I’ve read stories about how it’s a sought after side-effect and key factor for treating mental health issues using substances like psilocybin or ketamine. What about it actually helps improve the mind? For those that have experienced it, what does it feel like?
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As a human, we’ve created an identity for ourselves through our accumulated experiences. You might have some set thoughts on certain matters like your gender identity, your political views, your favorite food.
This personality that has been shaped by your preferences, observations, learned behavior is what we call the ego.
The Ego is the you that you think you are. The ego says “I am a boy, I want to be a doctor when I grow up, I don’t like broccoli, I’m scared of the dark”
Ego death is a state where you don’t have that sense of self anymore. You’re not thinking about what you like, what you don’t like, what other people think of you. You’re living in the present moment as an observer. You are no longer the “You” as how the Ego made you seem.
Substances that alter your perception, in high enough doses, allow you to melt away who you think you are. Because you’re seeing the world in a different light, everything that you’ve experienced, you’ve thought of, and held on to dissolve as you experience a new world.
Ego death can be achieved through other ways too like deep meditation, but the reason why drugs are so popular is because it’s an easy way to change your brain chemistry to register the world in a new perspective.
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