I've also taken mushrooms twice and in both cases was overwhelmed with empathy for another person's existence. One was a homeless person I walked by and another was a teacher I had met that night.

They definitely pry open mental models your mind has trained itself to no longer see (probably because it's too overwhelming to experience them at all times).

Actually the third person I felt a unique depth of empathy for was myself, and that experience was pivotal in my life.