Spiritual Death

Everyone is a seeker after the truth by birth. One who is able to find truth is spiritually awakened, while one who does not is spiritually dead.

Chapter 6 of the Quran states: “Can he who was dead, to whom We gave life, and a light whereby he could walk among people be like him who is in utter darkness from which he can never emerge? Thus the deeds of those who deny the truth have been made fair-seeming to them.” (6:122)

One such person is he who did not receive the truth, or when the truth appeared before him, he failed to accept it. Such a being is little better than a dead person. In the intellectual sense, the result of the deprivation of the truth was that his inner personality failed to move in the right direction. His mind did not receive the desired intellectual food. His soul, which was a seeker after the truth by birth, could not perceive what he wanted.

Such a person will apparently be alive physically but, spiritually, he will be a dead person. Being deprived of material food renders the human body lifeless. Similarly, the inner personality of such a person will sink into a lifeless state. In the physical sense he would be alive but spiritually he would be dead. On the contrary, one who has discovered the truth, who has opened his heart to guidance, will have an inner existence which is alive and resilient. The truth will become the light of his eyes with which he will see the paths of the world. It will become the energy of his feet which will enable him travel to the path of truth. The truth will reflect in his speech and in his character. He will live in truth and die in truth.

The difference between one who has discovered the truth and one who is deprived of the truth is that of life and death. If one is dead, the other is alive in the full sense. Though apparently alive, a person becomes virtually dead when he is unable to perceive the truth.