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, or 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 there were. 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 or 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 that means that all it wants is peace
must join with other minds. For that is how
peace is attained. 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 must 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 want 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 in 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 which 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 will be sure
you share One Will with Him, and He with you.
But 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 behind 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?