Do animals have souls?

[begin_within]

This is a topic on another site I read, so I thought I'd bring it up here.

[mainegreen]

1. No, and neither do people.

But animals have minds, emotions and self awareness (at least most of them larger than a quarter)

[BarenakedLady]

2. Define soul

:shrug:

[Inchworm]

22. seconded

:shrug:

[elshiva]

3. Other: Souls don't exist at all.

[begin_within]

5. I used to believe that until the day I watched my father die

I remember the exact moment when his soul left his body behind - the sight, sound and feel of it happening. I didn't expect to witness anything like it. That moment convinced me that there is a soul, which has posession of the body, and that it does leave the body behind. I don't know how to explain it, but I just became aware of it that day, October 27, 1994.

[elshiva]

7. I'm sorry about your father dying. To each his or her own beliefs

I guess. I don't want to get in an argument about this, I just stated what I believe to be true. Debates about religious beliefs tend to get a too heated for my liking.

It has to be really hard to see your father die. :( Condolences. :hug:

[begin_within]

12. Do you believe that you consist of your physical self and nothing else?

[S n o w b a l l]

10. I experienced something very similar

when my father died, but I wasn't right there with him. So I understand and feel exactly the same. You can't explain it to anyone & no one would believe it unless they experienced it so I don't even try. It totally changed my beliefs about death though.

:hug:

[begin_within]

14. Yes, it's not like something you can explain in concrete terms, or

in any of the five familiar senses. It's just an awareness that what was there was suddenly gone - in a matter of one second or so. Just a knowing in some intuitive way that can't be measured in ordinary physical terms. We all knew it... one person formally took the vital signs but we all knew anyway. It's the one and only time in my life I have had that awareness, and it only lasted a few seconds, then I returned to the normal, objective way of knowing things. Also it became clear to me that the soul leaves the body very quickly, it does not linger in the body after death happens. There is a sensation of rapid departure of it, but not in any physical direction. It doesn't go anywhere in the physical sense, it's just not in possession of the body any more, it's just gone, that's all. If I had not been there I would not have experienced that moment of awareness and probably to this day I would still doubt whether souls actually exist. (And they don't really exist in any physical, measurable sense).

[S n o w b a l l]

19. And that's what they mean by the sixth sense...

I was on an airplane trying to make it home before he died. On the way, I had an indescribable experience...it was almost like hearing him but it was more like feeling him saying goodbye. Like you said, an awareness but sudden and intense. I probably would have been skeptical and attributed it to emotions had I not looked down at my watch at that moment and then later found out what time he died.

I don't know if the soul goes anywhere, but I know his did reach me in the air from LA to Indiana. Where he went from there, I have no idea.

[begin_within]

20. that's awesome

thanks... nothing like that has happened to me though, in the way you described.

[emilyg]

23. Same thing with my Dad.

I know exactly what you mean.

[LeftyMom]

4. No.

Both humans and many types of non-human animals have varying cognitive abilities

Nobody's ever really defined what the heck this soul concept is, so let's talk about qualities that exist and can be tested for, such as cognition, cooperative behavior and self-awareness.

[LeftyFingerPop]

13. Serious question that I hope is not too personal...

have you ever been next to or touched someone the moment they passed away?

[kentauros]

6. Yes :)

I often feel my previous pets (a cat and a husky) against my legs and it ain't air-currents, either. Not since I wear long jeans most of the time ;)

Unless my living cat is bilocating again...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. If there are souls, animals have them as much as humans.

Although I'm not convinced there is such a thing.

[DeepBlueC]

11. Exactly how I would put it

[Lethe]

9. complicated question

if humans have "souls" then i believe animals have the same thing (well, humans are animals of course)

most people ask this to question the worth of other animals as compared to humans. (as in, we have a soul, they don't, therefore we are superior and matter, they don't)

i think that is misleading - the "worth" of a ladybug is just as much as the "worth" of a human

we're all made from the same organic molecules from distant stardust, and when the sun explodes we will all be extinguished back into elements of nature

[DemBones DemBones]

15. "All Dogs Go to Heaven" -- check this out:

http://www.all-creatures.org/humor/dodogshave.html

[MilesColtrane]

16. "House of the Rising Sun" was OK.

[DemBones DemBones]

17. +1

[cherish44]

18. If souls exisit then yes I'd say animals have them...

I guess we'll find out someday. Or we'll just cease to exist. I don't know with 100% certainty and neither does anyone else.

[sohndrsmith]

21. have you ever seen an elephant when a relative or group member has died?

If you had, you wouldn't be asking this question.

They're not the only ones. Animals are far more intuitive, communicative and emotional than we give them credit for. Jane Goodall is better source than me - she has the cred to speak with authority...

[Lucian]

24. I have no idea if humans or animals have souls.

None of us do.

[Withywindle]

25. If anything has a soul, animals do.

I've never met a dog or a cat that I thought was totally soulless, but I have seen a few people who seem that way. :scared: