The idea of being “born again” or “saved” has become almost completely meaningless today. True self-transformation, the birth of a New Mind that Christ called  “metanoia,” is not something that can be handed out by priests and ministers for the asking. Such transformation requires conscious, deliberate, ongoing effort on the part of the individual… but not by “works” as in the context of doing anything in order to “earn” salvation! God requires us to choose His Life in every moment, and we must pay with ourselves to put Him first. Dying to yourself is the path to rebirth… not saying some magic words in a fervent moment in hopes that they will wash you clean forever. This kind of experience may well be a starting point but it is not the whole story; it is not the be-all and end-all of the spiritual journey. Christ summed up the Path to gaining entrance to the Kingdom when he said: “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”