“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Carl Jung

The conscious part of the mind that gives one a personal sense of identity is called the Ego. It is an archetype that is mentally represented as the sum of the person you think you are through a collection of other identities and stories such as age, gender, occupation, preferences, etc.. The Ego itself is very fragile and easily threatened. It functions to keep you safe by steadfastly holding onto what is familiar and comfortable. Change and the unknown are terrifying to the Ego because it fears they might bring it harm or destruction, and therefore it resists them at all costs. The Ego’s fear of the unknown presents a significant dilemma because the mind and psyche are made up of both conscious and unconscious aspects. The conscious aspect includes anything that is within our awareness. The unconscious mind consists of memories, feelings, desires, and even trauma that exist outside of conscious awareness, including those that are personal as well as collective - these unconscious aspects of our mind far outweigh the conscious. This means that we are carrying around within us a vast landscape of material that we do not have conscious access to, or in other words most of our own minds are made up of the unknown. In his book “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself”, Dr. Joe Dispenza articulated that our mind is 5% conscious, and 95% unconscious (!).

While we may not be aware of the contents of our unconscious mind, it still exerts pressure and heavy influence on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This can create a war within our own minds, with unconscious desires and drives exerting pressure on us at the same time the Ego tries to keep them suppressed and unexpressed out of fear they might harm it. Unfortunately suppression is an ineffective strategy, and the pressure exerted by the unconscious will keep building until it can be expressed, meanwhile causing more suffering. This pressure is manifested through mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression and panic attacks, as well as various physical conditions that are considered as psycho-somatic. Reconciling this internal conflict between the Ego and the suppressed material of the unconscious (including other personality archetypes) is a significant part of psycho-spiritual healing. It is the process of becoming whole or integrating by acknowledging and accepting the different aspects of our psyche to no longer having parts of the mind that is at war with itself. Typically, the first step to the reconcilliation is the Ego’s disolving, as if it were a crubling solid wall or dam, allowing the unconscious to flood the concious and a more accurate picture of “truth” is revealed. This is the process of Ego disillusion.

Psychedelics can be incredibly powerful tools to facilitate this process of disillusionment - also commonly called ‘Ego death’ - and integrating the conscious and unconscious aspects of the mind and psyche so that we can live from a place of internal unity and benefit from the influence of the unconscious rather than waging an internal war against it. Psychedelics can shine a light on unconscious material bringing it into conscious awareness. While shining this kind of light into our own internal darkness can at times be terrifying and destabilizing, it can be incredibly powerful in facilitating healing and growth processes. Knowing more about what we really think and feel and how we have been hurt and wounded opens us up to a much more informed approach to working on our issues.

For example, a psychedelic session might reveal that the reason your boss terrifies you is because you felt rejected by your parents as a child, and an unhealed, unconscious part of you is terrified that your boss might reject you in the same way that caused such deep wounding in your early life. The unconscious fear of experiencing that childhood pain again is making you incredibly anxious around your boss. The psychedelic experience might bring the unconscious childhood wound to the surface and shed light on why your boss makes you so intensely anxious. Once you fully understand the issue, you will be in a much better place to take action to resolve it (e.g., working to get in touch with your inherent self-worth and developing a social support network that helps you feel safe, connected, and cared for).

Because the process of allowing parts of the unconscious into awareness can be terrifying and destabilizing for many, we have developed a set of strategies to make the experience less jarring and as insightful and helpful as possible. Resistance to engaging with unconscious aspects of the mind indicates an imbalance of the psyche because it is in conflict with itself; this resistance is based on a lack of trust. The Ego is afraid of being diminished and so it resists. This suggests that working to build trust and personal agency in the therapeutic psychedelic process can help make the experience much more comfortable and helpful.

Three effective strategies to increase trust:

Creating an environment setting that feels safe:

Burn sage or palo santo to cleanse the space
Play beautiful and soothing music
Bring comfort items like your favorite pillow and blanket to help you feel more secure.

2. Create a bond with the medicine spirit:

Have a conversation with this spirit before your journey, through meditation or writing a letter.
State your intentions and ask for its guidance.
Hold the medicine close to your heart and ask for a blessing from the spirit of the medicine, drink it with love and reverence as if it were the nectar of the gods. This can open you up to fully accept the experience and reduce resistance to the process.

3. Foster greater trust in yourself through self-care:

Arrive to the medicine space well rested, nourished and calm
Practice resilience techniques and navigation skills like breathing, repeating mantras and internal observation
Remain hydrated and allow yourself to take breaks as needed.

In the integration phase post-journey, a good strategy is to engage in what we call “parts” work: working with the different parts of your psyche and your personality to understand the ensuing dynamics and potential imbalances. Jungian methodology can be extremely helpful as it provides a thorough map of consciousness, including distinguished elements like:

Psychic archetypes like Ego, Shadow, Animus/Anima, Persona, High Self
Archetypes as archaic symbolism
Personality types with psychological functions: thinking and feeling (rational), and sensation and intuition (irrational)
The individual and the collective conscious and unconscious.

Through Jungian-informed psychedelic integration there is an opportunity to isolate, identify, analyze, reclaim and ultimately merge the various parts of the personality that were unconsciously split, repressed or disowned by the person through genetics, culture, family history, trauma and life events. The Ego and identity are infused with new understanding and meaning as there is a higher awareness and attunement with other components of the psyche. Mindful and ongoing psychedelic integration brings all of our internal parts and children back into psychological wholeness and ultimately a more well-rounded, integrated human experience.

For in-depth support with processing and applying your psychedelic insights to optimize your life book your private session with Shiri here.

Thank you to Mike Sayers for his contributions to this article.

How To Dismantle The Ego's Resistance and Build Trust In Psychedelic Integration