I am not sure that I am following your line of thinking here ...I mean that if "God requires that we come to know and love Him ... as He is," and God is a man (by which I mean a divine person with a human nature), then by loving our fellow man, we are loving God ... as He is ... whether we realize it or not. To me, it's just one of those mysteries of the Incarnation that we can contemplate but never comprehend.
God clearly says to love both Him and your neighbor.
The first four of the Ten Commandments can be thought of as an elaboration of God's command for us to love Him (i.e. no other gods before me, no idols, do not use My Name in vain, remember the Sabbath).
Likewise, the last six of the Ten Commandments can be thought of as an elaboration of God's command for us to love our neighbor (i.e. do not kill, do not steal, honor your parents, do not commit adultery, do not covet, do not bear false withness against thy neighbor).
God commands us to do both ... to love Him ... and to love our neighbor.
It is not enough to do one or the other.