What animals reveal about human life

Consider: a bull in a vast meadow, in a verdant pasture abounding in water and grass - its strength exceeds man's and its food is many times that of ten strong men. Its clothing is natural, its joy inherent, its wealth all the verdure of the plain, its home the expanse of meadow and dale, valley and mountain. What man can attain to such amplitude of livelihood as the bull?

When an animal tears apart another animal - and not of its own kind - it is compelled to do so for food. For instance, the wolf is called ferocious. The poor wolf tears apart one sheep, and that only for its sustenance, for if it does not, it will die of hunger since it is carnivorous. But one human being becomes the cause of a million souls being torn to pieces, and then they cast aspersions upon the poor animal.

When we look at the animal Kingdom what a difference we find between the domestic and the wild animals! The dog is one of the domestic animals; the jackal is one of the wild animals. Although these two are much alike in appearance, yet in action they are very different. The sheep is a domestic animal, the wolf is a ferocious beast and we see what a difference there exists between the one and the other! The wild dog running over the mountains is one of the most ferocious beasts. It is naturally savage, ravenous and ungrateful in disposition. No matter how much kindness a person showers upon this sort of a dog the result is ungratefulness. This also demonstrates that the animal kingdom is in need of education.

Consider the animal kingdom, where no distinction is observed between male and female. They are equal in powers and privileges. Among birds of the air no distinction is evidenced. Their powers are equal; they dwell together in complete unity and mutual recognition of rights. Shall we not enjoy the same equality? Its absence is not befitting to mankind.

The majority of the illnesses that afflict man also afflict animals, but the animal does not treat them through medicines. The animal's physician in the mountains and the wilderness is its powers of taste and smell. The sick animal smells the plants that grow in the wilderness, eats those that its smell and taste find to be sweet and fragrant, and is cured.

And yet in truth, what difference is there when it cometh to physical sensations? The feelings are one and the same, whether ye inflict pain on man or on beast. There is no difference here whatever. And indeed ye do worse to harm an animal, for man hath a language, he can lodge a complaint, he can cry out and moan; if injured he can have recourse to the authorities and these will protect him from his aggressor. But the hapless beast is mute, able neither to express its hurt nor take its case to the authorities. If a man inflict a thousand ills upon a beast, it can neither ward him off with speech nor hale him into court. Therefore is it essential that ye show forth the utmost consideration to the animal, and that ye be even kinder to him than to your fellow man.

As for the animal spirit, which is shared between man and animal, it is perishable in itself and becomes non-existent when bodies perish and forms dissolve, for it is of material elements. Since its substance is subject to non-existence and changeable through the passage of time, it must inevitably perish.

"Do animals have souls and do these souls exist after death?" The Master replied: Once it was said that the plant had a spirit and the spirit of the plant is the name which was given to it. Once it was said that the animal had a spirit, and the spirit of the animal is the sensation which it feels; that is, animals are a composition of the elements. They have feeling and sensation, but no mind (comprehension). For instance, the spirits of the birds cannot comprehend anything of reality, and cannot realize spiritual things. They cannot think about knowledge. The spirit of the animal can only feel and sense things, but realize nothing about the spiritual. They are simply the results of the combination of the elements, and when they die nothing remains of them.

Man is distinguished from the animal by reason. Likewise, the perceptions of man are of two kinds: sensible and intelligible. But the perceptions of the animal are of one kind only: the sensible. For it is established that the animal apprehendeth nothing save the sensible. Man, however, hath two perceptions: one, sensible perception, as when he seeth the lamp as a lamp; the other, intelligible perception, such as mathematical truths, the sphericity of the earth, and the centrality of the sun. These are intelligible realities. Likewise, reason itself is an intelligible reality, not a sensible one. All spiritual attributes are intelligible realities; they are not sensible. For example, this man is learned: knowledge itself is an intelligible reality. And since knowledge is an intelligible reality, however much ye search the body and brain of that learned man, ye will not find knowledge therein. Thus the perceptions of man are of two kinds: intelligible realities and sensible realities.

For instance, how much must a person toil and labor to secure his livelihood, and even then hardly one in a thousand succeeds in fully providing for his needs. But observe a bird that builds its nest on a lofty mountain overlooking the sea and plains, on the highest branch of a tree. … In this nest, the bird inhales the gentle breeze in perfect peace of mind, free from care and sorrow. The vista is supremely sweet, the water perfectly pure, all harvests are its wealth--without toil or effort, without struggle, the entire plain belongs to it.