“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.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find something worth learning :)

#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.

Thanks for reading!

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. :)

If you don't fancy it so much these days, I won't take offence if you want to unsubscribe - we all get overwhelmed by how much reading there is to be done! I'll welcome you back anytime and I'm all ears if you have any feedback.

On this most spooky 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