An Exaggerated Self-Importance

So long as we are suffering from an exaggerated sense of our own importance we can never really love  our neighbor....To-day I am able to take a calmer view of other people, of their needs and requirements, and so I am able to help them more.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Letters and Papers from Prison, Macmillian Publishers, New York, 1953, pg 162

This is a fantastic quote. Much like it is difficult to focus on God, with any depth at all (and for that matter, I would say impossible and improbable)...I would say that so long as we have our little god-hood going, it is improbable that we will be able to love our neighbor. Why would we care for anyone else? We, after all, are sitting on the throne, directing everyone.
We can watch our neighbors and see the signs of being on the throne, certainly...it can be rather obvious. But what we should think of is what signs we are carrying about. We worry too often (as well I know) about other people. 
What signs do we have of being so involved in our little god-hood that we can neither see, hear nor care about anyone else? If, for instance, in conversation we cannot let anyone else speak, or change the conversation back to our important things, is likely a warning sign...however, I think the biggest sign is what we can do for others:
Can we ask about their lives and truly mean it? Can we be concerned about things in their lives enough to want to (and) pray for them? How often is our neighbor in our thoughts? What do we do to help them? For that matter....how often is an "enemy" in our thoughts and prayers?

The basis of the law, as Jesus says, is to love God with all of our being...which I consider to also mean honoring, glorifying, etc. The second basis of the law is to love our neighbor as ourselves. As I have been reading through the Old Testament from the beginning, and I am reading the laws currently, it seems that most are about loving God (honoring, respecting, glorifying), and then the care of the people. The laws are quite fascinating, as really, speaking as a nurse, there are so many laws speaking on health laws...a way of keeping the entire nation healthy. The people, with many conditions, were to go outside of camp and stay out until the condition cleared. I would bet that no other peoples operated that way. Imagine---God providing health care, in a way, that the people likely did not understand. An example that God often asks things of us that we do not understand....but may be the best option for us, even if we do not see it. Many of the laws, when upheld, reminded the people forcibly (stoning) that sin had dire punishments. Today, while we may not be stoned, and have the grace of God's salvation...our sins lead more-often-than-not to worsening life experiences.
The basis of the law is loving God, loving our neighbor. 
In Bonhoeffer's case, he was removed from mostly anyone he knew. Yet his being so separated, and for so long, made it so that he was able to better see the needs of his fellow prisoners, and, to an extent the guards.
 Yet another reason to abandon our godly little selves. We must make God the focus of our lives...for only then can we have the strength to face life, remember fully to honor and obey. Only then can we honestly remember and care for our neighbors and "enemies", as God's love fills us. Only then are we true examples of People of God.