do animals have a spirit?

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Hermes

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I suspect, they have a group soul, per species. I am not sure...in a way, I was lead to believe that all things - animate or inanimate have a slice of a divine, but that is not the same as having a Spirit. Is it? What do you think?
I think for reincarnation to work it is a prerequisite to posses a soul...so I suspect, animals do not reincarnate....
 
Animals have a spirit or soul, but it is at a much lower level of sophistication than humans. It is said that, when a human soul is created, a 'cup full' of animal soul is taken, then 'inflated' with a higher type of 'consciousness matter,' and this 'bubble' is the essence of what a human soul is.

The idea of group souls makes a lot of sense to me. It has been said that a group soul is like a bucket. When one animal is born, a little of the soul-essence is taken from the 'bucket' and used to create the animal's 'soul.' When the animal dies, its soul essence is 'poured back into the bucket' and then a new amount of soul essence is 'ladled out' for the birth of a new animal. Each animal does not possess its own singular amount of soul essence, this only happens when that soul essence is 'promoted' to becoming a human, at which time each human maintains sole possession of his/her own soul essence and does not mix it with other humans, as he/she once did when he/she was an animal.

Take a look at this school of fish.

http://www.webstockpro.com/Dex/PH024_079.School-of-fairy-basslet-and-coral-Photo/

All of the thousands of fish in this school of fish comprise one individual animal group 'soul.' Millions of years from now, when this single animal soul has finished its evolutionary travel through all the various forms of the animal world, will it be 'promoted' to becoming a single human being.
 
well, in my understanding the soul is your astral/invisible self - when you die it dies too, the spirit does not! (in my OP, I wrote "soul", when I meant "spirit".
The spirit is that reincarnates. An animal has a group soul, but my OP is mainly tries to find out if they (critters) reincarnate...
 
The astral self definitely dies, but the higher aspects of the 'soul' do not.

"...my OP is mainly tries to find out if they (critters) reincarnate..."

--> It depends on your definition of reincarnate. If you mean does an animal reincarnate with the exact same 'soul,' the answer is no. If you mean does an animal's 'soul' returns to live in other animal bodies, the answer is yes.

What is your defintion of 'reincarnate'?
 
giving "definitions" for concepts like soul or spirit is a touchy subject (everyone has a certain school or orthodoxy depending on the respective teaching - even thou, when true, we all are talking about the same principal), - as for reincarnation, I consider when something returns in any way or shape and maintains a trace of the past lives - is reincarnated. It is implied that certain things remain with you, like karmic acts, deep talents for certain aspects of like, like art, science. In a case of a cat of course it would just be silly but I think cats and dogs have individuality and like you pointed out they might come back from the group soul (or hive) and a new critter to occupy a new birth that takes place on the mundane/physical plane. That of course as you pointed out would not be the same as reincarnation of a human being, with karmic debt etc.
Nick the Pilot said:
The astral self definitely dies, but the higher aspects of the 'soul' do not.

"...my OP is mainly tries to find out if they (critters) reincarnate..."

--> It depends on your definition of reincarnate. If you mean does an animal reincarnate with the exact same 'soul,' the answer is no. If you mean does an animal's 'soul' returns to live in other animal bodies, the answer is yes.

What is your defintion of 'reincarnate'?
Click to expand...
 
Hermes said:
I suspect, they have a group soul, per species.
Click to expand...
They have life ... life is universal.

Hermes said:
I was lead to believe that all things - animate or inanimate have a slice of a divine, but that is not the same as having a Spirit. Is it? What do you think?
Click to expand...
Well anything that is, exists by virtue of that which brought it into being, and sustains it in being.

All being has its essence, but when one speaks of 'soul' or 'spirit' one is differentiating certain qualities. 'Life', for example, pre-supposes some order of animation, and in that sense a stone is said to be inanimate.

I would say 'soul' signifies animate being, 'spirit' signifies the qualities of a soul or collective of souls, and Spirit is that which transcends all forms and modes of being, which sustains them. Thus there is 'spirit' and there is 'Spirit', two different things.

I do not believe in reincarnation however, as it is commonly understood.

God bless

Thomas
 
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