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?
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