Gawking & Being With: Taking It In
If THIS awareness, is the larger whole - the Earth, Universe, God - experiencing, then we see that it occurs in many different ways and through a wide range of awareness organs (a.k.a. species).
It doesn't really matter if we see it this way or not, it still happens and still works.
On the other hand, it may be interesting to align ourselves with this more consciously. To take it all in, as if this is indeed Earth, Universe, etc. taking it all in through and as us.
When we do this in relationship to the larger whole - the social and ecological whole, the Earth and the Universe, then it is what Brian Swimme describes as gawking. It is the Universe dropping its jaw in amazement of itself.
And when we do this in relationship with the smaller wholes - sensations, emotions, thoughts - when we melt into what we are experiencing, it is what so many traditions and approaches suggest as a way to reduce suffering through reduced resistance, and find bliss in what is experienced.
Gawking and being with - both are ways for the Universe to consciously take itself in, in amazement, and through us as human beings. And both are quite pleasurable as well.