I have a few thoughts on this.
First, it seems to me that if we are able to love, then we are able to know ourselves. I will say more about that in a moment.
Before I do, let me say that what we normally refer to as the love function appears to be so fundamentally human that it is hard to imagine what it would be like to be without it.
It seems that we are compelled to love others, but I am not sure that we would have that same compulsion to love if it was not for this function.
If someone were to deprive us of the ability to love, it would certainly leave us with a hard time making any sense of our existence.