These moments are the heart of every ceremony, in every tradition. Ceremony not empowered by the individual in her complete involvement in the moment tends to become mere ritual. Ritual in turn, upon enough repetitions, can become reduced to habit. At the end of the evening sitting there is ceremony, ritual, and habit in the recitation of the Four Vows. Each level of empowerment and involvement is available to each participant.
Few people remain consistently at the level of ceremony.
In sesshin one can witness the growing number of people involved in true ceremony as the sesshin wears on. Typically, the Four Vows and the chanting services in sesshin become more powerful as the sesshin goes on. This is evidence of the rise to ceremony happening for each person, albeit at different rates and levels. Chanting itself becomes more corporeal, less cerebral, the closer one gets to true ceremony. It is not so important that ceremony attempt the difficult.