The Spirituality Of Animals

O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath: guard them from all evil and let them sleep in peace.

I’m sure this will come as a huge shock to everyone, but my training is in veterinary medicine …not theology

I can find passages and stories in the bible that support the idea of an animal soul

I can also find passages and stories that do not support the idea of an animal soul

Breath of life…

Uniqueness of man compared to the lower animal creation.

The fate of man and animals› “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and

the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7)

› “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goethupward, and the spirit of the beast that goethdownward to the earth?” (Ecc. 3:21)

Nephesh….

But I can’t imagine it any other way.

The animals I’ve known have exhibited soul qualities in abundance…

Not a vegetarian…should I be?

Do only cute/fluffy animals have souls?

Were some animals put here for our use only (ie food/comfort/etc) and not for their own existence? Do they have a soul? Every chicken, every cow, everything?

I definitely don’t have the answers to many of these questions…it’s a personal journey.

I’m asking you to be open to the idea that animals possess a soul.

"I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we've got to do it right. We've got to give those animals a decent life and we've got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect." —Temple Grandin

Veterinarians are in a unique position to witness animal spirituality.

Stoic suffering and euthanasia, heroism and unconditional love…animals are beautiful and pure.

This dog is obviously feeling very “spiritual”…

For the next series of slides, I’m asking everyone to just shout out the first word that comes to mind when you see the photograph.

Soul is not the physical body, emotions, culture, consciousness, gender, species, or personality.

The true and eternal self that never dies. The soul animates the physical body, infusing it

with personality, feelings, thoughts, and conscious awareness.

At death, the soul leaves the body, but it survives another realm.

During life, the soul inspires spiritual impulses such as unconditional love, creativity, imagination, intuition, and free will.

Because animals play such an important

role in our lives, we give them names, just as we give names to our children. Although, we are often less inhibited when it comes to naming our pets…› Think a boa constrictor named Julius

Squeezer, doberman Dobi Wan Kenobi, Shih Tzu puppy named Blago (because of his hair), kitty named Meow Ming, Egg’s Benedict (Ben for short), Edgar Allen Poo, Murphy O’Drool, Maximum Bob, potbellied pigs named Porter and Guiness….I could go on and on and on…

Well…what constitutes creepy?

The serpent is also the symbol of the caduceus which is both a veterinary and medical doctor symbol.

Serpent:› Shedding of skin and

renewal is emphasized as symbolizing rejuvenation

› Can also express the dual nature of the work of a physician, who deals with life and death, sickness andhealth.

› Drugs = help or harm› Pharmakon (ancient Greek

word for drug, medicine or poison)

› Snake venom was even prescribed for certain conditions

I’m sorry….after extensive research, I have decided spiders don’t have souls.

They simply bring comfort by reminding people that goodness, kindness, and love still exist where hatred and loss have left their marks.

Humans are likely not unique in their ability to inflict cruelty for sport. › Dolphins appear to kill porpoises for fun› Killer whales are known to play with their food before eating it› Cats will slaughter more birds than necessary for survival› Cats tend to play with their prey before eating it and sometimes

don’t eat it at all

› Is this cruel behavior instinctual or simply fun?

René Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer.

"Father of Modern Philosophy”

This is the “I think, therefore I am” guy

A license for cruelty to animals.

› ie because man has dominion over animals and animals aren’t rational beings.

Love the hair…

“A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives."

"Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace."

This guy had it right.

O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath: guard them from all evil and let them sleep in peace.

Signs of higher mental abilities:

› Good memory

› Grasp of grammar and symbols

› Self awareness

› Understanding others’ motives

› Imitating others

› Creativity

Irene Pepperberg (Harvard) studied Alex for 30 years before his recent death

He could imitate >100 English words

He created words for food he enjoyed…including calling an apple a “banerry” because “apples tasted a little bit like bananas to him, and they look a little bit like cherries, so Alex made up a word for them,” Pepperberg said.

Alex and Griffin

Einstein

scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil

sheep can recognize faces chimpanzees use a variety of tools

to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals

dolphins can imitate human postures

the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task

Kanzi Time…1.25

The bonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his symbol-communication board with him so he can "talk" to his human researchers, and he has invented combinations of symbols to express his thoughts. Nevertheless, this is not the same thing as having an animal look up at you, open his mouth, and speak.

Do some exceptional animals have what researchers call mental flexibility?

Chimpanzees certainly do. In the wild, a chimpanzee may use four sticks of different sizes to extract the honey from a bee's nest. And in captivity, they can figure out how to position several boxes so they can retrieve a banana hanging from a rope.

Who let the dawgs out...?

Mark Bekoff (University of Colorado, Boulder) has demonstrated in experiments that various species have a sense of fairness and show empathy.

Recent neurology work has also revealed that distantly related mammals such as whales and dolphins have the same structures in their brains that are thought to be responsible for empathy in humans.

Dolphins save Doberman Pinscher stranded on sandbar Updated: Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011, 11:09 AM EST

Published : Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011, 10:42 AM EST MARCO ISLAND, Fla. (Newscore) - A Pennsylvania woman on vacation in Florida took a tip from

two dolphins to save a lost Doberman Pinscher that got stranded on a sandbar. When Audrey D'Alessandro and her husband, Sam, walked out of their home on Marco

Island, near Naples, Fla., to go fishing, "we saw these two dolphins, and they were splashing and making this big commotion" in a canal behind their vacation home, she said.

Although it is not uncommon to see dolphins swimming through the canal on their way to the Gulf of Mexico, Audrey D'Alessandro said that this time, "they were just there, in one place, splashing water against the canal wall."

When the D'Alessandros went to investigate, they saw that an 80-pound Doberman Pinscher was standing on a sandbar, half-submerged even at low tide. The dog, which disappeared from a nearby home some 12 hours before, was too weak to bark, she added, and could not get back onto land because of a several-foot-high canal wall.

By the time the nurse lowered herself into the canal to get onto the sandbar, the dutiful dolphins were gone, but her husband called firefighters, who helped Audrey D'Alessandro hoist the dog out of the water. Turbo, who was shaking and unable to stand after being rescued, was quickly reunited with his owner -- who got the happy news while putting up lost-dog posters.

A few days later, a thankful Turbo and his owner made the eight-block trip to visit the D'Alessandros, who have a yellow Labrador of their own.

But Audrey D'Alessandro brushed off the island-wide praise the couple received afterward, saying that while "people pulled up to us when were driving and said, 'You're the couple that saved that dog,' I said, 'Yeah, sure.' But I think it was really those dolphins.

Animals grieve for one another…

Wolf grieving

Numbers 22

She was a good donkey. She made good choices, heroic choices, to endure pain for the sake of her master’s life. Even under Cartesian theology, that is clear evidence of a “soul” and of a “spirit.”

History is replete with similar stories of animal heroism…dogs and other animals giving their lives for humans – or even other species. Some risk life and limb for strangers, others for loved friends.

Thankfully mother and child are said to be doing fine.

Mom and son

In the excavation of Pompeii, evidence was found of a dog lying across a child; archeologists believe the dog was trying to protect the child.

Firemen found a German shepherd who died covering a toddler with it’s body during a house fire. The child survived with only minor injuries.

Police K9 Sirius, Badge Number 17...a four-and-a-half-year old, ninety pound, easygoing, yellow Labrador Retriever...was an Explosive Detection Dog with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department.

Sirius, along with his partner, Police Officer David Lim, were assigned to the World Trade Center in New York, where their primary duty was to check vehicles entering the Complex, clear unattended bags and sweep areas for VIP safety.

Sirius, who began work at the World Trade Center on July 4, 2000, was the only police dog to perish during the attack on the Twin Towers.

Anyone who has ever shared a home with a pet knows: animals display a variety of emotions, including joy, fear, anger, pain, love, grief and despair. Jane Goodall is quoted as saying that “scientists who use animals to study the human brain, then deny that animals have feelings, are illogical.”

M. Jean Holmes (Do Dogs go to Heaven? Eternal Answers for Animal Lovers)

“Most animals are good – just like people. Some are good because it’s as natural to them as breathing. I’ve seen animals suffer unspeakable cruelty and still offer love and forgiveness to the person hurting them. Animals often love people as Mother Theresa loved – without prejudice and without being repelled by a person’s condition. Such animals don’t care if you are unwashed, covered with putrid sores, or dying. They still give love. If there’s a heaven for such saints as Mother Theresa, surely God has rewards in eternity for loving animals.”

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

Human beings look beyond the clouds to the stars and distant planets for answers to questions about God and life. Yet at our feet, in the branches of our trees, in our rivers and oceans, on our laps, and at our back doors, the eyes of kindred spirits watch and wait for us to recognize God’s gifts and blessings.