(I hear Goofy laughing :-)

I’m not laughing.

I’m sneering, it’s much more satisfying.

Here’s why: If the human has a soul, then so does a dog. A dog has emotions, all the same senses, and a brain which records past events and learns from them. There is no difference between us and them except for a couple of extra lobes in the brain which allows us to put somewhat more complex thoughts together, and a voice box which allows us to articulate better than they do. But they do communicate, as anyone with a dog and a door bell can attest.

But if dogs have a soul, then so much snakes. They see, they move, they eat and excrete. What is the substantial difference except a voice box?

And if snakes do, … well, it’s turtles all the way down. Do Amoeba have souls? Why not? They’re “alive”, They react. They gravitate towards light and food don’t they? And what would give amoeba “souls”? The proteins and bacteria and other microscopic things that form life at that level?

The more obvious Occam’s razor answer is that there is no soul. No one has ever measured it, seen it, tasted it. It cannot be demonstrated or felt. It is a made up construction, probably by people so ego-centric as to think “Well, I can add 2+2 and get 4, so I’m smart, smarter than a dog, certainly, so I must have a soul.” Which fits in so perfectly with the other myth of Porto-human mankind: “God is watching” *(and probably explains that roar of thunder after he throws down the lightning bolts.)

No. No mystery man in the sky. No Soul down here, except for James Brown. Just the ever increasing complexity of things combining in endless ways for the wonder and awe of all of us. Including dogs.