When we experience the peace of God, we experience "a peace so deep and quiet, undisturbable and wholly changeless, that the world contains no counterpart." (W.305.1.1) It is a peace where there is only extension outward of the deep quiet that is within. When we experience this peace, then the dream of this world has no effect on us at all. It does not matter what is happening in the dream because it no longer has any effect on us. When the mind, which is the cause of everything we see, is quiet and at peace, only peace is reflected in the world.
 
In the Manual for Teachers, section 20, "What is the Peace of God?" Jesus describes peace as unlike any of our previous experiences. "It calls to mind nothing that went before. It brings with it no past associations. It is a new thing entirely." (M.20.2.3-5) Thus it is called a step out of time. It is a kind of peace that is not of this world. "The past just slips away, and in its place is everlasting quiet. Only that." (M.20.2.8-9) Everything we saw and thought we understood before disappears and with it all effects are gone. When the wrong-minded thought system of lack, specialness, neediness, and unworthiness, which is the cause of all of our suffering, is released through forgiveness, then the mind that had been looking outside for completion, disappears.
 
If we are to find this peace, Jesus tells us,"No one can fail to find it who but seeks out its conditions." (M.20.3.2) He goes on to say that it requires giving up anger. Justifying anger in any way "proclaims that peace is meaningless, and must believe that it cannot exist." (M.20.3.4) Jesus is not saying that we won't be angry or should not be angry, only that we should not justify it as having any cause outside of our own minds. Anger comes from our beliefs, our thoughts, our values and our concepts of ourselves. When we look at these, with willingness to heal, we can then bring them to the Holy Spirit. We can choose to release our anger, rather than acting on it. Investigating the beliefs we hold that bring about our grievances will help us to recognize the source of the anger in our minds. Forgiveness is the answer.
  
It is important to look at what this investigation involves. It is not about analysis, but only about inquiring what beliefs we are holding. As we are told, "The ego analyzes; the Holy Spirit accepts." (T.11.V.13.1)(ACIM OE T.10.VI.53) Any number of situations show up in our lives, where we lose our peace. It might be a betrayal by a friend,  feeling victimized at work, having financial problems, experiencing illness, or having a computer that has crashed. These are situations that we judge as bad, but the Holy Spirit accepts appearances as neither good or bad. When we look at what is happening with the Holy Spirit as our Guide, we don't judge anything as good or bad, but simply as unreal.

Whatever is happening is not good or bad. Sickness and health are then seen as the same, both being unreal, just as the body is unreal. When we analyze the situation by looking at it with the ego, then we start with the belief that the situation is true. Now we wonder how we attracted it or manifested it and start the process of analysis. With investigation or inquiry, we accept that the appearance has no reality. Yes, it may still upset us, but now we recognize that we are upset, because we are holding a belief in our minds that is causing us pain. We simply investigate what it is that we are believing that is not true, so that our false beliefs can be released and the peace that is already in us can shine forth.

God's peace is a gift, which "has come to us to save us from our judgment on ourselves." (W.305.2.3) We have judged ourselves as guilty and not deserving of peace. We believe that we have to suffer and atone for that guilt. I recently was at a conference where Brent Haskell was speaking. He told the story of the Prodigal Son and asked how many of us believe that we could take our father's treasure, squander it and then return home without a shred of guilt? Wouldn't we think that we had to atone for what we had done? But Jesus keeps telling us that we are innocent now. All we have to do is accept that fact. Brent went on to ask us to think of ourselves as the good son in this parable. He was the one who stayed at home and supported his family. When we identify with him, how many of us would enjoy the celebration of the guilty brother without a shred of resentment? The good son that stayed at home to help the father, wants to be acknowledged as such. He reflects what the Course calls 'the face of innocence' that hides attack thoughts and judgments while doing his best to look good and helpful. Always, under this face of innocence, is the belief that someone else should pay for their guilt while we should get off for good behavior.  
 
Jesus says that it is difficult for us to identify with the ego because it is a condition where there is no peace. It is a state of lack. It is a state where we believe that we need to get something from the world that we don't currently have in order to be at peace. We look for affirmation from the world to support the image we have made in place of who we really are. One way to see this in your own life is to look at what you think would make you happy that you don't have now. It is the belief that if you could get it, you would have peace. It may be money, a new job, a relationship, better health, or a new home. In my case, we are currently renovating a bathroom and I am finding the process frustrating, having to go out and find tiles, paint, toilet and bathtub and any number of items that seem to be consuming so much of my time. I am believing that when I get all of that in place then I can have peace, but of course this is not how this works. The peace is there now, behind my belief that it depends on getting certain things accomplished in the world.

I recently attended a silent retreat. As the retreat was proclaimed, I immediately felt myself sink into the silence and with it came the deep feeling of relief that I no longer had to maintain the 'self' image. I was in a place now where there was no one needing anything from me and I needed nothing from anyone. There was no need to 'perform,' only to be. It was a sense of a deep letting go, and in the process the sense of relief brought tears of gratitude. Then the words poured forth from the Holy Spirit, which I will now transcribe, as I believe that this message fits in the context of this lesson and speaks to us all, as the One Christ Self that we are.

"You can relax now. I have your back. I always have had. You think that everything depended on your own efforts. You believed that if you weren't taking care of things, they would not be done. You have been mistaken my dear child. You have carried a burden that has never been yours to carry.

I am your strength and support. I have always been there. I have loved you ceaselessly and consistently. You have never been alone. You have never been without Me. You have been mistaken in your belief that it is all up to you.

I love you my child with a ceaseless boundless love. All is well. It always has been. When you took My place on the throne, you took on all the stress, all the responsibility that was never yours to take. It was all unnecessary. Breathe in the love; it has been waiting your acceptance. Open your heart, open your arms, embrace the beauty of You My beloved. Always and forever..."

In our choice for the ego identity, peace was thrown away and now we feel a lack that we try to fill from outside of ourselves. If God has given us the peace, what could be more powerful to take it away? Only our own choice for the ego, but the truth is that there is no other will. There is nothing more powerful than God. Yet, when we made the decision for the ego, we seemingly made another will, which now rules our lives to the extent that we believe in its power. "You see what you believe is there, and you believe it there because you want it there." (T.25.III.1.3)(ACIM OE T.25.IV.23)
 
The truth is that if we do not have peace, it is only because we don't want peace. The first obstacle to peace is our desire to be rid of it! That is pretty startling. Yet you can readily see how true that is. We actively refuse peace when something happens in our lives that we find unpalatable, whether it is something that we judge as a serious situation or just small irritations. We give up our peace for all kinds of reasons. Yet nothing really exists that can take away the peace of God. Our insistence that there are indeed things that can take away our peace is how we actively refuse God's gift. We project our own refusal to accept God's peace by making someone or some situation responsible for our lack of peace. We insist that we are not at peace because of something "out there", something that someone has seemingly done to us. We want to be able to put the blame for our lack of peace somewhere outside of our own minds. It is the justification for our anger that Jesus says we need to look at. Can we accept that no one is responsible for our unhappiness except ourselves? This requires that we rest our story about why we don't have peace and take responsibility for our decision not to accept the peace that is already ours.

"Why would you want peace homeless? What do you think that it must dispossess to dwell with you? What seems to be the cost you are so unwilling to pay?" (T.19.IV.A.2)(ACIM OE T.19.V.a.41) There is something that we think we will lose if we accept peace. What is it? Isn't it that we want to be right about the way we have set things up? Isn't it that we want to see others guilty so that we can buy our own false innocence at their expense? Isn't it that we simply don't trust that, if we choose peace, our vigilance on behalf of our own well being as we define it will be jeopardized?
 
Father, help me today to accept the gift of peace, and not to judge it. I willingly take responsibility for my reactions to appearances that show up in my life that are neutral in order to learn what beliefs I must be holding that are not true. I willingly look at my judgments on myself as unworthy of it, and my desire to attack something outside myself and place the blame on it. The Correction is already in my mind,  sanity and peace is already there. Help me today to choose forgiveness in every situation I encounter so that I may know the peace that is always present behind the dark clouds of my misperceptions. I am willing to look at the insanity of holding onto grievances against anyone or anything. Speak to me of my wholeness. Let me understand that what I see that has the appearance of contradicting peace is not real and does not matter. I am willing to have my mind healed, my Father, by recognizing that I have been wrong about who I am. I am willing to surrender my way and be shown the truth. Peace to my mind. Let all my thoughts be still. I am home. I am loved. I am safe. Nothing that I have thought about myself is the truth. Anger is never justified and sickness is not what it appears to be. I am willing to withdraw my judgments on myself that I am projecting on others and see that I have been wrong. Thus I can be born again today.