Lesson 200
There is no peace except the peace of God.
Freedom has been our area of discussion over these last few Course lessons: freedom from the body, our condemnation, and our future. Since Review V, we have been shedding layer after layer, reaching the point of holding nothing but our holiness. It has been an experience in seeking no more and abiding in the peaceful state of our Godliness.
As we release our hold on the world, and the world’s hold on us, we no longer try to fill the spaciousness we have created. In the event of filling that peaceful space, we are still searching outside ourselves for something that already exists within us, the peace of God.
“There is no peace except the peace of God, because He has one Son who cannot make a world in opposition to God’s Will and his own, which is the same as His. What could he hope to find in such a world?” (ACIM Lesson 200 7:1-2).
We are now in the subtle part of our walk together. We are focusing on those little distractions that we participate in as a means of “filling the void.” In what areas are we still trying to find peace outside ourselves? Where do we find ourselves saying, “When I do this, or have that, then I will be peaceful?” Recall, from an earlier discussion, the “When This, Then That” syndrome, engages us in this cycle of searching. It is not once we get a new car, new job, new partner, or learn this trade or that trade, that we will then become peaceful or happy. It is just another rouse. It is still a means of finding God in something or someone other than ourselves.
Today, the Course invites us to seek no more. This lesson reminds me four wise words someone once told me. I did not know this particular person very well but found myself in an in-depth conversation about my life and how I was done with certain areas that no longer served me. My fellow brother said only these four words in reflection of what I shared, “No More She Says.”
The words hit my heart like a brick. I didn’t realize how simple letting go of a pursuit could be and how much power I really had, until someone eloquently told me that I could simply say, “No more.” What freedom! I can say no more to playing small. I can no more to taking abuse from other people. I can say no more to suffering and pain. I can say no more to searching for peace so that I can finally just live in it. I call the shots. You call the shots. Are you ready to say, “No More,” to worldly distractions in order to be given the MORE-NESS of your true being?
“Yet you can ask as easily for love, for happiness, and for eternal life in peace that has no ending. As for this, and you can only win. To ask for what you have already must succeed” (ACIM Lesson 200 3:1-3).
Most who are reading these words can agree that you have felt alien, here, in this world at times. It seems as though you are not normal when compared to world. To this, I say, GOOD! Your home is not here. It is only a means to aid in your understanding that your true Home is much more. It is a means for you to recognize that what you are is much more powerful than anything this world could design or orchestrate. It is a means for you to know that your power can unite the world you created. You are the Creator of All, the only thing alien is the idea of trying to fit in to this alien world. And that is not You, nor your purpose here. You are the bringer of peace, which can seem alien to many who choose to suffer.
“This world is not where you belong. You are a stranger here. But it is given you to find the means whereby the world no longer seems to be a prison house or jail for anyone” (ACIM Lesson 200 4:3-5).
In our discussion, let me add that this does not mean that we say, “No More,” to participating in life, although it might seem like a good option to just say, “I am holy and alien to this world, so I am just going to bide my time until my body is ready to leave.” That is not the point of this experience. That is what I like to call “Spiritual Boredom” or “Spiritual Depression.” As we learn more about our journey Home, often when we are met with moments where we witness the futility of this world and where it is easy to use our spirituality as a means to retreat. You may, indeed, need to do so at this point in the journey to come back to the purest sense of why you are here. Others may bypass this “Spiritual Boredom” or “Spiritual Depression” and keep moving on with gusto. I hope that is the case for you but should you find yourself in that space where everything feels futile, where you know so much of the Truth that can you can’t understand how to translate that to the world, just let goes of those chains too. You need do nothing. Come back to the simplicity of peace and where you can always find it, in God. In You.
“Peace is the bridge that everyone will cross, to leave this world behind. But peace begins within the world perceived as different, and leading from this fresh perception to the gate of Heaven and the way beyond. Peace is the answer to conflicting goals, to senseless journeys, frantic, vain pursuits, and meaningless endeavors. Now the way is easy, sloping gently toward the bridge where freedom lies within the peace of God” (ACIM Lesson 200 8:1-4).
Like forgiveness and the body, peace is a bridge from this world to Reality. It is a means of expressing our Oneness and revelation in a world that we created. It is a means of releasing this world and our other brothers and sisters. Peace is how we bless the world as we walk in our freedom.
“You will be bound till all the world is seen by you as blessed, and everyone made free of your mistakes and honored as he is. You made him not; no more yourself. And as you free the one, the other is accepted as he is” (ACIM Lesson 200 5:3-5).
Come Home to the peace of God and let it shine through you and out into the world. In this, is your journey complete. In this do you release the world and see Heaven on earth. Throughout the day, remind yourself of these words,
“There is no peace except the peace of God,
And I am glad and thankful it is so”
(ACIM Lesson 200 11:9).
Rejoice that true peace is not found in the fleeting, changing world. It is exactly where you left it and where you know it to be, with God. Come into silence, saying, “No More” to seeking, but “More Please” to peace. Namaste.