Animals have no soul....! ( Archived) (28)

Correction
calf hoof has lot of gelatin

It seems the word soul has different meanings to different people. Some people are called 'souless' when they display no empathy. Some, we say have a good soul when they are kind. Using these definitions it's difficult to see how an animal can have a soul. But then, we are used to slipping the 'word' soul into conversation where it seems best suited, where definition is not required. Maybe soul and it's definition is best left a mystery that cannot be solved by rational thought, something similar to this quotation by Goethe.....

"It is not given to us to grasp the truth, which is identical with the divine, directly. We perceive it only in reflection, in example and symbol, in singular and related appearances. It meets us as a kind of life which is incomprehensible to us, and yet we cannot free ourselves from the desire to comprehend it."

Or how James Hollis describes soul, or 'psyche' which as mentioned earlier in the thread is the Greek word for soul....

"We may stand in relationship to soul only through the imaginary world of the psyche, whether conscious or not, comprehensible or not. While we may seek it through ego driven venues, ranging from theology to music to romantic love, we are more frequently pulled down to the swampland where we at least want to sojourn. Such descents are proof of the ubiquity, autonomy and essential mystery of soul.
While the idea soul may be too amorphous for many, we must retain it precisely to honour it's ambiguity, it's elusiveness.
Whether soul is in fact there is unimportant. What matters is that in such venues one experiences the depth, the intimation of mystery, which constitutes soul."

Like I mentioned earlier, if soul is so ambiguous, it seems to be pointless, meaningless and of no value to ponder whether animals have a soul...there really is no correct answer....that would appear to be the nature of soul.