The Kingdom of God

For some time now, I have wondered what the following passage means:  "Unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God".  I have come to finally understand what it means, to me anyways.  And the more I think about it, the more it occurs to me what a profound statement it is, and one that applies to all, regardless of one's faith.

As I have experienced it, when we are first born in this physical body, many of us do not possess sufficient self-awareness nor the inner strength to make decisions that are in alignment with our true nature.  In regards to career choices for example, we end up doing what others think we should do, what we think will make us look good, what will make us money, more loved, and so on. As Parker Palmer would most likely say, we end up living a life that is not our own.

Lack of self-awareness combined with strong ego that strengthens over time ultimately leads us to make choices that contribute to our living a life that is out of alignment with the life that life wants us to live.  As a result, while we may become materially successful and look good on the outside, deep within we don't feel successful.  Instead, we feel as if something is still missing.  We experience dissatisfaction and emptiness and we long to feel fulfilled.  In some cases, we even silently suffer. I know for it's a journey that I can relate to.

Ultimately we come to a fork in the road where this inner suffering either destroys us, or we come to point through surrender where the suffering destroys the ego itself, which often is itself the source of our suffering.  In a sense, suffering destroys the very thing that causes it.  Once this happens, we begin to realize our true nature and it begins to guide our lives from a place of wholeness.

While it's a painful journey, it is one that ultimately leads to our rebirth, to our being reborn.  And we then begin to take steps towards living a live that is more authentic, being true to what we were built to be.  Then as we begin to live with this alignment, life begins to feel more joyful, for we no longer feel the need to prove but rather be true to ourselves, to our inner nature.

This I believe is what Jesus meant.  So the Kingdom He refers to is right here on earth and when we live in alignment with our natural being, we experience bliss right here in this life itself.  And to experience that, we must first die, dissolving our ego, and thus the referral to being born again.

I have read the Bible only a little, so what exactly is meant I don't know. But this is my interpretation of it. What does it mean to you?  And how have you experienced it in your own life?