Lesson 185

I want the peace of God.

To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything. 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. Heaven would be completely given back to full awareness, memory of God entirely restored, the resurrection of all creation fully recognized.

No one can mean these words and not be healed. He cannot play with dreams, nor think he is himself a dream. He cannot make a hell and think it real. He wants the peace of God, and it is given him. For that is all he wants, and that is all he will receive. Many have said these words. But few indeed have meant them. You have but to look upon the world you see around you to be sure how very few they are. The world would be completely changed, should any two agree 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, the hero of the dream is different; the outcome wanted not the same for both. 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.

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

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

The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds, for that is how peace is obtained. 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. Whatever form the lesson takes is planned for him in such a way that he can not mistake it, if his asking is sincere. But if he asks without sincerity, there is no form in which the lesson will meet with acceptance and be truly learned.

Let us today devote our practicing to recognizing that we really mean the words we say. We want the peace of God. This is no idle wish. These words do not request another dream be given us. 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. 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.

Today devote your practice periods to careful searching of your mind, to find the dreams you cherish still. What do you ask for in your heart? Forget the words you use in making your requests. Consider but what you believe will comfort you, and bring you happiness. But be you not dismayed by lingering illusions, for their form is not what matters now. Let not some dreams be more acceptable, reserving shame and secrecy for others. They are one. 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?”

This is the choice you make. Be not deceived that it is otherwise. No compromise is possible in this. You choose God’s peace, or you have asked for dreams. And dreams will come as you requested them. Yet will God’s peace come just as certainly, and to remain with you forever. 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.

You want the peace of God. And so do all who seem to seek for dreams. For them as well as for yourself, you ask but this when you make this request with deep sincerity. 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. 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. Help has been given you. And would you not avail yourself of it by sharing it?

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

For you was peace created, given you by its Creator, and established as His Own eternal gift. How can you fail, when you but ask for what He wills for you? And 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 and everyone must gain whenever any gift of God has been requested and received by anyone. God gives but to unite. To take away is meaningless to Him. And when it is as meaningless to you, you can be sure you share one Will with Him, and He with you. And you will also know you share one Will with all your brothers, whose intent is yours.

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. With Help like this beside us, can we fail today as we request the peace of God be given us?

INITIAL INSIGHT: All we have to do to end the dream is to want only the peace of God. If we want the illusion, any illusion, we have denied ourselves the peace of God and have ensured the dream continues. Only in the dream can we fail to experience the peace of God because peace is our birthright. We must deliberately turn away from peace in order to lose it, and even then, the peace has gone nowhere, it remains unacknowledged in our mind.

Look at this amazing sentence.

“Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will becomes the Will of God.”

It doesn’t say that two minds with one intent become so strong that their will becomes the Will of God. That I could imagine. But no, it becomes so strong that what they will becomes the will of God. When I read this, I realized that I do have the strength to overcome my ego-mind and its desires. I have strength (when it is in union with another) to do anything.

“To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams.”

Of course, I would have to renounce all dreams if I want the peace of God. Dreams are the reason I don’t have peace. I dream of separation, of mother and child in constant peril of loss. I dream of suffering and death. I cannot have the dream of separation without the dream of loss and of suffering and death. Those painful situations are an inevitable part of separation, you cannot have one without the other.

“The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds, for that is how peace is obtained. 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. “

Like everything else he tells us in his book, Jesus reminds us that we must do this in union. He also tells us that when we are ready, the means will be given us. I think this means we will find ourselves in the classroom that is our final lesson. Jesus asks us to search our minds for the dreams we cherish and he asks us to be very honest about this because no compromise is possible. Either we choose the peace of God or we choose dreams; there is no middle ground.

DAILY APPLICATION: As I read this lesson, I began to recognize the illusions I would change. I have pain in my body and that is an illusion I would like to change. I have a fear of losing a child and that is an illusion I would like to change. I still have some nights in which sleep evades me and that is an illusion I would like to change. There are other illusions as well that grab my attention and I think I would be happier if I could change them.

On the other hand, I hold these illusions lightly. Here is what I mean by that. I have always feared physical pain and have done everything I could to avoid it. But I notice that when the pain comes, I experience it and let it go. I do hope that I never lose a child but I also know that this life I seem to live is just an ancient memory in my mind and loss is not possible in reality, only in the dream. In the past, my fear of losing a child haunted me and caused many moments of pain and suffering. Now, it is just something that I hope doesn’t happen and I seldom think of it.

I think what this means, is that I am using the help sent to me to master my decision for the peace of God. The desire to rearrange the illusions in my world is fading away as I continue to do the work given me to do. When I think I want something to be different, I often ask myself if I really want this, or do I want the peace of God?

I still take pain pills if I need them and I still watch what I eat. And yet, I don’t obsess, and when I do, I notice and I relinquish those thoughts. I don’t generally experience anxiety, and when I do, it is so apparent that I notice right away and question what I think needs to change in my story. It is another opportunity to move closer to my true desire which is the peace of God.

INSIGHTS FROM HOLY SPIRIT: I received this message a few years ago. It was very helpful.

Holy Spirit: Thank you for your honesty. This is the way you receive all that you asked for. The peace of God is yours already, but you cannot receive it if you cherish other things above it. Spend all of the day fulfilling your desire to release the illusion that you are separate from God and from your brothers, by releasing the belief you need dreams to make you happy.

Me: Holy Spirit, the more I think about it, the more dreams surface in my mind. I could take lifetimes to release each one.

Holy Spirit: Myron, you need not look at each one because at some point you are going to understand they are all the same. You have prepared your mind for this realization, and so are ready for it. Just continue what you are doing, and trust that I know what I am asking of you. Do not be concerned that the ego still speaks in your mind, and do not feel guilty that you hear its voice. Just notice it, and open your mind to the Truth.

It seems like a hard job because sometimes you still forget that this is all you need do, and you start trying to stop the thoughts or to change them. This is not for you to do; it is just the ego trying to join you in the process. We have talked of this before, but it is helpful to think of it from time to time. When you start to feel stress as you do mind watching, know this is the reason. It is not the watching that is stressful, but the mistaken idea that you need to do more than be willing to be healed.

GRATITUDE:

REGINA’S TIPS

“I want the peace of God. To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything. If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form. … To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams. For no one means these words who wants illusions, and who therefore seeks the means which bring illusions. He has looked on them, and found them wanting. Now he seeks to go beyond them, recognizing that another dream would offer nothing more than all the others.”

“Today devote your practice periods to careful searching of your mind, to find the dreams you cherish still. What do you ask for in the heart? … Consider but what you believe will comfort you, and bring you happiness.”

I’ve just done that. I looked and found one dream remaining in my heart. It’s not a new dream. When I was around twenty years old, I created a book of dreams by cutting out pictures from magazines and putting them in a photo album. I spent hours looking at the book of dreams over the next several years. Most of those dreams have come true in this lifetime. I suppose I attracted them by staring at that picture album hour after hour, day after day, year after year. In fact, today’s workbook lesson says, “And dreams will come as you requested them.” And so they did.

However, there is one dream left. It is very close to me now, almost in reach. All I have to do is give up everything else, and I can have that one final dream. For me, this dream seems like the ultimate. It seems that if I just had that, I could die happy.

Is it true?

This is what we are asked to look at today: Do we really want our dreams or do we want the peace of God, which is awakening from dreams entirely? What is it that we truly seek?

I pulled up a picture that represents my one remaining dream, and I looked at it. I could feel the dream burning in my heart. I could feel how much I seem to want it. And with all of that happening within me, I looked at the picture and asked, “Why do I want this? What do I think I will get if I can achieve this one final dream?

The answer that came is, “Unending peace, true heart-fulfillment, joyous rest, and meaningful communion, all resulting in absolute satisfaction.”

Next I asked myself, “So what is it that I truly want? Do I want that dream because of what it is, or do I want that dream because of what I think it will get me?”

I looked at the picture of my dream again, and I asked, “Would I want that if it did not give me unending peace, true heart-fulfillment, joyous rest, meaningful communion, and absolute satisfaction? Would I want that even if I knew it meant there would be new problems to resolve, one after another until the day I die? Is it actually that that I want, for better or for worse, or do I really want the peace of God, also known as unending peace, true heart-fulfillment, joyous rest, meaningful communion, and absolute satisfaction?”

It became clear that the picture is not what I actually want. The picture, the dream, merely represents what I want. As today’s lesson says, “You want the peace of God. And so do all who seem to seek for dreams.”

After seeing this clearly, I sat and looked at the picture of my dream. I recognized it is just a symbol for what I truly want. I do not need that object, because it isn’t really the object that I want. I want the peace of God.

Our lesson today says, “No one who truly seeks the peace of God can fail to find it. For he merely asks that he deceive himself no longer …”

We deceive ourselves when we think we want the object or circumstance that we dream of. That isn’t what we want. We want what we think that object or circumstance will bring us. So why dream about an object or circumstance that is an imagined intermediary for what we truly want? Why not ask for what we truly want directly?

MY THOUGHTS

After reading Regina’s tips today, I realized something. All the illusions I looked at were things I didn’t want to happen. I didn’t want them to happen because I thought I could not be at peace if they happened. Is that true? If I simply asked for peace rather than the absence of these dream stories of loss and pain, could I have the peace that is my true goal? Jesus says yes and that we cannot fail to find it. He says that my seeking for dream stories (or avoiding dream stories) is what is keeping me from peace. In this seeking, I am deceiving myself.

So, why do I want the safety and happiness of my children? I want that so I will be at peace and will not suffer. So why not just ask for what I really want rather than asking for the symbol of what I want? That is the key, isn’t it? Why not?