This talk explores distinctions and relationships between consciousness and cognition through the lens of an emergent worldview called Integral Theory (IT), with insights from artistic creativity guiding the inquiry. Drawing widely from disciplines across the sciences and humanities as well as age-old spiritual wisdom, IT posits a remarkably expansive vision of human nature and developmental potential—at the core of which is consciousness development. From an IT vantage point, cognition has to do with the activity of the mind, Put another way, cognition is to consciousness as the wave is to the ocean. Artistic creativity, particularly as it manifests in improvised music, can be seen as a bridge between the two realms and helps illuminate them as part of an overarching wholeness of subjective experience. The arts-consciousness relationship also helps us move past conventional boundaries and labels when it comes to academic disciplines, with longstanding tensions between science and spirituality/mysticism a common, and unnecessary, casualty of such boundaries.