Which Capital Is the Real Loser Unaware of?
-Have you ever thought about your main capital in this world?
-Who is the real loser?
-What is the difference between total loss and partial loss?
-The loss of which capital leads to real loss?
In this article, we intend to answer these questions.
Imagine discovering one day that all the hardships you have endured to secure your family’s livelihood and happiness, or the challenges you have faced in educating your children and helping them achieve high academic and professional degrees, have been in vain. How would that make you feel? Such a realization can instill a profound sense of hopelessness and loss as it signifies that a lifetime of effort has been wasted and can never be reclaimed.
Through deep self-reflection and recognizing our true value, we discover a precious gem. If we fail to take good care of it, it will be lost and destroyed. Similar to a silkworm transforming into a stunning butterfly that can soar and realize its capabilities, if its life is cut short within the cocoon before reaching full maturity, it undoubtedly suffers loss.
This issue is tangible to us because if we remain unaware of our value and true self, we will never achieve the growth, excellence, and status we deserve. This ignorance will lead to significant losses for us. Even if we attain wealth, social status, and fame, we will still be real losers.
Who Is the Real Loser?
The term loser refers to someone who loses his main capital. But what do we mean by this capital? Is it health? Wealth? Children? Fame and power? Perhaps each of these items may be considered part of our capital, but losing any of them does not destroy our true capital. In fact, the most important capital we have in this world is life and the purpose for which we have been created. Throughout our lifetime, we must know our true deity and beloved and dedicate our hearts and souls to becoming like Him. Our true Beloved has given us a gem called life, a passing life that is constantly ticking away, and this passing lifetime will be exchanged for something else. If we can replace the love of the world with the love of God during our earthly life, in the end, we will attain Heaven and God’s satisfaction in the hereafter. Unfortunately, some of us spend our entire lives consumed by gluttony and lust, and how dangerous this loss is! The Quran believes that one who pays the price but receives nothing appropriate in return is the real loser; therefore, all humans are in grave loss, [1] except for a few individuals! Only those who have reached the ultimate purpose of their creation can remain safe from loss and damage.
In previous lessons on humanology, we discussed the limits, boundaries, and real value of the human being. We stated that we must not waste our time, energy, and life on things that are not in line with our human status; we concluded that if our supra-rational faculty does not reach its true status and we ignore the dominance of the supra-rational dimension over our lower dimensions, we have actually disregarded our ultimate perfection and have been satisfied with something lower than we truly deserve. Focusing on any dimension of existence other than the supra-rational one is detrimental and makes us real losers.
Imagine a baby born into the world without the necessary tools or organs for earthly life. During the fetal period, he may not need any of his body parts like eyes, hands, feet, etc., but as soon as he is born into the world, any defects in organs or limbs leads to disability and suffering. False, imaginary, and inappropriate growth in the womb cannot be part of his assets because it does not align with the living conditions of the world. Now imagine that our time of birth into the hereafter has come, and we lack the eternal asset and capital that must accompany us; this prevents us from meeting God with a human face; in this case, aren’t we real losers?
What Is Total Loss, and How Does It Differ from Partial Loss?
In the literal sense, loss means failure to keep or to continue to have something, a decrease in something or in the amount of something, etc. In fact, loss means considering ourselves as men or women, spending our lives achieving animal, inanimate, and vegetative perfections, and forgetting our true self. If we do not properly cultivate the human dimension of our existence, we inflict irreparable loss on our soul and heart, not achieving our ultimate human balance and perfection. But what is the difference between total loss and partial loss?
Imagine at the beginning of the year you had fifty thousand dollars as capital and started a business with this money. At the end of the year, when you review your accounts, you realize that you have not made any profit, but rather a portion of your initial capital has decreased. This situation is called partial loss. However, if we see that our entire capital is lost and we are also in debt, in reality, we have suffered a total loss. When we make an investment but do not gain sufficient profit, our loss may not be too serious and can be recovered, but if we make a loss as great as eternity and have no opportunity for compensation, then we have truly incurred a total loss and will be real losers.
Therefore, we bring the total loss upon ourselves when we sell our precious life and capital for something meager and insignificant. We are real losers when we spend our entire lives attaining the beloveds of the lower parts of our being and satisfying our non-human desires while our one and true Beloved has created every atom of the universe out of love for us; the world is a market where we lose the capital of life to acquire another capital, instead of easily losing what we already have. The real loser is one who not only loses his own capital but may also cause harm and loss to others, like those who define their lives as limited to this earthly world; they feel happy when their worldly desires are fulfilled and make life bitter for everyone upon failing to do so.
In this lesson, we learned if someone gains true self-knowledge, he will know his true beloved, which is Almighty Allah. He realizes that true peace can only be found with the true Deity or Beloved and that nothing less than the True Beloved is deserved to be loved. While the world and its possessions are tempting and attractive, they can guide us to a mine whose beauty and allure are infinite.
On this path, the domination of the supra-rational faculty prevents us from being preoccupied with trivial and limited things. It bestows us with dignity and status, preserving our loss.
What else do you think can truly harm a person? Share your thoughts with us.
[1]. Quran, 103:2