Born Again - This Moment
Rev. David Howard
Last week during meditation, I heard the words:
“You must be born again.”
The phrase reverberated in my mind and heart.
Years ago, I would have resisted it. I was taught that being “born again” meant accepting a particular doctrine about Jesus and salvation. But this time, the words landed gently. They felt less like a demand for belief and more like an invitation to awakening.
Beyond Doctrine: A Shift in Understanding
In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless one is “born again,” one cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. For much of my life, I understood that as a promise about the afterlife.
Now I hear it differently.
The “kingdom of heaven” is not a distant realm reserved for the worthy. It is a state of consciousness available here and now — a way of seeing rooted in Oneness, Light, and Love.
To be “born again” is not about religious conversion.
It is about conscious remembrance.
“To be born again is to return to the awareness of who and what we truly are — expressions of Divine Light.”
Awakening Requires Inner Work
For me, this awakening includes confronting the conditioning I absorbed growing up in the deep South. I learned messages — both explicit and subtle — about racial hierarchy that were untrue and harmful. Even when something within me knew better, those ideas became part of my subconscious framework.
They shaped perception in ways I did not always recognize.
Being “born again” means making the unconscious conscious. It means doing the courageous work of uncovering bias, healing inherited beliefs, and realigning with Truth.
I cannot enter “kingdom consciousness” while holding any belief that anyone is anything less than an expression of the Divine.
Seeing Through Cultural Conditioning
Recently, while watching the documentary Disclosure, I became aware of how media portrayals have shaped cultural misunderstanding about transgender individuals. Again, I saw how collective conditioning forms unconscious narratives in the mind.
And again, I was reminded:
Awakening is not a one-time event. It is a continual return to Love.
The work of spiritual growth requires humility, honesty, and willingness. It asks us to notice when old programming surfaces and to meet it with awareness rather than shame.
A Mantra for the Journey
Being “born again” is not instantaneous. It is a moment-by-moment practice.
I have begun using a simple mantra:
“This moment, I am born again.”
I speak it when an old belief surfaces.
I speak it when I feel defensive or reactive.
I speak it when I need to remember who I am.
One thought at a time.
One word at a time.
One interaction at a time.
Each moment offers a new birth into clearer seeing.
Entering the Kingdom Now
The kingdom of heaven is not somewhere else. It is a consciousness we embody.
Each time we release what obscures Love…
Each time we see another as Light…
Each time we remember our own Divine nature…
We are born again.
And as we do, we bring heaven into manifestation — not someday, but now.
