God’s Peace and Joy are mine.I
1. God’s Peace and Joy are yours.
²Today we will accept them, knowing they belong to us.
³And we will try to understand that they increase as we receive them. II
⁴They are not like the gifts the world can give, where the one who gives loses by the giving, and the one who receives is richer for another’s loss.
⁵Such gifts are not real gifts, but bargains made with guilt.
⁶A true gift entails no loss.
⁷It is impossible for one to gain at the expense of another.
⁸For this would mean that limits and lack are real.
2. No gift is given in that way.
²Such “gifts” are but deals to gain a greater return; loans with interest that must be paid in full; temporary credits with a promise to repay more than what was received.
³This strange distortion of what it means to give prevails at every level of the world you see. III
⁴It robs all giving of its meaning and renders anything you receive worthless.
3. One of the major learning goals of this Course is to reverse your view of giving, so you may receive.
²For giving has become a source of fear, and thus you cannot receive by means of it.
³Accept God’s Peace and Joy, and you will see giving in a different light.
⁴God’s Gifts never diminish when they are given.
⁵Instead, they increase.
⁶Just as the Peace and Joy of Heaven grow when you accept them as God’s Gift to you, so does your Creator’s Joy increase when you accept His Joy and His Peace.
4. True giving is Creation.
²It extends the limitless to the limitless, the eternal to the timeless, and Love to Itself.
³True giving adds to a fullness already complete—but not by adding more, for that would imply it lacked before.
⁴It adds in the sense that it allows what cannot be contained to fulfill its purpose of giving all of Itself away, increasing and preserving Itself forever.
5. Accept God’s Peace and Joy as yours today.
²Let Him complete Himself as He defines completion.
³You will understand that what completes Him must also complete His Son.
⁴He cannot give through loss.
⁵And neither can you.
⁶Accept today His Gift of Joy and Peace, and in doing so, He will thank you for the gift you give to Him.
6. Today our practice sessions will begin a little differently.
²Begin the day by thinking of those brothers to whom you have denied the peace and joy that rightfully belong to them under God’s just and equal Laws.
³In doing so, you denied them to yourself.
⁴And that is where you must return to reclaim them as your own.
⁵Think for a while of your “enemies,” and say to each one who comes to mind:
⁶My brother, I offer you peace and joy,
⁷That God’s Peace and Joy may be mine.
7. In this way you prepare yourself to recognize God’s Gifts to you, and let your mind be freed of everything that might prevent success today. IV
²Now you are ready to accept the gift of peace and joy that God has given you.
³Now you are ready to experience the joy and peace you have denied yourself.
⁴Now you can say: God’s Peace and Joy are mine, for you have given what you wish to receive.
8. If you prepare your mind as we suggest, today will be a day of success for you, for you will have removed all obstacles to peace and joy, and what is truly yours will come to you at last.
²So say to yourself: God’s Peace and Joy are mine, close your eyes for a while, and let His Voice assure you that the words you speak are true.
9. Give Him five minutes as often as you can today. But if you cannot, do not let that thought discourage you.
²At the very least, remember to say each hour the words that call Him to give you what it is His Will to give, and yours to receive. V
³Resolve not to interfere today with His Design.
⁴And if a brother seems to tempt you to deny the Gift of God, see it as another chance to let yourself receive the Gifts of God.
⁵Then bless your brother gratefully, and say:
⁶My brother, I offer you peace and joy,
⁷That God’s Peace and Joy may be mine.
I The Peace and Joy of God are what I am, for to have and to be are the same.
II The Gifts of God are ideas, and they increase both when they are given and when they are received, because ideas grow through awareness, which occurs in both instances.
III Perhaps the most surprising thing about the thinking that governs the world is that no one realizes how absurd it is. Everyone thinks more or less the same way and believes more or less in the same things. That is what we could call “the human condition.” The variations among people’s ways of thinking are minimal, yet their vision is so incredibly focused on this shared madness that those variations seem significant, though in truth they are not at all.
One of the characteristics of this shared insane thought system is that the less meaningful an idea is, the more important it becomes.
Think, for example, of the notion of “having.” Certainly, “having” is an extremely important idea in the world’s thought system—but what does it mean “to have”? Have you ever asked yourself that? What does it mean to “have” something?
Now think of the richest man in the world. What does it really mean that he has so much money? If he does nothing with that money, then having such a fabulous amount means nothing at all; we could say that, in that case, he is just like you, who do not have what he has. If that millionaire does not spend his money, you are exactly the same—which means that the notion of “having,” in itself, has no meaning at all. Yet the world gives it enormous importance.
The difference between that person and you is that he can give much, and you cannot. But again, notice that the difference between you and him manifests only when he gives, not because he has. The only way to become aware of what one has is to give it.
Only “giving” makes “having” meaningful. The value and the power of “having” do not lie in possession but in giving—that is, precisely in the opposite of “having,” in ceasing to have.
This may at first appear to be a play on words, but it is not. The value lies in giving, not in having—and that is why happiness is found in giving, not in having. Yet the world sees it the other way around. The world interprets “having” as a happy fact, and “giving” as something stressful.
Do you see now that this is madness? The more absurd an idea is, the more important it is to the world.
And indeed, the opposite is also true. The ideas that are fully meaningful are those the world does not understand at all, and its thought system does not know what to do with them. Do you think there is anything more meaningful than the idea of “being”? But do you understand what “being” means? Probably not.
The first two paragraphs of this Lesson may seem attractive to you and you may sympathize with what they say, but acknowledge that you are still among those who, when they give something, experience a certain sense of loss.
This happens because you still do not understand what it means to “give,” and this, in turn, is because you do not yet understand the idea of “being.” If you understood it, you can be sure that you would never again experience any sense of loss. Indeed, you would never have any problem or any concern, and you would know with absolute certainty that the Joy and the Peace of God are yours.
To put the idea of “being” into words is not difficult—it is impossible. To understand the idea of being collapses perception, and then the world disappears. And that may frighten you a little; you close your eyes and say to yourself, “My God! I don’t want the world to disappear!” But do not worry—when you open them, the world will still be there. Such is the power of your will, and your will is always fulfilled, for you are the holy Son of God and have the power to perceive the world if that is your will. And since it seems that it is—voilà—there is the world!
IV Few exercises in this Workbook have greater power than this one. Recognize that this is an incredibly powerful practice when done wholeheartedly, and that it produces immediate effects. If you perform it correctly, at the very moment you offer peace to your brother, you will feel it yourself and emerge from the practice strengthened, serene, and joyful.
When you practice it honestly, you are proclaiming with all your strength, and in the most radical way, that you would rather be happy than be right; that you are willing to stop listening to your ego when it tells you all those awful things your brother has done to you, because you desire peace and joy more than paying attention to it.
Practice sincerely, and be certain that you are already on the path to happiness. Do not turn away from it.
V Perhaps, having read the previous note, you are now more willing to reconcile yourself with the idea of giving. That is good—but it is only half the story.
It is also essential that you acknowledge, and make your own in mind and heart, the notion of receiving, which is equally valuable. In fact, giving and receiving are the same.
In this world, very few know how to give wholeheartedly, but even fewer know how to receive naturally.
Now, in your present condition, before giving, it is essential that you learn to recognize and receive your Father’s Gifts, for unless you open yourself to receive them, you will never be able to give them.
Everything you have and can give is borrowed; it has been given to you so that you may receive it with gratitude and give it with joy, for thus does the extension of love work in Creation.
Look around you and notice how few people you know who are willing to be loved, how few believe they deserve God’s Love, your own, or that which life itself feels for them.
The poor opinion they hold of themselves has made them ungrateful, withdrawn, cynical, and resentful. Be not among them, and heal them by showing yourself willing to receive the love they have, so that they may thus become aware of the love they are.