The Peace of God is shining in me now.

I find it interesting that A Course in Miracles in Lesson 188 describes "the peace of God" as something that is "shining", as if it were light. He is implying a close relation between the meaning of these two terms: "the peace of God" and "light". I want to trace the way this relation is built in the Couse’s teaching. The Course says, “the peace of God is the simple understanding that God’s will is wholly without opposite” (M20,6:2). When you have an understanding that God’s Will is wholly without opposite you realize that your will is one with God’s. And since will is of the mind, your mind is one with God’s as well. In the Course, oneness is often used to refer to one in mind or will. For example, “To be one is to be of one mind or will” (T3.2,4:5) So we see the close relation between having the peace of God and accepting oneness with God. This oneness of mind or will is often represented by the Course’s use of the term “light”. For example, in Lesson 108 we read, “True light is not the light that the body’s eyes behold, but a state of mind so unified that darkness cannot be perceived at all” (2:1-2). And here, as in many places, the term darkness refers to separation just as light refers to oneness. In Lesson 188 the equating of the peace of God with light is further confirmed when later the author has us say, “The peace of God is shining in me now. Let all things shine upon me in that peace and let me bless them with the light in me” (L188,10:7-8). Thus, we can see the relations among light and oneness and the peace of God. I find other interesting connections between oneness and light in this lesson. For example, “The light came with you from your native home and stayed with you because it is your own” (L188,1:6). We can understand the word “light” here as representing the thought that your mind is one with God’s. This Thought came with you, and from your “native home”, i.e., the Mind of God. This thought is what the Course calls the “Holy Spirit”. It is the holy thought of you. It is the thought of you as being one with God. So that light, that Holy Spirit, that oneness came with you, when the mind split off from the Christ Mind. And this light still shines in you. Copyright © 2021 • Robert J. Hellmann