Do animals have souls?

I say yes. Though there are exceptions. Seafood doesn't. Les fruits de mer. No different than plucking apples from a tree. I just have a hard time imagining a shrimp as having feelings.
And chickens are the spawn of Satan (that's my alektorophobia speaking).

Yes.

Do you wanna see?   

Dogs do, but humans do not.

Quote from: Lisbeth on October 12, 2007, 03:29:58 PM
Dogs do, but humans do not.

Hi Lisbeth - think you have atleast forgotten the cats - they have souls too! But I totally agree regarding a lot of humans.

Best regards - Nicnique

Well, true.  But cats aren't going to heaven while dogs are.  Cats are too self-centered.

I think they all have.
By the way they live their live pure.
Humans not always, I think the soul of an animal is more strong and natural

They do.  I have seen many of my pets after they have passed, but I've also experienced unusual events with one of my actual kitties, Bebe.  I don't know if it is my imagination playing tricks on me sometimes, but I've seen a little boy sleeping where Bebe usually sleeps.  He's about five, blonde hair, wearing blue overalls and a printed shirt; because of his attire, he seems to be from "the past"..perhaps the twenties or thirties.  I honestly think that Bebe is his current reincarnation, so the question arises, can humans reincarnate in animals too?

tink

Perhaps it's part of mankind's ego that we think we're the only ones who have souls.  We invent so many things -- why not a "soul" with "everlasting life?"  The best part:  it can never be disproven.  The ultimate con, if it turns out it's not true.  A lotta churches and a lotta gold wouldn't have been collected without the "story" of souls.

On the other hand, if mankind has souls, why would a Creator exclude animals?  Though they may speak in languages we don't understand, there's no reason to presume that they don't have souls.

Occassionaly, I worry about what we call "meat, fowl or fish."  To us, it's food, animals wrapped in neat celophane in the meat department of a grocery store.  Beef is just like buying red sponges.  By the pound.  I'm not a non-meat-eater, but occassionaly I do wonder...Do animals have souls?

But, in our defense, the Creator presumably created animals to crave eating other animals.  Also, when eaten, the soul of the animal could, just as with us, live on.

File it under "mysteries of life."

Teri Anne

Quote from: Tink on October 12, 2007, 08:25:30 PM
They do.  I have seen many of my pets after they have passed, but I've also experienced unusual events with one of my actual kitties, Bebe.  I don't know if it is my imagination playing tricks on me sometimes, but I've seen a little boy sleeping where Bebe usually sleeps.  He's about five, blonde hair, wearing blue overalls and a printed shirt; because of his attire, he seems to be from "the past"..perhaps the twenties or thirties.  I honestly think that Bebe is his current reincarnation, so the question arises, can humans reincarnate in animals too?

tink

It's possible. I'm convinced my 1 year old Maltese has an old soul. He comforts and helps me in ways no human can. Either he was human in a past life, or dogs feel and show empathy like us.

If this is indeed true, why do some people reincarnate in humans and others in animals?  what would be the purpose?  any ideas?

tink

Quote from: Tink on October 12, 2007, 09:19:42 PM
If this is indeed true, why do some people reincarnate in humans and others in animals?  what would be the purpose?  any ideas?

tink

Hmm. If it is true, it may be that at least as far as dogs and cats, the purpose would be to help people in ways humans cannot. They reach places deep within humans that other humans cannot. Maybe the really loving, nurturing, empathetic souls end up as dogs or cats.
A singer may reincarnate as a song bird, maybe.

I'll answer this question with a yes. I'm part of the furry aka anthropomorphic animal community, and back when I was a regular on the newsgroup ALF, there was a questionnaire you could fill out, and one question was whether you had an animal soul or not. My answer to this was that there's no difference, its merely an example of how humans try to label and box everything as part of their claim of knowing everything.

Now, as to the reincarnation aspect, I tend to believe it can be for many reasons, punishment, reward, a break (animals do seem to have simple lives than us), a lesson to be learned, many things, but I've no doubt its real.

Let's not forget that humans have a tendency when faced with something they don't understand to give it a name so they can pretend they have it under control.

"Mommy, what happens to me when I die?"
"Your soul goes to heaven, dear."

Hindu?

If you define "soul" as knowledge of right from wrong . . . then the obvious question is: do animals know right from wrong? If your answer is no, then your other answer to the question of whether animals have souls is obviously "no" as well.

But if you could ask your dog what their definition of the soul would be, I imagine they might answer something like "the soul is the ability to feel pain, fear, hope, anger, love, hunger, satisfaction, happiness, excitement, comfort and discomfort, friendship, play, enemies, etc" I suspect an infant or even a young child would be more inclined to agree with your dogs definition than with the more exalted one of "knowledge of right from wrong".

Knowledge of right from wrong is a more advanced form of consciousness than what dogs and cats and young children have access to. But there are also forms of consciousness that many human beings have access to that are more advanced than the relatively simple one of knowing right from wrong. Such an individual might have a very different definition of "soul". So soul is a relative term depending on an individual's level of consciousness, and there is no reason one defintion should hold a monopoly over the others, except for that those individuals "think" it ought to.

Quote from: lisagurl on October 13, 2007, 10:27:45 AM
Hindu?

If you're asking if I'm Hindu, no, I'm not. I am Christian, but I don't believe everything most Christians adhere to. I believe in souls and an afterlife, but who knows what form that takes - heaven, ghosts, reincarnation?
Maybe there's not just one answer.
As for reincarnation - everything on earth recycles itself, maybe our souls do as well?

     My feeling is that these 'souls' are all part of the energy that is integrated within the universe. The energies dissipate, mingle, mix, or sometimes retain a viable core which remains mostly unchanged as the ages pass.
     People, animals, plants, gasses, liquids, solids are all related. Some energies may move from being to being over time.  Some energies might inhabit a tree and maybe even some of the insects that live and die on and around it.  If the tree burns, it's energy becomes fire and ashes and the gasses released by the fire. the energy is incorporated back into the cycle that these energies have and may then inhabit the cells of a new fetus or another tree or the water moisture of a cloud.

I feel this.  That meat in the supermarket should be respected. It is a part of the cycle that the creature it was will become the creature we are and will be passed on through processes to become something unforeseen.  As long as we respect the source and the cycle, we are doing fine.

Quote from: Butterfly on October 13, 2007, 11:51:19 AM
If you define "soul" as knowledge of right from wrong . . . then the obvious question is: do animals know right from wrong?

I'm not so sure that most humans do.  All they know is what their parents and others have taught them. 

Quote from: Nero on October 13, 2007, 12:16:44 PM

Quote from: lisagurl on October 13, 2007, 10:27:45 AM
Hindu?

If you're asking if I'm Hindu, no, I'm not. I am Christian, but I don't believe everything most Christians adhere to. I believe in souls and an afterlife, but who knows what form that takes - heaven, ghosts, reincarnation?
Maybe there's not just one answer.
As for reincarnation - everything on earth recycles itself, maybe our souls do as well?

The doctrine of reincarnation, known also with other terms like, rebirth, transmigration of the soul, metempsychosis (or more accurately, metensomatosis, "passage from one body to another"), palingenesis (Gr., lit., "to begin again"), concerns the rebirth of the soul or self in a series of physical or preternatural embodiments, which are customarily human or animal in nature but are in some instances divine, angelic, demonic, vegetative, or astrological.3 The belief in rebirth in one form or another existed and is still found in tribal or non-literate cultures all over the world, which go to prove that this belief arouse contemporaneously with the origins of human culture per se.4

i didn't believe in souls before but i'm changing....i don't want you to think that i'm turning into a religious fanatic; i've just been reading a lot.  when you are recovering from grs, you've got plenty of time in your hands.
nero, since you are a chrisian, the bible states that animals have souls; here is one passage:

OB 12:7-10

"You have only to ask the cattle, for them to instruct you, and the birds of the sky, for them to inform you. The creeping things of earth will give you lessons, and the fish of the sea provide you an explanation: there is not one such creature but will know that the hand of God has arranged things like this! In his hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of every human being"

i now believe that every sentient being contains a soul of sorts. It's pretty egocentric of humans to believe that they are the only beings that do.