1. CNN Request for 'I-Reports' on religion

Comment #65557 by PKid on August 24, 2007 at 8:08 pm

Thanks for the tip on submitting a comment to CNN. Here's mine:

I do not worship because nobody has ever convinced me that there is anything to worship, though many do worship money, the self or a god. Admiration and respect I hold for certain people but faith for me is only meaningful in expressions such as being faithful to someone, or to some goal that one sets for oneself. The ability to live free of religion is one of the most precious and exhilarating freedoms Americans can experience. I highly recommend exercising it.

2. When Seeing Is Disbelieving

Comment #36600 by PKid on May 1, 2007 at 5:39 pm

It's been said that one without delusions would be chronically depressed.

Consider the competitor in sports who, were he/she to stop and carefully consider all the things that could go wrong, all the risks to health, the possibility of making a mistake...how could one compete without a delusion about one's ability and to have an ability to concentrate that turns off the rest of the world?

That we all have delusions isn't surprising, I think it is part of what we call success. But we need to be wary of placing someone in a position of great authority without the check of others. If we all are subject to delusion, then one individual's delusion must be countered with another in order to find something close to "reality". As much as we need strong leadership, we also need someone to suggest that the emperor has no clothes.

Hard science can rely on proofs. Outside of science we must have checks and balances.

3. Sex, Love, and SSRIs

Comment #31273 by PKid on April 11, 2007 at 8:32 pm

I tried several anti-depressants...Paxil, Nardil and others. Nothing had much of an effect until I tried Effexor. Incredible. It was as if a weight had been lifted from me and I began to enjoy life as I had never before. Powerful anxieties I had felt became insignificant and never a barrier to action. Just to be sure it was the drug, I went off of it (gradually under supervision of a MD) and went downhill, reaching the point of not wanting to get out of bed for the despair. I gave up the idea of "being strong" and not taking a drug. Now, after over two years of 150mg a day I plan to stay on it for good, because it has been so good. As I look back on my life of almost 50 years before finding Effexor, I really wonder what it would have been like had I had it early on. It may not be for everyone but for me it has been like waving a magic wand with no side effects, no loss of sexual desire.