There's no question that dogs are far more likely to have souls than humans are...that is why "All Dogs Go to Heaven"... and most humans won't. B
Does Fido Have a Soul? By Burt Prelutsky Friday, May 18, 2007 Recently, a friend of mine announced that dogs don't have souls. Inasmuch as I nearly always agree with her, I found it surprising that we were in opposing camps on this particular subject. Because I respect her opinion, I found myself questioning my own belief system somewhat more than usual. Is it possible, I asked myself, to have four legs, a tail, fleas and a soul? While I'm not absolutely certain what souls are, I finally decided that if they are what I think they are, dogs definitely have them. To begin with, a soul, to me, is the thing within us that urges us to behave as decently as possible, as if God, Himself, were actually paying attention. It is similar, I think, to a conscience, but with one important distinction: The soul, I believe, points you in the right direction, while the conscience kicks in with a vengeance once you break the Golden Rule. In short, one provides guidance, the other doles out punishment. Basically, there seems to be one reason why people such as my friend are convinced that dogs lack souls. Namely, when a canine does something terrific, it gets ascribed to instinct. If an animal performs an act of courage and self-sacrifice, he doesn't get the same credit as a human being because it's presumed he hasn't acted out of free will. Without the ability to decide not to do something heroic, without the ability to consciously weigh the risks, we're told that the animal is acting only out of blind obedience to his instinct. To which I say, with all due respect, hooey! Even when a dog runs into a burning building, his derring-do is dismissed with condescension. After all, we're lectured, dogs are pack animals; it's bred into them to be subservient to the pack leader. Still, even that doesn't begin to explain why dogs risk death to rescue babies; even a poodle knows that a squalling infant is not an alpha male. Neither does instinct, alone, explain why dogs have been known to leap into raging rivers to rescue perfect strangers. Also, if some dogs are not to receive full credit because all of their marvelous traits are inbred, how do you explain that not every dog will perform similar acts of heroism? And, finally, if an entire species is, by its very nature, warm-hearted, conscientious, loyal and brave, one would be hard-pressed to maintain that, in spite of all these virtues, they are soul-less. In the end, the real question, so far as I can see, isn't whether or not dogs have souls, but whether people do. W. Burt Prelutsky is an accomplished, well-rounded writer and author of Conservatives <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1581825714/ref=nosim/townhallcom> Are from Mars (Liberals Are from San Francisco): 101 Reasons I'm Happy I Left the Left. . <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=12603557/grpspId=1705303296/msgI d=203235/stime=1179501232/nc1=3848621/nc2=4299910/nc3=3> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
