Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Change.
Change who?
Change who’s knocking… it’s always been you.

As I think upon my life and the idea of the Law of Freedom, I recognize how often we believe something outside of ourselves is causing our life to be the way it is.

“The door to freedom swings on the hinges of our own thought,” wrote Ernest Holmes

What is this freedom we all seek? It is the freedom to express life—to live fully, abundantly, lovingly, creatively, and healthfully. These attributes are truly the attributes of our True Selves. We are here to express Life, and by doing so, Life is more fully expressed through us. So, what’s the holdup?

Emmet Fox, a mystic, teacher, and author from the Unity tradition, wrote a small pamphlet called The Mental Equivalent. At the end of the book, he relates a short parable about a man who was imprisoned in a cell for most of his life. Finally, after many years, someone points out to him that the door to the prison cell had always been open. He only needed to realize it—and walk out. “The tragedy wasn’t that the man was imprisoned—the tragedy was that he never tried the door.”

I love the implications of this parable regarding the feeling we sometimes have that our life is one of limitation and lack of freedom. We feel totally subject to our environment and allow it to control how we live in the moment. I see this in reaction to the present uncertainty of the world. Many people are waiting to see what happens before they do this or that. They might want to travel or start a particular endeavor. “Let’s just see what happens before we do that,” becomes their excuse.

I know this is not the way the Universe works. It isn’t going to act upon anything we say we desire until we take the first step. It waits upon us. When we set an intention, we must move.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Opportunity.
Opportunity who?
Opportunity knocks—but only if you’re willing to open the door.

Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door will be opened.” But here’s the question—what if, like in Emmet Fox’s parable, the door was never locked? What if the knock is not about effort… but awareness?

There is something in science called emergent evolution. It means that “when the Universe makes a demand upon itself, it meets its demand.” In the Bible quote, Jesus once told his followers that if they had the faith of a grain of mustard seed, they could move mountains. In the acorn is the makings of an oak forest. Within your desire, everything is contained for its fulfillment.

So, if there is something in your life that feels like a great effort and you feel as though you’ve been knocking at the door for a very long time, perhaps it might be worthwhile to expand your awareness to knowing that the person on the other side of the door is not some genie in a bottle. It is the expanded awareness of our own consciousness.

I remember a day in my own life when I was filled with limitation. I went into Starbucks to buy a friend a $20 gift certificate. I looked at the bananas, which were $1 apiece, and wouldn’t buy one for myself. Suddenly, I fully realized what I was doing—I was denying my own good. Abundance was knocking, but I was too limited to answer. I needed to go first. The Universe wasn’t going to buy me that banana.

That was the day I opened the door to abundance in my life. In that small act of purchasing something for myself, I accepted more of my good.

We will never get away from the Principle of “As above, so below.” Everything begins in Cause—and we are that Cause. Life is not withholding from us; it is responding to us. The door we have been waiting for is not outside our reach or beyond our worthiness. It is within our own consciousness.

If there is a place in your life where you feel stuck, limited, or as though you’ve been knocking for a very long time, I invite you to pause and gently ask: What am I believing? What door am I afraid to try? You may discover that the door has been open all along, waiting not for more effort—but for awareness.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Believe.
Believe who?
Believe it or not, this door opens from the inside.

And so today, may we stop waiting for permission, stop asking life to go first, and step forward in faith and awareness. May we open the door to our own freedom—knowing that as we do, Life itself rushes in to meet us.

Opening New Doors of Consciousness,

Rev. Dr. Rita Andriello-Feren

Co-Founding Spiritual Director, CSL Kaua‘i, Author • Veriditas Certified Labyrinth Facilitator • Consciousness Coach

Rita Andriello-Feren — Transformational storytelling that blends mysticism, New Thought, and emotional authenticity.