Before exploring Neville Goddard’s teaching about the door as a gateway to new states of consciousness, it is helpful to note that the Bible metaphorically presents the head and mind as a symbolic house. And just as a house is defined by its doors, the mind has a threshold through which thoughts and impressions enter. The earliest biblical use of the word sin appears in Genesis 4:7 — where sin is described as “waiting at the door.”
This verse profoundly ties the concept of the door to the spiritual and psychological condition of the individual.
"If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."
— Genesis 4:7 (BBE)
Here, sin is not simply a moral failing or external judgment but a state of misalignment — what the Hebrew word chatta’th means literally: “missing the mark.”
If the mind is a symbolic house, then the door is the place of entry — the meeting point between inner imagination and outer sense impressions. What you admit at this threshold shapes the state of your inner world. Sin crouching at the door symbolises the suggestions of fear, envy, or lack pressing to enter your awareness. The door, then, becomes the place of discernment: will you admit every image presented by the senses, or will you guard the threshold and admit only that which aligns with your imagined fulfilment?
This makes the door not merely an opening, but the threshold of choice: Will you align with your higher imagination — your inner Abel — or will you fall prey to the ego’s reactive impulses — your inner Cain?
Dalet: The Door as Symbol of Transition and Mastery
In the Hebrew alphabet, the letter dalet (ד) means “door,” representing the gateway between bondage and freedom, ignorance and awareness. Genesis 4:7’s “sin crouching at the door” is a vivid metaphor: just as the dalet stands at the threshold of the Hebrew alphabet’s teachings, sin crouches at the threshold of your consciousness, waiting for your permission to enter.
You hold the power — the key of your imagination — to open or close that door. You “rule over” sin by choosing the state aligned with your desire, assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled, which Neville defines as the essence of creation.
The Door as a Place of Spiritual Conflict and Victory
This imagery mirrors Neville’s concept of consciousness creating reality through the Law of Assumption. Sin is the assumption of defeat, lack, jealousy, or misalignment. It “knocks,” seeking to enter your house of mind and dominate your inner state.
Yet the door also represents invitation and opportunity. When you consciously “open the door” with faith and imaginative assumption, you allow the presence of your fulfilled desire to enter. You are not a passive householder but a guardian of the threshold. To guard the senses is to keep out the intrusions of doubt, fear, and appearances, and to admit only the inner vision you choose to embody.
Neville’s teachings encourage mastery at this threshold: to recognise that the door is both defence and invitation, and that your choice determines what fills the house of your mind.
The name David means “beloved” and contains two Hebrew letters dalet (ד), which symbolise doors or thresholds. This doubling emphasises David as a gateway figure — the beloved one, as the new assumption embodied and personified. In Neville Goddard’s teaching, David represents the awakening of the heart’s desire and the manifestation of love as a creative force, inviting us to open the inner doors that lead to the reality we truly desire.
Summary: The Door as Threshold of Perception and Choice
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Dalet (ד) | The door, a spiritual threshold |
| The house of the mind | Consciousness as the dwelling place of thoughts and states |
| The door of perception | What you admit through senses and imagination |
| Sin crouching at the door | Misalignment, intrusive suggestions pressing to enter |
| Ruling over sin at the door | Choosing alignment with the assumed fulfilled state |
| Neville’s door | Gateway to a new state of consciousness through assumption |
Bringing It Together: From Genesis 4:7 to Neville’s Door
- The biblical “door” is the psychological threshold where you choose your inner state — reactive Cain or creative Abel.
- The Hebrew dalet reminds us that the door is not passive but deliberate: a point of passage between states of being.
- The house of the mind is filled with what you allow in — either passing sense impressions or the chosen vision of imagination.
- Neville Goddard teaches that by assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled, you actively open this door to your desired reality.
- Like the warning in Genesis 4:7, you may rule over what waits at the door — whether fear, doubt, or suggestion — by choosing to admit only the state that creates and manifests your dream.