Too much navel gazing can definitely be more of a hindrance than a help... discovered that first-hand. On the other hand, I did get exposed to a lot of very interesting and diverse perspectives on the "journey."

There's a lot of stuff I think is pretty silly (like "vows of poverty," for example), but I also recognize that some people require a lot of "structure" in their lives; rules to follow. On the whole, I'd just as well do without the suffering.