All human beings, driven by the habits born of the desires of the flesh, always think, judge, and decide according to their selfish wishes, demands, and plans. In other words, instead of following the right standard and center born of a good conscience, people follow the calculations of self-interest and the habitual impulses of their fleshly desires—doing as they please, pursuing what they want, guided by self-centered and selfish standards and judgments.
Thus, human thought is nothing but judgment and standards born of fleshly desires, and so it must always collide with and oppose the judgment of conscience. Therefore, there is always this conflict: will one follow conscience and accomplish what is good, or will one follow selfish thoughts and commit sin? Thought, born of fleshly desire, produces decisions for one’s own benefit, while conscience pursues consideration, understanding, justice, and mercy toward others. So anyone who lives by the desires of the flesh cannot help but think selfishly, lustfully, and make emotional judgments, merely rationalizing them through convenient moral and ethical excuses, while in reality following nothing but selfish habits that pursue personal pleasure and delight.
All human beings are essentially indulgent toward their own sins and faults, while probing and demanding accountability for the sins and faults of others with a sharp knife’s edge. From early childhood, by habitually excusing their own repeated sins, people unconsciously grow accustomed to making absolute, self-centered judgments—so much so that they are not even aware that this self-absolute standard has become ingrained in them.
Yet opinion is not meant for stubborn assertion. Opinions should be gathered to find better wisdom, better methods, and more perfect ways. But when people use “opinion” as a guise for their own stubborn claims, and then feel hurt, harbor resentment, or stir up quarrels and anger when things do not go their way, they dismiss and trample the opinions of others. This is not opinion but mere self-centered insistence, which breeds extreme thinking that makes enemies out of others. Such extreme opposition to differing opinions is driven by selfish, flesh-born standards, created by the desire to reveal and boast in one’s own existence.
Most people, driven by their fleshly desires, unconsciously rationalize their selfish ideas and assertions for personal gain, until their habits train them to absolutize themselves—justifying themselves as though everything about them is right. Thus, in judgment, they habitually ignore the nine good things others may do while magnifying one fault like a snowball, while in themselves they remember only one good deed and overlook nine faults. In short, they have a selfish memory: remembering only their own good, and only the faults of others.
This is arrogance—selfish delusion created to elevate oneself and rationalize one’s own rightness while lowering others. The habit of seeing others’ faults like a snowball, while demanding accountability without mercy, compassion, or forgiveness, reveals the stubbornness of those who live only by their own self-interest. Such emotional people, consumed by passion and willpower, endlessly oppose and slander others, cultivating nothing but lust, discontent, pride, hatred, strife, and lies—living an animalistic life of selfish emotions, knowing nothing but themselves. Even in small matters of interest, they are ruled by fluctuating emotions, mistreating others according to their feelings, always demanding accountability. This is the essence of human nature: selfish thought born of desires, impulses, and habits accustomed to from the earliest years to do as one pleases for one’s own benefit.
Thus, human judgment, centered on selfish standards of fleshly desire, has been absolutized since childhood without any awareness, making people unknowingly idolize themselves. Those who live according to the desires of the flesh cannot help but think and judge selfishly, pursuing their own profit. This is why, even when they repent and reflect, they inevitably fall back into sin, repeating the same vicious cycle. Their repentance and reflection amount to nothing more than rationalizations—using ethics, morals, words, and theories to excuse their actions, while in reality being enslaved to selfish desires and habits.
Instead of feeling guilt for their sins, they shamelessly and brazenly rationalize them. Most religious people are no different. They make no effort to find the fundamental reason why sin and selfishness are endlessly repeated, but serve God only to fulfill their own desires and lusts. Trapped in selfish habits born of self-interest, they remain no different from worldly people, repeating nothing but vain resolutions, momentary remorse, and repentance that never lasts.
Because their faith and religion are founded on selfish desire—to fulfill their own wishes—they inevitably distort true faith, serving God together with worldly and material desires. Thus, they follow the teachings of heretics who stir up the greed of believers longing for worldly success, ideals, and happiness. Such fleshly faiths, rooted in selfish desire, cannot ever be changed. This is the limitation and problem of all religions today.
What use is awakening or reflection when faith is built on selfish desires of the flesh that can only repeat sin for a lifetime? Repenting and reflecting while endlessly falling back into sin—what meaning can such repentance and reflection have? Therefore, instead of being examples of light and salt, religious people are no different from the world, and indeed, are ridiculed by the world itself.
Nowhere can one find true examples of true Christians who claim to have received the Spirit of God, nor of Buddhists who claim enlightenment, who actually spread beautiful examples of light and salt to the world. What exists instead is nothing but cunning posturing, duplicity, hypocrisy, and self-display, disguised as love and mercy through outward acts of service and charity.