Do Dogs Have Souls?
While I was trying to get some writing done, this ... concept, I guess, the theme of this short essay, came upon me.
And it absolutely refused to be set aside or ignored until I wrote it. Refused.
So I jotted it down while sitting in my car between jobs, which is how I pass my down time these days - trying to write on my tablet (which will explain the rampant typos, bad word usage, and grammar in my recent uploads).
Do dogs have souls?
I heard this one day, standing outside the nave of a local church waiting for the rest of my family to emerge after services. A young boy asked his father, as they passed, "Dad, do dogs have souls?" Apparently a family pet had recently passed on to the Rainbow Bridge and the lad was concerned; would it be allowed into Heaven? I did not hear his father's answer, mulling the question over, myself.
My conclusions?
Yes, dogs have souls. And cats, and goldfish, parakeets, even some cows and other creatures we make dear to us. Not the kind of soul that we take our own to be, but something vastly different. You see, animals of the Earth - squirrels and birds and bugs and cows in a field we never pay attention to other than the possibilities of their flesh on our plate - have Spirit, given to them by the Earth that gives them life and taken back when that life is come to its end. Even feral dogs and other domestic animals we have turned our neglect upon have this.
But our Dogs, and anything else we bring into our homes and hearts, have Souls; true Souls in the most Biblical sense. How, might you ask?
Because We give them souls, as our own soul is given unto us. The Soul is not a 'thing', a concrete object we can confine and call Thus. It is nebulous, not a stone that never grows but as a cloud; ever shifting, indefinable as it is insubstantial. When we love a thing - dog, cat, horse, Family and friends - we give them a little of that cloud we call a soul. It becomes a part of their own soul, and ours is not diminished by that sharing. Indeed, our soul is enriched by it, for the bit of our soul we give is returned to us by its recipient, in the form of a bit of their own souls in turn.
Thus enriching all of us, as we share our cloud-like soul among all of those we cherish, man and beast alike, and they share their own.
And, when they pass away, no matter where their immortal soul goes - Heaven, Nirvana, Firdaus, Oblivion - they will never be parted from us.
Why?
Because the little bit of our Soul that we shared with them, that has grown in its association, returns to us when we pass on. It brings with it all of the person we gifted it to, and the Soul they gifted to us is returned to them, where ever that might be, bearing with it all that we have shared, and become, to enrich them. So, no matter the faith, the animal, or simply the friend, they will ever be with us - no matter where we might go, as well.
Because the Soul is shared.
So, worry not that one you love may be Buddhist or Muslim, Atheist or Animal, they will be there when you make that final journey across the Rainbow Bridge, for they will be there, waiting to make that Journey with you.
But, be wary. Love gifts the Soul willingly, but Hate also bequeaths a portion of our soul upon the hated. It is thrust upon them, and remains with them though in time and an abeyance of hatred will allow it to dwindle until it slips free of them. In turn, we tear away a piece of their soul, and clasp it to us. If we foster it, if we embrace and hold to that hate, as with Love, it will grow. It will become ever a part of us, even unto our passing on. And then it is returned to them, and that which we forced upon them is returned to us - with all that our Hatred imparted upon it.
Let free your hate, do not embrace it, and release that soul you have grasped, lest it be returned to darken your Heaven even as the Soul of the loved brightens it.