There Is No Peace Except the Peace of God.
1. Stop seeking.
²You will not find peace except the Peace of God.I
³Accept this fact and spare yourself the agony of yet more bitter disappointments, the bleak despair, and the chilling sense of doubt and hopelessness.
⁴Seek no more.II
⁵There is nothing you can find but the Peace of God—unless it is misery and pain you seek.
2. This is the final point to which everyone must come at last, to lay aside all hope of finding happiness where it cannot be found; of attempting to be saved by what can only bring pain; of trying to make peace out of chaos, joy out of pain, and Heaven out of hell.
²Do not continue trying to win by losing, or to live by dying.
³For this is but to call upon failure.
3. Yet with equal ease you can ask for love, for happiness, and for eternal life in a peace that has no end.III
²Ask for this, and you can only gain.
³For you cannot fail when you ask for what is already yours.
⁴To ask that what is false be true can only lead to failure.
⁵Forgive yourself your vain imaginings and do not keep searching for what cannot be found.IV
⁶For what could be more foolish than to search and search again for hell, when you need only open your eyes and look to see that Heaven lies before you, just beyond a door that opens easily to welcome you?
4. Return home.
²You have never found happiness in foreign lands, or in forms that are alien and meaningless to you, no matter how much you tried to give them meaning.V
³This world is not your home.VI
⁴Here you are a stranger.VII
⁵But you have been given the means by which the world no longer seems to be a prison, either to you or to anyone.VIII
5. Freedom is granted you where you once saw only chains and iron gates.
²If you would find a way of escape, you must change your mind about the purpose of the world.
³You will remain bound until you see everyone as blessed, release all your brothers from your own mistakes, and honor them for what they are.IX
⁴You did not create them, just as you did not create yourself.
⁵And when you set them free, you free yourself.
6. What is the purpose of forgiveness?
²In truth, forgiveness serves no function and does nothing, for in Heaven it is unknown.
³It is only needed in hell, where it performs a vital role.
⁴Is not the release of God’s beloved Son from the evil dreams he imagines—but believes are real—a worthy purpose?
⁵Who could aspire to more, while it still seems that one must choose between success and failure, or between love and fear?
7. There is no peace except the Peace ofGod,
²For He has a Son who cannot build a world opposed to His Will and his own, for they are the same.
³What could he hope to find in such a world?
⁴A world like this cannot be real, for it was never created.
⁵How can peace be found there?
⁶Should he not realize that, as he sees the world, it can only deceive?
⁷Yet he can learn to see it differently, and in doing so, find the Peace of God.[x]
8. Peace is the bridge that everyone will cross to leave this world behind.
²But peace begins when the world is seen in a different light.
³And this new perception leads to the gates of Heaven—and beyond.XI
⁴Peace is the answer to all conflicting goals, to senseless journeys, to frantic, useless quests.
⁵Now the way becomes easy, rising gently to the bridge where freedom lies in the Peace of God.
9. Do not lose your way again.
²We are bound for Heaven, and the path is straight.XII
³Only if you try to wander can you be delayed, and waste time needlessly on thorny roads.
⁴God is the only certainty that exists, and He will guide your steps.
⁵He will not abandon His Son in need, nor let him stray forever from his home.
⁶The Father calls, and the Son will hear.
⁷And that is all there is in what appears to be a world apart from God, where bodies seem to be real.
10. Now silence reigns.
²Seek no more.
³You have come to where the path is carpeted with the fallen leaves of foolish dreams you once pursued, dropped from the trees of hopelessness.
⁴Now they lie beneath your feet.
⁵And you lift your eyes to Heaven, with the eyes of the body that will serve only for a moment longer.
⁶At last, you recognize peace, and can feel its gentle embrace enfold your heart and mind with comfort and with love.
11. Today we seek no idols.XIII
²In them, peace cannot be found.
³The Peace of God is ours, and we will accept no substitute, nor desire anything else.
⁴Let peace be with us today.XIV
⁵For we have found a simple, joyful way to leave behind the world of ambiguity, and to replace our shifting goals and lonely dreams with one clear purpose and companionship.
⁶For if it comes from God, peace is union.
⁷We have stopped searching.
⁸We are very near our home, and we draw closer still each time we say:
⁹There is no peace except the Peace of God.
¹⁰And I am glad and thankful it is so.
I Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 3:15 “And let the peace of God reign in your hearts, to which you were also called in one body; and be thankful.”
Peace is a concept the world does not understand; in fact, it does not understand it at all. It is a real concept, but the world is not. The world does not exist. That is why it cannot comprehend real concepts, which are absolute, fully meaningful, and essentially affirmative, for existence itself is assertive. Thus, the world reduces peace to the absence of conflict, as if it were a truce between battles—a pause amid tension.
But in reality, peace has nothing to do with conflict, for peace is real and conflict imaginary. And here lies the core of this lesson: the peace of God is not an improvement of the world, nor a temporary relief, nor a moral reward. It is the only thing that exists. It is the natural condition of the Son of God. It is your true state.
Everything you do in life—every goal, every desire, every movement—is a search for that peace. And yet every attempt to attain it through the world is doomed to fail. For you will not find it in what changes. You will not find it in what begins and ends. You cannot find peace in conflict, nor fulfillment in lack.
This lesson tells you something seemingly simple, yet devastatingly profound: stop seeking. Not because peace does not exist, but because you already have it. It is within you. It is you. There is no peace but the peace of God, and there is no God but the One who dwells in the innermost depths of your being. To seek it outside yourself is to distract yourself—to give reality to the world that denies it.
The Course does not invite you to resigned passivity, but to lucid surrender—to cease struggling for what is already yours. To recognize that you do not have to create peace, or reach it, or deserve it: you need only accept that it is the only thing there is. And that everything else—fear, anger, worry, judgment—are distractions.
Peace is not sought; it is recognized. And once recognized, it is chosen. It is protected. It is practiced. For although it is the only thing that exists, your mind still chooses illusions. And that is why this lesson is so necessary: to remind you, again and again, that there is no peace but the peace of God—and that you already have it.
II He who seeks peace cannot find it, for he is affirming that he does not have it. And it is not that he does not have it, but that he voluntarily believes he does not.
And how could anyone fight against his own beliefs—against what he himself has granted?
It is not possible to attain peace, because it is not possible to lose it. That is why it is said that the Atonement this Course teaches is a journey without distance.
The last thing anyone walking this world wants to hear is that he himself is his only enemy. Only he can deprive himself of peace, make himself suffer, or make himself happy. He lives locked in a prison, behind a heavy door with the key still in the lock. But will he want to come out? Will he turn the key to open the door behind which he has confined himself?
The poor man is somewhat deranged and imagines things—and then believes they are true. He has told himself dreadful stories that have terrified him. He believes he has been condemned to death and that, at some point, he will be executed. What is worse, he has not even been told when that dreadful end will come, yet he is certain it will—since have any of his cellmates ever returned once death has called them?
In that gloomy prison there is no mercy nor compassion. The inmates quarrel among themselves over the meager rations and fight for the right to rest on the best cot.
Are there no grounds for hope—or do you simply not want there to be any? Are you willing to take responsibility for such folly, or would you rather blame life itself? What is the cause of your suffering: what you see, or the way you look?
It is important that you answer these three questions with honesty, for within them lies salvation. The peace of God is everywhere, for it is the only thing that exists. Everything else is but shadows you imagine cast upon a sky luminous and radiant with pure light.
Darkness does not exist; it exists only in your mind—and even there, it is merely imaginary. And, moreover, you put it there yourself.
Stop searching. There is no need.
III How much does happiness weigh? Does it weigh nothing?
And if it weighs nothing, have you not stopped to think that perhaps it is an idea?
And if it is an idea, should not anyone be able to have it?
And if you can have that idea, why not grant it to yourself? Do you not want it? Do you want happiness, or would you rather go on searching for it?
This Course asks very little of you: only that you have the willingness and do not get distracted. That is all it asks, for nothing more is needed.
You are prone to think that a genuine spiritual path must demand great sacrifices, enormous efforts, and renunciations over an immeasurable period of time—perhaps even many lifetimes.
Yet if you are told that, to save yourself, all that is required is for the one who condemned you to revoke his sentence—and that one is you—you likely will not believe it. But that is the truth.
It is also true, however, that your immense, unacknowledged sense of guilt prevents you from accepting it.
And do you know why? Because you prefer to be right than to be happy.
Pay close attention to these words and do not take them lightly, for here lies the key to all your misfortune: your extraordinary obstinacy in interpreting things in your pitiful own way.
God, His Peace, His Love, the Truth, you—they are all one idea; they are the same Idea, Reality itself: perfectly abstract, infinite, eternal, and glorious.
If you apply yourself and practice this Course well, you can be happy here on earth.
But in Heaven, you are Happiness.
Be at peace.
IV Acts 4:25 “Through the mouth of your servant David you have said, ‘Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?’”
V Exodus 18:3 “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
VI John 18:36 “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now My kingdom is not from here.’”
VII 2 Samuel 15:19 “Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, ‘Why are you also going with us? Return to your place and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your homeland.’”
VIII Acts 5:19 “But an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night and brought them out, and said, ‘Go, stand in the temple and tell the people all the words of this life.’”
IX Matthew 16:19 “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”
X Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
XI Genesis 28:17 “He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven!’”
XII Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”
John 1:23 “He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”’”
XIII Isaiah 19:3 “The spirit of Egypt will fail within it, and I will destroy its wisdom. Then they will consult the idols and the charmers, the mediums and the sorcerers.”
Hosea 4:12 “My people consult their wooden idols, and their staff informs them. For the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have departed wantonly from their God.”
XIV John 20:21 “Peace be with you.”