Do Animals have Souls?

Originally Posted by krishna

No.
In pure light and truth.
Krishna.

No they don't have souls?
Then is it ok to hurt them?

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by knightofalbion

Lovely!

Do you know my friend and fellow SF member 'LPC'? You and him have had very similar experiences. (Re- dogs and post-death communication)

Yes, I spoke to him via email. A very compassionate Soul himself.

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by norseman

I admit that we have conversations [mostly one-sided] every time I fire up the "juke-box"

HAHA! My kindred Soul hated the vacuum cleaner! She voted with her feet! And got the heck out.

Yours is very beautiful. Is she (he?) a tame wolf or wolf hybrid?

[norseman]

Originally Posted by Tobi

HAHA! My kindred Soul hated the vacuum cleaner! She voted with her feet! And got the heck out.

Yours is very beautiful. Is she (he?) a tame wolf or wolf hybrid?

Neither Tobi, just an image that caught my eye. However, I would like the wolf to return to the UK

Two more




Long one-sided conversations with my desktop

Originally Posted by Vibe

They have souls. So do plants, but we have to eat them. Having a soul doesn't mean it shouldn't be eaten. It means it should be treated with love and respect.

Plants aren't attached to their bodies. If you ask plants nicely to give them up, they generally don't mind.

And yes, animals have souls. 100% certain on this.

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by norseman

Neither Tobi, just an image that caught my eye. However, I would like the wolf to return to the UK

Two more




Long one-sided conversations with my desktop

Smiley-Wolf....growly-Wolf...beautiful Creature.

[LPC]

Good thread, Graeme! Unfortunately I only saw this thread today as I have been offline for a while. But I see that my dear friends Tobi and the Noble Knight (amongst others) have given you good responses already.

To answer your original post, I totally agree with what you have written. My own experience confirms this 100%. The highest level of the astral is devoted to pure love and respect for all living beings. Killing (even if by proxy, by buying meat from a supermarket) is not the way for us to evolve!

As Knight has pointed out, plants do have some sort of awareness, but this not the same as having a soul. For that, some sort of ability to love, care, and/or make decisions is needed. An earthworm or a snail can make a decision to move to a better place, but a plant cannot do this (except in "Day of the Triffids"!).

For the moment, humankind still needs to eat in order to live. So vegetarianism/veganism is still necessary. With further spiritual evolution, we could grow beyond that need. When that will be, depends on us.

Blessings to you for starting this thread!

It's good to know that some others have similar views to me. Sometimes I feel like a lone voice.

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by knightofalbion

There was a scientific study some years ago. Two plants. One was shouted at and told vile things. The other was spoken softly to and told loving things. The shouted one withered, the loved one flourished!

Plants certainly do possess a degree of consciousness.

As for having souls, like people and animals? My understanding is that if it has blood in its veins, then it has a soul.

That being said the First Blessing in Genesis advocates a diet destroying neither animal or plant, so no doubt the spiritual evolution of man will lead us down that path eventually.

It's possible to eat quite well without destroying the plants. This wouldn't work commercially of course, or for humans en-masse, but would work for an average "hunter-gatherer" or gardener. When we take fruit from a tree or tomatoes from a vine-enough for our own needs, we don't destroy the plant....or nuts, or seeds. Also if we grow certain greens like Kale (so good for you!) or perpetual Spinach, or even lettuce, and keep that plant thriving while we take a few leaves here and there.
Also if Nettle tops are taken from the wild, (also so good for you) I have noticed that a few weeks later they have put out fresh sprouting parts, usually doubled, and look extremely healthy.

When I used to grow veg. -(I don't any more because of a hand injury and my back ain't what it used to be!)-I always used to let one of the plants I grew thrive naturally without cutting it at all and then take the seeds at the end of its season, and grow more next year from them. I even scattered some in Nature. But they didn't thrive there because of wild plants and deer, and other grazers.

I believe they do. Stare into your pet's eyes and you'll understand. :')