I think the ego embodies a lot of our drives, some of which we seem to think we have transcended or ought to?
I agree fully. I think that psychedelic use, at first (in addition to the culture surrounding it), especially following early ego loss experiences, tends to produce the sentiment that the ego is a bad thing, that we should seek to obliterate it. Not saying you're saying that by the way, TAC, just that I've seen this idea a lot on the forums and in real life. To me, this idea makes no sense, although I used to say the same thing when I was younger. The ego is simply the sense of individual self, apart from the whole. To live as a human is to have an ego, the ego is what makes us each unique. Of course, the ego can come to dominate in an unhealthy way, which is why ego loss can be such a tremendous experience. I think that everyone could probably benefit from an ego loss experience in their life (for some though, psychedelics are not a good idea, unfortunately). But you can take it too far in the opposite direction too. It's important, IMO, to learn to embrace the ego. Not only is it necessary for survival, but it's pretty fucking cool a lot of the time, you get to identify parts of your human self that you love and parts you don't. With the experience of ego loss behind you, it can make it easier to objectively view qualities of your self and adjust them or embrace them, rather than be a slave to them. But to obliterate them? That will happen when we die. Until then, the best approach is the middle of the road. Understand the ego for what it is, and embrace it to live the best life possible.
However, can't it be said that something is wrong with all of us? No matter how far you get, there is always room for improvement.
We get this at work, where in yearly performance reviews, it is impossible to get 10 out of 10 in any category, because there is always room to improve. At the same time, to me this doesn't indicate that anything is wrong with us. It's just the nature of things, nothing is ever at rest, the universe itself is restless and seeks change. Life is dynamic. I think we should avoid thinking that there is something inherently wrong with us... our nature is our nature and it is just what is. To attribute "wrong" to our nature is to weaken us. If my nature as a human is "wrong", then I become a victim of my circumstances, rather than a free agent who can think, feel and behave in any way I choose.
In other words, perfection is imperfect.
Indeed. So, let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel!
I like how weed makes me hungry and sleeeeeeepy and calm and thoughtful and stoned and hungry.
Yeah I could have used it last night. I decided to only bring my phenibut on my trip as far as drugs go, and use it a little less than normal to begin tapering, since I know I have some degree of physical dependence to it. Well, I did it on Saturday at a lower dose, never hit my social euphoria plateau though I did feel it, felt a bit strange socially as I spent the evening with some friends but had a good time. Then yesterday was a no GABA drugs day (or, well, mostly anyway, I had some beers at my dad's birthday dinner). I realized I had been using small bits of etizolam or drinking heavily on my phenibut off-days, and it had been masking the light withdrawal somewhat, and in fact I have been feeling it even on the next day, where before I wouldn't feel it until the 3rd day. The effect was, I got into a very low-energy, brooding sort of state. Went out with family for my dad's birthday, and it wasn't until I had a few beers that I felt really relaxed and joyous. Didn't have much, I stopped after 5 nice craft beers over the course of 5 hours. But when I lost my alcohol buzz, after everyone was gone, I went back to that semi-funk state. I tried to go to bed, didn't sleep long enough the night before, and was up all night tossing and turning. I felt 100% comfortable physically, I was able to lay still and feel cozy, but my mind just wouldn't turn off. I've felt this same feeling before so I know it's from the phenibut. I kept slipping into semi-lucid dream states where I would be aware I was sort of awake for a while, then immerse totally, but it was never more than 30 minutes between times looking at the clock all the way through until my alarm went off. I felt a draw to go drink a few shots, and even felt a draw to go dose a bit of my dad's lorazepam, but glad I did neither (especially the second one). If I had had weed, I certainly would have gotten nice and high though, probably would have worked. Alas, when flying between destinations, weed isn't really an option. Actually my friend whose house I went to the other night was going to give me weed to take home, but we forgot. Ah well. I'm going there tonight again so I should be able to do that tomorrow night. The dreams were really interesting though, once again I kept going back to the same dream all night, it evolved over the course of the night but it always picked up where it left off. And again, it kept reminding me of my ibogaine dreams, same kind of world, same kind of weird vividness, same semi-magical sort of essence. I actually really enjoyed the dreaming, I just really wanted to actually sleep deeply too.
Anyway I'll be fine but yeah, looking back as I reflected during the fully awake parts of the night, I realized, damn, it's been like 2 years since I realized I had some level of physical dependence to phenibut. It's easy to lose track. It made me resolve to get off of it. When I get home I'll take baclofen on the third day, and do that cycle a couple of times... a few years back when I was in a similar situation with phenibut, I did the same and it was really easy, never had to taper off the baclofen or anything either, it just helped with phenibut withdrawal and I used it a few times until I had stepped down enough. I've just been putting it off. The good news is, though I did take a dose today, it still hasn't kicked in and it's been like 30 hours since I felt the effect wear off last, and the feeling hasn't grown since about the 12 hour point at all. I still feel totally comfortable physically, but just kind of flat and slightly anxious, but also quite thoughtful. I think this won't be bad at all. Glad to be more aware of myself than I was back in the day. Years back I'd probably be dosing phenibut constantly by now, stealing my dad's prescriptions, hell I'd probably have a benzo dependence since for the first time even I have a stash of benzos. I feel calm and rational about this now though, it's just something I have to deal with for a bit, but I feel 100% confidence in myself. It's been a case of a slow progression of using phenibut too often, using substances a bit too often in general again. But I don't need to, I just got a little carried away cuz I like being high. So, whatever, I recognize that and will adjust accordingly.
We had three smokes over a few hours, shared about 300mg all up. First one was wild for both, very humorous as twas my mate's first go. He was amazed and humbled and euphoric, me too. Next was mild for me, but strong for him, he was fixated on objects and highly amused by his walls. 
