I have already told thee of this image, that it is nought, Nevertheless, if thou canst not understand how this should be an image, seeing nought can be nothing else but nought, and so for all my telling thou canst make nothing of it, I shall therefore tell thee more plainly of this image as methinketh. This image is a false inordinate love of thyself. Out of this there come all manner of sins by seven rivers, Which are these: pride, envy, anger, sloth, covetousness, gluttony and lechery. Lo, this is somewhat that thou mayest understand. By some one of these rivers runneth out all manner of sin, and putteth thee out of the state of charity, if it be a deadly sin; or letteth the fervour of thy charity if it be venial. Now mayest thou grope at least that this image is not altogether nought; but it is much of bad, for it is a great spring of love unto thyself, with such rivers as I have said. (John Climacus)

It seems to me (methinketh) that Climacus is confusing a "false inordinate love of thyself" with a false understanding of our selves. We may also have an inordinate love of our false self, but this is a secondary condition, a river flowing from the spring, not the spring itself.

We are to love our neighber as our self. Jesus was quoting from Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord."

But knowing this self is not easy. In Leviticus the Hebrew is literally you shall love your neighbor כָּמוֹךָ or kemo: according to, as, when. The self is implied. There are at least twenty-six Hebrew words for self and in the vast majority the sense of self is implied in the verb.

Perhaps the divine sense of self is less a noun and more a verb.