Ego death is the perceived loss of boundaries between self and environment, often brought on by psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, or DMT. Many other methods, practices, or experiences may also induce this state, including prayer, sleep deprivation, fasting, meditation practice, or through the use of an isolation tank. It’s often described as, ‘becoming one with the universe.’
It is an experience that purportedly reveals the illusory aspect of the ego, and is undergone by psychonauts, mystics, shamans, monks, psychologists, and others interested in exploring the depths of the mind. The practice of ego death as a deliberately sought ‘mystical experience’ in some ways overlaps, but is nevertheless distinct from, traditional teachings concerning enlightenment/’Nirvana’ (in Buddhism) or ‘Moksha’ (in Hinduism and Jainism), which might perhaps be better understood as transcendence of the notion that one even has any actual, non-illusory ‘ego’ with which to experience ‘death’ in the first place.
The Daily Omnivore 