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Does animals have souls?
- Thread starter Polarbear
- Start date
Shuddhasattva
Well-Known Member
Only the ones I like to eat.
Tastier, maybe?
It's what's for dinner.
Stop it! :biglaugh:
I believe they do.
I believe they are not different. I believe they are jivatma just as we are.
I believe they are reborn.
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
outhouse
Atheistically
arthra
Baha'i
In the Baha'i view there is a kind of spirit but it is not like the soul of man..
Abdul-Baha explained it this way:
The animal spirit is the power of all the senses, which is realized from the composition and mingling of elements; when this composition decomposes, the power also perishes and becomes annihilated. ...
The human spirit which distinguishes man from the animal is the rational soul; and these two names -- the human spirit and the rational soul -- designate one thing. This spirit, which in the terminology of the philosophers is the rational soul, embraces all beings, and as far as human ability permits discovers the realities of things and becomes cognizant of their peculiarities and effects, and of the qualities and properties of beings.
But the human spirit, unless assisted by the spirit of faith, does not become acquainted with the divine secrets and the heavenly realities. It is like a mirror which, although clear, polished, and brilliant, is still in need of light. Until a ray of the sun reflects upon it, it cannot discover the heavenly secrets.
~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 316
It's also true though that kindness to animals is a necessary responsibility of man:
Then, O ye friends of God! Ye must not only have kind and merciful feelings for mankind, but ye should also exercise the utmost kindness towards every living creature. The physical sensibilities and instincts are common to animal and man. Man is, however, negligent of this reality and imagines that sensibility is peculiar to mankind, therefore he practices cruelty to the animal. In reality what difference is there in physical sensations! Sensibility is the same whether you harm man or animal: there is no difference. Nay, rather, cruelty to the animal is more painful because man has a tongue and he sighs, complains and groans when he receives an injury and complains to the government and the government protects him from cruelty; but the poor animal cannot speak, it can neither show its suffering nor is it able to appeal to the government. If it is harmed a thousand times by man it is not able to defend itself in words nor can it seek justice or retaliate.
Therefore one must be very considerate towards animals and show greater kindness to them than to man.
Educate the children in their infancy in such a way that they may become exceedingly kind and merciful to the animals. If an animal is sick they should endeavor to cure it; if it is hungry, they should feed it; if it is thirsty, they should satisfy its thirst; if it is tired, they should give it rest.
Man is generally sinful and the animal is innocent; unquestionably one must be more kind and merciful to the innocent. ...
~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 373
It's often the case that cruelty to animals is a sign of emotional and psychological disorders in humans and should be taken very seriously!
Abdul-Baha explained it this way:
The animal spirit is the power of all the senses, which is realized from the composition and mingling of elements; when this composition decomposes, the power also perishes and becomes annihilated. ...
The human spirit which distinguishes man from the animal is the rational soul; and these two names -- the human spirit and the rational soul -- designate one thing. This spirit, which in the terminology of the philosophers is the rational soul, embraces all beings, and as far as human ability permits discovers the realities of things and becomes cognizant of their peculiarities and effects, and of the qualities and properties of beings.
But the human spirit, unless assisted by the spirit of faith, does not become acquainted with the divine secrets and the heavenly realities. It is like a mirror which, although clear, polished, and brilliant, is still in need of light. Until a ray of the sun reflects upon it, it cannot discover the heavenly secrets.
~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 316
It's also true though that kindness to animals is a necessary responsibility of man:
Then, O ye friends of God! Ye must not only have kind and merciful feelings for mankind, but ye should also exercise the utmost kindness towards every living creature. The physical sensibilities and instincts are common to animal and man. Man is, however, negligent of this reality and imagines that sensibility is peculiar to mankind, therefore he practices cruelty to the animal. In reality what difference is there in physical sensations! Sensibility is the same whether you harm man or animal: there is no difference. Nay, rather, cruelty to the animal is more painful because man has a tongue and he sighs, complains and groans when he receives an injury and complains to the government and the government protects him from cruelty; but the poor animal cannot speak, it can neither show its suffering nor is it able to appeal to the government. If it is harmed a thousand times by man it is not able to defend itself in words nor can it seek justice or retaliate.
Therefore one must be very considerate towards animals and show greater kindness to them than to man.
Educate the children in their infancy in such a way that they may become exceedingly kind and merciful to the animals. If an animal is sick they should endeavor to cure it; if it is hungry, they should feed it; if it is thirsty, they should satisfy its thirst; if it is tired, they should give it rest.
Man is generally sinful and the animal is innocent; unquestionably one must be more kind and merciful to the innocent. ...
~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 373
It's often the case that cruelty to animals is a sign of emotional and psychological disorders in humans and should be taken very seriously!
mycorrhiza
Well-Known Member
Humans are animals. If souls exist, I'm sure that all animals have them, as well as all plants.
To answer simply with three phrases related to each of the three questions of the OP: Yes. Sort of kind of not really. Roughly the same thing that happens to every other biological organism.
All a "soul" is in my book is the characteristic essence of something. All things of reality have a characteristic essence that may be defined. And, that essence is interwoven with the essences of everything else. When things "die" they are rewoven into some other part of the fabric.
All a "soul" is in my book is the characteristic essence of something. All things of reality have a characteristic essence that may be defined. And, that essence is interwoven with the essences of everything else. When things "die" they are rewoven into some other part of the fabric.
Jain
Member
Yes, animals have souls. Why would one life form have souls but not another?
It would make no sense for one animal (human) to have a soul and not the others. Either all animals have souls (includes humans) or all animals don't have a soul. I believe that all animals have a soul, it is what separates us from being inanimate.
Animals are reincarnated, just as we are reincarnated until we get it right.
Oh, sorry.
Jivatma is the Hindu approximation of 'soul'. But it's composed of two parts... the jiva is the living essence of the being, that which makes us alive. The jiva changes through all its births, and becomes a different living essence. To the best of my knowledge it even exists between births. The atma(n) is the actual Self (note the capital S), the unchanging Self. If one is Advaitin, it is Brahman within each of us. If one subscribes to another school of Vedanta, it is some portion of Brahman. The atman exists without the jiva, but the jiva doesn't exist without the atman.
Gjallarhorn
N'yog-Sothep
If humans can be said to have souls, then obviously animals have souls, as humans are animals.
Dunno. I've never witnessed a soul.
Same thing that happens to humans, whatever that is.
Life takes on many forms and some forms come to falsely believe that they are somehow separate from the greater flow of life that spawned them. In their isolation, they feel alien in the natural world when in reality it is their home. Holding onto a form indefinitely surmounts to denying the greater flow from expressing original beings. Acceptance of death in due time involves a sense of gratitude towards life for the opportunity to experience and a gift for new beings that have not yet formed, waiting for their time to shine. There are no isolated souls. There is only the Flow of Life with its infinite potentials for beautiful expression.
chinu
chinu
Even rocks have souls.
No, their souls are not different from human souls, But.. their minds are different from humans.
They also get next birth like humans, For example one insects can get the form of bird in next birth, One bird can get the form of animal in next birth, One animal can get the human form in next birth, All it depends on the conscious levels of the minds, If conscious level rises up then it gets upper froms, if conscious level lower downs than it gets lower forms.