Soul 101: What is a Soul? Animals, people

One of the questions I get asked often is whether animals have souls.  Of course they do. All living things have souls. 

Consider this a lesson in "SOUL 101" ."

WHAT IS A SOUL? In many societies (and religions) it is the immortal essence of a living thing. A soul is actually the energy in EVERY living thing that combines memories and personalities and knowledge.

DO ANIMALS HAVE SOULS?  Of course. Every living thing has a soul. To think otherwise is crazy.  To think something could live and function without knowledge, memories or personalities is foolish. Living things are not mindless zombies.

Animals (and dinosaurs) lived and died on Earth long before humans ever showed up. They survived because they had intelligence, instinct, emotions, memories, and their own personalities. After all, what makes one animal a pack leader and not all of them? Why are some animals shy? easily frightened? bold? challenging? That's personality. They all have it, just as humans do. 

WHO QUESTIONS IT AND WHERE DID THE CRAZY IDEA COME FROM? According to most of the Abrahamic religions, only human beings have immortal souls. Evangelical-Biblical Literalist, Baptists and Church of Christ churches believe animals have no soul.

Recently, the catholic faith even proclaimed that "Animals and plants" have souls  - but they put a "limit" on their statement thinking pets don't have conceptual intelligence, which I assure you, THEY DO. 
Why the Catholic faith (the one I grew up in and out of) thinks anything but people can be spirit is non-sensical. A spirit is a spirit. Period. That's like thinking because you have a college degree you'll be a spirit, but your neighbor who didn't go to college isn't smart enough to be a spirit in the afterlife. Do you see why it is a ridiculous argument? 

I'm unsure where that belief came from but as you can see from the logic above, it's absolutely untrue. Any living thing that can figure out how to survive, from a bird to an ant to wild boar has a soul. They have intelligence and a soul. Only ZOMBIES are soul-less. :)

DOES ANY MAN-MADE RELIGION BELIEVE ANIMALS HAVE SOULS?  Yes. Sikhism, Hinduism, Orthodox, Mormonism believe (and understand that animals have souls.  Islam and Judaism have conflicting beliefs- some sects believe it, others do not. 


BOTTOM LINE: For anyone who loses a pet and says "Animals don't have souls" please assure them they do, and they will be with us in paradise/other side/heaven/Valhalla, whatever you want to call it where all of the energies reside after the physical life is over. To think that any living thing doesn't have a soul is truly ridiculous. Animals have lived eons before mankind ever walked the Earth and they would never have survived if they couldn't think, feel and learn. 

Lessons Learned, Ghosts and Spirits

For Rob Gutro's books: "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead," "Pets and the Afterlife" and the new book "Pets and the Afterlife 2" -  visit Amazon.com   (or click this link) 

Pets and the Afterlife 2, Pets and the Afterlife

Posted by Rgutro at 5:00 AM

Give the gift of Spirit peace and comfort this season!

If you know someone who lost a loved one, either person or pet, why not give them hope and understanding that their loved ones are still around in spirit? In my 4 books, they can learn how, why, when and how spirits communicate. It will bring the gift of healing and peace this season./CLICK TO ORDER: http://tinyurl.com/god9234 /
The books are in paperback and E-book on Amazon.com and all are under $10 in paperback and under $3.99 in E-book by Rob Gutro
*Ghosts and Spirits *Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead
*Pets and the Afterlife *Pets and the Afterlife 2*
**All of these have been best-sellers on Amazon in paranormal categories**
So give the gift of peace and comfort this season! Happy Holidays.

Interesting Book! Venetian Legends and Ghost Stories A Guide To Places Of Mystery In Venice

While on vacation in Italy I stayed in Venice and found a book (in English) about ghosts and weird stories. I found "Venetian Legends and Ghost Stories A Guide To Places Of Mystery In Venice" by Alberto Toso Fei. (It was my first time in Italy, and everyone should save up to go).

I Recommend this Book! -   This book isn't just about ghost stories, it's about witches, mermaids, shrieking skulls, curses, dealings with the devil, wizards and more. Italians have a LOT of weird stories and this book was full of them. It was very interesting and entertaining and a good read.

One weird story called "The Squid With the Eyes of a Woman"  involved a not so friendly woman named Linda Cimetta who disappeared in April 1947 from her Venice shop. A Gondolier was arrested for her murder and was accused of trying to send contraband to her - and it was a deal gone wrong. So he murdered her, dismembered her and stuffed her parts in a trunk. Then he tossed the trunk into one of Venice's canals  The trunk was later found by two boys fishing, who found the grisly parts under squid. 
  Fisherman who fish in that area later have reported seeing many squid with the eyes of a woman. Creepy!!

You can find it on Amazon.com here in the U.S. at: http://smile.amazon.com/Venetian-Legends-Stories-Places-Mystery

• Perfect Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: Editrice Elzeviro; 2nd edition (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8887528063
• ISBN-13: 978-8887528060

Give the gift of Spirit peace and comfort this season!

If you know someone who lost a loved one, either person or pet, why not give them hope and understanding that their loved ones are still around in spirit?  In my 4 books, they can learn how, why, when and how spirits communicate. It will bring the gift of healing and peace this season.
  The books are in paperback and E-book on Amazon.com and all are under $10 in paperback and under $3.99 in E-book by Rob Gutro
*Ghosts and Spirits 
*Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead 
*Pets and the Afterlife 
*Pets and the Afterlife 2*
**All of these have been best-sellers on Amazon in paranormal categories** 
So give the gift of peace and comfort this season!  Happy Holidays.

Thanksgiving: Your loved ones in Spirit are There!

  

  Thanksgiving is not only a big holiday for the living relatives in families, but it also tends to be one for those who have passed. They come back to visit, too. In fact, just like you with your living relatives and friends - you call those you care about or join them on birthdays, anniversaries or holidays.    Spirits behave the same way they did in the physical and acknowledge those special days because they know we still do.  So, any holiday, special occasion, birthday or anniversary are typically times that spirits of loved ones (who crossed into the light) come to visit us.

LOOK  FOR SIGNS - This Thanksgiving week be on the lookout for signs.  Here are some examples: 
- If you turn on the radio and you hear a spirit's favorite song, know that the spirit has influenced you to turn on the radio..
- You may find yourself doing or saying something that your late mother,  father, sister, brother or friend would be doing, or saying. Spirits can influence us to do things and say things they used to.
- You may also see someone that resembles a late loved one if you're traveling about today.
- Look for pennies or other coins on the ground. Check the year, too- because it has some significance. I was out walking our dogs this week and found a Quarter with the year 1981 on it. That was the year my grandmother passed, so guess who dropped that coin for me?  

A BROTHER'S VISIT -  One Thanksgiving some years ago, my friend Lynn's late brother came to me with signs that she was able to confirm.

A DOG'S SPIRIT - Back in May of this year, I learned of a woman whose dog Bullitt passed so I sent her a facebook message, although we were not connected. Because of the way facebook is configured it's hard to find those messages because they go to some "other" folder. Well, just this week she found the message and was especially missing Bullitt this week. So, he 'helped" her find that message around the holiday to let her know that he is still around!  

Enjoy the day knowing that ALL of your relatives are around you.
  Happy Thanksgiving!
Rob

You can find more information about the signs spirits can give in my books "Ghosts and Spirits, Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead, Pets and the Afterlife and Pets and the Afterlife 2- by Rob Gutro. Available on Amazon.com in paperback and E-book. 

A Letter from Eric: Angel's Passing and Signs

Angel

There is no such thing as a coincidence when it comes to messages from spirits, and spirits lead us to find messages (sometimes from others that relate to them) to show that they're around us, or that we've done the right thing.  
   I received the following email from Eric, who realized the signs and messages from his beloved dog, Angel. 
  Eric allowed me to share his experience with everyone so that you can learn from it and find signs from your own pets. 
 ****************************************************
Hello Rob -  I just recently finished reading your book "Pets and the Afterlife". I found it very comforting in my situation.

I recently had to euthanize my 13 year old pit bull. She was my baby and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. She had a very aggressive cancerous tumor growing in her mouth. She had lost a lot of weight, and I could tell she was in pain. I had no choice but to let her go.

As I'm sure most people do when faced with the same decision, I was filled with self doubt and constantly worried if I was doing the right thing.

I read your book in the days leading up to her final day. The day I let her go, I had several occurrences of what had to be more than just coincidence. As you said in your book, there are no coincidences.

The morning of that day, I woke up with her lying next to me and I prayed for a sign that I was doing the right thing. Within an hour, she had somehow irritated the tumor in her mouth and it started bleeding profusely. When that happened, it removed all doubt that I was doing the right thing. The bleeding eventually stopped, but I knew I couldn't let her go on this way. It didn't occur to me that this could be the sign I asked for until a couple hours later.

Like you suggested in your book, before she passed I asked her to send me a sign from the afterlife that she had crossed over and she was ok.

Later that night, after she had passed, I was reading an article online about animals moving on to the afterlife. In the comments for the article there where numerous people telling their stories about their encounters with their pets after they had passed and some of the strange occurrences that happened after their passing. There were 150+ comments and I read all of them.

Out of all the stories I read, only two of them were pit bulls. 
 In the first story, the person mentioned that they put their dog down on 7/28/2014. I thought that was a coincidence since mine passed on 7/28 also although it was two years later. 

The second story was what really got me. It was about someone who had to euthanize their pit bull. This person later had a dream that her passed dog was playing with a grey pit bull in her back yard. She thought this was strange because she had never seen the grey one before. When she went back to work as a vet tech, she heard scratching and whining at the gate which led to the alley behind the veterinary office. She opened the gate and it was the grey pit bull from her dream. She said it had needed medical attention so she took it inside and they doctored it up. She decided to adopt it and name it Angel. I could not believe it when I read this because my dog's name was Angel.

I immediately felt this strong sense of comfort come over me. I felt immediately that this was the sign I asked for. I felt it was beyond coincidence for the only two pit bull stories to have something in common with my dog. It was like the universe conspired to have me reading this exact page and those comments where I would see and make that connection.

What is your take on this? Is this my sign?
Eric
***********************************************
My Response: 
 Eric- I felt an overwhelming sense of love an appreciation to you from her. You let her pass with

Pets and the Afterlife 2 and 1 by Rob Gutro

dignity, and helped her regain her health in spirit and she thanks you for having the courage. The bond you share is extremely tight and it teared me up getting these sensations from her. Angel understood you about your needing a sign to decide when it was time, and she provided it. It reminds me of how our dog Sprite had a tumor burst in his nose and that was his sign.
 - She also led you to read those responses. She was sitting by your side in spirit and encouraged you to read through all of them to find the 2 messages that you found. She tells me that normally you're not that patient!  Funny what dogs can tell us!   The date and the name were the 2 things you need to find on that page, and you would not have found them together anywhere else. She influenced you to read through the comments to find them.  What a wonderful confirmation that she's always going to be around you, and will be waiting for you on the other side when it's your time.
  Thank you for your email! Angel really is an angel, and can be very persuasive.
*********************************************
Eric's Response;

Rob-   Seeing that sign has really helped me cope with her loss.  It gives me the sense that I have not really lost her at all and that she will always be with me. 
   If I would have never read your book, it wouldn't have ever occurred to me to ask her for a sign. I have no way of knowing if I would have gotten it anyways, but I'm certainly glad I asked.

LISTEN: Rob's Podcast interview about Pet Spirits on “From a Medium’s Perspective”

  Enjoy this really insightful 45 minute podcast about pets in spirit. I had a wonderful time as a guest talking with radio show host and Psychic Teacher Reverend Tracey Lockwood on her show “From a Medium’s Perspective”!
 Rob Gutro, author, medium and paranormal investigator talks with Tracey about "Pets and the Afterlife" based on his new book "Pets and the Afterlife 2." (available on Amazon.com)  
  URL: https://youtu.be/P5nX7_6eoQM