Inner Gatekeepers of Worship

Neville's Inner Vision

These verses whisper not of distant priests at a distant temple but of the constant doorkeepers within your own awareness. The names and the eastward gate are symbolic images of the habitual states by which you attend to life. Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman—each represents a mode of attention that stands at the gate of your mind, and Shallum as chief points to a leading feeling or idea you have allowed to preside over the day. They waited in the king's gate eastward, meaning your focus turns toward the source of all life—the I AM that stands at the head of your inner kingdom. When you regard these porters as real persons, you may miss the teaching; when you recognize them as dynamic states of consciousness, you begin to see how your inner gate opens and closes with your thoughts. In Neville's method, the gatekeepers are not keeping you out but guarding the space where you can invite the divine presence. The work is to claim, within awareness, a single steady gate—your present consciousness—through which your life streams, and to stand at it with confidence, not fear.