Lower forms of Life.. Snails, tadpoles, worms, bacteria

[Rah nam]

Originally Posted by metal68

Any ideas what happens to them after death? is there an afterlife for example for a cold virus? How about a snail? Does it all depend on the level of consciousness? There wouldn't be a place for bacteria in the next life would there? Is there a cut off point? Like our pets supposedly exist in the spirit world but what about something like spiders?

These are the things that bug me about the whole afterlife hypothesis, so many things would make no sense to be there but then do they deserve to be obliterated at death either?

I also kind of wonder the same things about our human ancestors and even the more advanced animals like apes & dolphins

First at all viruses are not life forms, they are energy forms.
Then we need to ask, is this life form connected to an oversoul?
An oversoul might be interested in a life form that displays a vertebra.
It is not the body that will keep on existing, it is the energy structure we often call spirit. It was there before and will be there afterward. And it will grow and develop. In the smaller forms the turnover can be often instant.
If not, then they end up in something one could compare with a holding pen. This will change the closer the form comes to the 3D reality. It is not unusual if the form then stays for a wile with 3D entities. (not just pets)

[Please Leave Me]

they turn into dust

[Emmalevine]

There is a very good book called Soul Trek which deals with this subject quite well. I think the conclusion is that insects, bacteria, viruses and other less evolved life forms have group souls rather than individual ones and so after death the life form will simply re-emerge with their group soul. It makes sense to me. I don't believe humans are superior in a spiritual sense but we have evolved capacity to think and make meaning and to recognise our spiritual selves so maybe that puts us in a higher position to other life?

[sea-dove]

Originally Posted by metal68

Any ideas what happens to them after death? is there an afterlife for example for a cold virus? How about a snail? Does it all depend on the level of consciousness? There wouldn't be a place for bacteria in the next life would there? Is there a cut off point? Like our pets supposedly exist in the spirit world but what about something like spiders?

These are the things that bug me about the whole afterlife hypothesis, so many things would make no sense to be there but then do they deserve to be obliterated at death either?

I also kind of wonder the same things about our human ancestors and even the more advanced animals like apes & dolphins

Who are we to judge what is lower or higher, just cause something cant talk in the same way we do, doesn't mean its not highly intelligent etc.

I don't have a clue what happens to things such as bacteria but my cats after they died, visited in their spirit forms for years in my last home.

and as far as insects go. One day I squashed some ants on my arm. To my shock that didn't get rid of them. they obviously weren't aware they were dead.. and they were still (not though in physical form) running over my arm biting me in the same way they had been before I squashed them. (now I think twice about killing anything esp since they are even harder to get rid of when they loose their physical bodies).

[Dragonfly1]

I don't feel anything is a 'lower' form of life.....What if we, were in a gigantic realm, or planet etc, where we were the size of a snail, and ant, a spider a bacteria?.....would we then think we were not worthy of life, or of an after life, than those that were a bazillion times bigger than us? Just because its small and another species than us, does not mean it is not feeling, thinking or deserving of life, or that it does not have a soul......we as humans simply do not know or take the time (well not all of us) to think about other creatures no matter how small.....I must admit I didn't always think this way, but in the last few years my world has changed in regard to other creatures.....once I was terrified of spiders and because of it, slaughtered them on sight.....now I think how me must look to them and how fearful they must be of us......and I highly respect our huntsman spiders who in comparison to us humans are quite small, but will if cornered defend themselves and attack against all odds......what courage.....wow! so now......if they come inside I ask them to leave, and if they don't I catch and release.....even cockroaches now......they do freak me out a bit.....but I am loathe to kill them.....so when they play dead, I catch them and put them outside.....who would have thought that I would ever be one to regard the life of insects etc to be equal to my own life........Im so glad that I now feel this way......I think that all living things as we know them,( and, not know them, as well).....are as worthy as any other soul to enter the place of the Divine after passing......

[Please Leave Me]

i think the OP mean smaller forms of lives ? not lower
just my piece of cake

[JOHNTY]

Greetings Everyone,

Olorin ... substitute 'wolves' for lions, or any pack or group you you may care to think of and we'll both be okay on the subject of spiralling down to a single soul. .

[Native spirit]

I have to agree with Neville on this.


Namaste

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by sea-dove

Who are we to judge what is lower or higher, just cause something cant talk in the same way we do, doesn't mean its not highly intelligent etc.

I don't have a clue what happens to things such as bacteria but my cats after they died, visited in their spirit forms for years in my last home.

and as far as insects go. One day I squashed some ants on my arm. To my shock that didn't get rid of them. they obviously weren't aware they were dead.. and they were still (not though in physical form) running over my arm biting me in the same way they had been before I squashed them. (now I think twice about killing anything esp since they are even harder to get rid of when they loose their physical bodies).

Those ants remind me of Rasputin. "Kill me and you will make me even more powerful" he is quoted as having said.

Anyway....many creatures can simply amaze us if ever we become aware of what they become when they return to non-physical reality. So true. Our heirarchical ways of thinking here can go completely out of the window when we begin to really know their potential....
I think we are all going to get some surprises when we step into the non-physical realms. Some of those surprises will be a joy and a wonder to experience.

[Rah nam]

Originally Posted by Neville

Oddly..Or not.. I never made any distinctions regarding life forms... Life is Life to me..irrespective of any peculiar pecking order one might percieve. Humans eh ! only we could (in some cases) seek to assert a kind of superiority over other forms of life.

I didn't think the question was about life forms, but rather about spirit forms.
And not about the superiority or inferiority of any form.
(I am no more and no less then anyone else or anything else)
All life forms are part of the planet and it's consciousness.
The attachment of spiritual forms to life forms for the development of both happens on agreement between the planet and the overseeing overarching hierarchy of all different spiritual forms.