@coberst phil,
To answer your question about God being a practical joker, I am merely going to point out a few things.
1: God, as a being, is so far beyond our comprehension that we have no earthly idea :p what his intentions are if he even works off of intent. Our arogance is what makes God seem like a practical joker in thinking that what we define could ever apply to anything besides perception.
2: In accordance with free will, we are allowed to think, feel, classify how ever we see fit. This means that we are creating classifications of intent as well as classifications of logic which may or may not apply. In this way, we are the ones making the joke and at the same time, we are the punch line.
3: Logic is a wonderful tool. The second it is used as anything else, the tool becomes the user and the user becomes the tool.
4: In accordance with what I have said so far, it would be logically correct to say that the separation of body and mind is merely a perception. As such, it is impossible to comes to truth through these classifications and is thus an exercise in futility.