The Egyptians believed that every human being was composed of physical and spiritual parts or aspects. In addition to the body, each person had a "šwt" (shadow), a "ba" (personality or soul), a "ka" (life-force), and a name. The heart, rather than the brain, was considered the seat of thoughts and emotions.

After death, the spiritual aspects were released from the body and could move at will, but they required the physical remains (or a substitute, such as a statue) as a permanent home.

The ultimate goal of the deceased was to rejoin his "ka" and "ba" and become one of the "blessed dead", living on as an "akh", or "effective one". For this to happen, the deceased had to be judged worthy in a trial, in which the heart was weighed against a "feather of truth" (seen on top of the head of Maat - the Egyptian goddess who personified the concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice). If deemed worthy, the deceased could continue their existence on earth in spiritual form.

Sources:
Allen (2000) pp. 79, 94–5
Wasserman, et al. (1994) pp. 150–3

On a separate line of thought, is it possible that every human being existing on earth right now is an "akh" - a wandering soul that has its physical remains (a "Ka" statue) in a different dimension - without even realizing it? Stuck in a stunningly realistic perpetual dream state.

Would it be reasonable to consider psychedelic experiences as a way of taking a brief glimpse at the world we came from - what I'd like to call "The Beyond"? The DMT entities for example being as real as they sometimes seem, but in a different dimension (the one we came from).

And is dying in this realm just another crossing between this world and the next? How many of those could be stacked? So many questions...but how many of those would leave you sane if answered?

I find Ancient Egypt extremely fascinating to say the least. If any of you has any amazing reads on their traditions and mystical ceremonies, as well as opinions on the above, I'd love if you share them!

Much love, brothers and sisters!

Ancient Egyptians were avid psychonauts. Their culture, beliefs and writings are infused with psychedelics. Personally, its hard to say whether its the Beyond or just another aspect of reality we are not privy to experience in our clear-headed daily lives or is indeed a glimpse into the abyss. Either way, its worth exploring and can give one a new perspective, renewed creativity or even a new path for self-reflection or exploration. This has been going on for thousands of years and even possibly for the entire existence of humanity. After all, we seem to be the only things on this planet that utilize self-reflection. It pains me to see science casually dismiss such an experience and find it inherently unworthy of exploration or even note in some cases. Maybe it will remain shrouded in mystery from most people, only available to those willing to take that leap of faith for some time to come.

The Egyptians were ahead of their time in many aspects, I would love to see what they could have accomplished in the realm of psychedelic use with our level of technology since they were so open to these types experiences and seemed to have a great framework for understanding and integrating them.

Aren’t we all wandering souls in a different dimension in this reality? I would have to agree with this, we seem to be so alien to this reality – standing apart from almost every other life form with our higher cognitive capacities. As some philosophers suggest, are we engaged in some type of dream-game aimed at experience or growth of our “soul” (ba)? Are we from here or did we come here? For me, the fun part is that we will never know for sure until that veil completely lifts and we move away from this reality and our physical bodies.

Well put, my friend. Life is amazing because of its mysteries.