Ego death

An absent selfhood can be described as a sudden and 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 remaining fully conscious, while there is no longer an “I” experiencing one’s sensory input; there is just the sensory input as it is and by itself, without a conscious agent to comment on or think about what is happening to it.

An objective selfhood can be described as the experience of the person remaining aware of the existence of oneself, while no longer perceiving themselves as integrally attached to their sense of identity. Instead of feeling that they and their sense of selfhood are a unified whole which is the subject of experience, their awareness instead feels entirely separate from it’s own sense of self, as if this selfhood is now the object of experience instead of the subject.

An expanded selfhood can be described as the experience of one’s sense of identity becoming constituted by a wider array of concepts than it previously did. For example, while a person may usually feel that they are exclusively 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 oneself 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 also fully recovered from the trip as a whole. The symptoms of rejuvenation often include a sustained sense of heightened mental clarity, increased emotional stability, increased calmness, mindfulness, increased motivation, personal bias suppression, increased focus, and decreased depression. At its highest level, feelings of rejuvenation can become so intense that they manifest as the profound and overwhelming sensation of being “reborn” anew. Within the context of ego death, rejuvenation often feels as if it has occurred in a manner which is akin to that of rebooting a computer.

Personal bias suppression is a decrease in the personal or cultural biases, preferences, and associations a person knowingly or unknowingly filters and interprets their perception of the world through. Within the context of ego death, personal bias suppression feels as if it occurs due to some sort of baseline resetting of the contexts which the ego increasingly attributes to concepts over time. This often results in the feeling of processing concepts from a neutral perspective completely untainted by past memories, prior experiences, contexts, and biases.

Overcoming the fear of death is very a common conclusion and feeling that is associated with ego death, with those who have undergone ego death often reporting that they not only “experienced what it is like to die”, but also became both accustomed to and substantially less afraid of the prospect. This is seemingly because the experience of letting go during ego death and willfully surrendering one’s own sense of self is often likened to that of the preconceived notions that many people hold about what it is like to die.

A fear of losing control is a very common occurrence when a person that undergoes ego death is not emotionally prepared, not in an appropriate set or setting, or is simply unwilling to relinquish their sense of selfhood. During this experience, the person will often find themselves experiencing overwhelming fear and anxiety relating to the fear of losing control. This fear and anxiety is especially common in those who have not experienced ego death before.

In order to overcome this fear, it is recommended that the person does their best to stop fighting the loss of control, and simply surrender themselves to the experience of ego death. Upon successfully doing this, the person will often experience a radical and positive change in their emotional state.

Viewing the self as an illusory construct is commonly caused by the way in which undergoing the ego-death experience often provokes radical insight into the nature of the self. These insights 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. Instead, it may come to be known as 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 ultimately exists. 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 change in personality that is commonly reported after the experience of ego death. This change may occur as a result of one no longer feeling obliged to conform to their prior identity, and thus can to engage in behaviour they would otherwise not have.

Alternatively, those who have undergone personal bias suppression will also often find themselves more open to experiences that they may have previously disregarded due to preconceptions that were not fully grounded within reality.