Based on my own experience and discussions with others, it does seem entirely possible for someone to have what would be considered a thorough awakening through exclusive focus on a single thread. Some potential examples of this:

• A Buddhist arhat or Zen master whose sole emphasis has been on deconstructing the illusion of self and realizing emptiness
• A Christian mystic utterly consumed in devotional surrender to and unity with the Divine Beloved
• An energy practitioner who, through decades of single-pointed cultivation, has developed complete mastery of the body’s subtle winds and channels
• A depth psychologist or shamanic practitioner who has intimately explored and integrated both the personal and collective aspects of the psyche

At the same time, many people’s awakening process seems to inherently include at least two threads, and some open quite spontaneously to engaging three, four, or even more. The particular threads activated and their relative emphasis create the absolutely unique topography of each person’s unfolding.

Personally, I do not hold any one configuration as being superior or more complete than another. Whether single-threaded or multi-threaded, each journey is a perfect expression of that individual’s being. The invitation is to fully honor the intelligence of your own trajectory, to inhabit the totality of your unique dance.

If there is a difference I have noticed, it is that when multiple threads are active, there is often an added meta-level of insight that comes online — a recognition of the underlying unity and inseparability of paths that can appear quite disparate on the surface. But it is entirely possible that the same recognition simply manifests differently for those with a single-thread orientation.