animals

[boyce]

Recent Christmas tales, Mary on a donkey etc., set me thinking about the unique way we experience animals. My position on this physical world is that it provides many experiences that simply can not be had in the world of the spirit.

In our world, experience ranges from a distant appreciation of but not necessarily involvement with wild animals, through farming and eating them to caring for some as pets. In the world of the spirit, however, we do not experience animals in a similar way. There may be communal landscapes in which wild animals can be found but there is no need for farming any animals for food and our friends in spirit do not appear to live with pets other than (for a short while) the ones they cared for in this world.

There are numerous accounts of pets waiting for their former carers to pass over but after meeting up with one another it does not appear that those pets then continue to live with them in the longer term.

Little has been written about animals in the dimension of the spirit and my take is that they are special to this dimension, a topic perhaps worthy of discussion.

[Native spirit]

What you say is true but speaking from my own Experiences Animals whether be livestock or pets.
All go to Rainbow bridge.
I was doing a reading some years back.
and a dog kept appearing it was a Border collie,
It didn't belong to the person I was reading, but he used to walk it everyday
He was heartbroken to loose his friend.
he came back just to show that he was ok.he never came back after

The thing with Animals are they are loyal.unlike Humans

Namaste

[boyce]

Just as with ourselves animals are animated by individual spirits.

When the body of an animal dies its spirit - again like our own - is free to undertake another incarnation, maybe as a similar animal but eventually as a different and more sophisticated one. Over time those spirits progress from animating animals to being ready to undertake lives as humans.

When sufficient progress has been made spirits will change from living as animals to living as humans. Some pets will have become very close to their carer and experienced a special relationship. Such lives are very different from those they might have had as wild animals or livestock.

At this 'changeover point' animals have awareness and emotions that leave them wanting to wait for the passing of their former carers in order to re-unite for a brief time before both move forward along different spiritual paths.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by boyce

Just as with ourselves animals are animated by individual spirits. In our world, experience ranges from a distant appreciation of but not necessarily involvement with wild animals, through farming and eating them to caring for some as pets. In the world of the spirit, however, we do not experience animals in a similar way. There may be communal landscapes in which wild animals can be found but there is no need for farming any animals for food and our friends in spirit do not appear to live with pets other than (for a short while) the ones they cared for in this world.

Some schools of thought say that animals are governed by group souls rather than individual souls. The same teachings say that the eventual goal of the animal kingdom is to evolve to human birth and individuality, but this gateway is currently closed.

Domesticated animals occupy a special position as intermediaries between the human kingdom and the rest of the animal kingdom. This is because domesticated animals have (to a certain extent) lost their fear of humans, because humans take care of them and feed them. Some level of emotional bonding has been established.

Animals have astral (emotional) bodies (though not to the same development as humans) and rudimentary mental bodies, and thus after death animals can function on various astral planes. Wild animals would naturally go to their own astral environment while domesticated animals may retain some contact with specific humans in the astral realms, although at some point they do seem to go their separate ways, as mentioned above.

We are told that when the gateway between the animal and human kingdoms is reopened then domesticated animals will be the first to take human birth. These same teachings reject the idea that humans can ever be reborn in the animal kingdom - the more subtle aspects of the human being are too developed to find expression in an animal body.

So say various teachings, although the information available is limited. Some may disagree because this approach ranks human beings above animals in a hierarchy of consciousness, but for others such a hierarchy of consciousness is self-evident.

Peace

[Altair]

Originally Posted by boyce

When the body of an animal dies its spirit - again like our own - is free to undertake another incarnation, maybe as a similar animal but eventually as a different and more sophisticated one. Over time those spirits progress from animating animals to being ready to undertake lives as humans.

What do you call ''sophisticated''?

''1. having, revealing, or involving a great deal of worldly experience and knowledge of fashion and culture. 2. (of a machine, system, or technique) developed to a high degree of complexity''

Guess we'll go with option 2 then. Plenty of extinct species were more complex than plenty of existing species. Bacteria exist as well. Not complex compared to ground sloths or dromaeosauridae.

There is no 'progress'. It is natural.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Altair

What do you call ''sophisticated''? ... There is no 'progress'. It is natural.

It depends on our perspective. We can consider animals as just physical organisms or we can consider animals as a combination of mental, emotional and physical attributes.

Sophistication would suggest some level of emotional and mental development beyond instinctual intelligence.

Peace

[Altair]

It simply doesn't work that way. Bacteria are still around, and more complex species have gone extinct. Humans are only ''sophisticated'' by their own standard. The underlying assumptions here are creationism, that everything follows some pre-ordained purpose and linearity. What we observe in nature disproves that completely.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Altair

It simply doesn't work that way. Bacteria are still around, and more complex species have gone extinct. Humans are only ''sophisticated'' by their own standard. The underlying assumptions here are creationism, that everything follows some pre-ordained purpose and linearity. What we observe in nature disproves that completely.

We have very different perspectives. We shall have to agree to disagree.

Peace

[Busby]

Originally Posted by boyce

When the body of an animal dies its spirit - again like our own - is free to undertake another incarnation, maybe as a similar animal but eventually as a different and more sophisticated one. Over time those spirits progress from animating animals to being ready to undertake lives as humans.


ths.

Odd that my support of your statement by mentioning 'the Tibetan Book of the Dead' should meet with your condemnation of the same.

And, by the way, that book or indeed the topic of re-incarnation is in no way proof of what I consider to be feasible.

[boyce]

Originally Posted by Busby

Odd that my support of your statement by mentioning 'the Tibetan Book of the Dead' should meet with your condemnation of the same.

I didn't condemn anything but the part I drew attention to was (quote): "....states quite clearly that humans can be reborn as animals."

I am heartened, though, you do appear to agree with what I'd written earlier, ie "....when the body of an animal dies its spirit - again like our own - is free to undertake another incarnation, maybe as a similar animal but eventually as a different and more sophisticated one."