Lesson 185

I want the peace of God.

p1. To say these words is nothing. 2
But to mean these words is everything. 3 If
you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow
possible for you in any form; in any place or time. 4
Heaven would be completely given back to full awareness, memory of God entirely
restored, the resurrection of all creation fully recognized.

p2. No one can mean these words and not be healed. 2
He cannot play with dreams, nor think he is himself a dream. 3
He cannot make a hell and think it real. 4 He
wants the peace of God, and it is given him. 5
For that is all he wants, and that is all he will receive. 6
Many have said these words. 7 But few indeed
have meant them. 8 You have but to look upon
the world you see around you to be sure how very few they are. 9
The world would be completely changed, should any two agree these words
express the only thing they want.

p3. Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will
becomes the Will of God. 2 For minds can only
join in truth. 3 In dreams, no two can share
the same intent. 4 To each, the hero of the
dream is different; the outcome wanted not the same for both. 5
Loser and gainer merely shift about in changing patterns, as the ratio of
gain to loss and loss to gain takes on a different aspect or another form.

p4. Yet compromise alone a dream can bring. 2
Sometimes it takes the form of union, but only the form. 3
The meaning must escape the dream, for compromising is the goal of dreaming.
4 Minds cannot unite in dreams. 5
They merely bargain. 6 And what bargain can
give them the peace of God? 7 Illusions come
to take His place. 8 And what He means is lost
to sleeping minds intent on compromise, each to his gain and to another’s
loss.

p5. To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams.
2 For no one means these words who wants illusions,
and who therefore seeks the means which bring illusions. 3
He has looked on them, and found them wanting. 4
Now he seeks to go beyond them, recognizing that another dream would offer
nothing more than all the others. 5 Dreams are
one to him. 6 And he has learned their only
difference is one of form, for one will bring the same despair and misery
as do the rest.

p6. The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with
other minds, for that is how peace is obtained. 2
And when the wish for peace is genuine, the means for finding it is given,
in a form each mind that seeks for it in honesty can understand. 3
Whatever form the lesson takes is planned for him in such a way that he
can not mistake it, if his asking is sincere. 4
But if he asks without sincerity, there is no form in which the lesson will
meet with acceptance and be truly learned.

p7. Let us today devote our practicing to recognizing that we really
mean the words we say. 2 We want the peace of
God. 3 This is no idle wish. 4
These words do not request another dream be given us. 5
They do not ask for compromise, nor try to make another bargain in the hope
that there may yet be one that can succeed where all the rest have failed.
6 To mean these words acknowledges illusions
are in vain, requesting the eternal in the place of shifting dreams which
seem to change in what they offer, but are one in nothingness.

p8. Today devote your practice periods to careful searching of
your mind, to find the dreams you cherish still. 2
What do you ask for in your heart? 3 Forget
the words you use in making your requests. 4
Consider but what you believe will comfort you, and bring you happiness.
5 But be you not dismayed by lingering illusions,
for their form is not what matters now. 6 Let
not some dreams be more acceptable, reserving shame and secrecy for others.
7 They are one. 8
And being one, one question should be asked of all of them, “Is this what
I would have, in place of Heaven and the peace of God?”

p9. This is the choice you make. 2
Be not deceived that it is otherwise. 3 No compromise
is possible in this. 4 You choose God’s peace,
or you have asked for dreams. 5 And dreams will
come as you requested them. 6 Yet will God’s
peace come just as certainly, and to remain with you forever. 7
It will not be gone with every twist and turning of the road, to reappear,
unrecognized, in forms which shift and change with every step you take.

p10. You want the peace of God. 2
And so do all who seem to seek for dreams. 3
For them as well as for yourself, you ask but this when you make this request
with deep sincerity. 4 For thus you reach to
what they really want, and join your own intent with what they seek above
all things, perhaps unknown to them, but sure to you. 5
You have been weak at times, uncertain in your purpose, and unsure of what
you wanted, where to look for it, and where to turn for help in the attempt.
6 Help has been given you. 7
And would you not avail yourself of it by sharing it?

p11. No one who truly seeks the peace of God can fail to find
it. 2 For he merely asks that he deceive himself
no longer by denying to himself what is God’s Will. 3
Who can remain unsatisfied who asks for what he has already? 4
Who could be unanswered who requests an answer which is his to give? 5
The peace of God is yours.

p12. For you was peace created, given you by its Creator, and
established as His Own eternal gift. 2 How can
you fail, when you but ask for what He wills for you? 3
And how could your request be limited to you alone? 4
No gift of God can be unshared. 5 It is this
attribute that sets the gifts of God apart from every dream that ever seemed
to take the place of truth.

p13. No one can lose and everyone must gain whenever any gift
of God has been requested and received by anyone. 2
God gives but to unite. 3 To take away is meaningless
to Him. 4 And when it is as meaningless to you,
you can be sure you share one Will with Him, and He with you. 5
And you will also know you share one Will with all your brothers, whose
intent is yours.

p14. It is this one intent we seek today, uniting our desires
with the need of every heart, the call of every mind, the hope that lies
beyond despair, the love attack would hide, the brotherhood that hate has
sought to sever, but which still remains as God created it. 2
With Help like this beside us, can we fail today as we request the peace
of God be given us?

In the Course of a Year::A Course in Miracles Lessons online

Lesson 185

I want the peace of God.

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