Lucid dreams: crimes of ego or doors that lead to spiritual enlightenment? Help!

[lucid dream girl]

Hi all. I had a conversation with a friend last night that left me wondering and I was hoping to get your input on it.

My friend has been a practicing Buddhist for years and she expressed her opinion that lucid dreaming could be a harmful activity for anyone seeking spiritual enlightenment.

Her position was this: Since lucid dreaming is exploration in the realm of the self it encourages the practitioner to focus on all the selfish desires and motivations that stand in the way of true enlightmentment.

She says that enlightenment only comes when we learn how to silence the jabbering voices in our mind and look beyond our own egos to the higher reality that exists in and around and beyond this realm.

I argued that lucid dreaming can be a useful tool because it allows us to open doors in our consciousness, wash away the mental muck in which we often get mired in our dreams and train ourselves to be more aware and more fully exist in the moment -- something that Buddhism is really big on.

But she said that no matter how many doorways you open in your consciousness, you're still trapped there -- in your consciousness -- and that will force you to take constant detours that will never let you "out of the box" to experience true Enlightenment.

... What do you all think? Can lucid dreaming lead to greater spiritual awareness -- or is it only good for cheap thrills like flying and having sex with movie stars?

[psychic-test]

everyone has it`s own reasons for having lucid dreams.

Usually the people taht want only small thrill dont keep practice it afterwords.

what you are doing in your dreams is influance by what you are doing in your real life. so if you are a spiritual person it`s only natural that you will be spiritual while you dream