The supposition that a corporeal entity is imbued with a non-corporeal dimension is an unsubstantiated hypothesis that has masqueraded as fact for millenia. Before the rise of a scientific attitude to investigation, this is in a sense understandable, because of the seemingly inexplicable phenomena that pervade existance and the inability to control them. Although inanimate entities often have spirituality attributed to them... the sun, rocks, rivers, volcanoes etc,... it is more believable that these spirit-souls are supposed to animate the bodies of living things because of the obious and sharp distinction between life and death. Human forms in particular are believed to possess an unmeasureable component which disembodies at death into an everlasting ephemeral soul-fairie. These spirits are commonly believed to be incorruptible and timeless unique entities which somehow survive the relentless certainty of the death process.

Modern technology and research possibilities have opened up many potential lines of investigation that could assist in constructing a model to clarify the intrinsic nature of these immaterial entities. Broad consensus opinion assumes that souls are securely bonded to the inner integument surface of all living things, thus allowing in principle, for a detailed study of their outline, but confirming this hypothesis has been continually frustrated by experiments designed to locate a common minimal boundary. When an arm or leg is removed for instance, the spirituality does not appear to diminish. Another difficulty that has not yet been solved, is that all attempts to bottle the incorporeal specimens... liberated at death... have been frustrated by the seemingly trivial situation of the unavailability of effective containers with suitable stoppers. Indications are that plasma research promises to help resolve this situation in the very near future. Many other aspects also need early investigation. It needs to be determined whether souls are homogeneously distributed thru-out the known universe, or only cluster along the lines of religious field strength. On conservation and sustainability grounds it would help to know if souls retain a discrete and unique individual identity, or are simply recycled back into a pooled resource of spiritual raw immaterial. It would also be of considerable assistance to remove the uncertainty as to whether souls travel unimpeded at the speed of thought, or if their motion is restricted by the gravity of disbelief.

Because of the lack of any scientific breakthru, very few papers have been accepted for publication. There certainly remains a wistful hope that sometime in the future, secular technology might eventually be of some assistance, though none of the dead are holding their breath. To a practical compost forker, it would seem that being a spiritual consultant servicing the souls of human animals is about as relevant in the natural order of things, as being a sexual consultant to rocks.