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"Slowly but surely some of this fear of the human race is
obliterated and the group soul is ready to pass into its last stage
in the animal world, that of the truly domesticated animals -- the
horse, the dog and the cat. The group soul which in the beginning
went out seeing experience in the form of approximately ten
thousand tadpoles has gradually but surely divided itself into
fewer and fewer parts, until in the last stages of the animal kingdom
it is in two parts only as two horses, two dogs or two
cats.
"When the group soul has evolved to the stage where it is
divided in half, it is in every way domesticated and has come to
understand man as he really is. Now the possibility of its in-
dividualising as a separate human ego becomes a fact. How
many lives still have to be lived by this group soul depends en-
tirely on the human beings to whom these two animals are
attached. If one of the two owners of these horses, dog or cats is
not an animal lover and therefore the treatment meted out to the
animal is unsympathetic, or cruel, then some of the fear which in
the last twenty lives has been partly eradicated, will come back
again and more lives must be lived before individualisation can
take place. I cannot emphasize too often or too strongly that if
people realised how important it is for them to make friends of
all domestic animals and do their part in making them under-
stand man, then this last stage would be reached much more
quickly than is often the case.
"Please understand this clearly: no group soul can individualise
into a human soul until all fear of the human race has been overcome.
Love is not an emotion which relates exclusively to the human
kingdom, in its highest form it encompasses all nature, therefore
man's part in animal evolution is to sec that in the true sense
'perfect love casteth out fear' for, without understanding help,
the progress of animals on the evolutionary path can be retarded
for an unlimited period of time.
"How does individualisation eventually take place? It can
come about in one of two ways -- through the pathway of either
the heart or the head, which varies with the type of animal. It
can be said that a dog most frequently passes into the human
kingdom through love and/or sacrifice. Often a dog is so devoted
to his master or to the family of his adoption that in an emergency
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his instinct of self-preservation completely deserts him and he
sacrifices his life to save that of his master or a member of the
family. It is not essential for either dog to have made the supreme
sacrifice of its life for the group soul to individualise; when a dog
has learned all the lessons it was meant to learn in the animal king-
dom and when all fear of the human race has been eradicated, it
would be a waste of rime for the group soul to continue with
more incarnations in animal form. Its destiny is then elsewhere,
so a transfer to a new and more enlightened sphere of existence
takes place.
"The first incarnation in a human body is not necessarily
passed in a body as undeveloped as the lowest type of human
being on the earth, for often the new ego, through having gained
much experience in its last few lives in the animal kingdom
especially one who has given up his own life for a human -- has
earned the right of a human body slightly more developed than
the most undeveloped type found in the world.
"A horse individualises in a way similar to that of a dog
by outstanding devotion to its master. Often one has heard of a
horse making a stupendous effort when called upon to do so,
only to drop down dead when the effort has been successful.
While a dog or horse passes into the human kingdom
through devotion and/or sacrifice, so a cat earns the right to live
as a higher entity by learning to understand man. In olden days
many philosophers said that a dog and a horse earn the right to
progress by devotion whereas a cat employs cunning, the first
glimmering of the faculty of reason.
We can see instances of elephants who have been trained to
serve man, and monkeys who have lived in the right types of
zoological gardens, who obviously qualify in this respect, and in
surroundings devoid of fear they have used their brains and so
can be said to understand, to a limited extent, the ways of man.
Animals which miss out a life as domesticated animals go into the
lowest form of human body that is known in the world. On the
other hand, the group souls of many highly evolved dogs miss
out having to inhabit the bodies of the lowest form of human life
known, and are born into bodies of a more evolved type of man
probably as members of tribes who for generations have served
mankind.
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A story from the Depression Era that is
still told in Philadelphia remains one of the
most poignant examples of a cat's devo-
tion to its owner, and it reminds us that
perhaps what we love most about a pet is
not its physical form but its inner spirit.
Many years ago there was said to be a
blind man who spent his days in one of the
city parks sitting on a bench humming and
making bead necklaces. Passersby would
drop a few coins in his jar, making a loud
tinkle that would cause him to smile and
offer a necklace as payment. Usually, the
necklace was declined, but no one could
pass up the chance to stroke the man's big
calico cat with its distinctive raspy purr.
Years rolled by, and the cat became fee-
ble and tired. When it died quietly one
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afternoon, the old man
grieved so that he stopped his humming and put away his box of
beads. Day after day he sat on the park bench, despondent and
unsoothed by the sympathetic words his friends offered. Sometimes he
would weep softly until he fell asleep, and the woman who cared for him
would find him slumped on the bench long after everyone had left the park. One evening, however, she found him humming again and saw that he had resumed stringing the colorful beads. He smiled when he heard her footsteps on the pavement and cautioned her to be careful where she sat, though there was nothing on the bench she could see other than his box of beads. She looked into his sightless but joyful eyes and was about to ask what had caused this sudden happiness. Then she heard it -- that familiar raspy, rumbling purr. And she saw the old man's hand affectionately stroking the air over the bench. |
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"Before passing on to the early lives of the human race with its tremendous differences from life in the animal kingdom, I must mention the case of the animal which individualises as a human being whilst still occupying an animal body. The transfer from the animal sphere to the human must take place which the right time comes when all fear is gone, and when the love side of the animal has been sufficiently developed. In a case where one dog, which is half a group soul, has died a natural death and where the second half of the group soul, another dog, re- mains alive but has no more lessons to learn, this dog becomes a human being in everything other than form. Doubtless you have come across cases where a dog in later life seemed 'almost human', where it appeared to understand almost every word that was said to it and where its uncanny understanding of your thoughts and actions savoured of an intuition beyond what you imagined to be possible in an animal. Such a dog is in fact a 'human dog': an animal in form, but a human in intelligence and one able to reason and make decisions for which it alone would be responsible. "The main difference between a human being and an animal if the faculty of reason and with it the gift of free will. A man knows the difference between right and wrong: even in his early lives as a human being he can make his own decisions, whereas an animal has to obey the laws of the animal world. An animal lives by instinct, and outside the limits of instinct it cannot think. A man can choose the evil path, even though he knows it is evil and against the progressive forces that rule the world, but an animal must ever act as its instinct compels it -- for such is the Law." Once again I did not see him go, for my mind was so full of these strange ideas. I decided to write down everything I could remember of these two talks and came to the conclusion that I would make shorthand notes of all future talks. |
Peter Richelieu A Soul's Journey 1989 |
(Regarding a study of common cultural
NDE experiences among 400 Japanese and 50
African subjects made at the University of
Zambia)
"Adults often describe dead relatives,
whereas children often describe guardian
angels, living teachers and playmates,
animals and pets."
Dr. Melvin Morse
Current Problems in Pediatrics
Vol.24, No.2, P.70,Feb.'94
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At Fairport, Ohio, stands an old inac-
tive lighthouse that was converted into a
museum and is now a popular tourist
attraction, especially in summer. Most of
the displays are on the lower floor of the
keeper's house, while the caretaker of the
museum lives on the upper floor.
For several years, Pamela Brent was in
charge of the museum. When she first
moved into the upper floor apartment she
was too busy with work to notice anything
unusual. But when the summer season
ended and she had time to relax, she dis-
covered she wasn't alone in the apartment.
At first, it was only a dark transparent
spot, like a puff of smoke, seen in the hall-
way between the kitchen and the living
room. Evening after evening, it grew dark-
er and took shape until she recognized it as
a small cat. It appeared to skitter about the
floor as if chasing something, and Pamela
noticed that it had no feet -- only a plump,
gray body.
One day she bravely tossed a balled-up
sock down the hallway; the little gray
specter seemed to chase the sock and then
disappear around a comer. Over the next
few days the game continued until Pamela
was greeted nightly by the playful little
spirit.
Obviously it was her cat now, but she
wondered whose cat it had been in life.
Digging through the lighthouse records she
discovered that the wife of one of the
tower's early keepers had loved cats and
owned several. In addition, the woman had
been upstairs ill in bed for many weeks,
and part of her room had been where the
hallway now ran. The cat must have been
her pet, and its frolic with the sock proba-
bly recalled many occasions when the
bedridden woman amused herself by toss-
ing something for the cat to chase
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Vincent and Margaret Gaddis note in The Strange World of Animals and Pets that ". . . each human being, animal, and plant is related to all other life. . . . All of us who live are a part of the universal whole, fellow creatures in the cosmos, responding to the ceaseless ebb and flow of the universe. And there are other voices from out of the deep that speak in languages still unknown to man." |
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Sam's Last Visit by Howard Wismer |
Before marrying my present wife. Sue, I was married
to Terri for two years. We had a cat named Sam
whom we loved dearly. Though Sam was close to
both of us, he seemed to bond a little closer to me.
I loved that cat and spoiled him rotten. Any extra
money I had went to buy him toys and gourmet cat
food. His contented purr and healthy coat affirmed that
spoiling him was not in vain. I played with Sam
frequently, and he loved the foil ball I threw for him.
As Terri and I began to drift apart, Sam seemed
to sense my unhappiness. He stayed around me more
and comforted me. After months of arguing, Terri and I
decided to get a divorce. I wanted to take Sam with me
but could afford only a small studio apartment where
cats were not allowed. I tried to find another apartment
lo no avail. On the day I moved, I couldn't even say
goodbye to Sam. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I
brushed them away. A grown man wasn't supposed to
cry.
One night about six months later, I fell into a troubled
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sleep. I missed Sam, and I felt guilty for leaving
him. After tossing and turning restlessly, I suddenly
opened my eyes to Sam's bright green eyes staring
into mine. I was startled and wondered how Sam had
found his way to my studio. Sam's soft purring made
me happier than I had been in a long time. I reached
out to stroke him, but in an instant he was gone. That
night was the First good sleep I'd had in months.
The next morning, the phone rang. It was Terri. Her
sobbing voice warned me something was wrong, and
the hair on the back of my neck stood up in trepidation.
She told me that Sam had suffered a heart attack and
had died instantly. A chill ran through me.
Gathering up my courage, I asked her what time he
had died. Somehow I knew she was going to say 12:30
that morning. That was exactly the time Sam had come
to say goodbye and to let me know he wasn't angry
that I couldn't take him with me.
I will never forget that moment. It made me realize
that I will someday be with Sam again.
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