A Course in Miracles Lesson 185 I Want the Peace I want the peace of God.
To say these words is nothing.
To mean these words is everything.
I want the peace of God.
If you could mean these words for just an instant,
There would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form,
In any place,
In any time.
I want the peace of God.
If you could mean these words for just an instant,
Heaven would be completely given back to you in full awareness,
Your memory of God entirely restored,
The resurrection of all creation fully recognized.
Say in your mind,
Repeat after me,
I want the peace.
No one can mean these words and not be healed.
You cannot play with dreams.
You cannot think you are a dream.
You cannot make a hell and think it's real.
You want the peace of God and it is given you,
For that is all you want and that is all you will receive.
Say in your mind,
I want the peace of God.
Many have said these words,
But few indeed have meant them.
You only have to look upon the world you see to be sure how very few people there are who mean these words.
I want the peace of God.
The world would be completely changed should any two people agree that these words express the only thing they want.
Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will becomes the will of God,
For minds can only join in truth.
In dreams,
No two can share the same intent.
To each one,
The hero of the dream is different.
The outcome desired is not the same for both.
The loser and the gainer merely shift about in changing patterns as the ratio of gain to loss and loss to gain changes to a different aspect or another form.
Yet,
A dream can only bring compromise.
Sometimes,
Compromise takes the form of union,
But only the form.
The meaning must escape from the dream,
For compromising is the goal.
Minds cannot unite in dreams.
They merely bargain or compromise.
What bargain or compromise can give any mind the peace of God?
Illusions come to take God's place.
God's place is loss to sleeping mind.
Illusions come to take what God means.
Intent on compromise,
Each compromise becomes one's gain and another's loss.
To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams.
Say to yourself again,
The peace of God.
No one means these words who wants illusion and who therefore seeks the means to bring illusion.
We have looked on illusions and found them wanting.
Now,
We seek to go beyond them,
Recognizing that another dream would offer nothing more than all the other dreams.
All dreams are the same.
The only difference between dreams is one of form.
One dream will bring the same despair and misery as do the rest.
The mind which concludes that all it wants is peace must join with other minds,
For that is how peace is obtained.
When the wish for peace is genuine,
The means for finding it is given in a form that each mind seeking for peace in honesty can understand.
Whatever form the lesson takes is planned in such a way that we cannot mistake it if the asking is sincere.
But,
If we ask without sincerity,
There is no form in which the lesson will meet with acceptance and be truly learned.
Let us today devote our practice to recognizing that we really mean the words we say.
When you say,
I want the peace of God,
This is no idle wish.
These words do not request another dream be given.
They do not ask for compromise.
They do not try to make another bargain in the hope that there may yet be a bargain that can succeed where all the rest have failed.
Repeat in your mind,
I want the peace of God.
To mean these words acknowledges illusions are in vain.
To mean these words acknowledges that we are requesting the eternal in the place of shifting dreams.
Dreams which seem to change in what they offer.
Dreams that are one in nothingness.
Today,
Devote your practice periods to careful searching of your mind to find the dreams you cherish still.
Let's practice.
Spend a few moments in careful searching of your mind.
Find the dreams you still cherish.
What do you really ask for in your heart?
Forget the words you use in making your requests.
Consider what you believe will comfort you and bring you happiness.
I'll be quiet while you search your mind for what you believe will comfort you.
What do you believe will bring you comfort and happiness?
Do not be dismayed by lingering illusions.
Their form is not what matters now.
Don't let some dreams be more acceptable than others.
Don't reserve shame and secrecy for some dreams and not others.
All dreams being one,
The question that should be asked of all your dreams of comfort is,
Is this what I would have in place of heaven?
Is this what I would have in the place now?
Identify a dream of comfort.
I'll be silent.
Ask yourself,
Is this dream of comfort what I would have in the place of God,
In the place of heaven?
Is this dream of comfort what I would have in the place of God,
In the place of heaven?
This is a choice you make.
Do not be deceived that it is otherwise.
No compromise,
No bargain is possible in this.
You either choose God's peace or you have asked for dreams and dreams will come as you requested them.
Yet,
God's peace will come just as certainly and will remain with you forever.
God's peace will not disappear like dreams,
With every twist and turning of the road to reappear unrecognized in forms which shift and change with every step you take.
You want the peace of God and so do all of us who seem to ask for dreams,
For others as well as for yourself.
You ask only for the peace of God.
When you make this request with deep sincerity,
When you make this request,
You reach to what all of us really want and join your own intention with what we all seek above all things,
Perhaps unknown to some of us but surely known to you.
Say to yourself again,
I want the peace.
You have been weak at times,
Uncertain,
Unsure of what you wanted,
Unsure of where to look for it,
Unsure of where to turn for help in the attempt.
Help has been given you.
Would you not avail yourself of this help by sharing it?
No one who truly seeks the peace of God can fail to find it,
For the seeker merely asks that they deceive themselves no longer by denying what is God's will.
Who can remain unsatisfied?
Who asks for what they already have?
Who could be unanswered?
Who requests an answer which is theirs to give?
The peace of God is yours.
For you,
Peace was created and given you by its creator and established as our creator's own eternal gift.
How can you fail when you ask for what God wills for you?
How could your request be limited to you alone?
No gift of God can be unshared.
It is this attribute that sets the gifts of God apart from every dream that ever seemed to take the place of truth.
No one can lose.
Everyone must gain.
Whenever any gift of God has been requested and received by anyone,
Only gives to unite,
To take away,
Is meaningless to God.
When it is as meaningless to you as to God,
You can be sure you share one will with God and God with you.
You will also know that you share one will with all your brothers and sisters whose intent is yours.
It is this one intent we seek today,
To unite our desires with the need of every heart,
With the call of every mind,
To unite our desires with the hope that lies beyond despair,
With the love that attack would hide,
To unite our desires with the brotherhood that hate has sought to sever,
With the brotherhood which still remains as God created it.
With help like this beside us,
How can we fail today as we request the peace of God be given us?
Ponder on this.
I want the peace.
I want the peace.
I want the peace.
I want the peace of God.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
