 Self-centralizing property of a Cartan subalgebra

For a Cartan subalgebra $H$ of a finite-dimensional complex semisimple Lie algebra $L$, $H$ is abelian and $C_L(H)=H$, so it is maximal among abelian subalgebras. Starting from the nilpotent self-normalizing definition, the generalized-weight decomposition for a nilpotent Lie algebra and the Engel theorem show that the zero generalized weight space of its adjoint action is exactly $H$. Invariance of the Killing form makes $H$ orthogonal to every nonzero generalized weight space. The Lie theorem gives $B([H,H],H)=0$, and nondegeneracy then forces $[H,H]=0$. An element commuting with $H$ normalizes it, hence belongs to $H$.