THE DOOR OF YOUR mind is your open-mindedness. "I am the door of the sheep." "Sheep" are your thoughts. "A thief and a robber" is mortal thought. The "porter" is the will. The "good shepherd" is the spiritual I AM.
All forces that come into your consciousness in any other way than through your own I AM are thieves and robbers. No man can be saved from the limitations and mistakes of ignorance except through his own volition.
There is a widespread belief that we can turn over to those who have better understanding the straightening out of our tangled thoughts. Such help may be extended temporarily, but it always proves "a thief and a robber" in the end. The true healer is always the teacher and instructs his patients how to open the door to the "good shepherd," the divine I AM.
"The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep." This means that the high spiritual I AM lets itself become identified with the limitations of self-consciousness that it may lift all up to the spiritual plane. "I lay down my life, that I may take it again."
When we open the door of the mind by consciously affirming the presence and power of the divine I AM in our midst, there is a marriage or union
of the higher forces in being with the lower, and we find that we are quickened in every part; the life of the I AM has been poured out for us. Thus Christ becomes the Saviour of the whole world, by pouring this higher spiritual energy (His blood) into human consciousness, which each must take for himself and identify himself with. The individual I AM is the only door through which it can get into our thoughts in a legitimate way. If it comes through mediumship or hypnotism or mental suggestion, without our willing co-operation, it is "a thief and a robber."
There is but one life-giver, one Saviour, the Christ; and the only door through which the divine essence can come to us is through our own I AM. Jesus of Nazareth points the way, but everyone must take up his cross and follow Him, must "overcome" as He overcame.
The word Jews in this instance refers to the Pharisaical Jews who are following the letter of the law. There is always a division among the intellectually wise and an arguing back and forth. It is the Christ consciousness alone that seeks the unity of all things.
Partaking of a feast in Solomon's Porch in the Temple symbolizes our peaceful thought people appropriating spiritual substance in an outer state of consciousness (porch).
In this Scripture Jesus symbolizes the I AM or Christ, and the Jews symbolize our high-brow intellectual thoughts, which hold to the letter of the law to such an extent that they cannot let the spiritual word expand in and through the consciousness.
"My sheep hear my voice." The sheep are our gentle, obedient thoughts that are always open to the inspiration of the Christ. Man's soul is encased in the body, with its great organ or instrument from which issues forth the human voice. When man is
established in his I AM power and dominion, His voice is strong and vibrant and commanding. God revealed Himself to the prophets of old through the "still small voice." While it is not audible it is distinct and clear. Many ask how to distinguish the real voice. They hear voices and voices but do not understand how to distinguish the real one. If man follows the Holy Spirit, the one teacher, if he concentrates on the power of the word and holds continuously for the leading of the Spirit of truth, he will enter into a state of spiritual discernment in which he can readily distinguish the still small voice.
After the Christ has done a positive work it always withdraws to an inner state of consciousness in order to replenish its power before it goes forth to achieve again. Into this state of consciousness opposing intellect cannot find entrance. But after a season the Christ again penetrates into the Jordan or subconsciousness made up of thoughts good, bad, and indifferent. Here man is in an ignorant and unredeemed state. His concepts are turbulent with materiality. However here again the light of the Christ penetrates, and many believe and receive the Truth. Jesus has made conscious unity with His supermind or I AM mind and through it with the Father. This is the only way in which any man can attain perfection.
Here again Jesus emphasizes the importance of works to prove one's claims of spiritual authority and power. "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not." The world is full of religious leaders who cannot do the works promised by Jesus, and yet they are accepted as His representative. He said, "These signs shall accompany them that believe."