In those whose awakening process includes multiple threads, there does tend to be a common overall arc of how those threads engage and interrelate over time, though the specifics are always unique. I call this arc “braiding,” evoking the image of the threads weaving together into an integrated whole. The braiding tends to go through three broad phases:

1. Oscillation: In this stage, the practitioner alternates between deeply different lenses and even seemingly irreconcilable realities as they shift from one thread to another. One day, all is empty; the next, pulsating aliveness. This can feel profoundly disorienting, as the familiar reference points that had provided a sense of meaning and cohesion fall away. There is often a feeling of being unmoored, stretched between worlds.
2. Paradox: Gradually, even as the threads remain experientially distinct, there is a dawning sense of their underlying inseparability. A recognition starts to emerge that these apparently contradictory perspectives are all partial truths, facets of a single unfathomable whole. Emptiness and form, self and other, inner and outer — all are seen as polarities within a higher unity. The practitioner becomes more comfortable resting in the paradox, the “both/and” rather than “either/or.”
3. Integration: For many, there is an eventual collapse of any sense of separation between the threads. Experientially, they fuse together into a seamless, luminous whole. Emptiness, fullness, energetic aliveness, the wisdom of the unconscious – all are immediately present and available simultaneously. They are known as different expressions of a single all-encompassing reality, unique colors of a boundless spectrum.

That said, the specific trajectory of this braiding — when and how the threads intertwine for a given individual — is inherently unpredictable and non-linear. One cannot know in advance at what point a certain facet will come to the fore or how it will alchemize with the others. The invitation is to attune closely to what is authentic in each stage of the unfolding and to take the obvious next step as it presents itself, without needing to project too far ahead. To trust the organic intelligence of the process itself.