Ego death

An absent selfhood can be described as a complete lack of the subjective experience of one's own sense of identity. During this form of ego death, there is a profound experience of no longer having an “I” experiencing one's sensory input; there is just awareness of sensory input as it is and by itself without a conscious agent to comment on or think about what is happening to it.

An objectified selfhood can be described as a person remaining aware of the existence of their self, but they no longer feel integrally attached to their identity. Instead of feeling that they are a unified whole with their sense of self, their awareness feels entirely separate from it's own identity, as if this selfhood is now the object of experience instead of the subject.

An expanded selfhood can be described as one's sense of identity becoming coming to include a wider array of concepts than it previously did. For example, while a person may usually feel that they are exclusively constituted by their ego and physical body, this effect can cause their sense of identity to also include the external environment or an object they are interacting with. This results in intense and inextricable feelings of unity or interconnectedness between the self and varying arrays of previously "external" systems.

For more information on this experience, please see our comprehensive article on states of Unity and Interconnectedness.

Rejuvenation is a feeling of mild to extreme cognitive refreshment which is usually felt once the experience of ego death is over and the person has fully recovered from the trip as a whole. The characteristics of rejuvenation often include a sustained sense of heightened mental clarity, personal bias suppression, and increased emotional stability, calmness, mindfulness, motivation, wellbeing, and focus. At its highest level, feelings of rejuvenation can become so intense that they manifest as the profound and overwhelming sensation of being "reborn." Within the context of ego death, rejuvenation often feels as if it has occurred in a manner akin to rebooting a computer.

Personal bias suppression is a decrease in the personal or cultural biases, preferences, and associations a person knowingly or unknowingly uses to filter and interpret their perception of the world. Within the context of ego death, personal bias suppression seemingly occurs because the prior associations the ego used to contextualize phenomena have been reset to a raw state. This often results in the feeling of processing concepts from a neutral perspective completely untainted by past memories, prior experiences, and stereotypes.

Overcoming the fear of death is very commonly associated with ego death. Those who have undergone ego death often report that they not only "experienced what it is like to die", but also became both accustomed to and substantially less afraid of the prospect. Letting go during ego death and willfully surrendering one's own sense of self is often likened to preconceived notions about what it is like to die, which may cause this effect.

Viewing the self as an illusory construct commonly results from the way undergoing the ego-death experience provokes a radical reframing of the nature of the self. This new perspective may take a number of forms. For example, in the case of absent and objectified self-hood, one may conclude that the ego is not an essential component of who they are, but is instead a construct of the mind, conditioned by one's history and particular circumstances.

In the case of expanded self-hood, where the experienced boundary between oneself and the external world is absent, it is common to become convinced that no such boundary ever actually existed. One may then believe that they are identical in nature to the universe as a unified whole, experiencing itself and expressing itself through a particular mind and body.

Increased openness to experience is a shift in personality that is commonly reported after the experience of ego death. This change may occur as a result of feeling less obliged to conform to a particular identity and thus becoming more likely to engage in novel experiences.

Alternatively, those who have undergone personal bias suppression will also often find themselves more open to experiences that they may have previously disregarded because they are able to reassess their interest with a fresh perspective.