Hello forgiven61, I believe that being "born again" or "born from above" is God working mightily in us (who are born "physically" alive but "spiritually" dead) to bring us to "spiritual" life. As BibleLover already said above, I believe this means that God quickens or regenerates us 'spiritually' and makes us who, again, were born (spiritually) dead in our trespasses and sins, (spiritually) alive.
Ephesians 2
1 You were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, ~made us alive together with Christ~ (by grace you have been saved).
This is described in some detail for us by God in the OT, in the passage (see below) that I believe the Lord Jesus was referring to when He chided Nicodemus as, "the teacher of Israel" .. John 3:10, for not already knowing what it meant to be "born again".
Ezekiel 36
25 “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
God bless you!!
--Papa Smurf