The Problem

I find religions fascinating, and I have a sort of hobby of studying different religions. In studying any religion, my main question is always the same: since we recognize that there is this problem of evil in the world, what does this religion say is the solution to that problem? We know that there is something wrong with the world and with humanity, so how does this religion propose to repair that damage?

We all have to realize that there is something wrong with the world, that it is not as it was meant to be; we have to know this because we see crime and disease and poverty, we see people suffering and it makes us angry, it makes us want to fix it. Why would we have doctors if sickness was supposed to exist? Why would we have laws and a justice system if it was OK for people to steal and cheat and take advantage of one another? Why would we crave justice, or even be able comprehend the ideal of justice, if there wasn't something that told us it could exist, even though we don't often see it in the world?

And we have to realize that there is something wrong with us as humans, not just criminals, but all of us; we have to know this because we've noticed that sometimes even when we know what the right thing to do is, we don't do it, and sometimes even when we know something is wrong, we still do it. So we have to realize that there is something wrong with us. And we may even realize that if we could fix what's wrong with us, maybe that would get us closer to fixing the world.

I've found that the mistake many religions make is in trying to fix the problem with actions, doing good things to make up for the bad things we've done. But there is a fatal flaw in this thinking: the root of the problem is not in our actions. The bad things we do are not the real problem; they are a symptom of the real problem: our selfish nature. So, since the problem doesn't come from our actions, it can't be solved by our actions, either. Since the problem is in our internal nature, it has to be solved by changing our internal nature.

So how do we do that?