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May All Beings Be Peaceful
Brian Wilcox
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"You must be born again... What is born of the flesh is flesh (i.e., natural, bodily birth), while what is born of the Spirit [or, spirit; i.e., spiritual birth) is spirit... Except a person be born of water (i.e. amniotic fluid; biological birth) and the Spirit (or, spirit; i.e., spiritual birth), they cannot enter the Reign of God (i.e., spiritual, or ultimate, dimension, life; live aligned with Life)."
- Jesus, Gospel of John
"I'm a born-again Christian"
conservative Christians say
The assumptions are -
one, we're the only true Christians
second, we're the only born-again
third, this is a Christian-only teaching
Jesus did not found Christianity
Jesus did not give "Christian" teachings
Jesus was a Jew -
Jewish by birth and recognized by "Rabbi"
Born-again is also translated as born-from-above
either way, it is a metaphor rich with truth -
profound implications
A modern term for this is
"spiritual transformation"
but it pales beside its predecessor
Different faiths and cultures
arrived at their ways of pointing
to this inexplicable, radical transformation -
and long before and now after Jesus gave the teaching
This rebirth
is a universal, living truth
implanted in us
This rebirth
is removal of veils hiding
our shining Self
In addition,
one cannot be
a born-again Christian, except in name
One can be born-again
Christian
Buddhist
Hindu
Sufi
Sikh ...
These words, Christian, Buddhist ...
point to a way of life, devotion, practice
not a static, fixed identity
You cannot locate born-again
in space or time -
no-where, any-where
Thus, a Christian can awaken to realize
the aspiration to be Christian
and the identity a Christian drops away -
likewise with others identified as "non-Christian"
Spiritual rebirth
eventuates in identity
falling like a leaf in the Fall
Spiritual rebirth is something
embedded in Life itself
no one is excluded
I choose not to allow
the misuse of the profound pointer "born again"
to turn me from an appreciation for the pointer
When age 9
I received a born-again experience and
I know I can never understand it
Then, I knew great - the greatest - love filling my heart,
and from it have grown in love over many decades -
growing in including, from excluding
Through the years that experience
has served as an anchor, a sacred memory
that inspires, encourages, and comforts
Yet, an experience is an experience
and it has pointed me
beyond itself, beyond experiences
We can have many spiritual experiences
including a being born again
and get stuck in the experience - the past
I open to truth from diverse ways
opening and opening to keep
bringing to fruition that early encounter with Truth
Born again
is not only a beginning
it is a beginning again and again ...
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2024
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