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My Second Birth:
A Personal, Expanded View Regarding the Concept of Being Born Again

About the Book

My Second Birth is an empowering, 26-page, self-help booklet that candidly discusses the concept of “Being Born Again” from a spiritual as opposed to a religious point of view. The controversial booklet begins by discussing the subject of exploration—not the physical type of exploration that is achieved by way of planes, trains and automobiles, but the more arduous, less traveled path of inner exploration and Self-discovery. Next, readers are confronted with the following challenging but thought-provoking questions: “What would you do if you had a spiritual (i.e., non-physical) experience far beyond the realm of everyday life?” and more importantly, “Would you seek to explore the phenomenon further or not?”

To show readers that such experiences are not outside the scriptural norm, readers are taken on a spiritual journey into the lives of some of the world’s most venerated religious figures of the past including Ezekiel, John, Paul, Jesus, and Muhammad through the lens of subjective experience, which allows them to see some of the strong similarities that exist between the inner or spiritual experiences of the above-mentioned religious figures and between those of countless numbers of individuals from our present day. The author even provides an account of his own personal attempts at inner (i.e., non-physical) exploration and concludes the essay by defining what the concept of being born again—or from above or of the Spirit—means to him in light of his and other peoples’ spiritual experiences.

A related topic addressed in the booklet is the well known but seldom discussed phenomenon referred to by doctors as sleep paralysis. What is sleep paralysis? Well imagine that while drifting off to or waking up from sleep you feel completely paralyzed and unable to move even a finger or weighted down by some unseen force which may make it seem difficult to breathe. According to a 2008 MSN Fitness and Health article entitled Sleep Paralysis: Wide Awake and Dreaming, 40% to 50% of Americans—that’s approximately 1 out of every 2 people—report having experienced sleep paralysis.

Although the experience may be overwhelming for many people, it can actually be a bridge between the mundane, everyday, human state of consciousness and between higher, more blissful, spiritual states of consciousness. Few people ever get that far, however, because of deep-seated social, religious, and cultural fears that are commonly associated with the experience. Those people who do choose to turn to their pastors, preachers, priests, imams, rabbis, and the like for guidance are usually informed that it is a very negative experience; is of the Devil; or involves a demon, jinn, witch, “haint,” or Old Hag “riding” them during their sleep.

Such individuals may be advised by their religious leaders to do anything from praying and reciting their Holy Scriptures all the way up to having their homes blessed or exorcised hoping that it will help ward off the experience. For reasons such as these, many people simply choose not to discuss or explore sleep paralysis for fear of being labeled or ostracized by others.