There's definitely an aspect of "mistaking the finger for the moon" when it comes to spiritual practice. A Dhamma teacher was saying once that while past lives, for example, are really interesting, it could actually be counterproductive to awakening if you explore this too far. In looking too deeply at past lives (if you believe in that), you could inadvertently open up a can of worms and all that trauma from past countless lives could start to creep up, which you then also have to deal with and let go of. Just more work. The path to awakening in the Buddhist sense can be full of interesting physical/mental experiences along the way, but they're really not the point.
There's definitely an aspect of "mistaking the finger for the moon" when it comes to spiritual practice. A Dhamma teacher was saying once that while past lives, for example, are really interesting, it could actually be counterproductive to awakening if you explore this too far. In looking too deeply at past lives (if you believe in that), you could inadvertently open up a can of worms and all that trauma from past countless lives could start to creep up, which you then also have to deal with and let go of. Just more work. The path to awakening in the Buddhist sense can be full of interesting physical/mental experiences along the way, but they're really not the point.