First Awareness, Then Freedom...

If you want to be truly free, you will have to be aware. One kind of awareness is when you are consciously making the effort to be aware of everything that you are doing. But there is another kind of awareness that is more mysterious. And you will begin to discover this mysterious awareness as you surrender more and more to your own desire to be free.

At times there will be an unexpected movement from deep within you; a response will arise that moves faster than thought. You will do or say something that expresses the passionate intensity of enlightened consciousness, a consciousness that, a moment before, you had no awareness of. You will have the strange sense of not knowing who responded, even though it was none other than your own Self.

So our True Self is always paying attention in a way that we are usually not conscious of. And when we discover this Self we find that which is miraculous. We discover who we truly are. It's the Self that we cannot see with the mind, but when we experience it directly we will understand what it means to be enlightened.

And when we liberate this Self that mysteriously sees and knows what we cannot see or know with our conscious mind, we will begin to respond to life in ways that, left to our own devices, we never could.

If we are true to the desire to be free, we will find that we always are paying attention, even at times when, in our conscious experience, it appears to us that we are not.

This happens to me often. Sometimes my own inner experience may appear to be, for a certain period of time, quite mundane. And then a response will occur to some event that is happening around me, a response that is so fast and so precise that it amazes me every time. I don't know where it comes from. I only become aware of it as its happening.

Usually when we speak about paying attention, we are only referring to that which engages the conscious mind. The problem is that it leaves the most important part of our Self out of the picture, which is that part of our Self that we can never know with the conscious mind. Enlightenment is about the liberating discovery of the profound mystery of our own Self, a mystery that we will never be able to understand only with the mind.

The true, spiritual conscience is experienced as caring. And this caring is a painful emotional experience but it's this caring that finally liberates us, slowly but surely, from the attachment to the ego and its endless fears and desires.

It is the emergence of this conscience that gives us the energy, strength, and inspiration to give ourselves to the most important task that there is. So if we want to be free, it's very important to ask ourselves: How much do I care?

The degree to which we are able to liberate ourselves from self-concern will be the degree to which we are able to recognize that our true nature as human beings is love. It happens automatically.

This is one of the miracles of human life. When you are ready to leave self-concern behind, your heart will expand and you will know a love that is impossible to imagine. The nature of this love is not personal; it does not have its roots in the personality.

Love is literally liberated from the depths of our own being and just emerges of its own accord. Anybody can know this miracle if they really want to. They just have to be willing.

- Andrew Cohen

I read the OP and was rather confused…

For example, there is this paragraph:

Usually when we speak about paying attention, we are only referring to that which engages the conscious mind. The problem is that it leaves the most important part of our Self out of the picture, which is that part of our Self that we can never know with the conscious mind. Enlightenment is about the liberating discovery of the profound mystery of our own Self, a mystery that we will never be able to understand only with the mind.

It says that we can never know the “Self” (higher Self) with the conscious mind. And the very next word is “enlightenment…” From my experience, it is the knowing of that Self consciously which IS enlightenment. It is not about merely making that discovery – which is part of the process. It’s about that final merging. Maybe I am wrong, but that’s my assessment.

Then there’s this:

The true, spiritual conscience is experienced as caring. And this caring is a painful emotional experience but it's this caring that finally liberates us, slowly but surely, from the attachment to the ego and its endless fears and desires.

Caring is the manifestation of spirit - but can be both painful and joyful. Also, there is no issue with "desires," per se. Desires are what drive the creative process in the Conscious Creation of Now that we are all within. The issue is placing desire ABOVE caring.

For example... There is nothing wrong with wanting a large plate of food at dinner - but if one is sharing a finite quantity, and taking a large portion leaves others hungry... Taking a large portion - THAT's a problem. THAT will stunt one's efforts to enlightenment.

Here's a particularly confusing bit:

It is the emergence of this conscience that gives us the energy, strength, and inspiration to give ourselves to the most important task that there is. So if we want to be free, it's very important to ask ourselves: How much do I care?

It brings up "the most important task that there is," and yet when I read it, I asked myself, "What IS this task?" It might be caring about the world outside ourselves... But this is unclear.

Still, I wonder whether the caring isn't more about how one manifests oneself in quantum Universe which we cocreate. So much of the "New Age" stuff suggests that we should place ourselves below others - but from what I see... It is best balanced as equal. No other is above us, no other is below us.

If we care about our own choices of manifestation, as well as what we can do to facilitate the loving manifestation in others... The closer to our Self we will be. As illustrated by this:

The degree to which we are able to liberate ourselves from self-concern will be the degree to which we are able to recognize that our true nature as human beings is love. It happens automatically.

Yes, humans are Love. But liberating ourselves from self-concern is moot. It is the degree we integrate concern for others into our concern for ourselves that brings forth all facets of Love. If we do not esteem our own ability to create, the creation will be less than perfect.

Lastly, there is this:

Love is literally liberated from the depths of our own being and just emerges of its own accord. Anybody can know this miracle if they really want to. They just have to be willing.

One can manifest this love - especially if one is equal in one's love for others as well as self. In fact... If one desires to offer love to others - and eliminates desire... Then there will be no desire, no will, to create love.

This all is, of course, my humble observation. Others may disagree.

[edit on 8/7/2009 by Amaterasu]