Isn't the only possible response to this reading forums?
How many people are going to respond with weasle and chainsaw juggling? Actually now I hope someone is actually doing that right now, somewhere.

Swapping out another person's toothpaste with Icy Hot. Smells the same and apparently tastes the same when you wake up groggy. My next prank was going to be mixing Nair into his shampoo but I never got around to it.

Tuesday.

Most cognition scientists are fairly certain the brain is the center of body control. So I'm not sure what you mean by controlling your brain, do you mean shaping thought or physical movment of the brain?

Eljay, sorry if my comments have come so rudely, they were far too over the top and failed to convey my point properly. My indictment of religion is mostly targeted towards the institutions that build up around these ideals. Faith is one of the most dangerous things humans have ever invented, history is rife with examples of its manipulation and abuse.
Religion has always managed to use its power towards truly evil ends from the current persecution of homesexuals and the halt of scientific progress, to mass executions for people who would dare speak against the earth being the center of the universe. I'm more admonishing every person at the base of a pyramid for holding up such a destructive force.
To put some spurs against your statements though there are rules in the bible I bleieve there are some 360+ rules on how to live your life, how to punish criminals, how to atone for sins, and what exactly a sin is. Some of these include when it is proper to beat your wife or how much you should pay the family of a person whose slave you have beaten to death, not really applicable guidelines to living today. Yet from those very same pages are the other rules that people have so ferverantly claimed are laws delivered by god to the pens of man that MUST be followed.
And actually my reasoning for not believing in an afterlife is because there are no facts to support it, the reason I claim that it is out of fear should be clear if you read through the subtext of any religion. All religions see and accept that life is basically unfair but take this idea and propose that eveyone, in the end, gets their just deserts be it hell, heaven, reincarnation or whatever. The idea that there is more to life than what we see is not without basis, but any part of our selves living after death is baseless. Any uncontriveratable proof of an afterlife is most often made up or is simply wishful thinking in action.
Of crutches and religion I rarely move from my stance that religion creates people dependant on it so it can perpetuate itself. If you believe you have to go to the temple once a week and tithe 10% back to god for all he's given you the church has reached its goal. To facilitate this end they tell people that only the light of Mohamed or Allah can redeem your wrongs and bring you from the depths of suffering. Why do people need to be forgiven by a person that lived 5000 years before them, or has never been proven to exist at all? Isn't it simply better to accept your own previous failings and make strides to improve them? Can't people forgive themselves without being told that they're forgiven? Any organized religion would tell you I'm wrong in every important respect because I went straight from committing the act that brought me low to trying on my own to find out how to fix things that I didn't give god the chance to show me how fallible I am.
As far as where I have gotten all this information I have read the bible, it wasn't much of a page turner but I got there. I'm also an ex-catholic so my religious knowledge isn't without basis. I've made studies into the other monotheistic teachings and found many similarities between them all, so much so that if they were to simply consolodate and become slightly more geared towards product placement they could outcompete Microsoft. The buddist philosophy seems like a good idea on the surface, self improvement through disipline and finding the best path for yourself to enlightenment. That's actually where it fall down though as it describes the attempt to attain nirvana and pass out of the world, which is so natural that any living thing can do it. Still I do like some of the teachings of Budda and don't really deirde a religion that simply prefers t contemplate rather than conquer.
So that's about how I feel about religion, if it were decentralized and didn't cling to traditions and try to stifle change to cling to their power structures I wouldn't spend as much time advocating change. Religion tells people they are being judged by values that were arrived at by a group of bishops over a century and a half ago and pushes goverments to follow these same policies, while contributing nothing themselves not even tax money. I think I'd feel much less bitter towards such intitutes if they had to pay the price of admission like everyone else to participate in politics, but that isn't going to happen.
For the individual I would say it would behoove you to analyise your reasons for being of your current religion, and don't just assume I'm trying to get you to change your beliefs for my own benifit of personal agrandizement. If you really really want to believe in the divine aspects of life, life ever lasting, and the inherant good of all people trust me you've missed something. Better to take these ideals and make them goals not truths because people really aren't inherently good if you don't believe me read the link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tees/7063366.stm
And remember it is the height of human arrogance to envision a divine perfect being and then assume it looks just like you and made you in his image. Gods aare created by people, not the other way around.

Clear is actually my favorite color.

love=http://xkcd.com/55/ my normal approach IS useless here.

Everyone breathe a sigh of relief I have arrived. I'm new to the Phoenix area in general and don't know many people and being from the biggest city in North Dakota makes this place feel unfriendly and impersonal. To complete this impersonal feeling I've joined this website as an experiment in the most impersonal form of meeting other people.
My profile tells about half the tale of my moving and the event that led up to it, the rest is... much longer. Suffice it to say I like the city but I think it just needs to slow down and live more in the moment.

Hi, I'm not a godd member of forum communities. I speak my mind, normally find myself at odds with the mjority, and am completely unapologetic about my views.
I am interested in ingratiating myself here so I thought some warning of my personality would be due. I am an unrepentant narrissistic jerk whose personal ideals will be held over the views of others as a standard for the example.
That being said I am very open to discussion and able to listen to views of propontents wihtout resorting to childishness. And am a very thoughtful person who at least makes an attempt at being deep. Take my posts as you like but be cautioned that I will feel all too free to do the same.

I guess I'll be the only one here to speak out as an atheist. The reason I don't believe in god is because I can see the patterns and forces in the universe at their base components through the eyes of science and reason. There isn't any point in hoping for an afterlife in my mind, I don't lament the fact that I will die one day yet most religions seem built around a fear of death.
I really do think that most religions are built around a fear of the unknown and the end of the personal thing we call ourselves. But while not a fatealist, I do think of myself as transient. One day I will pass away from the world and the only remains I leave will be the impressions I made while alive and a bit of decomposing matter that will serve as food for lower life forms.
I don't lament this process our lives are built around making the most of our short time while alive. To claim that an imaginary being of pure good will take care of us after death and watches over our lives is fantasy. To invite such thoughts into your life is to willingly accept a crutch your whole life and to walk with a stoop merely for comforts you cannot and will never know for certain. We are built to break down and pass away, this is how our bodies and minds work.
To invite into your own life a god who imposes antiquarian illogical laws onto your life and then demarnds your obidence to "His" rules from thousands of years in the past and offers no reason to this only rebukes those who disobey is to invite into your life a beggar. Churches of all kinds exist off of profits from the fears of people too weak to stand on their own. Don't claim yourself amoungst them, ask yourself what it really means to be you, ask yourself the questions that brings up. Find out for yourself why you are in this world and never look back with regret.
If you want to be given a guide to living and a direction there are hundreds of better and more personally profittable methods of finding purpose. The military, teaching, social service, and writing you own thoughts on life are all ways to enrich or defend the life you currently lead. Don't just let an invisible father figure tell you why and how you should live your life then demand that you pay an arbitary amount of hard earned money for such meaningless and thoughtless philosophy. Find a purpose, even a bad one, and live your life for you. You'll at least be less of a sheep for it.