This is becoming more and more clear to me nowadays.
I used to feel that (spiritual) awakening would be a moment.
A moment of waking up, and then you are awake, just like in the mornings.
However, the answer is right there in the word: awakenING.
It’s a continuous process, not an event.
This means that there are certain – for lack of a better word – steps along the way. Although they are probably not predefined, we will know when we have “reached” them.
It feels more like gradually getting more and more awake than just one moment of waking up.
Am I more awake then 2 years ago? Probably.
Am I fully awake? Definitely not.
Another benefit of seeing it as a process is that it allows us to let it unfold. To “trust the process” and not try to force our way to that one moment that we think we are seeking.
If it is a process, then my only task becomes to fully commit myself to it, but not worry about the outcome (that’s a familiar one in other areas of my life as well…)
I feel now that being in the process IS awakening. Not “moving” towards it.