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 of 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 which
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. And 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 which 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 it was 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?