Do you think a dog's soul could have just as much wisdom as a humans?

Question

I mean when you die, your worldy knowledge will die with you. Your brain dies just like all your other organs. Maybe your soul is stupid compared to an animal's soul. How would you know?

Answer 1

I believe , though, that since Humans are more evolved species, their souls should be too.

Here is the reasoning behind my assumption according to Hindu beliefs.

Individual souls, or jivas, enter the world mysteriously; by God's power we may be sure, but how or for what reason we are unable fully to explain. Like bubbles that form on the bottom of a boiling teakettle, they make their way through the water (universe) until they break free into the limitless atmosphere of illumination (liberation). They begin as the souls of the simplest forms of life, but they do not vanish with the death of their original bodies.
In the Hindu view, spirit no one depends more on the body it inhabits that body depends on the clothes it wears or the house it lives in. When we outgrow a suit or find our house too cramped, we exchange these for roomier ones that offer our bodies freer play. Souls do the same.

" Worn-out garments Are shed by the body:
Worn-out bodies Are shed by the dweller. "

- (Bhagavad-Gita, II:22)


This process by which an individual jiva (soul) passes through a sequence of bodies is known as reincarnation or transmigration of the soul - in Sanskrit samsara, a word that signifies endless passage through cycles of life, death and rebirth.

(Moksha means freedom from the cycle of birth and death. The ultimate goal of Hindu religious life is to attain freedom from the cycle of birth and death, or union with God. This union is achieved through true knowledge (jnana), devotion (bhakti), or right work (karma). Purity, self-control, truthfulness, non-violence, and compassion toward all forms of life are the necessary prerequisites for any spiritual path in Hinduism. There is no concept of Savior. You have to free yourself by your own effort. No savior can help you achieve God realization without your personal effort.)

"Ages before Lamarck and Darwin it was held in India that man has passed through 84 lakhs (8,400,000) of birth as plants, animals, as an "inferior species of man" and then as the ancestor of the developed type existing to-day. The theory was not, like modern doctrine of evolution, based wholly on observation and a scientific enquiry into fact but was a rather (as some other matters) an act of brilliant intuition in which observation may also have had some part."

(source: Is India Civilized - Essays on Indian Culture - By Sir John Woodroffe p. 22).


"The development of the soul is a continuous progress, though it is broken into stages by the baptism of death."

-Dr. S Radhakrishnan

Answer 2

I am a believer in souls and reincarnation. A soul is a soul, doesn't matter if it is a human, dog, cat, bird or lizard. Humans are, after all, just animals themselves. Maybe the worldly knowledge dies with the brain, but maybe the "soul" has been molded with some of that knowledge as well and some of it does go with that soul to a new incarnation.

Answer 3

The soul is the same in animals and humans, and even plants and bacteria. Consciouness is the sign of the soul. Body is dead matter. We can feel something only because the soul, which is situated in our heart, pervades the whole body with its consciousness.
In lower bodies the soul is more covered by ignorance. For example, in tree's body the soul is so covered that it practically has almost no consciousness. When our body dies, the soul transmigrates to another body according to our consciousness at the time of death. If we develop animalistic qualities, we will be born as animals in our next life, but if we develop our God consciousness, we can return to spiritual kingdom.

Answer 4

After someone dies it doesnt matter if he was a dog or human. It is only body that matters because that is the trapping medium of soul on this planet. Therefore it is worthwhile to consider the fact that all the souls be it of a dog or of a human would have equal amount or deree of wisdom.

Answer 5

That's a possibility I have pondered before as well. I'm really fond of animals and often anthropomorphize their actions. It would be nice to be able to effectively communicate with them someday. Dogs, cats, and dolphins are specially intelligent creatures, I think if any or all of those groups could develope a system of proper communication, maybe we can get some of the answers we ask here everyday. I would love to know what their philosophies are in many catagories.

Answer 6

You're barking up the wrong tree. CATS are the wiser species.

Now I'll blather on a bit. I would have said that dogs are wiser, because their lives are simpler and more about immediate needs than humans. Humans get obsessive over things that don't matter, collect unnecessary knowledge, etc.

But on the other hand, dogs haven't CHOSEN to live as they do. They are victims of their own biology.

So I say they aren't wise, they're just lucky. You might say.

Answer 7

Interesting thought. I believe that animals have souls.Those souls were never attached to a human brain so they would be inferior, for lack of a better word.

Answer 8

Maybe Lassie's soul would have as much wisdom. But Odie? No chance.

Answer 9

Anything is possible. I feel confident porpoise are advanced creatures with more wisdom than humans so their souls would be advanced as well. About dogs....beats me....

Answer 10

Who said a dog has a soul?