“Our proportionate admission of the claims of good or of evil determines the harmony of our existence, — our health, our longevity, and our Christianity.” (SH 167, emphasis added.)
In John Bunyan’s neglected allegory, The Holy War, the city of Mansoul is engaged in constant conflict with its mortal enemy, Sin. Sin can only gain entrance into Mansoul through one or more its gates: Eye-Gate, Ear-Gate, Nose-Gate, Feel-Gate, and Mouth-Gate. But Sin cannot force these gates open from the outside; it can only gain admission if a gate were opened from the inside.
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates1” (Psalm 24:7). Of these gates, William Gadsby comments: “At the castle of Banias, in Syria, are the remains of an ancient gate which was drawn up, like a blind, the gate fitting in grooves. This will fully explain the term.” (See also online photos of the medieval palace or fortress gate called the portcullis.)
Therefore, following Mind’s protocol of restricted entry, I am to admit only the highest thoughts, and keep out all others. I am to “admit the claims of good”, of faith, of victory, by elevating my sense-gates to receive those exalted claims into my thought-life, and entertain them with utmost respect, attentiveness, appreciation, trust, and openness, as royal guests.
And, just as I am to lift my sense-gates to allow admission of the best thoughts exclusively, I am to “stand porter at the door of thought”, and lower those gates to shut out all lower claims, especially doubt and discouragement.
William Blake wrote, “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.”