I'll add more to my comment. The mind already has the ability to 'filter'. One can achieve the same 'loss of ego' effect by deeply listening to music, or climb

I'll add more to my comment. The mind already has the ability to 'filter'. One can achieve the same 'loss of ego' effect by deeply listening to music, or climbing a mountain, or gazing at stars, or hovering on the edge of sleep, or... I liken caffeine to a 'sharpen' filter, alcohol to a 'blur' filter. Psychedelics? You can imagine the analogous filters for those... ;-) The point is, mind-altering substances are a lazy, dirty way to get there. They descend like a blanket on the brain, clouding out reality. And that's what it's really about, if one is honest with oneself.