Memory suppression
Ego suppression, loss and death can be described as an effect which directly subdues one's own ego. The ego can be defined as a human being’s concept, understanding and sense of identity, self or “I” as a separate agent from the external environment. It is essentially a person’s consciousness or capacity to be self-aware, as enabled by their ability to recall and maintain a general understanding of basic concepts such as their name, identity and the separation between what is considered as part of them and what is considered to be an external system.
With any hallucinogen, one's ability to retain, recall, feel and understand concepts such as a personal sense of self and other fundamental notions pertaining to the basics of human existence are partially to completely diminished proportional to dosage. This is the result of a progressively all-encompassing state of memory suppression.
It is a process which is capable of being broken down into 3 basic levels:
- Ego suppression - This is a partial failure of a person's short term memory. It can be described as a general increase in distractibility, loss of focus and a general sense of difficulty when it comes to processing anything outside of the present moment.
- Ego loss - This is the complete failure of a person's short term memory. It can be described as a person becoming being completely incapable of remembering any specific details regarding the present situation for more than a second or two. This often results in disorientation, thought loops, loss of control and confusion for the inexperienced. Long term memory however remains almost entirely intact as people are still perfectly capable of recollecting their name, date of birth, childhood school, etc.
- Ego death - This is a complete failure of a person's long term memory. Ego death can be described as a total loss of control in which the person becomes completely incapable of remembering even the most basic fundamental human concept stored within the long term memory. This includes your name, who you are, your home town, the fact that you are on drugs, what drugs even are, what human beings are, what life is, what existence is or what anything is. Ego death gives the profound experience that there is no longer an “I” experiencing the intensity of the trip anymore, there is just the trip as it is and by itself.