The sessions would get up to three hours long. They were insane journeys through all the different stages of a 5meo trip. It really helped map what was possible at different levels.
You're correct that there's a threshold where the trip will drastically change. From the description of your semi-breakthrough, it sounds like you got to that point. If you finesse your use of the vape, you can kind of keep yourself in that zone where the intensity spikes. From there, it'll be all about finding the courage to go further.
What really makes or breaks my trips is my use of spiritual practice before and during the experience (and ideally after). If I just go into it haphazardly, I'll be thrown around chaotically just like anyone else. But if my mind is relatively quiet, sense of self tamed, attention on the present moment, and the sensation of bodily energy at the forefront, my trip will crystalize into what it's supposed to be at that level of consciousness. There's a sort of predefined direction that the spiritual human experience is naturally supposed to head towards. If you can diminish the parts of you that fight against that, everything clicks into place and it's far less scary.

All I can say is that pharmahuasca is fantastic, and it produces the most fun, insightful, and euphoric psychedelic experiences I've ever had. Are harmalas legal in Germany? If so, I'd get a hold of some harmine and tetrahydroharmine and mix up some pharmahuasca.
Let me know if you have any particular questions.

I recommend reading the book integral relationships as a starting point, Also Leo has a video series called how to get laid.

Investigating the first knowable thing in existence 
The standard definition of consciousness, often used in philosophy, psychology and neuroscience, is the following:
Consciousness is the state of being aware of, and able to think about, one's own existence, thoughts and surroundings. 
The key components of consciousness, here, are:
Awareness — the capacity to be aware of internal states (thoughts, emotions and sensations) and external stimuli (environments and inhabitants). Subjectivity — the quality of experiences that are personal and unique to an individual.  Intentionality — the directed-ness or about-ness of mental states. Consciousness is often about something.  Qualia — the qualitative aspects of conscious experiences such as the redness of a red or the pain of a headache.  Self-Reflection — the ability to think about and reflect on one's own mental states and processes.  Different levels of states of consciousness:
Wakefulness — the state of being alert and engaged with the environment.  Sleep — involves various stages, including REM sleep which is associated with vivid dreaming.  Altered States — states induced by meditation, hypnosis, drugs or certain mental health conditions.  Consciousness in different contexts:
Philosophy — explores the nature, origin and implications of consciousness, often dealing with questions like the "hard problem" (why and how subjective experiences arise from physical processes). Psychology — studies consciousness through behavior, cognition and neurobiological processes, often looking at attention, perception and awareness.  Neuroscience — investigates the neural correlates of consciousness, identifying specific brain regions and networks involved in conscious experiences.  There are several theories about consciousness. Here I will mention the major theories in detail. 
High Order Thought theory
Proponents: David Rosenthal, Peter Carruthers. 
Core idea: A mental state becomes conscious when it is the object of a high order thought (a thought about a thought). 
Mechanism: For example, if you see a red apple, the perception of the apple is a first order mental state. It becomes a conscious experience when you have a higher order thought that you are seeing the red apple. 
Implications: This theory suggests that consciousness requires a kind of metacognition or thinking about one's own thoughts.
Higher Order Perception theory 
Proponents: Same as HOT theory, but with a focus on perception. 
Core idea: Consciousness arises from the integration of information in a "global workspace" in the brain. 
Mechanism: Information from various subconscious processes is broadcast to a network of neurons thus making it globally available for decision making, action and verbal report. 
Analogy: It's like a theater spotlight that brings certain information into focus for the entire system while the rest remains in the dark.
Information Integrated theory
Proponents: Giulio Tononi
Core idea: Consciousness corresponds to the capacity of a system to integrate information. 
Mechanism: The theory quantifies consciousness using a measure called phi which represents the degree of integrated information. Higher phi values indicate more integrated and hence more conscious systems. 
Implications: IIT suggests that any system that integrates information (biological or artificial) could possess some level of consciousness. 
Phenomenological Approaches 
Proponents: Various, including Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. 
Core idea: Focuses on the subjective, first-person experience of consciousness. 
Method: Descriptive rather than explanatory. It aims to describe the structures of experience from the point of view of the subject. 
Key concepts: Intentionality (consciousness is always about something), lived experience, embodiment (the body as a primary site of knowing the world).
Multiple Realization theory
Core idea: Different neural structures can give rise to the same conscious experience. 
Mechanism: Emphasizes the diversity of neural substrates across species and individuals that can generate consciousness. 
Recurrent Processesing theory
Proponents: Victor Lamme, Stanislas Dehaene.
Core idea: Consciousness arises from recurrent or re-entrant neural activity rather than just feedfoward processing.
Mechanism: Persistent and reciprocal signaling within and betwixt different brain regions is crucial for conscious perception. 
Orchestrated Objective Reduction theory
Proponents: Roger Penrose, Stuart Hameroff.
Core idea: Consciousness results from quantum computations in microtubules within neurons.
Mechanism: Combines principles of quantum mechanics and neuroscience. Conscious events are proposed to be orchestrated by biological processes and then collapsed by quantum processes.
Embodied Cognition 
Proponents: Francisco Varela, Ethan Thompson, and others. 
Core idea: Consciousness arises from the interaction between an organism and its environment. 
Mechanism: Emphasizes the role of the body in shaping the mind. Cognitive processes are deeply rooted in the body's interactions with the world. 
Panpsychism 
Proponents: Philip Goff, Galen Stawson.
Core idea: Consciousness is a fundamental feature of all physical entities, not just brains.
Mechanism: Every particle or fundamental entity has a basic form of consciousness. Complex consciousness arises from the combination of simpler forms.

Inside the brain there are micro tublicales. Little tubes with liquid brain fluid inside. These seem to be the way physical reality (brain) interfaces with the quantum intelligence. Like in a vacuum where they see quantum particles arise out of nothingness, inside these "brain tubes" these quantum particles appear.
Here's a video of Stuart Hameroff by Deepak Chopra about the micro tublicales:
That seems to be how thoughts actually arise.
----------
What thoughts actually arise is a different story.
First "reality" is blinking on and off ...like every plank nano second. Much like a movie projector. We are here and not here every nano second. Nothing is actually moving.
Our brains can only receive "certain" thoughts. The akashic records records every "flash" when we blink into existence.
So memory and continuity arise. So we can access memory and thoughts that we had before.
Our brains seem to be more of a receiver but can only receive certain thoughts according to our learning, experiences, level of consciousness. 
Let's say our brain is tuned into WIIFM 107 (i.e what's in it for me : )  ) it would be like a possibility that only certain thoughts could arise, like a continuum:
LOW-------MEDIMUN-------HIGH
Something like that.
: )

Unexpectedly great video on levels of consciousness, spiral dynamics, susan cook-Greuter's developmental levels models and AQAL by Ken wilder
 
He made this simplified chart too, overall probably some of the best consciousness video I've seen outside of Leo's work 
 
 

https://www.rozziroomian.com/gallery
This is the artist's site. Lots of great pics, though that one in the OP is probably the best. I'm sure it speaks to practically everyone on the forum who has some experience.

I downloaded this image and added it to my collection of art. The image itself and style reminds me of this picture from my collection. 
 

@Davino this one is a good one too:
 

It might be worth mentioning that this occurred years ago when I was more naive and when there just wasn't the same level of detailed information that's available now. The current version of myself with the resources I have may have made a different decision in that scenario.
Here's a link to the type of guide I wish I'd had: https://five-meo.education/risks-and-cautions/
If you scroll down on the page, there's both a downloadable and embedded copy of the excellent document "FIVE GUIDE" written by the credentialed and knowledgeable Benjamin Malcolm. Beyond detailing the contraindications, it's an amazing resource for 5-MeO-DMT information in general.

That's actually an amazing story.
I did the 100 questions exercise from my Life Purpose Course, where you write down your top 100 questions you want answers to most badly.
My #1 question was: What is consciousness?
So the next day I went to Amazon and typed in What is consciousness? and Ralston's book was the first to appear. And as soon as I saw its title I immediately knew this was the most serious book on this topic.
And so it was.
That is the power of asking good questions.