In Jungian psychology, he theorizes that psychic energy circulates through the persona, ego, anima/animus, the shadow self, the unconscious and the collective unconscious. Certain parts of the personality more be more dominant at different times, and there is finite amount about of energy redirected between these parts which are not always redirected in a balanced way.

Many psychedelic substances cause softening of the ego or deadening altogether, which in theory would cause the psychic energy to be directed into other parts of the person's psyche. This would allow for the shadow self and unconscious mind to become more prevalent, as the ego is in a weakened or absent state which would normally reject these thoughts to become present.

The ego acts to filter what is allowed into the conscious mind, and redirects any unwanted thoughts into the unconscious mind. With this ego softening, it seems to be a perfect opportunity to dig into the shadow self and unconscious mind having access to things that would normally be restricted and closed off from the ego.

Pulling these unconscious thoughts, and influence from the shadow self can allow us to learn about our mind more intimately, and access things that are normally off limits in a sober mindset. It can allow us to be honest about our fears, our weaknesses, and the faults within ourselves that we don't want to admit. Unresolved issues will appear in a blindspot because the ego is not willing to recognize it, and can manifest in many ways.

The unconscious mind is constantly at work, even during periods of rest which are responsible for the dreams that we have. Often, our dreams are result of unaddressed issues of the day or things that the ego has filtered away.

With psychedelics, this state is more readily available so I believe it is one of the most potent tools for self growth and self understanding. Softening of the ego allows for a complete perspective change which is very helpful for addressing topics that are uncomfortable to us. It allows us to access things that our mind has buried - things that without resolve, would continue to remain in our unconscious.

The human psyche is the interaction between the outside world, and the internal self. This can easily throw the ego out of balance at any time from outside stressors. Someone who is in a constant comfortable environment may have a balanced mind. With external stressors, it can easily send the mind into a state of unbalance.

Take an alcoholic for example: in perfect conditions, they can have a complete remission from their alcoholism. If they are in balance in mind and there are no outside stressors, they can remain in a period of remission. Despite this, in the unconscious mind, if the reasons for this person are not addressed, an upset in the balance of their ego caused by outside factors (such as stress, death in the family, insecurity) can cause a relapse.

Perhaps their alcoholism stems from a deep seated feeling of insecurity, which is unconscious to them as they behave charismatically and have people patting their ego putting a bandaid on what is underlying them. Their ego desperately wants to dismiss any unwanted, difficult and conflicting thoughts and stimuli into the unconscious mind. This makes it difficult to access the deeper rooted reasons of a person's alcoholism.

With the use of psychedelics, one could ponder without the restraint of the ego, the cause of their alcoholism. Perhaps it would not be immediately unraveled, but it would allow thoughts and ideas to flow to their conscious mind. Perhaps this person has deeply rooted feelings of inadequacy that their ego has buried into their subconscious. These tools can force us to face our subconscious head on.

Exploring our unconscious mind and shadow self allows us to become more whole and self aware. Bringing these things into our conscious allows us to have a stronger ego which in turn makes us more resilient human beings with far better self understanding. This brings us closer to self actualization, and these potent tools could yield incredible effects in a person's life in a short time.

Over the years, I have gained many valuable insights into my use of psychedelics. I have came to realizations that could have potentially taken years in therapy. The use of psychedelics literally rewires a person's brain to make connections that weren't there originally. With proper environment and serious intent of self discovery, psychedelics are the exact opposite of a means of escapism. It allows us to face the escapism we face every day due to our ego filtering unpleasant things into the unconscious mind.