Discussion » Questions » Animals (Pets/ Domesticated) » Do animals have a soul? The name alone implies it. ( Latin: anima = soul)

Do animals have a soul? The name alone implies it. ( Latin: anima = soul)

My opinion is that animals and humans are just a different species in the same category..... Some animals show tears when they are sad ( like elephants and dogs...) and they are able to grieve to their deaths. Pets are children in our modern society, with all the care a child gets... and so on. In the jurisdiction system animals are a thing - in order to make it easier in courts. For me it stands like this: They can give love and affection, which would be impossible without a soul. I know, I know.....the word soul is a religious word, but it fits!

Posted - September 22, 2018

Responses


  • 5391
    You’re asking essentially if animals are capable of complex emotions. Sure: confusion, affection, anger, sadness, happiness, even devotion have been noted in many animals.  

    The whole discussion of souls is a tenuous theological hypothesis. There have long been belief systems that incorporate animals into their dogma, but religious doctrines neither prove nor disprove the existence of souls (in the Biblical sense) in any species. This post was edited by Don Barzini at September 22, 2018 9:18 PM MDT
      September 22, 2018 2:12 PM MDT
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  • Thanks, Don Barzini.
      September 22, 2018 3:30 PM MDT
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  • 6477
    If such things exist then yes, I am very sure animals are included. 
      September 22, 2018 2:42 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    Every living thing animal or vegetable lives and dies ....human ,mammals and animals have very complex feeling for their partners.....Many birds like Swans and Albatros mate for life....
    Humans are the only species really that kill for pleasure....As the top predator,how sad is that..... 
      September 22, 2018 2:50 PM MDT
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  • Your last sentence:  Yes, it is more than sad, NJ. I that case you wish there would be instant Karma in place. I tell myself then: If not now, hopefully later....
      September 22, 2018 3:35 PM MDT
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  • 10451
    I sure hope they have a soul because my idea of Heaven would be to be reunited with all the 4 legged best friends I had in my life time. Cheers and happy weekend!
      September 22, 2018 3:14 PM MDT
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  • Your comment is wonderful. Cheers back to you! Have a good weekend as well!
      September 22, 2018 3:36 PM MDT
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  • I found that and hope you all like it or would think about it....
      September 22, 2018 3:39 PM MDT
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  • 13251
    No, multiple animals do not have one soul. What you probably meant to ask is if animals have souls.
      September 22, 2018 3:41 PM MDT
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  • Thanks for pointing that out, Stu Bee. I did not think about proper formulation of my question. But I am glad you guessed right what I meant.  If I would have typed souls, you could have also come to the conclusion that I mean an animal has several souls -  This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at September 22, 2018 5:01 PM MDT
      September 22, 2018 3:48 PM MDT
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  • 13251
    Only if you asked, "Does an animal have souls?" LOL. This post was edited by Stu Spelling Bee at September 22, 2018 4:51 PM MDT
      September 22, 2018 4:24 PM MDT
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  • There you have it: I am keeping my cool. I know that this is not correct, but English is not my native language. Haha...
      September 22, 2018 4:56 PM MDT
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  • 13251
    OK. Of course, shoes have soles, LOL!
      September 22, 2018 5:13 PM MDT
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  • 13395
    I think there is some force which is the basis of life -bodies of all species simply designed for the purpose to eat, reproduce then become fodder for other species to feed on. Mind,  brain  (emotions etc) are products of evolutionary process. 
      September 22, 2018 5:30 PM MDT
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  • Right, Kittigate! Thank you!
      September 23, 2018 8:33 AM MDT
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  • 7280
    Aristotle said that multiplicity in the order of existence required two principles---one limiting, one perfecting.  He spoke of primary matter and substantial form.   (In a word, "human" exists and there are many of them---so no one man exhausts the concept of "humanity.")

    Animals (those below us on the phylogenetic scale) do not "think" like us---they have what is called an estimative sense, while we have a cognitive sense.  (As if we really knew what we were talking about when we in philosophical psychology pretend to understand what we are actually describing.)

    And so while I think human souls are immortal and its faculties are the intellect and the will, I suppose that other animal souls are mortal.

    But I also think that anything that is "good" will ever cease to exist in some meaningful way, I'm still a fan of the Rainbow Bridge poem; and I would not be at all surprised to see all my dogs again after I also pass on.
      September 22, 2018 5:45 PM MDT
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  • Thank you, Tom. Great read for me. I noticed that my cat saw herself in a big mirror and she sat very still. She was not excited to see another cat, she was thinking. I had the strong feeling she "recognized" herself. Maybe that is evolution also during the process and history of domestication?
      September 23, 2018 8:43 AM MDT
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  • 7280
    Perhaps she was evaluating how well she had groomed herself...
      September 23, 2018 3:49 PM MDT
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  • 5808
    All life has a Soul.
    The essence of it's being.
    A mini Universe within
    every being.
      September 23, 2018 2:57 AM MDT
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  • Thanks, Baba, what you say in very short words, is absolutely the truth for me. Every life form is just a wonder.
      September 23, 2018 8:46 AM MDT
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  • 22891
    i hope so
      September 23, 2018 1:54 PM MDT
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  • 1305
    I like to think they are part of a source that we are, maybe with a soul who knows?  Animals have been linked to the afterlife, cat's usually fall into this equation, along with the Mexican hairless dog who was said to guide souls to the afterlife and is very similar to the Egyptian god Anubis.



    Although there are more atheists now, the people who run the world are not atheist, they clearly have a belief in the old mystery systems, the school of Thoth, Hermes/Mercury the Dionysian and Eleusinian mysteries, Hellenistic, Rosicrucian's, freemasonry, skull and bones, OTO, Thelma, they all have a rebirth ceremony and all require a belief in something more powerful than them, even the current New Age (old age) religion found at the Lucis trust website of Alice Bailey funded by the UN, who was a member of the white brotherhood along with 33rd degree freemason Aleister (Edward) Crowley, Madam Blavatsky. These mystery school initiates include Socrates, Plato, Francis Bacon, John Dee, all influential people and more, the list of magic, psychic writing, astrology, commune and summoning with other beings such as angels, and divination is as old as civilisation itself, and their affect on the "evolution" or devolution going by the current climate, of mankind currently labelled "The Craft or The Great Work."

    Even Jesus spoke of secrets and mysteries -

    The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in
    parables?" He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven
    has been given to you ... For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous
    men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but
    did not hear it." (Matthew 13:1-23)

    "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone
    found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that
    field." {worth all you have} (Matthew 13:44-46)

    Raziel (Hebrew: רזיאל‎ "Secret of God") is an archangel within the teachings of Jewish mysticism (of the Kabbalah of Judaism) who is the "Keeper of Secrets" and the "Angel of Mysteries".[1] He is associated with the sephirah Chokhmah (the second of ten) in Beri'ah, one of the Four Worlds of Kabbalistic theory.

    Even Enoch talks about the watchers teaching man the hidden secrets of heaven, which they should have learned for themselves.


    David Bowie was a follower of Crowley for a time, his Kabbalistic knowledge is shown in many of his songs, Aleister Crowley stated every man is a star.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-ppcstFaAI
     


    The silent sign is seen a lot in the media and goes back to Harpocrates god of silence, secrets and confidentiality,  and of course is adapted from the child god Horus son of Osiris and Isis.




    This post was edited by kjames at September 23, 2018 3:58 PM MDT
      September 23, 2018 3:21 PM MDT
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  • How can I ever thank you and others for delivering knowledge I so crave about this topic. I myself read Socrates, Plato, Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner and several others. Has been my pleasure to read cour comment!
      September 23, 2018 4:04 PM MDT
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