Answer by Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena for Metta towards yourself - useless?

I think this needs qualification.

Metta towards oneself helps reduce self hate. So this is not completely useless. You cannot attain Jhana if the person is oneself, hence as means to achieve Jhana this is useless. [page 82 Knowing and Seeing - 4th Edition by Ven Pa-Auk Sayadaw]

Other objectives is as an antidote to hateful temperament towards others. On this perspective this is useless if you contemplate about oneself and not of others.

Also this is used to break barriers [page 85 Knowing and Seeing - 4th Edition by Ven Pa-Auk Sayadaw] as perceiving someone dear, neutral and foe. In this perspective it is useful you can perhaps asses the level of love to oneself vs loved one vs neutral people vs foes, but not useful if you contemplate only about oneself and not others.

from http://ift.tt/22zqWt4 - User Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena - Buddhism Stack Exchange (http://ift.tt/1NMLzIc) by Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena (http://ift.tt/1ZwZIP2)