What does it mean “to be born again” for man? It means for the first time to be subjected to the terrifying paradox of the human condition, since one must be born not as a god, but as a man, or as a god-worm, or a god who shits. Only this time without the neurotic shield that hides the full ambiguity of one’s life.
[…]
The person gives up something restricting and illusory, it is true, but only to come face to face with something even more awful: genuine despair.

— Ernest Becker, "The Denial of Death"