When the song was titled "Hang On to Your Ego", the lyrics referenced enlightenment through acid-induced ego death and advised users of LSD to be wary of the drug's effects on the mind. The narrator also expressed a frustration with the self-centeredness of others and urged those who use psychedelics as escapism—like himself—to "hang on to" their ego, even though he believes that they are unable to. In the interpretation of author Donald Brackett, the song warned against "losing touch with one reality through effortless chemistry while coming closer to another one through the determined effort of talent", in other words, "don't let your identity be melted away during your search for enlightenment. It's an artificial paradise, narrator cautions, since as Jack Kerouac once remarked, enlightenment wasn't built in a day!"