Why is spiritual awakening often mentioned happening in a single instant?

I would say that “old habits die hard,” and so we try to create new habits. This applies to mental habits, physical habits, spiritual habits, emotional habits - all kinds of habits. So we study and meditate and exercise and learn how to identify our emotions and how all of these impulses and patterns arise in ourselves. Through certain practices over time - and also sometimes spontaneously - we arrive at “aha” moments, peak experiences or insights that strip away the seeming rigidity and force of all these habits. We recognize what they are, and where they are coming from, and for a time they are intrinsically de-energized. At which point there is no more trying, there just is.

However…and this is I think what you may be referring to…there is tremendous momentum behind all of the old habits. What our body desires, what our mind desires, what our heart desires, what our spirit desires…all of the energy may dissipate in an awakening, while the impulses and habits have nevertheless remained available just beneath the surface. Like rabbits sitting on a lawn at night, seemingly still, but ready to bolt into action once we reengage ordinary, routine attention. And what happens then? Many possibilities. Without continuing the practices that led to our aha, the force of our old habits may slowly return. Or, as we get older, we may forget our earlier appreciation or understanding. Or we might try to cling to the aha experience in a nostalgic or needy sort of way - like we are holding our breath - which is also unhelpful. Or we may find ourselves in an environment that reinforces - even demands - reassertion of all of those previous rabbit-habits. And these situations can and do interfere with what we might call “integration” of the aha experience into daily life. So although devotees of various traditions often tend to shy away from it, we could even say that awakening is itself subject to impermanence. And then the rabbits start running all over the place again - not like they were before, because we are conscious of them now, but nonetheless with renewed energy.

However - and this is a fairly hefty contradiction to what I’ve just said - waking up to a new way of seeing and being does change us in permanent ways. The extent of that change depends, I think, on the readiness of the person - both developmentally and in terms of the innate structures they have available. Which again is why ongoing practice is important. For some (perhaps most) it is also fruitful to have a supportive community with whom to share and mutually encourage the “integration” process, as well as a mature tradition that can inform and contextualize our journey. But the point is that changes or consequences of a peak experience persist, whether or not we consciously recognize, energize or integrate hem. It’s just that they may not feel particularly helpful or beneficial - they can even exacerbate suffering. Knowledge and insight without acceptance can be oppressive rather than liberating.

But all of this discussion is really just a shadow-projection on the cave wall until we leave the cave. And so we return to disciplined practice, because this anchors us and invites stillness. Then, when the helpful awareness arises that our witness consciousness is itself just one more of those rabbits…well, when we’re done laughing, we will have the momentum and energy of our actively cultivated habit-disciplines to help us retain a little courage and compassion amid the hilarity, so that we can accept and integrate…and not forget.

My 2 cents.

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