Concern for animals
QUESTION: Masters I’ve been struggling with animal conditions on planet Earth. I suffer for them all the time so I realize I must learn a lot. Why are they murdered and devoured? Why do some species devour other species? Why are they used in lab tests, abandoned, spanked, tortured? I understand each man chooses his lessons, but what is the purpose of animals´ daily pain? I feel they have a conscience and I believe they have a soul once we can feel and see animals that have died. Do they evolve to be humans? ~Fernanda, Brazil
ANSWER: Most animals do not have a soul. They are animated by a spark of life. They evolved to assist humans to learn to live and feed themselves in the environment. At one time, animals were the predators and humans their prey. As humans got more plentiful, began to work together, and grouped in cities, they learned to breed animals much as they learned to cultivate the plants on the Earth.
Were it not for the fact that humans domesticated some of the wild animals to become pets to assuage their loneliness and have a constant source of unconditional love, you would not think of them as anything other than a food source or as something that could do you harm.
Animals are not equal with humans in that they are “owned” by the humans. They are not free thinking or able to take care of themselves, except those in the wild that are sustained by consuming other species.
You are thinking of animals as a soul who has chosen to spend time in the body of an animal. A very infinitesimal number of souls choose to be animals. In those rare cases, they generally choose a species that will allow them to examine some special trait not available to a human. No soul has chosen to be an animal that is bred for consumption or experimentation.
You identify with abused creatures because you feel abused mentally and emotionally. You sense that you will be able to help yourself if you can find some way to help them. They are fulfilling the purpose for which they came into existence.
Souls do not evolve. They become more aware of their essence through the physical lives they lead. If they have chosen the life of an animal – say a cat, dog, or eagle – they have the freedom to return to being human afterward. Most souls have never been other than human when experiencing physicality.