“Because everything has its origin / And I come going from place to place from the origin.”

OooooOOOOooooo - it's Friday the 13th!

What better day to disconnect our egos and assault the superstition-besieged worlds of meditation and psychedelic drug use?

One of the great joys of writing is that you get an excuse to find out Things about Things, which sometimes turns your thinking completely upside down. Like when I found out how dangerous meditation can be - and how safe psychedelic drugs are compared to paracetamol.

Before we get stuck in, I want to stop and say a big thank YOU for reading. If you want to find out why you in particular, I'll tell you at the bottom of the email. Now, on with the show!

#19: Who, what, where or why is my Ego?

There’s one part of the brain that marshals lower order brain processes such as our emotions and memory, and assumes responsibility for our higher meta-cognitive capabilities including self-reflection, chronesthesia (mental time travel), and our ability to empathise and read the minds of others (not literally).

In this piece, I explore the science, art, psychology and psychedelics of Ego, how we can switch it off - and why we might want to.

#20: Three Lessons from a Vipassana Meditation Retreat

As everybody knows, meditation can precipitate feelings of ego-dissolution, oneness with the universe and equanimity with the vicissitudes of life.

Obviously everyone also knows only too well that meditation is a dangerous activity that can cause mania, panic, depression and psychotic breakdown - wait, what?

#21: Everything we know about psychedelics is wrong

For example: over a sixth of UK adults have taken Class A drugs and psychedelics are probably good for your mental health.

This piece tells how my experiments with thyroxine medication (medically enforced) and vegetarianism (voluntary) showed me that there are no "good" and "bad" substances - but that we are all responsible for educating ourselves.

As promised, an explanation:

I use an app called MailChimp to send out these emails and the app gives me the ability to "segment my audience" based on how often you read what I write. It seems to make sense to send my best writing only to people who really want to read it and you guys are the best of the best - so thanks!

This is the last week of my frantic three blog posts a week on YouAreWhatYouDont.co.uk. We've covered No Walking, No Aeroplanes, No Mobile Phone, No Supermarkets, No Money, No Borders and No Ego. Now, as my favourite readers, it's up to you! What would you like to hear more about, what would you like to hear next? Let me know by replying to this email!

If you're still buying what I'm dealing, please share the love. Duplication of ideas is pretty much free in this day and age - there's no need to go down the Xerox shop to share this with your friends. Just copy and comment. :)

On this most inauspicious of Fridays, I wish you good luck out there. In the words of the No Borders Reader of the Week: "More bridges, less walls!" -DC