Q: I have read the UB since I was 27 – am 73, and still read it a lot. The question that torments, is, since animals love, fear, yearn, grieve, sense, and rejoice, how is it that God Creator who IS love condemns them to non-being upon death?
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A: Thanks for this heartfelt note. It is a sentiment that is shared by so many animal lovers. I wish I could give you an answer that you don’t already know from your study of The Urantia Book for all these years. Of course, you are familiar with this scene from Jesus’ travels, when he and Ganid are playing the with the intelligent shepherd dog:
130:2.8 Jesus said: “The dog has a mind which can know material man, his master, but cannot know God, who is spirit; therefore the dog does not possess a spiritual nature and cannot enjoy a spiritual experience. The dog may have a will derived from nature and augmented by training, but such a power of mind is not a spiritual force, neither is it comparable to the human will, inasmuch as it is not reflective—it is not the result of discriminating higher and moral meanings or choosing spiritual and eternal values. It is the possession of such powers of spiritual discrimination and truth choosing that makes mortal man a moral being, a creature endowed with the attributes of spiritual responsibility and the potential of eternal survival.” Jesus went on to explain that it is the absence of such mental powers in the animal which makes it forever impossible for the animal world to develop language in time or to experience anything equivalent to personality survival in eternity.
So there you have it. That is a pretty solid explanation of why our beloved pets do not survive into eternity as we do. But all of those attributes of animals that you mention: “love, fear, yearn, grieve, sense, and rejoice” … I wonder if all of these, (with the exception of fear) and in association with human appreciation of these attributes, may contribute in some way to the growth of the Supreme?
My understanding is that all of goodness is recycled back into the oversoul of creation, possibly to find expression again in another part of creation. Nothing good is ever really lost in God’s creation. And this might be a way to be assured that our beloved animal companions are contributing something permanent to the overall goodness of God’s creation. After all, they do mightily contribute to many humans’ feelings and expressions of love. Very important contribution – and eternal, too.
In that section, we read:
117:5.12 In this manner do the manifold experiences of all creation (bolding is mine) become a part of the evolution of Supremacy. Creatures merely utilize the qualities and quantities of the finite as they ascend to the Father; the impersonal consequences of such utilization remain forever a part of the living cosmos, the Supreme person.
This is just my take on it. That section on the Oversoul of Creation does not mention animals, but it does say “all creation,” and I think that that could include animals. Whether it is true or not, I can’t say. But it seems like it could be true, given the fact that so many animals – as you observe – manifest such meaningful qualities. Even though they do not ascend to the Father, those qualities are of an eternal nature.
One additional thought: From a purely logistical perspective, it seems to me that enjoying the presence of all of the animals that we have loved in close association throughout a lifetime could prove problematic. I myself have had at least three dogs, countless cats, and a few very loving birds in my life. Some folks have way more animals than that, and many more varieties of animals. But the dog and cat population alone could overrun Paradise, it seems! I don’t mean to appear unfeeling or glib, but to me, this might seem to be a distraction for mortals whose purpose is to grow into eternal beings.
Thanks again for your question. The answer from Urantia Book teachings is one that many of us find difficult to process, so I hope that thinking about the possibility of our animals contributing to the Supreme in some way might give you a different and comforting perspective.
In the end, we can be very grateful to our beloved animal friends, who provide us with such loyal companionship and who give us so many opportunities for our own immortal souls to grow in love in our earthly lives and beyond.
