Selfishness is mankind's fundamental defect which means: self-centered, self-serving, self-important. This is the root of every problem that destroys heaven's ideals of creation.

James 3:16 "Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil."

Every selfish person is potentially our enemy. Divine love is the opposite of selfishness. Giving is the opposite of acting selfishly.

We are products of a corrupt culture that teaches selfishness, so more than usual, we thought selfishness as common trait that is visible anywhere.

The Unification core value is living for the sake of others: when we say others, it is something that is outside of us, somebody that is not part of us in blood and flesh. When I gave lecture on this topic, I always say: Husband is others, parents-in-law are others, in laws and neighborhood are others, anybody that has no blood relationship with us.

Giving is a different view, lets take for example our parents, it is very easy and it's natural that we live for their sake, attend them and serve them. Likewise with our children, we can even sacrifice ourselves naturally for them. Same is true with our own brothers and sisters even if they committed mistake against us, it's easy for us to forgive them. Why? Simply because the blood and flesh within us has this vibration and inclination enabling us to live for each other.

However, test of selfishness comes when we relate with somebody like husbands, in laws, friends, church members, neighborhood, church elders, co-workers, officemates, teachers, students, etc. They are not easy to deal with because they are completely others in relation to us. Simply put, they are not part of our lineage.

We are unable to change this by ourselves. We can't change the fruit without changing the root. We can't change our relationship on our level without changing our root and origin. That is why we must be born again!

The bible says, you must be baptized by the Holy Spirit to be born again and Christians proclaim that we need to accept Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord.

Just accepting Jesus as Savior and proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah by mouth or by being baptized by the Holy Spirit through sprinkling of the water is not a guarantee that selfishness and sin can be removed from us nor that we are saved.

BUT don't get me wrong here...  I didn't mean to say that what the Bible says is false. However I want to use this argument to show that behind those words was a call for an actual change to be performed and not just to follow or stick on a certain ritualistic traditions being practiced by different religions.

When Jesus says you must be baptized by the Holy Spirit, He meant us to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who teaches love, compassion, forgiveness, understanding, patience and all different virtues and Christian values. This is it! Jesus wished and commanded us to live with this God-centered values which are all opposites to selfishness.

St Paul educated his fellow believers that by accepting Jesus as Savior and by grace alone we will be saved. But what a contradiction it was when Peter said that faith without action is dead. Even in the book of James 2:17-22 says that faith was made complete by what we did.

To have faith in Christ and to accept him as Savior means to live according to His teaching and commandments. A true believer of Christ and a true faith is in the lifestyle of every Christian from the invisible thought, to spoken and choice of words and to the visible deeds and the actual relationship he has with the people around him.

Jesus is not just a name to be exalted, more than just a name is the definition of lifestyle we all should have lived with in order to get rid of selfishness as the root of evil. More than just the rituals and traditions all religions have been practicing is the essence of all religious teaching which is rooted in the Divine love of God which is living for the sake of others, completely opposite to selfishness. It is a life that is beyond self, beyond ego, pride and arrogance.

Father Moon always emphasized to us that the practice of Heaven’s commandments as what is written in the book of Mark 12: 30-33, Love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul; and love your neighbors even enemies can relieve us from the bondage of selfishness. And by looking at the larger view and scope of relationship we have with others in a familial relationship can help us live for the sake of others easily.

Like what Father Moon said, treat all grandparents in the world as your own, all parents as your own, and so forth… Only by looking at this view can we be able to eliminate selfishness in the world.