Sunday, November 1, 2015
Lesson 305: “What is the Second Coming?” “There is a peace that Christ bestows on us.”
What we are learning to do is recognize what is the peace of Christ and what is the ego’s vision of peace- which appears to be peace but is in disguise. The ego gives us lights and flashing neon signs sometimes. It is a huge attention getter. The ego wants us to think it has the answers we are looking for. God on the other hand is wanting for us the peace of God which always comes in the hand of serenity. The peace of Christ is gentle and true and everlasting. It is remarkable in every way but also totally simple. It has no need to be flamboyant. Its beauty is the perfect experience of peace that it brings us. This peace is always giving us reason for gratitude as it is itself just another form of gratitude.
Christ’s peace is the peace we sometimes don’t even understand yet. We want it because in our deeper hearts and souls we know it is the only thing that will satisfy us. This is why we open our hearts to Christ’s peace and God’s purpose; it is the only way we can find and reengage with a peace that feeds our soul on every level. This is why we are asked to notice the difference between Christ’s peace and the ego’s peace. We need to learn the qualitative difference between them.
True they both keep us busy with the action of seeking and finding this peace we long for. But only one brings a quiet and calm to that search- the one that ends in the perfect moments of surrendering those inner battles. This is why we must take the time to simply come to understand that Christ’s peace is our only answer to prayer. This is the only thing that brings true peace, true joy within our selves in our life’s journey.
This lesson says, “Who uses but Christ’s vision finds a peace so deep and quiet, undisturbable and wholly changeless, that the world contains no counterpart.” I think the attribute of being equanimous naturally incorporates this highly sought after peace. We want this peace that is unshakable. The reason we know the peace of the Christ is because it always comes with this constant quiet. The peace of Christ is where we can live in the world and experience the feelings we have there, but then quietly and appropriately return to the inner quiet. When we have the peace of Christ we live in the world and authentically engage in our emotional world but we carry this inner knowing simultaneously that the world and our feelings aren’t real and therefore we can feel the feelings and give them right back to God.
Then we no longer want or need to linger in them longer than is helpful for whatever process we need to have with them. We carry this continual commitment within and without of staying in the safety and peace of our certainty. We forgive and release when we get stuck. When we meet our emotional processes this way, then we can be present in the world and live fully without being overly concerned and thus judgmental about what we see. This is another cornerstone of holding our Christ’s peace throughout our days.