Conversion: An Intellectual Transformation (Part II

The Reality of Conversion Conversion does not mean just saying some formal words, changing one’s name and leaving one’s cultural group to join another. It entails not just an outward change of religion, but a profound alteration of the mindset after passing through many stages of soul-searching and self-analysis. Conversion, in essence, is the emergence of a new individual—one of the most significant events of human history, for it is only with the proliferation of such spiritually reformed personalities that any given society will attain true moral uplift, and reach the highest levels of achievement. Conversion, in reality, is an event resulting from a sense of discovery. After making a great discovery, one does not remain as before. One becomes a new man. Only a truly revolutionary change of this kind merits the name of conversion. When it does take place, it stems from personal decision-making, and not from greed or external pressures. It causes those lacking in awareness to become intellectually receptive; the dormant come fully alive in all their senses; the morally “blind” gain a code of ethics; the incurious develop a questing spirit; those living in a circumscribed environment suddenly enter a world without limits, where they can breathe freely; creatures existing at the purely physical level rise above it and begin really to live on a higher conceptual plane; the aimless wanderer, becoming spiritually focused, learns the secret of leading a purposeful life. Conversion—A Healthy Historical Process A few years ago I went through a book by an Indian writer called “The Politics of Conversion”. I found that there was only one point on which I differed from the author and that was the