This article attempts to break down the cognitive and behavioural effects contained within the psychedelic experience into simple, easy to understand titles, descriptions and levelling systems. This will be done without depending on metaphors, analogy’s or personal trip reports. The article starts off with descriptions of the simpler effects and works its way up towards more complex experiences as it progresses.

Enhancement of current mind state:



Enhancement of current mind state is an effect which alters mood, but unlike certain subjective effect components such as euphoria it does not consistently induce positive and emotions regardless of a person’s current state of mind and mental stability. Instead it works by amplifying and enhancing the emotions a person is already feeling prior to ingesting the drug. This causes the effects to be equally capable of manifesting in both a positive and negative direction.

For example, an individual who is insecure, anxious or emotionally unstable may become overwhelmed with greatly intensified negative emotions, paranoia and confusion. This is caused by the person’s current negative state becoming greatly amplified above normal levels. On the opposite end of the spectrum, positive, prepared and emotionally stable people who take the same substance at an identical dosage are likely to find themselves overwhelmed with states of emotional euphoria, happiness and feelings of general contentment.

There is a very clear distinction between substance-induced emotion and genuine emotion. This component does not induce any emotion– it merely deepens and enhances genuine emotions that are already felt separately from the drug.

Acceleration of thought:

Acceleration of thought can be described as the mental process of thought being sped up significantly. When experiencing this effect, it feels as if one rapid fire thought after the other is being generated in incredibly quick succession. Not only is the speed of thought increased, but the sharpness of a person’s mental clarity seems to increase alongside it, resulting in an abundance of new and insightful ideas.



Connectivity of thought:

Connectivity of thought can be described as the sensation of a person’s thought stream becoming distinctly characterized by an abstract fluid association of ideas and wandering thoughts which connect deeply into each other. This feels like a series of almost seemingly unrelated ideas or daydreams that tenuously connect into each other by incorporating an idea or concept that was contained within the previous thought but from a completely different angle.

When experienced for extended periods of time this effect allows the mind to cover and analyse an extremely broad variety of subjects including not just the “big things” in life, but the “small things” as well. It is a process which leads onto large amounts of introspection as well as greatly enhanced levels of creative and artistic abilities as it essentially removes creative block by allowing the thoughts to flow free.

Feelings of fascination, importance and awe:



Feelings of fascination, importance and awe attributed to specific parts or the entirety of one’s external environment can be considered as a defining feature of many hallucinogenic experiences. The experience of this effect can be described as a new-found child-like sense of wonder which directs those who are experiencing it to acknowledge, consider and appreciate the things around them in a level of detail and intensity which remains unparalleled by experiences throughout normal sober living. This gives the overwhelming impression that everything around oneself is profound, interesting, important and worthy of reverence– be it nature, aspects of nature, life, the universe or even common events and household objects.

Time distortion:



Time distortion is an effect that makes the passage of time difficult to keep track of and wildly distorted. It can be felt in two different forms: time expansion and time compression.

The most common of these is time expansion. Time expansion can be described as the feeling that time has completely slowed down. This generally seems to stem from the fact that during an intense hallucinogenic experience, abnormally large amounts of experience are felt in very short periods of time. This creates the illusion that more time has passed than it really has. For example, at the end of certain experiences one may feel that they have undergone any number days, weeks, months, years or even eternal and infinite periods of time.

The second form, time compression, is more common within stimulating substances than hallucinogens. It can be described as the experience of time speeding up and passing much quicker than it usually would within everyday life.

Introspection:



Introspection can be defined as the experience of a state of mind which directs one’s thoughts into a deep contemplation and analysis regarding one’s own life, both as a whole and as the things which comprise it. This gives the person a powerful ability to dissect and rationally analyse problems, allowing them to reach a state of logical resolution and/or personal acceptance regarding past events, the present situation, future possibilities, insecurities, fears, hopes, goals, struggles and traumas.

The outcome of undergoing this effect seems to consistently result in new ideas and insights regarding the negative and positive aspects on one’s life. This is extremely efficient at facilitating self-improvement, personal growth and change on a level that remains unparalleled by experiences found within every day living.

It is important to note, however, that during states of introspection not everybody is willing to face, resolve and move on from their personal problems as some will panic and attempt to ignore or repress them instead. This is because introspective states often result in realisations that can drastically alter one’s own opinion of their self, personality and past decisions so that they become viewed from a negative or regretful position. The fighting of these revelations through denial and repression instead of acceptance and analysis is a very common trigger for negative experiences that could be otherwise avoided.

Outrospection:

Outrospection is a subjective effect component which can be considered as the opposite counterpart to introspection. It can be described as the experience of a state of mind which consistently directs one’s thoughts into a deep contemplation and analysis of the exterior world, both as a whole and as the things which comprise it. This results in an abundance of insightful ideas and conclusions with powerful themes pertaining to what is often described as “the bigger picture”. These ideas generally involve (but are not limited to) insight into philosophy, spirituality, society, culture, universal progress, humanity and how all of these things fit together across its history, the present moment and all future possibilities.

Rejuvenation:



Rejuvenation can be described as feelings of mild to extreme cognitive refreshment which can last anywhere from several hours to many years and are often felt after positive experiences with certain hallucinogens. These feelings of rejuvenation can potentially include a sustained sense of general heightened mental clarity, increased emotional stability, calmness along side of specific subjective effect components such as mindfulness, increased motivation, cultural filter suppression and increased focus.

At its highest level, feelings of rejuvenation can become so intense that they manifest as the profound and overwhelming sensation of being “reborn” anew. This feeling can last anywhere from weeks to a lifetime after the experience itself.

Deja-Vu:



Deja-vu is a common phrase from the French language which translates literally into “already seen”. This is a well documented phenomenon that can commonly occur throughout both sober living and under the influence of hallucinogens. It can be described as having the strong sensation that the current event or situation has already been experienced at some point within the past when, in fact, it hasn’t.

Certain substances are commonly capable of inducing spontaneous and often prolonged states of mild to intense sensations of deja-vu. This provides one with an overwhelming sense that they have “been here before”. The sensation is often accompanied by a false feeling of familiarity with the effects of the substance itself, the current location or setting, the current physical actions being performed, and the situation as a whole.

This effect is often triggered despite the fact that during the experience of it one can be rationally aware that the circumstances of the “previous” experience (when, where, and how the earlier experience occurred) are uncertain or believed to be impossible.

Mindfulness:

Mindfulness can be described as a psychological concept which is well established within the scientific literature and commonly discussed in association with meditation. It is often broken down into two separate components both of which comprise the experience of mindfulness itself.

The first of these components involves the self-regulation of attention so that its focus is completely directed towards immediate experience, thereby quietening one’s internal narrative and allowing for increased recognition of mental events in the present moment.

The second component of mindfulness involves adopting a particular orientation toward one’s experiences in the present moment– an orientation that is characterized by a lack of judgement, curiosity, openness, and acceptance.

Within meditation, this mind state is deliberately practiced and maintained for extended periods of time through the conscious and manual redirection of one’s awareness towards a singular point of focus for extended periods of time. In the context of hallucinogens, however, this state is often forcibly induced for extended periods of time without any conscious effort or the need of knowledge regarding meditative techniques.

Multiple thought streams:

Multiple thought streams can be defined as a state in which one has more than one internal narrative or stream of consciousness occurring within their mind. This can result in any number of conscious thought streams within one’s mind, each of which are often controllable in an identical level to that of one’s everyday thought stream. This experience allows one to think about and analyse many different subjects and concepts simultaneously and can be a source of great insight.

Suppression of personal bias:



Suppression of personal bias can be described as a removal of the cultural and individual biases which human beings knowingly or unknowingly filter and interpret their perception of the world through during everyday life.

The idea that the opinions and decisions of people are based upon a consistent and unconscious tendency to notice and assign significance to observations that confirm existing pre-existing beliefs while filtering out and rationalizing observations that do not confirm pre-existing beliefs is a well established concept within the scientific literature. This is known as confirmation bias and exists within varying degrees across all people but is significantly stronger for those with emotionally charged issues and deeply entrenched beliefs.

It seems that a human beings perspective of the world and their response to specific experiences is decided by running concepts through a complex set of cognitive filters which are primarily based upon pre-existing beliefs, past experiences, fears, prejudices, stereotypes, and cultural symbols. The experience of this component, however, seems to entirely suppress this filter and consistently shows people that many aspects of their personality, perspective and culture are merely subjective and often delusional ideas– not an objective reality. This experience often leads onto deep states of introspection, insight and analysis which can create profound alterations in perspective that last anywhere from days, weeks, months or years after the experience itself.

Feelings of predeterminism:



Feelings of predeterminism can be defined as the sudden perspective or feeling that all events, including human actions, are established or decided in advance by prior causes.

This is an effect which can become spontaneously triggered and felt through a distinct change in thought processes. In terms of how it feels, it can be described as the assumption that one’s internal narrative possesses “free will” becoming suppressed, removed and revealed as illusory.

The revelation is not a result of cognitive insight leading one onto a realization but occurs through a forced and often sudden change in perspective. This creates the undeniable sensation that one’s personal choices, physical actions, current situational perspective, and the very subject matter of their thought stream have always been completely predetermined by prior causes and are therefore outside of conscious control. Instead of feeling as if they are dictated by free will, one’s thoughts and decision-making processes become suddenly felt as a vast and complex set of internally stored, instantly decided, pre-programmed, and completely autonomous mechanistic responses to perceived sensory input.

Once the offset of the experience begins to take its toll the subject will return to feelings of freedom and independence. Despite this, however, they will usually retain information and realizations regarding what is often interpreted as a profound insight into the nature of free will.

Conceptual thinking:

Conceptual thinking can be described as an alteration in the content of one’s internal narrative or thought stream. This alteration results in the ability to think thoughts which are no longer primarily comprised of linear words and linguistic sentence structures. Instead one’s thoughts become in equal measure simultaneously comprised of the internally stored concepts which words exist to label. For example, if one were to think the word “Internet” during this state, they would not just hear the word as part of their thought stream but would also feel in a comprehensive level of detail, the internally stored, non-linguistic and innately readable data, code and information which comprises the specific concept labelled within one’s vocabulary as “Internet”.

During this experience, conceptual thinking allows one to feel not just the entirety of a concepts attributed data in the form of pure information but also how this concept relates with, connects to, fits in with and depends upon all other known concepts. This results in one feeling as if they can truly comprehend the precise consequences, limitations, and position within this universe of any singular concept which they happen to be currently thinking about.

The experience of this effect is commonly interpreted by those who undergo it as a “higher level of understanding” as it results in the perceived ability of being able to think about ideas in a level of detail and insight unparalleled within the primarily linguistic thought structure of everyday life. This suggests that human language may well be intrinsically self-limited through the way in which words can only act as mere short cuts to the concepts which they exist to describe.

Direct communication with the subconscious:

Direct communication with the subconscious can be described as the experience of engaging in linguistic conversations with a disembodied and separate audible voice of unknown origin residing within one’s own head. This voice is often capable of directly manipulating various aspects and intensities of the trip and will either clearly explain the logic behind its decisions or choose to keep it a mystery.

As a whole, the effect itself can be broken down into 4 distinct levels of progressive intensity, each of which are listed and described below:

A sensed presence of the other - This level can be defined as the distinctive feeling that another form of consciousness is internally present alongside that of one’s usual sense of self. Mutually generated internal responses - This level can be defined as internal linguistic responses to one’s own thoughts and feelings which feel as if they are partially generated by one’s own thought stream and in equal measure by that of a separate thought stream. Separately generated internal responses - This level can be defined as internal linguistic responses to one’s own thoughts and feelings which feel as if they are generated by an entirely separate thought stream from one’s own. Separately generated audible internal responses - This level can be defined as internal linguistic responses to one’s own thoughts and feelings which are perceived as a clearly defined and audible voice within one’s head. These can take on a variety of voices, accents and dialects but usually sound identical to one’s own spoken voice.

The speaker behind this voice is innately interpreted by those who experience communication with it to be that of one’s subconscious, the substance itself or even supernatural concepts such as god, spirits, souls and ancestors.

The conversational style of that which is discussed between both the voice and its host can be described as essentially identical in terms of its coherency and linguistic intelligibility as that of any other everyday interaction between the self and another human being with which one might engage in conversation with.

There are however some subtle but identifiable differences between this experience and that of normal every day conversations; each of which stem from the factor that one’s specific set of knowledge, memories and experiences are identical to that of the voice which is being communicated with. This key factor results in a conversation in which both participants share a noticeably identical vocabulary down to the very use of their colloquial slang and subtle mannerisms.

As a result of this, no matter how in depth and detailed the discussion becomes, no entirely new information is ever exchanged between the two communicators. Instead, the discussion focuses primarily on building upon old ideas and discussing new opinions or perspectives regarding the previously established content of one’s life.

Ego suppression, loss and death:



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 person’s concept, understanding and sense of their own 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 identity, name 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 are partially to completely diminished proportional to dosage.

This seems to stem not from a direct suppression of one’s identity but instead a partial to complete failure of all working memory and therefore the ability to recall or understand basic fundamental notions of human existence. 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 difficulty staying focused and an increase in distractibility. 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 is capable of resulting in thought loops, disorientation, loss of control and confusion for the inexperienced. Long term memory however remains 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. It can be described as a total loss of control in which the person becomes completely incapable of remembering even the most basic fundamental human concepts stored within the long term memory. This includes one’s name, identity, home town, that they are on drugs, what drugs even are, what human beings are, what life is, what existence is or what anything is. The most notable of these, however, is the loss of one’s sense of self. This results in the profound experience that although one is not unconscious, there is no longer an “I” experiencing current sensory input; there is just the input as it is and by itself.

Personality regression:

Personality regression is an uncommon and spontaneously occurring effect which often accompanies ego death. It can be described as a mental state in which one suddenly adopts an identical personality, set of mannerisms and behaviour to their past selves from a period of their life which has already occurred.

This is often capable of making one believe that they are a child again and act appropriately to this belief. There are also anecdotal reports of people speaking in languages which they have not used for many years under the influence of this effect.

Thought loops:

Thought loops can be described as the experience of becoming trapped within a chain of thoughts, actions and emotions which repeat themselves over and over again in a cyclic loop. They are most likely to occur during states of ego loss and the failure of one’s short term memory. This suggests that thought loops are the result of cognitive processes becoming unable to sustain themselves for appropriate lengths of time due to a lapse in short term memory, resulting in the thought process attempting to restart from the beginning only to fall short once again in a perpetual cycle.

This component can be extremely disorientating and often triggers states of progressive anxiety within the people who may be unfamiliar with the experience. The most effective way to end a cycle of thought loops is to simply sit down and try to let go.

Feelings of interdependent opposites:

Feelings of interdependent opposites (also known as feelings of duality) can be described as a state of mind that often accompanies ego death. It is a powerful sensation in which one sees, understands and physically feels that reality is based upon a system in which the existence or identity of all concepts and situations depend on the co-existence of at least two conditions which are opposite to each other, yet dependent on one another by presupposing each other as logically necessary equivalents.

This experience is usually felt to provide deep insight into the fundamental nature of reality and results in the revelation that fundamental concepts such as life and death, up and down, light and dark, good and bad, big and small, wet and dry, pleasure and suffering, yes and no, something and nothing and being and non-being each exist as states of harmonious and necessary contrast to their opposite force.

Delusions:

Delusions are the experience of spontaneous beliefs held with strong conviction. In the context of hallucinogenic drugs they are temporary perspectives which one may slip into during high dosage experiences. They are most likely to occur during states of ego loss or ego death and not by any means permanent as with schizophrenic delusions but do share many common themes and elements within them. These delusions can be broken out of when appropriate evidence is provided to the contrary or the person has sobered up enough to logically analyse the situation.

Types

Delusions are categorized into four different groups:

Bizarre delusion: This is a delusion that is very strange and completely implausible. An example of a bizarre delusion would be that aliens have removed the reporting person’s brain.

This is a delusion that is very strange and completely implausible. An example of a bizarre delusion would be that aliens have removed the reporting person’s brain. Non-bizarre delusion: This is a delusion that, though false, is at least possible such as the affected person mistakenly believing that he is under constant police surveillance.

This is a delusion that, though false, is at least possible such as the affected person mistakenly believing that he is under constant police surveillance. Mood-congruent delusion: This is any delusion with content consistent with either a depressive or anxious state. For example, a depressed person may believe that news anchors on television highly disapprove of him or a person in a manic state might believe she is a powerful deity.

This is any delusion with content consistent with either a depressive or anxious state. For example, a depressed person may believe that news anchors on television highly disapprove of him or a person in a manic state might believe she is a powerful deity. Mood-neutral delusion: This is a delusion that does not relate to the sufferer’s emotional state. For example, a belief that an extra limb is growing out of the back of one’s head is neutral to either depression or mania.

Themes

In addition to these categories, delusions often manifest according to a consistent theme. Although delusions can have any theme, certain themes are more common. Some of the more common delusion themes are:

Delusion of control: This is a false belief that another person, group of people, or external force controls one’s general thoughts, feelings, impulses, or behavior.

This is a false belief that another person, group of people, or external force controls one’s general thoughts, feelings, impulses, or behavior. Delusion of death: This is a false belief that one is about to die, is currently dying, does not exist or has already died.

This is a false belief that one is about to die, is currently dying, does not exist or has already died. Delusion of guilt or sin (or delusion of self-accusation): This is an ungrounded feeling of remorse or guilt of delusional intensity in which one believes that they have committed some sort of unethical act.

This is an ungrounded feeling of remorse or guilt of delusional intensity in which one believes that they have committed some sort of unethical act. Delusion of mind being read: This is the false belief that other people can know one’s thoughts.

This is the false belief that other people can know one’s thoughts. Delusion of thought insertion: This is the belief that another thinks through the mind of the person. This results in the person becoming unable to distinguish between their own thoughts and those inserted into their minds.

This is the belief that another thinks through the mind of the person. This results in the person becoming unable to distinguish between their own thoughts and those inserted into their minds. Delusion of reference: The person falsely believes that insignificant remarks, events, or objects in one’s environment have personal meaning or significance. For example, one may feel that people on television or radio are talking about or talking directly to them.

The person falsely believes that insignificant remarks, events, or objects in one’s environment have personal meaning or significance. For example, one may feel that people on television or radio are talking about or talking directly to them. Grandiose religious delusion: This is the belief that the affected person is a god or chosen to act as a god. An individual can become convinced he has special powers, talents, or abilities. Sometimes, the individual may actually believe they are a famous person or character such as Jesus Christ. Alternatively this can occur as a philosophical insight through high level states of unity and interconnectedness in which it is not necessarily a delusion but a debatable metaphysical perspective.

Feelings of unity and interconnectedness:



States of unity and interconnectedness start with a change in perspective which is consistently interpreted as the removal of a deeply embedded and all-encompassing illusion. The destruction of this apparent illusion leads onto feelings that the tripper frequently interprets as some sort of profound “awakening” or “enlightenment”.

Once removed, the illusion feels as though it has always been in place, forcing a person’s perspective of the world into feeling as if their concept of “self”, “I” or “me” with which they identify themselves as is assumed to intrinsically follow two fundamental rules. The first of these rules is that the self is inherently separate from the external environment and could not possibly extend into it. The second is that the self is specifically limited to not even the physical body as a whole, but exclusively a person’s internal narrative and the image of their own personality as built up through social interactions with other people.

The absence of this apparent illusion leads people into feelings which are commonly described as a state of total unity, oneness or interconnectivity between their sense of self and external concepts or systems which were previously perceived as inherently separate from one’s being and identity.

Depending on the degree to which this illusion has been lifted, it can lead onto five possible levels of cognitive intensities of progressively more complex effects. Each of which are perfectly capable of spontaneously sustaining their perspective for weeks, months or even years after the experience itself. These levels can be defined as:

Unity between specific external systems

The lowest and least complex level can be referred to as a state of “unity between specific external systems”. This is the only level of intensity in which the subjective experience of unity does not involve a state of interconnectedness between the self and the external. Instead, it can be described as a perceived sense of unity between two or more systems within the external environment which in every day life, are usually perceived as separate from both the self and each other.

This effect can manifest itself in an endless number of forms but common examples of the experience often include:

A sense of unity between specific living things such as animals or plants and their surrounding ecosystems

A sense of unity between specific human beings and the objects they are currently interacting with

A sense of unity between any number of currently perceivable inanimate objects

A sense of unity between humanity and nature

A sense of unity between literally any combination of perceivable external systems and concepts

Unity between the self and specific external systems

The second of these two levels can be referred to as a state of “unity between the self and specific external systems”. It can be defined as the experience of a loss of perceived boundaries between a person’s sense of self and the specific physical systems or concepts within the perceivable external environment which are currently comprising the central point of cognitive focus.

This effect can manifest itself in an endless number of forms but common examples of the experience often include:

Becoming one with a specific object which you are interacting with

Becoming one with a specific person which you interacting with. (particularly common if engaging in sexual or romantic activities)

Becoming one with the entirety of your physical body

Becoming one with large crowds of people. (particularly common at raves and music festivals)

Becoming one with the external environment but not the people within it

This creates a sensation which is often described by people as the experience of becoming inextricably connected to, one with, the same as, or unified with whatever the perceived external system happens to be.

Unity between the self and all perceivable external systems

The third of these five differing levels of intensity can be referred to as “a state of unity between the self and all perceivable external systems”. It is defined as the experience of a loss of perceived boundaries between a person’s sense of self and the entirety of the currently perceivable external environment. The experience as a whole is generally described by people as “becoming one with my surroundings”.

This is felt to be the result of a person’s central sense of self becoming attributed to not just the internal narrative of the ego, but in equal measure, to the body itself and everything around it with which it is physically connected to through the senses. Once this sensation is in place, it creates the undeniable perspective that you are the external environment experiencing itself through the specific point within it that this body’s physical sensory awareness and conscious thought happens to currently reside in.

It’s at this level that a key component of the unity experience becomes an extremely noticeable factor. Once a person’s sense of self has become attributed to the entirety of their surroundings, this new perspective completely changes how it feels to physically interact with what was previously felt to be an external environment. For example, when physically interacting with an object in everyday life it feels very simply that you are a central agent organizing the world around itself. However, whilst undergoing a state of unity with the currently perceivable environment, interacting with an external object consistently feel as if the system as a whole is autonomously organizing itself and that you are no longer a central agent operating the process of interaction. Instead the process suddenly feels completely decentralized and mutual across itself as the environment begins to autonomously, mechanically and harmoniously respond to itself to perform the predetermined function of the particular interaction.

Unity between the self and all external systems

The fourth of these five differing levels of intensity can be referred to as a “state of unity between the self and all external systems”. It is defined as the experience of a loss of perceived boundaries between a person’s sense of self, the perceivable external environment, and all which they know to exist outside of this through their internally stored model of reality. This feels as if your sense of self has become attributed to not just the external environment but all of humanity, nature, and the universe as it presently stands in its complete entirety. The experience of this is generally described by people as “becoming one with the universe”.

When experienced, this perspective creates the sudden and undeniable sensation that you are quite literally the entire universe experiencing itself, exploring itself, and performing actions onto itself through the very specific point of space and time which your ego and conscious perception happens to currently reside in. When experienced, this feeling is immediately and universally understood to be an innate and undeniable truth by anybody who undergoes it.

Unity between the self and the creation of all external systems

The fifth and most profound of these five differing levels of intensity can be referred to as a “state of unity between the self and the creation of all external systems”. It is defined as the experience of a loss of perceived boundaries between a person’s sense of self and all external systems of behaviour. This includes not just the systems as they currently stand within the present moment but at each known point of their existence throughout all time lines past, present, and future as dictated by the person’s internally stored model of reality.

When experienced, this feels as if your sense of self has become attributed to all of space and time including every single past and future event such as the initial creation and eventual destruction of existence. It is a perspective which consistently leads onto the innate revelation and sensation that the ‘you’ in terms of your true self (everything) are personally and consciously responsible for the deliberate design and creation of the universe itself.

It’s at this point where some consistently reported interlocking sub-perspectives and innately extrapolated conclusions of a religious and metaphysical nature begin to come into play. These generally include but are not limited to:

The sudden and total acceptance of death as a fundamental component of one’s life. This is because death is no longer felt to be the destruction of the self but simply the end of this specific point of conscious awareness, The vast majority of which has always existed and will continue to exist and live on through everything else in which it resides.

A perspective which feels personally responsible for the design, planning, and implementation of every single specific detail and plot element of one’s personal life, the history of humanity, and the universe as a whole. This naturally includes personal culpability for humanity’s sufferings and its flaws, but also includes acts of love and our achievements.

The religious or spiritual realization that the person’s preconceived notions behind their concept of “god” or “god-hood” can now be felt through a forced change in perspective as identical to the nature of one’s true self. This realization is generally reached through the subconscious conclusion that the usually differing concepts of god-hood and self are both now identically defined as that which is the all-knowing, all-encompassing, all-powerful creator, and sustainer of this existence.

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