Spiritual Science Research Foundation

(Via both Pharyngula and Friendly Atheist)

Oh boy, this is fun.

The Spiritual Science Research Foundation appears to be a bunch of nits who attempt to put a scientific face on spirituality and the like. Now sure, the website looks slick and well presented, but don’t let that fool you. Dig just slightly under the surface and you’ll unearth a veritable cornucopia of pseudoscience quackery.

There are certainly some interesting ideas at hand. Take the page on Life After Death for instance. I never realised that I had not just a physical body (the remains here, and turns to lovely worm food) but also Vital Energy, and something called the Subtle Body. Reading some other pages suggests that in this instance the meaning of ‘Subtle’ is actually more like ‘Undetectable’. So, if it’s undetectable, how do they know about it?

So anyway, when we die the physical body remains here on earth, the Vital Energy get released back to the universe, but our Subtle body goes on to one of the other 13 ‘Planes of Existence’ of which there are 14 in total (including this one). Apparently there are 7 good and 7 bad planes. We are currently in a good one – lucky us huh! So, there are seven layers of hell, but only 6 layers of heaven. I wonder why there is this imbalance, seems odd really. I have to admit that I didn’t get much further than this as my brain was beginning to melt.

I did however get far enough to follow a link to the page about Ghosts. According to SRF all ghosts are from the nether regions (hell). Every last one of them. They apparently have to power to travel to Earth at will – which is nice for them, they can come for a picnic if the eternal tortures get too much. Ghosts exist when a being has unfulfilled desires (examples cited are sex, alcohol, and revenge). So, all those ghost children and pets you read about must have been evil (they ended up in hell don’t forget) and must want to have drunken sex. Another interesting tid-bit from the page, apparently the type of funeral you have can affect whether you end up in heaven or hell. So even when you die your ultimate destination isn’t set in stone – better make sure your funeral arrangements are explicit.

Anyway, go and delve through the topics yourself. You’re bound to find something to raise a giggle at least. Someone should point out to them however that just because you make it look authoritative, doesn’t make it so. If you want to be taken seriously on a scientific level, cite your sources, don’t just make shit up!

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