In the state of Washington we have a beautiful 14,000 foot mountain called Mount Ranier.  Over the last couple of days a few integral friends met at a log cabin on the slopes of one of the peaks near Ranier and we spent Saturday hiking in the mountain among fields of purple and white daisies and bright magenta indian paint brush, lakes, streams and the freshest air i've smelled in some time.

The sun was warm on my skin.  The air was clean and fragrant with wild flower blossoms, evergreen and snow.  The eye could see forested peaks all around and behind a deep valley that held a pristine lake. Blue sky opened up forever with billowy clouds. These mountains had existed for thousands of years.  I found myself aware of the beauty all around and then in awe of my own awareness. For moments i became aware of my awareness and aware that i was aware of Awareness.  And for seconds i knew that That Awareness existed before i was born and will continue after this body dies. 

And i remembered what a miracle it was for me to be standing there at all...gazing upon and absorbing this stunning, magnificence.  Me and the mountain, the flowers, the sun, the sky, the lake, the hills, the trees, the clouds, the air.....drinking each other in, shimmering as parts of the many and emanating from the Same One that creates, sustains and destroys.  All of us there, gazing upon one another in wonder. 

Then the young agile teenage girls would scamper past, almost flying, rubbery limbs in all directions, expressing the joy and energy that sparkles and delights...and little dogs, that same joyful, unbounded playfulness. What fun to be alive.

Cosmic Conscience As we reach for higher and higher levels of human potential, a completely new kind of moral development enters into the picture, which is what I call "cosmic conscience." Cosmic conscience is what emerges when the individual awakens to the evolutionary impulse or Authentic Self, and begins to see his or her own capacity for self-awareness as part of a fourteen-billion-year process of development. When you contemplate this nothing-less-than-cosmic context for your very own life, and begin to understand that your own experience of awareness is literally the cutting edge of that vast unfolding process, you realize that the continuation of that process is now completely dependent upon your own willingness to consciously create the future. Awakening to this overwhelming fact puts more pressure on the individual self-sense than anything else ever could. In the face of this ultimate responsibility, either you're going to go crazy or you will very quickly become profoundly sane-because you have no choice, because it's your obligation to do so, because the future is totally dependent upon you. That is cosmic conscience: the realization that "It's up to me." The degree to which you awaken to this cosmic conscience is the degree to which you will actually find the wherewithal to handle your own personal experience, however overwhelming it may be, because you realize that who you really are and what you're here for is far greater than any of your personal concerns. That alone is what makes it possible to abandon all unwholesome expressions of self and embrace the ultimately empowering and ennobling qualities of natural dignity, humility, and self-respect that this cosmic conscience potentially engenders in the human heart and soul. Andrew Cohen

I found this on Yeshe's website http://www.iyeshe.com .  Thank you for finding this, Helen. I am reposting it here.

This bijou exerpt from "Enlightenment reframed", by Walter Truett Anderson in Psychotherapy Networker describes the difference between "flow experiences" and elightenment  experiences:

"In flow experiences, the concept of self slips below the threshold of awareness, but the person is usually unconscious of this change. What happens in enlightenment experiences is that the person knows that the "I" that we normally take to be the experiencer isn't present. There's an awareness that things are happening, but without an awareness that they're happening to anyone in particular or because of any individual's volition."

And then, in the very next paragraph, no less, he goes on to explain enlightenment in a most enlightening fashion:

"This restructuring of consciousness is the core of enlightenment. It can explode into the mind in one blinding flash of insight, or it can arrive in gentler installments that become the framework for an ongoing re-visioning of everything in life. This mental shift is the source of all the other perceptual, emotional, and cognitive phenomena that are commonly found in the enlightenment complex: the immersion in the present, the lessening of attachment, the palpable presence of love--love without a lover or even a loved one--the sharpening of sensory perceptions, the sense of amazement at the ordinary, and the discovery that everyday, I-centered cognition is only one way to organize experience."

Ten Oxherding Pictures

10. Entering The Market Place With Helping Hands

Barefooted and naked of breast, I mingle with the people of the world.
My clothes are ragged and dust-laden, and I am ever blissful.
I use no magic to extend my life;
Now, before me, the dead trees become alive.

---

The final picture shows a ragged, pot-bellied man walking barefoot bearing a sack full of goodies. This last stage represents freedom, wisdom and compassion. We are not encumbered by appearances. We adapt freely to high and low places. We find spirituality everywhere, it is not confined to monasteries and secluded places. Meditation and realization do not make us passive but active. We are deeply connected to the world, we feel its suffering and we want to respond and help. Our bag is full of joy, compassion, understanding, loving-kindness, wisdom and skilful means.

We naturally give to ourselves and others what is beneficial. We listen deeply, we observe unobtrusively and respond appropriately. When we give we do not expect anything. We are not superior to others when we help them, on the contrary helping them is like helping ourselves and we are grateful they give us that opportunity to extend ourselves. When we love it is with total acceptance. We do not help only people we like but also people who are difficult. However, we do not force our ideas-our opinions, what works for us-on others. We try to bring lightness into people's lives. We do not take it all too seriously.

When we look at the Ten Oxherding Pictures we have to be careful not to think that self-development and Zen practice go in a strait line. It is more like a spiral. We go round and up, hopefully. We go back to different stages but with more understanding. We deepen our realization of each stage as we continue on the path. We still have delusions and attachments to shed. We discover more ways to develop concentration and enquiry further. Master Kusan had three different major awakenings, and each time he continued to practise even more. The last time, his own teacher, Master Hyobong, said: 'Until now you have been following me; now it is I who should follow you.'