Thread: Lucid Dreaming does not make you more spiritual

I for one stopped using LD'ing for entertainment purposes a very long time ago, Barry, and I still seem to be finding things to do, things to learn.

No, LD'ing will not, by any means, "make you more spiritual." Nothing, as far as we know, "makes" you spiritual; you must develop your personal spirituality on your own, using available tools, time, and opening your mind to things that transcend mundane life. LD'ing might be one of those tools, but it is not some special force that causes spirituality.

So, though it can help you in your pursuits, LD'ing is not a shortcut to enlightenment (you still gotta do that yourself). LD'ing is a state of consciousness, after all, and not a mystical power. However, if you are a spiritually-oriented sort and hold spiritual pursuits high on your list of lifetime goals, I think you will find that the don-dual (everything-is-you) nature of LD'ing can be a very effective tool for exploring your own spirituality, provided you are careful not to delude yourself by, say, immediately assuming that the things you are imagining in your dreams are real.

Some of the major tools for spiritual development include introspection, meditation/prayer, and developing a powerful sense of self. LD'ing is potentially the best (perhaps only) form of direct communication with or observation of the workings of your unconscious, it is an outstanding form of meditation by itself, and -- given that self-awareness essentially defines lucidity -- developing your LD'ing skills will also develop your waking-life self-awareness in waking-life. Those to me are things that make LD'ing far more than purely an entertainment vehicle, so I'm afraid I will not join you in admitting as much.

Now, that is just LD'ing as a tool for growth. Keep in mind also that LD'ing is a unique tool for expanding your mind and testing the limits of your imagination. I suppose this can be done in the form of entertainment (after all, what you dream ought to be fun), but regardless it is a sort of vigorous mental exercise that tests and stretches the power of your imagination. Also, since LD'ing affords you an opportunity to experience your existence in ways you cannot do or imagine in waking-life, LD'ing is a very powerful tool for transcendental explorations. To me, succeeding in transcendental exercises leaves even the most entertaining of dreams far behind in terms of significance.

I could go on, but I think you get the point: LD'ing's potential impact in your life can be much greater than just as a form of entertainment. Indeed, by using LD's for only entertainment, you are merely dipping your toe into the ocean of potential the state offers without even knowing you can take a completely immersive plunge, if you care to.

To assume that entertainment is all there is or, worse, to admit that that is all there is (thus perceiving it as an incontrovertible fact), will ultimately make that all there is for you, and you might miss out on the far more satisfying (even transcendental) LD'ing pursuits that lie just over a dreaming horizon you have inadvertently refused to approach, much less cross.

tl;dr No, LD'ing does not make you spiritual, because I believe nothing "makes" you spiritual. What it does do is provide a unique and effective tool for the pursuit of far more things than entertainment. Also, if you come to believe as fact that entertaining is LD'ing's only use, that likely will become its only use for you.