Theos-Talk Archives (August 1997 Message tl00064)

Jerry wrote:

>>>One thing about the readings which bothers me is the denial
>>>that animals have individual souls.  In the case of dolphins
>>>and several other species, this just doesn't ring true.
>>
>>Some theosophists claim the same lack of animal soul(s). Like you, I
>>don't accept this one bit...
>
>Paul and Alan, I agree.  Actually, HPB says that none of the planes
>can be skipped, so that everything on the physical plane has to have
>its astral, mental, and causal counterparts even thought they may
>not be actively manifesting.  I raise Norweign Forest Cats, and
>can say with some authority that they each have a "soul" however
>you want to define it.

I have always liked Leadbeater's analogy of a pail of water being the
group soul, and each animal being analogous to taking part of the
water that is in the pail and temporarily being put into a separate
container, so that it acquires its own unique qualities (which are
apparent even in insects), but then, when its life is over, it goes
back into the group soul and mixes its qualities with the group soul,
just as the water that was in the individual container gets put back
into the pail, mixing its qualities with that of all the other water.
I don't know how else, but by postulating a group soul, to explain
such events as many birds acting simultaneously.