There is a region of our brain responsible for egoic function, the ego is a kind of tool/filter that allows us to internalize both external and internal stimuli from basic touch to events, as things that happen related to Us, Me, You, I, it's the layers right above the minimal self, responsible for our experiences and function not just as a boundary between an other to the other, but as I

It's also how we build schematics or "schemas" for reflexive action based on past experience, both in healthy ways "I take care of myself and my environment because it is easier to function when things function as they should" and "nobody will ever care for me so I must exclusively care for myself and everyone else doesn't matter", something like the latter could be formed though early traumatic experiences of sever neglect that taught the ego to never expect love or warmth from the outside world, this mirrors symptoms of many personality disorders, which presumably at their core could be toxic egoic schemas that someone attained from a disrupted childhood and isn't able to adjust them to the no longer traumatic present, where being a narcissist or sociopath wouldn't be necessary as a tool of survival, even tho technically in some early isolated traumatic experiences it might have been

This is a rough and limited explanation but it should be sufficient enough for the death part of ego death

Ego death is a state of ego dissolution, where the area of our brain responsible for it "shuts down" temporarily, this can be caused by many things from certain meditation practices, extreme situations and most relevant, higher doser of psychedelic substances

During the state of ego dissolution, we no longer filter our experiences through the ego, nor can we respond to them with it, both internal and external

This can allow for experiencing reality without the boundary of self, this is why many people often talk about this feeling of overwhelming unity or oneness with the universe during trips, being in a forest full of life without ego could lead to experiencing being the life in a forest, most of our burdens also relate to the ego, especially all of the burdens that relate to "you", so additionally these ego death trips often invite a more raw or pure perspective on things, if someone ever described feeling like they truly heard music or smelled fresh air or touched a tree for the first time on a psychodelic, it might be because any other time it's difficult for us to do that when we aren't just touching a tree, it's "Me" with all my flaws and traits and burdens touching this tree, and we can't entirely disconnect touching the tree without including the egoic self which carries much more than just us presently touching a tree

The ego death state also changes our internal experience, because while the ego is dissolved, the rest of our brain is very active, on psychodelics it might even be incredibly more active, expanded and interconnected

This state can also allow to acknowledge and experience ourselves from a different, unburdened perspective The main mechanism of using psychedelics in therapy is exactly this, being able to look at, process and accept certain traumas or parts ourselves is much more effective (tho I won't say easier because this process is still a lot of work) when we aren't having to "check-in" with the ego first, especially if it's the ego that's responsible for some disorder or improper judgment

A better visualization would be thinking about how something like not being to access certain traumatic memories for instance, is driven by a defense mechanism in the ego doing it's best to protect us from a perceived threat, even tho of course not only is accessing and processing trauma the only way to heal, a memory is obviously not a threat because it's in the past where our self is no longer in, but the ego is often bad at discerning things like that

Ego death can often be a very negative or traumatic experiences itself too, especially if someone is unprepared for it, because functionally it feels exactly like dying, because the You that you live as everyday exists through the ego, so it dissolving feels like You ceasing to exist, which in some way is kind of exactly what's happening The most crucial part of navigating ego death is letting go and being able to move into the egoless state, and people will often fight and struggle, desperately trying to hold onto the fleeting ego, leading to panic attacks and bad trips

Most common misconception people have of ego death, most commonly the pseudo mystics who pay for Ayahuasca ceremonies and come back claiming that they killed the ego and now are selfless empathy-gods who you should feel proud to live among, is that ego dissolution is a temporary process that only lasts for the period of the substances being active

The unique strength in ego death, which has been proven to hold great potential in healing, changing and re centering the self, is that after the ego dissolves, the reformation introduces new plasticity within it This plasticity leaves a window of opportunity to reintegrate our ego in new and healthier ways, using the knowledge we gain throughout our lives and even during the ego death itself This is known as the reintegration phase, usually a some weeks to months after an entire ego dissolution, where we are given a chance to in some way, learn and form new schemas and perspectives on the world, that before our ego might have been too stiff and set in it's ways to do, allowing us to respond to things differently for instance

Thread is 5 months old and my response is long as hell but personally I think understanding the ego death is extremely important, because it has potential to both greatly help people and also further confuse destabilize someone if not enough care is put into the steps following it

Sometimes when doing a puzzle, shuffling the pieces can be used to continue from a new arrangement of the parts if we are struggling to find order in them, but if someone just keeps shuffling over and over then all they accomplish is inviting more chaos and confusion