Path of Spirituality and Animals
For those who use the Bible to stand behind the opinion that animals do not have Souls might want to have a look at these Biblical quotes:
“Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19)
“This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as the head.” (Ephesians 1:10)
Animals in Buddhist Doctrine
Animals have always been regarded in Buddhist thought as sentient beings, different in their intellectual ability than humans; but no less capable of feeling suffering. Furthermore, according to the Mahayana school, animals possess a Buddha-nature and therefore have an equal potential to become enlightened. Moreover, the doctrine of rebirth holds that any human can be reborn as an animal and any animal can be reborn as a human. An animal might be a reborn dead relative; and, if you looked far enough back in one’s infinite series of lives, you would eventually perceive every animal to be related to you in some way. The Buddha expounded that those sentient beings currently living in the animal realm have been our mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, children, and friends in past rebirths. One could not, therefore, make a hard distinction between the moral rules applicable to animals and those applicable to humans: humans and animals are ultimately part of a single-family. They are all interconnected, they are all on an evolutionary path of Spirituality.
Animals in the Kabbalah
Kabbalah divides physical life into four forms: Inanimate or mineral, plant, animal, and human. Animals are a higher life form than minerals and plants. All of Life is a hierarchy of spiritual levels. Minerals are at the lowest spiritual point and are unable to elevate themselves to a higher spiritual level. When minerals (e.g. soil) are absorbed into plants, they are elevated to the next spiritual level. When an animal eats a plant, it raises the plant to the spiritual level of an animal. Humans have a choice and can behave like animals or worse, so when a human eats an animal, he/ she might raise the animal to a higher spiritual rung or may stoop to the animal’s level, depending on how spiritually focused the person is.