While having my teeth cleaned, the hygienist commented on my liking oranges, as she found a piece under the root of a rear molar. I asked about getting it out by myself, and found that a toothbrush or dental floss couldn't reach it, and that even a water-pik would likely push it deeper. Left in place, the sugar would breed bacteria and cause an infection, which would eventually subside.

Soooo, last Friday I discovered just such an infection, which started to hurt. Though I massaged my gums, I knew it would hurt for a few days, and accepted that. By Saturday evening the tooth pain seemed to reach its peak, but I then discovered it was becoming painful to swallow. As the evening wore on, my sore throat became worse, and by the time I went to bed the pain was intense.

I became angry at my suffering, and mentally railed at the pain. "Why am I still experiencing this? Why have I not grown enough spiritually to master the physical body?" At a higher level, I knew that this was for my learning, that "all works for good", and went to sleep with the knowing that the lesson would become clear in time.

On Sunday both pains were still there, but I spent a wonderful day just "being", enjoying my leisure, reading and meditating. Though I was aware of the pain, I was not "focusing" on it, and therefore it had no major effect.

Later that afternoon I went to Binion's Horseshoe to play poker, my normal recreational activity, and had a marvelous time with my friends, interacting with other parts of my "Self"' sharing joy and Love. As I sat down to dinner, I felt great happiness and peace. And that is when the lesson became so crystal clear. It didn't matter. The pain didn't matter.

IT DIDN'T MATTER. IT REALLY, REALLY DIDN'T MATTER. When I focused on it, the pain from my tooth and sore throat were still there, but here I was, happy, content, at peace, feeling joy and such wonderful Love, and THE PAIN DIDN'T MATTER. It was merely an experience of the body, but it wasn't MY experience, for I was totally, joyously, genuinely HAPPY. The pain was nothing, and immediately began to subside.

I fully understood that my focus determined my experience, that if I had chosen to focus on the pain, pain is what I would feel. By instead choosing to focus on Love, on the interaction with others and sharing that Love, my experience was Love, and joy and happiness. And I fully understood that where I focused was purely a matter of choice.

And I understood the why of it, for if I had not experienced the pain, I could not have experienced the joy of learning that it was a matter of my personal choice, that the pain didn't matter, and I would not have had that wonderful knowing that I AM more than the body, and more than any pain, and more than just a physical being.

And later that evening, I could share that knowing, that experience with others I love, and they, too, could have an increased share of that knowing. And so I understood the lesson from "A Course In Miracles", the one that says "When I am healed, I am not healed alone".

And so it IS.