Do Animals have a spirit?

[Xterminator27]

I most definatly belive that they do, I know the church says that they dont but i strongly belive that they do. Animals think, beath and show emotions and personality. How different are they really from us? I saw a show where this guy was training thes monkeys and apes. and it was in some kid of natural reserve and i was amazed at how the monkeys acted just like kids. And humans. I mean they cryed when there feelings were hurt. They walked away and hit their faces when they were embarassed. When you see something liek that its no doubt that we are extremly alike.
Whats ur thoughts on animals having souls?

[Read JDM]

I really hope they do. But if so, I don't think it's like a human spirit; I think they're more like employees of Heaven.

[iris69]

if by spirit...you mean soul...than no. not in the way that humans have souls.

[Altair]

Without a doubt! You should see my dad's border collie. I swear I've seen the person in that dog! It's a living, thinking, feeling, being, just like us. Well, sort of like us.

[JenRN]

I am such an ANIMAL LOVER it is impossible for me to belive they don't have a spirit! I really belive they do in some sort. I would be lost in this world without animals!

[souldancer]

Yes, I think spirit infuses all Life - just differently. This thread brought back a favorite quote of mine...maybe it doesn't exactly fit here - but I like it,..here it goes..
<i> We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.” -- Henry Beston from "The Outermost House" 1933 </i>

[JenRN]

WOW!!!! That was a very true touching quote Souldancer! I agree whole heartedly! Animals are such a huge part of my life, I would love to really know what they are thinking to! For example what sweetness we think of when a cat purr's laying next to us, wouldn't it be nice to REALLY know how they feel. I have a friends dog, pit bull lab mix that goes absolutely BONKERS when I come over and he turns into this little submissive puppy and literally climbs on my lap and licks my face sniffs my hair and licks my ears all over! I would love to know what the heck is going through his mind seeing I am the only person he does this to!:P