For as long as people have been grappling with the concept of death, they have wondered if humans have souls.
For as long as people have had cats, they have wondered if cats do, too.
When grappling with end of life issues, whether humans or pets, we must remember that having a spiritual point of view can be a great comfort. Maybe you don't need it. Maybe others, do.
Since people have been nice enough to share how my pet loss posts have helped them, here's the whole series on my blog.
My views on the flip:
The concept of "the soul" is an extraordinarily powerful one. When we love a living being, who loves us back, we recognize both the individual who is unique and irreplaceable, and our own longing that this love, of whatever kind, would not end when the living being does.
Since the love does not go away, it only takes another form; it would seem that perhaps the loved one does go on. By taking another form. By taking with them that which inspired so much love.
Which would be their soul.
Our global society has taken great strides in understanding the physical world; we take pictures from space and make coffee in the microwave. These are readily understandable through "cause and effect," because all the pictures from space link up with each other and look identifiable from different distances, and coffee gets hot in the microwave.
"Believing" in outer space or microwaves is not considered an option when there is so much abundant evidence that they do exist. While we may not completely understand how a rocket manages to escape the earth's gravitational pull, or how microwaves are created in our kitchen, we are satisfied that the end result occurs whether we understand it, or not.
Someone does, or it wouldn't be happening.
Because the existence of souls does not have such readily available, real world, evidence, it remains a source of controversy. Over the course of human history, religions rise and fall around theories on how soul mechanics might work... and influencing our views on whether a cat would have one.
Since it is a matter of belief anyway; I do think cats have souls.
Are not cats unique individuals? Don't they love and are loved? Can't they sense our moods and offer compassion and understanding?
What would our souls be; if not made of such stuff as this?
In life, we might like mustard or ketchup, prefer delicate antiques or fat chairs of mongrel design, dance to mazurkas or sway to Mozart. These are all unique expressions we make based on the choices we have before us.
In another time and place, we would have made different choices. But we would still be us. What drives us can take its final shape through genes and our environment, but individually driven we still are.
Since cats are also unique in their expression, different in their designs, and vary through their inheritance and their interactions to become separate and distinct personalities; I don't think it's stretching an observation to see the same drives flowing from the same source.
The impetus behind the soul searching is the same no matter what living being we have managed to connect with in such a profound way. We ask upon each loss; Will we see each other again?
Each person finds their own path to answering that question.
We should all remember that souls are only expressed in physical bodies for a short time. So if souls do continue, it is in the form of memories, emotions, and feelings.
These are things that may not require a structure of carbon and chemicals to exist; such a structure may only make these things easier to express.
"Belief" may not matter to souls. Like outer space and microwaves, these are things that existed before we were aware of them. And will continue on whether we are aware of them, or not.
So if we feel any living being still within our heart, if we think we sometimes pick up on their presence, it might be that we are simply wishing this were so. Or it might be that more solid, more physical, more proven methods of detection are not to be based on our five physical senses. Such thoughts are often attributed to our "imagination."
But our five physical senses have been established to be transient in the very nature that we, in turn, use to notice what it is that they notice.
If we have indelible, indestructible souls, then what those souls touch are made of the same indelible, indestructible, indefinable materials.
It is these other "senses," so difficult to define and yet so difficult to discount, that we are using to become aware of something we have few and futile words for.
That might be a simple consequence of having two sides of our brains. The logical, rational, side, the one which puts cameras on the moon and coffee in our microwave, is also the side which has a speech center. It is the side which can put things into words, understands how to use physical efforts towards a physical end, and will communicate the results in words with other logical, rational, brain sides with speech centers.
We have a whole other half of the brain where we create art, channel passionate attachments to ephemeral concepts, and share lofty appreciation for such non-physical objectives as fairness, kindness, beauty, and love. Such things exist; and they dwell in our imagination.
This side does not have a speech center. It expresses itself in feelings.
If we are to detect and connect with the souls around us; emotions are the way we would do it.
Look at these images from the Hubble Space Telescope! Listen to music. Want some coffee?
Since I'm not sure about videos, see it here.
If you are a Pink Floyd fan, this is also a lovely one.
I have always found it extraordinary how much we can love cats, and how much they can love us. Sharing love is its own purpose, and its own reward.
Because there are no small souls.
Only small creatures.