Our dignity rests at the core of who we are. This means, of course, that just as we have to value ourselves, to see ourselves as God does, so too do we have to see that unique value and dignity in others. There is no such thing as a human person without dignity or value in the eyes of God, and therefore that should be the case for us too. Even the worst criminal and the most despised person bear this unique haecceitas within them. Those whom we find difficult to love are especially challenging to us when we search for all sorts of excuses to hate or dismiss them. Duns Scotus reminds us to see others as God sees them—individually loved into existence. Now this doesn’t mean that they will see themselves in this light, just as we so often don’t see it in ourselves. This is perhaps one significant cause for such hatred and wrongdoing in our world. We easily forget what it means for us to be created in the image and likeness of God.
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