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Originally Posted by SonoranBob  You forgot plants. |
Actually, I said that plants probably have souls. Though I'm honestly not sure. That'd be some existence, wouldn't it, sitting there in the ground all the time?
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Originally Posted by SonoranBob But you can carry it farther than that. Some people say that even inanimate objects have consciousness or a soul. Seems to me, though, that if a rock is conscious, it's of so little practical import that it probably doesn't matter what you or I think or recognize about it. |
This is where it gets difficult, without a concrete definition of consciousness. I say that consciousness is all-pervasive, so in that context they would have consciousness, but again not self-aware consciousness. I don't think that is a very good definition for a soul, though, of just having consciousness. Souls have a feeling of individuality, I imagine, so must even have some ego there. But these are all human terms being pushed on non-human entities, so it is rather iffy.
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Originally Posted by SonoranBob I have been intimately acquainted with people who feel a special kinship with animals -- either a specific kind or animals generally. It's my observation 100% of the time so far that their soft spot for animals is because an animal's apparent lack of ego or judgment and no-strings-attached affection (real or imagined) is superior to their experience with their fellow humans (real or imagined). So another question becomes, to what extent do animals have a soul, however rudimentary? Or is some or all of that explained by us projecting desired human qualities on them and anthropomorphizing them? |
I think a little of both. it is hard for me to imagine that the loyalty and love shown by an animal is coming from something without a soul. But I am biased.
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Originally Posted by SonoranBob Indeed -- one could ask the same question about people's relationship with God. Are they relating to a real God or to their anthropomorphized image of god as a glorified / idealized human that they just can't seem to find? Or does God present himself that way as a concession to people? |
I agree with your second choice of an anthropomorphized god that probably really doesn't exist, but is more like what people might think a human might be like in that situation—e.g., get angry if not worshipped, etc.
Of course, it is valid to think we're doing the same thing to animals, since we really don't know what animals are thinking, if anything at all.