I understand the basic concepts of reincarnation and/or rebirth, but I have always wondered what happens if you get reborn as an animal.

Good or bad deeds make us either progress upwards or downwards to learn lessons, but
what dictates or decides that you should be reborn as a human if you are currently an animal?
What can an animal do that is good or bad?
Animals just are, If a wolf bites me because it was threatened by me the wolf is not "bad" because it was acting out of instinct.

If it cannot do good or bad how can in reincarnate into anything other than an animal again?

I have always wondered this and cannot seem to find an answer to the question where I have asked/looked/read previously.

Thank you in advance.

Abyss.

abyssofmymind wrote:

Good or bad deeds make us either progress upwards or downwards to learn lessons, but
what dictates or decides that you should be reborn as a human if you are currently an animal?
What can an animal do that is good or bad?
Animals just are, If a wolf bites me because it was threatened by me the wolf is not "bad" because it was acting out of instinct.

If it cannot do good or bad how can in reincarnate into anything other than an animal again?....

Abyss.

I think you may be exercising a typical human perception of animals. I remember learning in biology class some forty years ago that animals don't have emotions, that they merely behave according to instinct.

Jane Goodall's observations of chimpanzees indicated that some mothers were negligent in caring for their offspring while others were very devoted and nurturing. Sometimes, an older female would step in and care for babies of a mother who neglected hers. Orphaned chimps might be adopted by other females and cared for which could be instinctual behavior but seems to me to have an element beyond mere instinct, particularly when the adoptive mothers are members of the orphan's family group.

Anyone who's ever had a close relationship with a pet would argue that there was a deeper level of understanding between person and animal oftentimes, particularly in crisis situations. Would mere instinct explain such instances?

We don't know for certain if there is a spiritual level whereupon an animal has awareness of rightness or wrongness. Ongoing research with primates such as the gorillas who've learned to communicate via sign language indicates that they seem to have a sense of good or bad behavior and wish to behave appropriately once they know what their human associates regard as such. That indicates to me a level of understanding somewhat beyond mere instinct, enough that I would say there's very little we know as yet about what the spirituality of animals may be.

NHT Dot Abyss.--hello!

Good to see you all here "at once."


NHT--not to be contrary or trying to argue with what youv'e been taught--I've been given the teaching that there is no "up or down." That we can pretty much choose what we'd like to do next--whether it's life as a redwood or as a housecat or as gravel in a streambed.

That none of it is "punishment"--that we choose for our own edification and better understanding of what "it's all about."

Oh--I've also been taught that we can choose to "sit one out" if we wish and act as spiritual guides for those who choose other routes.


Again--this is what I've been given for myself--not a challenge to anyone else's understandings or beliefs.

Sending good thoughts for all.



(NHT--btw--have you been getting my emails? I hope so)

Thanks for the compliment, NHT. Once upon a time, who'd have thought us ever likely to agree, eh?  < nudge...wink! >

I agree in turn with what WGal says about choosing whatever form of existence will best provide an environment for spirit's learning. I'm inclined to the "snooty" belief that once we get to be humans we probably won't choose a so-called lesser form, but I sure wouldn't mind coming back as a pet owned by some of my friends. It'd be a cushy lifetime for sure!

In general, I think that there possibly is some type of progression from what we'd call inanimate forms to animate ones to the extent that once spirit moves from one level of existence to a more complex one, it would be unlikely to go back. Something along the lines of why return to grammar school after completing one's freshman year of college?

But then, I may be stuck in this-lifetime focus by hanging onto that belief...could be... < musingly >

A Redwood??
O-o-oh, o-o-oh!! I would!! I would!! Pick me!! Pick me, WGal!!
*lol*
Seriously, gals, I understand and agree about choices ...
my response to the newcomer was derived
from my teachers' fastidiousness to endorse the norm,
rather than to espouse rule-breakers ...
and we all know that for every rule, blah-blah-blah!!

The problem with espousing the rule-breakers is illustrated, IMO,
by what one teacher would say when she'd teach poetry rules
even though she preferred free-verse: 
she'd say, "In order to play tennis well without a net, one first has to master playing it with a net."

Or, put another way -
a religion student once asked me whether God was male or female ...
my response was that God was whatever the individual needed.

So too it is with the "rules" of reincarnation -
it is a process entirely "customized" to the needs of the individual.

=]