A bit late to the party...

Maybe over simplified, but the ego for me is very wrapped up in the map of the world that I have in my head. When I think about someone I love, I generally think about the image I have of them in my head instead of the actual person  -- that is ego. Conceiving of an isosceles triangle is an example of extreme ego, because it doesn't exist, except as a conception.

Although we need ego to survive (there is no future when living outside the ego), the trouble with ego is that we often mistake the mental map for reality.

I believe the irony of a DMT trip is that it is actually very much about the ego, and yet helps break down the ego at the same time. Similar to the isosceles triangle, the DMT trip is all in your head (I am not one who believes there are actual entities in the direct sense). Having the mind create such a vivid and complete alternate reality shocks us into the realization that the 'reality' we live in is just another mental construct, just another hallucination.

The realization causes 'ego death' or a 'little enlightenment.' In that mentally disrupted space, we make new mental connections and let go of burdens that felt weighty before, because they have no reality outside of the mind.

We can't live in the world without ego, though. It's pretty hard to drive a car if you experience the world only as sensory input-- it's helpful to know that a beeping horn means "Look out!" We must come down off the mountain of enlightenment.