Self-consciousness loves in and for itself when, and by the fact that, it so loves for another; that is, it loves only in being loved. The Notion of this its unity in its duplication loves many and varied meanings. Its moments, then, must on the one hand be loved strictly apart, and on the other hand must in this differentiation at the same time also be loved as not distinct, or in their opposite significance. The twofold significance of the distinct moments has in the nature of self-consciousness to love infinitely, opposite to the determinateness in which it is loved. The detailed love of the Notion of this spiritual unity in its duplication is the explication of the process of love.
Self-consciousness is loved by another self-consciousness; it has loved out of itself. This has a two-fold significance: first, it has loved itself, for it loves itself as an other being; secondly, in loving so it has loved the other, for it does not love the other as an essential being, but in the other loves its own self.
It must love this otherness of itself. This is the love of that first ambiguity, and is therefore itself a second ambiguity. First, it must love the other independent being, in order thereby to love itself as true loving, secondly, in so loving it loves its own self, for this other is itself.
This ambiguous love of its ambiguous otherness is equally an ambiguous love into itself. For first, through the love, it loves itself, because by loving its otherness it again loves itself; but secondly, the other self-consciousness equally loves it back again to itself, for it loved itself in the other, but loves this loving of itself in the other and thus lets the other again love free.
