At this point, I'm pretty fluent with Alan Watts, Eckhart Tolle, and a few other of the more famous modern philosophers, but I'm always looking for new lessons and discussions on philosophy. I was listening to Terrance McKenna today and one of the lectures about DMT being used to break down the societal constructs we find ourselves within. Something clicked with me that I have never actually considered in this way before, which is the entire point of finding new lectures, but perhaps an "ego trip" is just the opposite of a spiritual hallucinogenic experience.
It was a bit of a stretch to wrap my mind around this concept initially, because taking a substance like LSD or DMT and having a "psychedelic experience" are pretty heavily known for the visual hallucinations. Looking past the surface differences and examining how devastating and long lasting an ego trip can be then allowed me to consider the ways in which they are actually similar and how profound these experiences can both be. Perhaps looking at many "psychological disorders" or behaviors from the sense that they are an involuntary "trip" that is running its' course could actually be beneficial for treatment.
During an ego trip, we can become detached from reality to the point that we only see things one way, which I believe can be a form of self imposed hallucination in and of itself. Perhaps an "ego trip" is even more dangerous because of it's lack of psychedelic hallucinations. I feel that as similar as they can both be in the spectrum of intensity as a personal experience, they are perhaps two sides of the same coin and thus a paradox. It was just interesting to me realizing that two things that I consider to be polar opposite in nature, because they manifest in such opposition, could be so similar in such an abstract way. Feel free to discuss your thoughts below. Namaste.