quant

I believe the New Testament, the Torah, and the Quaran indicate that only humans have souls. Other religions like Hindu, consider animals part of the evolution of reincarnation.

Depending on your connotation of choice, animals and humans definitely share one aspect of life (e.g. a spirit) but our consciousness (i.e. our soul) is so profound that it cannot be experienced by an animal. Nonetheless, animals, humans, and all of matter I believe is all part of one and the same.

The only reincarnation I look at seriously is the idea of the 50 Gates of Intelligence. It lists the transformation of the beginning of chaos, to its genesis into the four elements, creation of minerals, plants, animals, humans, the planets (the Heavens), and angels. It's interesting that "Man in the image of God" is only number 30 in our evolutionary path. Supposedly Moses only crossed the 49th gate the Archangels, while the 50th gate God Ain Suph has only been achieved by Jesus Christ.

If you want a more clear explanation of the difference between a feral creature and a conscious being, read The Fall of Man. From a logical standpoint, it's actually the Rise of Man, as we become aware and God-like. But the story is twisted and is merely religious propaganda.

A major difference between the Jewish and Christian versions is that Jews didn't view eating (learning) from the Tree of Knowledge (surrounds the Tree of Life) as the original sin, like Christians did. Rather they viewed the sin as their rebellious behavior against God. Note that it is considered Satanic or Luciferic to now learn from the Tree of Knowledge or Tree of Life, which is essentially the definition of God.

The 50 Gates of Intelligence are intricately related to the Tree of Life, as they were part of the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) supposedly created 6,000 years ago by the Patriach Abraham.

Those who say you should let people believe what they want, remember that beliefs have consequences. Besides, no matter what you believe there is only one truth and it seems to me those promoting religion want to supress that fact.

As for Alex's question of how I breathe on my own, I would say only by a coherent ultra-weak bioluminescence field in my cells that somehow intuitively knows, perhaps by their connection to God and his desire for stability, that I need oxygen to live. Hope you learned something useful.