The Great Fundamentals, V
“There was a man of Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old ? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the king-dom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
St. John 3:1-7
Lastly, and most important, if we seek the Soul's Consciousness, the KINGDOM OF GOD, we must obey the Fundamental Laws dictated by the Divine Laws. Even all this is not sufficient to enable us to BECOME God Conscious; to become REgenerated; to Immortalize ourselves, that we may be privileged to enter into the KINGDOM OF GOD, OR HEAVEN, as ONE OF GOD'S CHILDREN.
There is one more MUST. The final and supreme requirement is that we REgenerate ourselves; that WE BE REBORN; BORN OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD within OURSELVES, as he was born of the flesh from our mother's womb. To this "MUST," there is no exception. For the son of man to BECOME the Son of God, the Spirit of God WITHIN HIM must be awakened and brought into full consciousness, just as was the seed of his father brought into life in his mother's womb. This is clearly stated in the Laws handed down throughout the ages for Humanity's guidance.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."-St. John 3:6.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,(1) by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."-I Peter 1:23.
(1) This incorruptible seed is the DIVINE SPARK, the Cbristos, inhaled with the first breath of life and inert - as buried within a tomb - until awakened by deliberate effort as a result of keen desire.
To BE REBORN of the Spirit is to have become Spiritually Awakened or Soul Conscious. It is not the body that is reborn or rejuvenated, although this may, and should, be part of the REbirth. The prime requisite is the awakening, bringing into Consciousness that part of God - Flame of God - which was given, or drawn into the body at the moment of birth and is known as the Divine Spark, or the Christos. This Christos, awakened and brought into Consciousness, is the Christ; the Immortal part of man.
The Divine Immortalizing Spark is deeply hidden within the carnal man as in a tomb. To awaken or bring about this Spiritual or REbirth requires that, just as the mother nurtured within her bosom and gave birth to the physical or carnal body, through which the Soul, as a Divine Spark, must gain experice as a result of her desire for motherhood, so MUST each individual become likewise conscious of the possibilities of a similar awakening and REbirth for the Soul, and imbued with the desire to learn and practice the Law that will enable them to make this possible. They must not only OBEY the Laws, but must also be willing - aye, anxious - to make the necessary efforts to bring this Divine principle within themselves into activity.
Like the mother that carried him and gave him birth, man must pass through a period of gestation - the process of awakening (John's baptism by water) - that this Christos, or Divine Spark WITHIN, be brought into consciousness and manifestation. This is accomplished by travail, much after the pattern of the physical body; the correspondence between physical birth and Spiritual birth being perfect and both under a like law.
After this REbirth or Spiritual birth is finally accomplished, comes the unfoldment of God Consciousness; the knowledge that there is a Kingdom of Heaven WITHIN the individual, just as there is in the above; a Consciousness of Heaven right here on earth. During the process, as a result of obedience to the Fundamental Laws already explained, the carnal human will have been transmuted, changed, transformed, i.e., in comon parlance, will have become "converted." This is not a mere acceptance of the new condition on faith alone, but an actual change or conversion from one state, the earthly, into another state, the Spiritual or Divine. One who has undergone this transition will no longer be chained to a purely physical, carnally controlled body. This human earthly tabernacle will have, in truth, become the Temple of God in the likeness, and after the manner of the Temple of Solomon wherein God dwelt because it had been REBUILT after the Divine Pattern.
This Second or Spiritual birth has its beginning in the mind's awakening to the temporality of the things first accepted as real. Then follows recognition of the reality of things as yet unseen and unknown. This beginning is the Baptism by John, resulting in the Consciousness of the Christos, dormant or "buried" within. The new Birth begins with desire fortified by faith and a willingness to obey the Laws given to humanity for this purpose.
Life, to be complete and in fulfillment of the Law, is both a circle and a cycle. It has its beginning in the Soul's desire to experience; to learn to know the difference between good and evil; to descend from its heavenly (purely Spiritual) state into the material, there to work out its destiny by first entering into mortality, and by its own efforts to change the mortal into the Immortal, that having become earth born, it may, by its own efforts, become Spiritually reborn; the son or dauther of man changed into a Son or Daughter of God.
Once this journey is begun, it cannot end, the Circle or Cycle cannot be completed; the Soul cannot return into its former home until it has obeyed all Laws laid down for its obedience and, in addition, by its awakening, has brought into Consciousness its own Divinity by being REborn in the Spirit, as it was born into the flesh.
THIS IS CLEARLY and unmistakably revealed in:
"Except a man be born of water [an awakening of the mind, becoming conscious that carnal life is a very small part of all life) and of the Spirit, HE CANNOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD."
There is no qualification to this edict. This must be an individual accomplishment. There is no way of escape, the individual MUST do all this for themselves. No individual can save the Soul of another, however much they may be loved. One may, however, show another the way.
Throughout the ages, people have constantly sought for a way or means to avoid obedience to Fundamental Laws, to side-step the edict that ONLY by means of Rebirth or Regeneration can a person again KNOW God, be “saved,” or enter the Kingdom of Heaven.