“Hell is other people” Jean-Paul Sartre
The relationship with others is necessary because it is the basis of life in society. It helps us to build our identity, which is done in suffering because to look at the other is to see oneself as an object and not as a subject.
The other is not neutral, he projects on us, by his look, conceptions, prejudices, fears, hates of which we were not conscious before our eyes crossed his.
Thus, the other can condemn us and send us back a despicable image of ourselves. Through the hatred they communicate to us, they can destroy our self-esteem, our self-respect and ultimately our integrity.
Others are like mirrors, more or less opaque or distorting, in which we can look at any moment. The opacity or the deformation they contain are as many defects, imperfections that we nevertheless take as true. This is why we must be careful to look at mirrors that reflect an image that takes into account our quality. It is difficult to grow up with self-hatred. Surrounding oneself with distorting mirrors can become a torment for those who do not know that mirrors sometimes lie. The reflection of oneself can be a trap for all those who look at mirrors tarnished or broken by bitterness, resentment or hostility.
Loving oneself takes time and it can even take an eternity if one never learns to look for self-love in the eyes of caring people.
Wanting to be loved by others at all costs also makes us slaves, because we make our happiness depend on something we cannot control. For all those who believe in transcendence, there is a relationship that liberates, the one that links us to God. Loving God and communicating our love to him through prayer is a way of growing our qualities in that it is an unconditional love for all those who dare to look into the divine mirror.
