There is a quite lengthy description of one of the cooler ideas explored in this episode below.
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I think the main effect of interest with psychedelics could be disruption of conditioned responses which might allow new conditioning to override established responses.
In some sense, this is sort of what I think REBUS is proposing underneath it all. I think even the effects on perception, attention, and cognition are from destabilizing conditioned responses and allowing us to observe the world and use our mind in ways that we have been conditioned to not do.
We fear ego death in waking life because the ego is partly developed through avoidance of the things we fear. Lacking this puts us in confrontation with those fears and ego death strips us of our habitual coping strategies to solve our fears.
One example would be learning to put on a social mask to avoid the fear of being harmed socially. During the come up on psychedelics, our learned social behavioral responses may disappear and we feel naked, while our conditioned fears that tell us to be socially afraid still remain. At super high doses, we might blockout even the conditioned response to fear social situations.
This can allow us to observe that we had such a conditioned mindset and that alternative ways of existing are out there. A life where we are not clinging to the habitual way of seeing and behaving.
It’s like fear forces us into a box of limited behaviors and perceptions and sometimes this brings us misery. Like an addict who fears the withdrawals. Like those with PTSD who fear engaging with their triggers/cues.