Bernard eloquently encapsulates the essence of divine love in his treatise On Loving God. He emphasizes that the most fundamental reason for loving God is God himself, urging that such love should be boundless. This love is not merely an abstract sentiment but a response to the tangible gifts God bestows upon us. Foremost among these gifts is God’s very self, followed by the wonders of nature and the profound gift of our own existence. Thus, the entirety of spiritual life becomes an echo of God's generous love, a journey toward recognizing and embracing this divine generosity.

In Bernard’s view, self-awareness serves as a crucial step towards understanding our divine connection. Recognizing that we are crafted in God's image allows us to embark on a spiritual quest, one that requires divine intervention to truly begin. It is God who first finds us, guiding us to seek him more earnestly. This journey of mutual discovery fosters a layered love: initially, we love ourselves for our own sake; we then grow to love God for personal reasons; subsequently, our love matures to honor God for his own sake; ultimately, we learn to love ourselves for the sake of God.