John 3:3, where Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 

Few who read this quotation interpret it literally. Although we know that life consists of birth followed by death, Biblical scholars and church leaders believe that humans die and then are re-born during a one and only lifetime.

If you asked a child what Jesus the Christ meant in John 3.3 the answer would be, ‘to know God I have to die and be born again.’

This literal meaning is obvious, especially those of another faith such as Hinduism and Buddhism where re-incarnation is central to self-improvement.

The metaphor I use to illustrate reincarnation is from nature because nature always improves itself. The theory of natural selection by Charles Darwin shocked 19C Christians. Yet today most accept that our DNA is a vehicle for improving the species over consecutive generations. Lessons learnt by plants and animals are integrated and the species improves. The birth life cycle is vital to natural evolution.

This logical model also applies to humans in my view. When we die, nature would never let our energy bodies fade away and with it a lifetime’s learning. It makes sense that our energetic self which is multi-dimensional and eternal will return to the physical dimension to learn lessons that can only be experienced here.

As an example of how this learning programme operates, Carl G. Jung identified the twelve archetypal character types.

These twelve characteristics are wired into our individual psychological makeup in varying degrees but with one dominant. A ‘Regular’ personality for instance will be dependable and conservative in nature but lacking in an adventurous spirit. When nature sends this soul back again to earth, it will have an opportunity to work up this weakness. So, a Regular might be reborn as an Explorer to live a less structured and more adventurous life. No one personality type is better than another; we must become masters of them all. This process of ‘correction’ works over multiple re-incarnations.

Eventually and perhaps after thousands of years, a human being will accomplish perfect inner balance and find ‘the Kingdom of God’ within. This explanation is only one perspective on the re-incarnation process. A less psychological model in my view is more relevant to today.

We live in a time when human evolution is rapidly changing. We see change in nature such as climate change but also technological innovation and it is hard for nature and humans to adapt.

One more subtle aspect of this change that I have observed in myself and collectively is a move from brain centred consciousness to heart centred wisdom. Humans are not becoming more emotional because they have always had emotions. The transition is more an unpeeling and inner revelation of hidden emotional truths.

Again, I would argue that this journey through the spectrum of human emotions is made complete through re-incarnation. The sometimes-sheltered lives of the past have not enabled people to experience in depth the full range of human feeling in one lifetime. A medieval farmer will never have left their own village and certainly not felt the fear of the extinction of life on the planet, whereas, since the atom bomb was invented the potential for planet Earth to be laid waste is ever present. To know death is that close is humbling.

At a more personal level I am going to express an insight that you are unlikely to find in a library or on the internet.

Have you ever wondered why siblings fight each other? I acknowledge that there are many brother and sister relationships, particularly with twins and triplets, who co-operate in loving ways with each other.

On the other hand, and quite frequently, siblings fight even from an early age. Young parents are distraught at how regularly their much loved ‘little angels’ fight each other viciously over inconsequential things.

Mystical and gnostic traditions describe souls that are not incarnate, being able to choose the family into which they will be born, including the time and location on earth.

The idea that came to me is that such souls may choose to be re-born with their enemies from a previous lifetime. The word ‘enemy’ is emotionally explosive but really is meant to represent the process of seeing the world from another point of view and not being able to respect another’s view, known today as ‘confirmation bias’.

^{Matthew 5:44} But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. 

When we die, a person’s life is replayed from another person’s point of view. For instance, you may have to feel how your mother felt about something you did or didn’t do, or a how a partner felt when you said this. It is not a series of judgements but a lesson in feeling and empathy; cause and effect.

Stories and narratives gain worth and value when conflict is introduced. A good book or film only comes alive when the villain appears. Life is intended to be like Tolstoy’s epic novel War and Peace. A single lifetime can be a maelstrom of emotions which are important lessons not experienced or not mastered in previous incarnations.

So it is in my view that family life is not a promise of a smooth ride. From an early age there will be family conflicts and ‘rows’ which churn emotions deeply.

We live in this time of similar upheaval on a global scale. It is not a period of mental change so much as a period of emotional development. The Aquarian age is represented by waves in water. This is a powerful metaphor, for we know how terrifying a storm at sea can make us feel even if we are only watching it from a distance. Then at other times the sea is calm, and we love to immerse ourselves in the soothing and supporting water.

With negative emotions such as angry and hatred appearing in world politics and the same old family issues alike, is this not a time for us to search within ourselves for the point of inner calm and detachment? At this threshold in the evolution of souls most of us have had an opportunity to be detached from the ‘ups and downs’ of life on Earth ever present before us.

We may have learnt the eternal value of Christ’s instruction to ‘love your enemy’. Earth is not a pleasure garden although it can be. It is an opportunity to become one with yourself and others and in doing so, realising ‘the Kingdom of God’.

The fourth tenet of Darwin’s theory of natural selection;

Survival is not random. 

Individuals whose traits happen to fit their environment better are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass those traits along. Over time, helpful traits become more common in the population while harmful one’s fade.