a meditative state. It is not a human experience in any way, shape, or form. There is also no way to accurately describe it in words.
The whole matter becomes confusing to understand because there are multiple frames of reference operating simultaneously. Love can be selfish when it is experienced in the unified frame of reference (where subject and object are the same). Love is selfless when the subject/object dichotomy is erected.
