Die To The Old Every Day

If being born again is a process, you can contribute to it every day. In fact, this is the only viable way to creatively shape the spiritual path so that it belongs to you personally.

Right now, you accept a fixed set of labels that define you. These include your name, age, family, occupation, and social status. However, none of these labels is the true you; they distract from the reality that you are spirit embodied in flesh.

If you wanted to, you could redefine yourself every day. As the fixed self gives way to a dynamic, fluid self that is open to the unknown, freedom dawns. In that freedom, you go beyond death by discovering that you encompass life and death in a state of pure Being.

Write down the most basic labels that apply to you: name, age gender, education level, occupation. Taking one at a time, consider how each label defines you. For example: Your name specifies the identity of a person with a certain family background, it locates you in time and space, it isolates you from others, and it becomes part of your self-image.

You are attached, to varying degrees, to all these threads of identity. Now consider whether these connections must apply. As you ask yourself the basic questions, you can begin to free yourself from the threads of attachment that keep you from begin “born from above.”

Now you can take steps to redefine yourself. Until you go through the process of detaching yourself from old definitions, you cannot confront the unknown. Spiritual experience is unfiltered; it comes directly and spontaneously.

Adapted from The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).

Read more: Spirit, Deepak Chopra's Tips, , identity, labels, redefine

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Sue H.

10:05AM PST on Feb 21, 2012

I'm thinking that I'll wait til I reincarnate to be "born again". ?

send a green star

Lost A.

4:00AM PST on Feb 4, 2012

Thanks.

Carole R.

10:14PM PDT on Sep 15, 2011

OK, thanks.

KS G.

12:44AM PDT on May 17, 2011

Thanks for the article.

Uma C.

10:38PM PDT on Apr 23, 2011

Ea, king of all the gods creates an intersex being, Asu-shu-namir,Ea sends shim to Erishkigal to invoke the name of the great gods against her and ask for the bag of the waters of life and though it enrages her she must comply;Asu-shu-namir sprinkles Ishtar with the waters of life reviving her. Ishtar passes back through the 7 gates taking back an article of clothing at each She is clothed upon exit through the last gate. As she passes through each gate assuming the attributes of her power sexuality and life to all beings. The cow receives the bull, the grain grows, humans and all species come together and breed and life returns to earth.
First humans were hunter gatherers. The women collected seeds from beneficial plants passing by and arriving at Paradise creating agricultural city/states,creating peace and plenty. Goddess must be fierce to protect the peace,make all grow and all beings desire their opposite.The Asu-Shu-Namir being of both sexes can only desire itself and Shim was created to restore the Goddess as only a being of both sexes could.Cats, attracted by rodents drawn by the steady supply of grain, entered into a permanent relationship with us with of affection and mutual respect. The cat is characterized by passion, ferocity, and fertility reveling in all aspects of the goddess and is She come to reside with us in daily life.Dog entered into contract with us when we were hunter gatherers and being a pack animal needs hierarchy and dominance.

9:57PM PDT on Apr 23, 2011

In keeping of this season I will recount ishtar's descent into the underworld., She is Assyrian, Sumerian, Semitic, Babylonian , and is Ishtar, Innana and Ashtoroth goddess of fertility, love, war and sex. She is the queen of the living and civilization is said to have begun there between two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates .Paradise is the Iranian word for garden and this was the fertile grain belt She is the most ancient goddess. Queen of the living she would investigate death of which she had no understanding.When the gatekeeper refuses her entry three times She says : "If thou openest not the gate to let me enter.
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock'
I will smash the door posts, I will force the
doors, I will bring up the dead to eat the living
and the dead will outnumber the living.
Ereshkigal., her dark sister, queen of the underworld bids the gatekeeper to allow entrance but "according to ancient decree" There are seven gates and at each gate Ishtar must shed (the temporal over-leaves of personality)Myth is ancient scripture, scripture must be symbolic to be useful in all times and places and is translated by universal symbolism.Naked and enraged she throws herself at Erishkigal is bound 60 diseases unleashed against her.As she descends all sexual activity ceases. nothing grows or multiplies, life comes to a halt.

8:37PM PDT on Apr 23, 2011

Janine. BRAVISIMA!!! seven is the number of triumph and transformation giveing opportunity to mastery Not cursed , or punished but soul choosing mastery.When we create incarnation we chose all the transient over-leaves of our personality to attract the events that will most likely lead to chosen challenge;gender,race,class and personality attributes: arrogance-self deprecation ,pride, humility, and so on. These are all transient garments we cloth ourselves in and leave behind as we go sky-clad to the other side of now. garments, chosen by self as the over-soul for a chosen end. It is ALWAYS our own true self that chooses incarnation ,the transient gifts and challenges to reach our goals, our births and deaths are chosen to suite our soul's desire.our lives are to it as dreams are to us and it will plunge us into hell to experience and master something knowing itself invulnerable.If you are stuck in an unchangeable fate no mater how you work it , everyone has one why else come here,your soul must be questioned and argued with , no other casts us into hell.It always acts for it's benefit which is us too,We too are eternal and create other selves and so on.After the planning and choosing the angel puts it's finger on our lips and says"shhhh"...we forget all so we can come innocent and fresh trusting and forgetting . Eternal beings can' t afford boredom, nothing is predestined only likelihoods and life remains an adventure.Danger is the nature of adventure.

janine k.

4:53PM PDT on Apr 22, 2011

When I moved to Long Island, I would go to the beach with my son. The same question was asked everytime whenever I would strike up a conversation. "How many people work for your HUSBAD." Then they'd ask, "What do you do." I would always say, "when." Now, I haven't a clue what to do anymore. Seven years here...it's like flat soda.

Zion R.

9:38PM PDT on Sep 28, 2010

being born again is a daily commitment

9:18AM PDT on Apr 17, 2009

Lea I think it's o.k. as long as you don't deceive yourself and forget the infinitude of creative excitement within reach. Labels like I am Mother let one be a part of a great force and open access to magical/spiritual power because motherhood is a great force that you can draw upon with confidence linking with GODDESS/MOTHER OF ALL LIVING BEINGS in prayer. That is POWER and the calm confidence it gives you is not false because you can go deep and draw upon it for what you need for your children; God is beyond sexual identity and any limitations and prayer (as long an you are listening to the answers) is the link. Only just don't forget that MOTHER is not all that you are.