The phenomenon, most commonly induced by psychedelics or deep meditation, in which the felt sense of a separate self temporarily collapses — studied both as a mystical experience and as a potential mechanism of therapeutic benefit.
The self as construction: ego dissolution reveals that the ordinary sense of being a bounded, continuous self is not fundamental — it is a construction that can be undone. Neuroscience: correlated with suppression of the default mode network (DMN), which is associated with self-referential processing and narrative self. Therapeutic hypothesis: by temporarily dissolving the rigid ego structure, psilocybin and related compounds may allow new patterns of thought and behavior. Connection to mystical traditions: nondual awareness, sunyata, anatta.
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