Throughout the Old and the New Testament, great care is taken in giving the names of all those who took part in the Divine Drama. This is because, in Oriental Poetry, or Symbolism, every name had a special meaning; and, when understood, this hidden meaning connects the entire Drama. Nicodemus means "a man of innocence," or "free from guilty actions;" and the account fully carries out this idea.

2. 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.

3. 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.

This is identical with his other sayings: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resur

rection on such the second death hath no power.

In order to be born again, we must first be converted. To be converted, means to free ourselves from the desires of the flesh, and to encourage the desires of the heart, or desires that belong to the Soul.

Conversion means "change," change from a low estate to a higher. It cannot mean the change from a higher to the lower, that would be retrogression. To have become converted means that the mind has become awakened to higher interests, and has found that the desires of the flesh, material pleasures and works no longer satisfy. To become converted means to seek after the Truth that will satisfy the soul. To have found "the way, the truth, and the life," by which one may intelligently use the mental powers for the higher work—that of regeneration, or Soul Building— means conversion.

But conversion is not the same thing as regeneration, or being born again. Rather is it the path that leads to re

birth. To be born again, in the sense of regeneration, refers to the process of developing, or building, the Soul, through conscious use of mental powers intelligently applied in that specific direction and to that specific end. It refers to the great change when the divine spark of soul within man has become the Christ Child, when Illumination of Soul has taken place. This is being born again; for it is giving birth to Consciousness of Soul, or of the Christ.

Distinct emphasis must be placed on the fact that this does not mean giving birth to the soul; for the divine spark, or soul-germ, has always been within man's nature, though in an inert, or sleeping, state. The new birth is the awakening of the soul into Consciousness as an entity. It is the ascent of individual consciousness from the plane of mind and mentality to the higher plane of Soul and Souluality. It is the process of developing the soul-atom from a negative, dormant, potential state into an active, dynamic state of individualized consciousness.

"For I am the resurrection and the life." Rebirth, or birth of Soul Consciousness, is to be identified with "the resurrection and the life." It is a resurrection from the condition of death and inertness to "newness of life." The Soul, thus brought to newness of life, lives after everything else that pertains to man's existence has returned to their primitive elements.

No one can see the kingdom of God, nor know of it, nor realize where it is, unless birth of Soul Consciousness has taken place.

4. 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?

Nicodemus did not understand the meaning of Jesus's words. He thought that Jesus had reference to the body.

In a sense, it is even true that the body must be reborn; for, before Soul Consciousness, or Illumination, can take place, the body, which is the Temple of the living God wherein the Soul must find heaven, must be completely

changed through holy desires, thoughts, and through a specific mode of living. This brings about a rebirth of every atom of the body, without the necessity, however, of being born again of woman.

Even this Nicodemus could not understand; for he had knowledge only of the one mortal life.

5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

In the light of this verse, we must consider man as being born three times. The first is when he comes forth into the world from the womb of his mother. This is the birth of the body, which carries with it the divine spark which is to become the Illuminated Soul, or Son of God.

The second birth, or that of water, is consummated when the mind awakens to the fact that it is not all of earth to live, and seeks for better things than the mere gratification of the material being, or the senses. When man awakens to the conviction that his mental faculties, his creative forces, are given him for the specific purpose of cultivating the soulual nature of his own being; when he accepts this as the highest function of mind and mental powers; and when he deliberately, conscientiously, intelligently sets about the great work of directing his mental faculties in channels of soulual culture and growth-this experience and settled purpose and clear conviction is what is meant by the second birth, or "birth of water." This experience is elsewhere called Mind Awakening. In other words, when man has a clear vision of the wonderful possibilities of his own mental, creative faculties specifically directed toward interior development, or Soul Building, it is said that his mind has become the Awakened, or the Illumined, Mind.

The third, the real birth, that of the Spirit, is consummated when the great work of cultivating the soulual nature which the mind has previously accepted and entered upon, has been accomplished. Through mental activities definitely and carefully directed, the awakened mind has made

such conditions in its own Thought World, its own Realm of Causation, that the soul has passed from a potential, nonconscious, non-individualized state of existence into a dynamic, conscious, individualized state of being. The man has reached Soul Consciousness. Illumination of Soul has taken place. He has attained the Christ Consciousness. It is then that he sees God, that he enters into the kingdom of heaven; for the resurrection has taken place. Like Jesus, he can now say: "I am he that liveth, and was dead."

This is the true rebirth; for it is regeneration, change of heart, raising from death to life.

6. That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

There is the natural body, which is Adam. It is of the flesh. It is that which is born of mother earth.

Then there is that which is born of the Spirit. This can come only through regeneration. In germ, it comes from the Father originally as a divine spark. It is enveloped in the Spirit, which also comes from the Father. Now, it is required of man to free this divine spark, or soul-germ, from its envelope, as the butterfly is set free from the cocoon; or, as the plantlet is set free from the outer shell of the seed. This is that which is born of the Spirit; for it has been carried by the Spirit.

It is this divine spark from the Father which is sown in the natural body; through the activities of the awakened mind, from the spiritual body in which it has been enveloped in the chrysalis state, as it were, the divine spark is brought forth a Conscious Soul, in the image of the Father, an individualized entity, to sit on the right hand of the Father.

7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

LESSON TEN

If ye love the truth that makes us free, we will be willing to lay our carnal desires upon the altar and to transmute them into the qualities and essences of Illuminated Soul. St. John 3:8-18.

8. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

We can see manifestations of the Conscious Soul, but we may not know where it is unless we ourselves become illuminated.

He who has become illuminated, Soul Conscious, or "born of the Spirit," will do the works of the Father. Man can see these works, for they are the material manifestations; but he cannot know the power that produces these manifestations unless he himself has become Soul Conscious.

To be "born of the Spirit" means to have found the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said of this: "Neither shall ye say, Lo, here! or lo, there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." The manifestations of this kingdom others may see; but, unless illuminated, they cannot tell whence, where, or whither.

9. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

10. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?

11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

Jesus speaks not alone of himself, but of all those who had lived according to the Divine Law, and had become Soul Conscious, or Illuminated.