I want the Peace of God.
1. To say these words is nothing.
²But to say them with your whole heart is everything.I
³If you could truly say them, even for just an instant, it would be impossible for you to feel any sorrow again.
⁴You would regain full awareness of Heaven, remember God completely, and know with perfect certainty the resurrection of all Creation.
2. No one can say these words with all their heart and not be healed.
²He can no longer entertain himself with dreams, nor believe that he himself is a dream.
³He cannot make a hell and believe it real.
⁴He wants the Peace of God, and it is given him.
⁵For that is all he wants, and that is all he will receive.
⁶Many have said these words.
⁷But truly, very few have said them with full sincerity.
⁸You need only look around at the world you see to be convinced how few have done so.
⁹The world would be completely transformed if even two agreed that these words express all they truly want.II
3. Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will becomes the Will of God.
²For minds can only join in truth.III
³In dreams, two minds cannot share the same intent.
⁴Each sees the hero of the dream as different, and the outcome each desires is not the same.
⁵The loser and the winner merely shift roles, following changing patterns, as the balance of gain and loss takes on different forms and meanings.
4. Yet only compromise is possible in dreams.IV
²At times such compromise may appear to take the form of union, but it is only form.
³Meaning is lost, for the dream’s goal is compromise.
⁴Minds cannot truly join in dreams.
⁵They merely bargain.
⁶But what bargain could ever offer the Peace of God?
⁷Illusions come to take Its place.
⁸And so, to sleeping minds absorbed in negotiation, the meaning of God is lost.
⁹For each seeks to benefit at the cost of someone else.
5. To say you want the Peace of God with all your heart is to renounce all dreams.
²For no one who says these words sincerely wants illusions or seeks to gain from them.
³He has seen them for what they are, and knows they are not worth the cost.
⁴He would go beyond them now, aware that every new illusion will bring him nothing but the same as all the rest.
⁵To him, all dreams are one.
⁶He has learned that they but differ in form, and not in substance—for each will bring despair and misery alike.
6. The mind that truly wants only peace must join with other minds, for that is how peace is found.
²And when the desire for peace is genuine, the means for finding it are given in a form each mind that seeks it honestly can understand.
³Whatever the form the lesson takes, it is planned for him in such a way that he can grasp it, if his request is sincere.
⁴But if he does not truly want peace, he cannot accept the lesson nor learn it truly.
7. Let us devote today’s practice to affirming that we say these words with all our hearts:
²We want the Peace of God.
³This is no idle wish.
⁴These words do not ask for another dream.
⁵They do not seek to make another bargain, hoping there is still one dream that can succeed where others have failed.
⁶To say these words with full sincerity is to acknowledge the futility of illusions and to ask instead for what is eternal, in place of shifting dreams that seem to offer different things but are all the same, and equally unreal.
8. Spend today’s practice periods searching carefully within your mind to uncover the dreams you still desire.
²What does your heart truly want?
³Forget the words you use to make your requests.
⁴Consider only what you believe will bring you comfort and happiness.
⁵But do not be disheartened to discover illusions still persist, for now their form does not matter.V
⁶Do not let some dreams seem more acceptable, while you hide others in shame.VI
⁷They are all the same dream.
⁸And since they are the same, you must ask this question of each one:
⁹Is this what I would choose in place of Heaven and the Peace of God?
9. This is the choice you make.
²Do not deceive yourself into thinking otherwise.
³There is no compromise in this.
⁴You choose the Peace of God, or you ask for dreams.
⁵And dreams will come, just as you requested them.
⁶But the Peace of God will also come, with equal certainty, and stay with you forever.
⁷It does not vanish behind each bend of the road to reappear in forms that shift and change with every step you take.
10. You long for the Peace of God.
²And so does everyone who seems to seek it in dreams.
³When you ask for it with deep sincerity, you are asking only for this, both for yourself and for them.
⁴For in this way you gain what they truly seek, and you join your intent with theirs—what they want more than anything.
⁵They may not recognize this yet, but you do.
⁶At times you have been weak, unsure of your purpose, and confused about what you wanted, where to find it, and what to ask to help you reach it.
⁷But help has been given you.
⁸Will you not use it now, by sharing it?
11. No one who truly seeks the Peace of God can fail to find it.VII
²For he is asking only that he no longer deceive himself by denying God’s Will for him.
³Who could be left unsatisfied when he asks for what is already his?
⁴How can you say you have not been answered when it is you who must give the answer?
12. The Peace of God is yours.
²It was created for you.
³It was given you by your Creator.
⁴And He made it His eternal Gift.
⁵How can you fail when you but ask for what He wills for you?
⁶And how could what you ask be only for yourself?
⁷Every Gift of God must be shared.
⁸That is what sets God’s Gifts apart from every dream that seems to take the place of truth.
13. When anyone asks for and receives any Gift of God, no one loses and everyone gains.
²God gives only to unite.
³To take away has no meaning to Him.
⁴And when that has no meaning to you as well, you will know with certainty that you share One Will with Him, and He with you.
⁵And you will also know you share One Will with all your brothers, for they desire the same as you.
14. Today we seek that shared desire, uniting our intent with the need of every heart, the call of every mind, the hope that lies beyond despair, the Love behind attack, the Brotherhood that hate has sought to sever but which remains as God created it.
²With such a Helper by our side, how can we fail today as we ask to be given the Peace of God?
I This lesson does not mince words: to say “I want the peace of God” means nothing unless you say it with your heart. Yet if you were ever to say it truly—even for an instant—everything would change. You would awaken from the dream, recognize your true identity, and no external circumstance would ever again have power over you. Why does it not happen, then? Because we still want other things first: to be understood, to be acknowledged, to have things turn out as we planned. And as long as those priorities dominate, peace is set aside.
The mind always chooses between two paths: to seek peace directly or to try to obtain it by imposing conditions. “I want to be at peace if they give me what is fair,” “if they apologize,” “if the doctor gives me good news.” This is the long, tortuous, and always frustrating path. The lesson reminds you that there is another way, simpler: to stop negotiating. To ask for peace as one who knows it is his right, not his reward.
Nothing needs to change for you to have peace. Not politics, not your family, not your bank balance. The only thing required of you is honesty: to recognize what you are truly seeking. Do you really want peace above all else? Or are you still waiting for certain pieces to fall into place before you let go of control?
The Course states it plainly: peace has only one condition—that you truly want it above all else. There are no shortcuts that include it without first desiring it. Everything else—solutions, projects, reforms, and plans—are your attempts to avoid that simple decision and to reach peace on your own terms. This lesson is not a comfort; it is a declaration of power. Peace is not achieved—it is accepted.
II Matthew 18:19 “Again I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, my Father in Heaven will grant it to you.”
III This is something worth understanding well. Truth is the only thing that can be shared; illusions cannot. It may seem that two people join in the pursuit of something illusory, but that union is not real—it can only appear to occur, for what does not exist cannot be shared.
To join in truth—that is, in what is real—is to join in the Will of God, for that is the only reality that exists. That union is authentic, and it has healing power. The willingness to share that union does not necessarily require perfect symmetry; that is, it is not indispensable that both have the same capacity to see the truth or the same readiness to bring it to awareness. There is always one who “has more” and offers it to the one who “has less,” as stated in the Text, in The Principles of Miracles, for joining minds to fulfill the Will of God is, in essence, performing miracles within illusion.
Yet it is also true that both minds must be, to some degree, aligned with truth for healing to occur.
“They are used truly by believers and for believers.” (T-1.P11.1:3)
IV You are profoundly utilitarian and always seek your own “good” in everything you do, using every person, circumstance, or condition for that purpose. And that is how you always function. Do not judge it negatively, for that is simply your condition—both on earth and in Heaven; it is your nature. The problem is that, in your present state of mental fragmentation, you perceive yourself as an individual being with particular interests. That is precisely the condition that the Atonement comes to heal in you.
Thus, because you think only in terms of your own interests and believe yourself to be weak and limited, you bargain and negotiate with your brothers, and even with life itself, trying to reach compromises that will allow you to go on. You invest a little, hoping to get more in return, because your mind recognizes only concrete, measurable, and comparable realities.
Reality does not work that way. God knows no limits. He gives without measure—He gives everything—and so does your Self, for it was created by Him and like Him. Remember that every “dynamic” of the world arises from having conceived—and valued—the idea of separation; that is why, here, compromise is as inevitable as it is inconceivable in Heaven.
And for that very reason, minds in this world can only seem to unite or to share dreams. But how could you share what does not exist?
V 1 Chronicles 28:20 “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”
VI Do not be disheartened by those events or circumstances in life that torment you, nor elated by those moments when life seems to favor you; they are all the same dream. At times the illusion of the world crucifies you, and at others you enjoy it—but realize that every shifting mood is merely an oscillation of the ego, according to whether its expectations are fulfilled or frustrated.
You cry out to Heaven for comfort and for miracles to ease your sorrow, and you forget God when things seem to go well—for your ego. Awake! Salvation is not in the world! That is the happy news—that is the gospel of Jesus—that is what you are learning through this Course. If you insist on having happy dreams, you will never awaken, simply because you will not want to awaken. You devised the dream for that very purpose: to seek happiness within the dream. But in dreams you will find only dreams, and all dreams are dreams of fear. Until you fully realize this, you will continue to deceive yourself, blaming life or your brothers for your suffering, or wandering anxiously through the world in pursuit of some fleeting pleasure. How much longer?
On this path you have undertaken, you will indeed encounter happy dreams, but remember: that is not the goal. Do not seek a better life—learn to live. Happiness could be yours and accompany you always if you would simply stop deceiving yourself. That alone is enough. The rest follows naturally. And the simplest way to achieve it, as you already know, is to offer others the peace and joy you have experienced—even for an instant. Only thus will you strengthen and preserve them; otherwise, they will soon slip away.
VII Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”