Brushing Our Teeth

"Mind reaches to ItSelf.  It is not made up of different parts which reach each other... Within ItSelf It has no limits, and there is nothing outside It.  It encompasses everything... There is nothing else anywhere or ever." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section VI, 8:5-6, 8-9, & 11

While speaking to a spiritual coaching client the other day, the analogy of brushing our teeth arose.  I was explaining that all spiritual sight and spiritual understanding are in and of the Mind... everything without exception takes place in the One Mind.  There is nothing but Mind.  Body only exists within the perception of the sleeping mind that imagines itself separate and so 'projects' a separate experience in mind. 

However, there is no denying that we are all having the experience of being in a body.  And as we go about our daily experience of being in a body, there are certain things we do without exception or question.  None of us would think of going a day without brushing our teeth at least once, and usually at least twice.  Many of us brush and floss more often than that.  We don't question it or think about it... we just do it. 

In order to remember the Truth, it is necessary to practice that type of unquestioning vigilance with certain thoughts and visual images that awaken the mind.  It's sort of like mentally brushing our spiritual teeth, and we do it not because such thoughts or practices are magic, or will give us something we think we want.  We practice spiritually because it re-aligns our sleeping minds with Truth, with Mind Awake. Spiritual practices themselves are irrelevant, just as all form is irrelevant.  It's their purpose, their mental content, that matters.  And the only purpose of any spiritual practice is to align the sleeping mind with Truth, which is always already here, fully present and all-encompassing.  Only the sleeping mind could imagine otherwise.

A Course in Miracles is a system of mind training that has blessed my life for over twenty years.  The Course teaches us to how to practice forgiveness in a way that releases our mind from all the projected images we have accumlated, and allows the unconditioned Mind (pure Spirit, Joy, and Love) to return to Awareness.  There are many other spiritual practices, and all have validity because of their ultimate shared purpose.  What I love about the Course is that it clearly returns all power to the Source, the One Mind, and reminds us that we are One with that Source.  Not as individuals (that's the imaginary part), but as pure Spirit/Mind.  All we have to do to remember and awaken is practice faithfully, just like brushing our teeth.  It really is that simple, and that hard.  What are you practicing faithfully today?

"This is a Course in mind training.  All learning involves attention and study at some level." (ACIM, Chapter 1, Section VII, 4:1-2)