Chapter 8: THE JOURNEY BACK
I. The Direction of the Curriculum, Paragraph 1
1 Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. Peace is. This is the prerequisite for knowledge only because those who are in conflict are not peaceful, and peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom. Knowledge can be restored only when you meet its conditions. This is not a bargain made by God, Who makes no bargains. It is merely the result of your misuse of His laws on behalf of an imaginary will that is not His. Knowledge is His Will. If you are opposing His Will, how can you have knowledge? I have told you what knowledge offers you, but perhaps you do not yet regard this as wholly desirable. If you did you would not be so ready to throw it away when the ego asks for your allegiance.
First, I appreciate that Jesus is pointing out to us that knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. I was confused about that at first. I thought it was all about learning new stuff. It was only much later that I realized that peace was my goal. I am learning this course because I want peace. Before I could understand this, I had to learn to value peace.
Now I understand that peace is the condition of the Kingdom. As the Course tells us, if we want the Kingdom we must give up conflict for all time. There is no compromise in this. Since peace is the condition of the Kingdom, we cannot bring conflict into the Kingdom. Therefore if conflict is in the mind, we cannot be in the Kingdom. It makes perfect sense when I think of it like this.
Knowledge is the Will of God, and if I seem to be opposing His Will, that is if I am entertaining conflict in my mind, then I cannot have knowledge. In the ego world, we learn knowledge. This is not really knowledge, this learning we do. It is merely the gathering of assorted perceptions that we call knowledge. In reality, knowledge is not something learned; it is something revealed when I remove the block that keeps it from me. Lack of peace, which comes from conflict, is the block that must be removed.
I have learned a lot about the value of peace, and I have learned that I want the Kingdom. But I have not realized that it is all that I want. I know that I have not made this total commitment yet, because I still sometimes toss it away in favor of the ego’s meager offerings. I think the peace of God is all I want and then the ego thought that more money, weighing less, getting my way, being appreciated, etc, etc, etc, would be really nice. And off I go in search of a better illusion.
But here is the thing. I don’t really believe that anymore. The ego still attracts my attention, and sometimes I get distracted, but I never lose sight of my only purpose. The peace of God may not yet be all I want, but it is all I want to want, and I never forget it. Thank you, God for that!
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