Colipsis refers to the extreme, often transcendental, disorientation associated with extended periods without sleep or food, usually involving a period of traveling or wandering. The condition is self-induced and is sometimes part of a ritual such as Walkabout. The goal of reaching Colipsis is to completely lose oneself in one's mind, blocking out the outside world entirely. Some suggest that the anglicized term was derived from a combination of the terms solipsism (the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist), ellipsis (three dots in place of writing that is supposed to be there) and/or from the Latin souls (alone or unaccompanied).

The origins are a little vague, but the first recorded incident was from the journal of a largely unknown 18th C. British explorer, Horace Iqbal. According to his journal entries, Iqbal had been traveling in Egypt, in an attempt to procure exotic spices and gemstones that would bolster his finances and reputation back in England. He trusted no one, and so refused to hire a guide, even when traversing into the Sahara. Instead, he followed a map which turned out to be inaccurate, and so Iqbal found himself in the desert with little food or water.

It was while Iqbal was trying to find his way back to civilization that he came across a nomad named [illegible handwriting]. The nomad carried almost nothing with him and "spoke in choppy, disconnected phrases." Iqbal was not fluent in Arabic, but from what he garnered, the nomad had lost his family and "wanted to forget." The only other thing that Iqbal recorded in his journal was that achieving colipsis was not an uncommon vice in that area, often sought out by poorer individuals who were too poor to afford alcohol, tobacco, or hasish.

Today, colipsis is rarely practiced, but is often loosely compared to transcendental meditation or taking ayahuasca. In some cases, people have reported trying to achieve colipsis while driving, usually along desert highways or other uninhabited areas where they can run the car off the road with minimal risk. Those who survived the multi-day road hallucination have universally asserted that the only thing that could compare with a colipsis trip is "being embraced by God."