AGATHA

“And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life: and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2

We adopted her when she was six months old. Her name is Agatha, named for my wife’s favorite mystery writer.

In appearance she is a perfect 10. Her beautiful face morphs into limitless subtle expressions, her personality sparkles with more facets than a gemstone. She communicates superbly by direct vocal interaction and an infinite vocabulary of body language. She is acutely aware of what’s going on in her world and sometimes tells us what’s going on in our world. She frequently comes from the kitchen to my study to fetch me to dinner. She teases me, scolds me, speaks softly, stridently, or conversationally, appropriately to the circumstances.   

She is endlessly entertaining, a joy, a comfort, a companion in happy times and sad, and she expresses her love for me a gazillion different ways many times a day. She is snuggled up against me as I write this.

I adore her!  

I’m not sure she knows she’s a cat; but she knows she is a person.

Most adults who have kids and pets have encountered childhood metaphysical curiosity in the form of “do animals have a soul?” Just reading everything written on the topic could be a lifetime career. “Will non-human creatures go to heaven when they die”? Googling that question will lead you on a mind-bending trip through the zaniest parts of religious kookdom. Most otherwise knowledgeable people don’t have a clue how to answer.   

Neither do I. I don’t even know what “Soul” is. Dictionary definitions include:

·       The immaterial aspect of personhood.

·       The self-aware essence of a particular living being.

·       Consciousness, mind, spirit, self-awareness and self-actuation.

·       The capacity to make reasoned decisions.

·       The spirit or essence of an individual human.   

·       All of the above in some kind of combination.  

To speak of “having a soul” is incorrect. Living creatures don’t have souls, they are souls. Although it is customarily used in a religious context, soul is not essentially a religious word

The bible verse from Genesis which begins this column defines “life” as “having breath,” and uses “life” as synonymous with “soul.” The words “spirit” and “soul” are used interchangeably in many biblical passages.

“Soul” is never used apart from its embodiment in a particular unique individual. A few obtuse and sometimes mutually contradictory passages obliquely refer to a body/soul dichotomy, and there is widespread confusion and disagreement among seriously religious people about soul and what happens to it after physical death.

I abhor “proof-texting” the Bible, using it to support or refute a particular idea or point-of-view. I take the Bible to be an authoritative statement about what its various authors believed, but not necessarily authoritative about what I am to believe. And since the Bible does not specifically say anything about animals being souls or going to heaven, I feel free to create my own doctrine as it specifically refers to Agatha.

Leaving aside for the moment the problems inherent in the phrase “go to heaven,” which implies heaven is a literal place in a specific geographic location, as long as there’s Agatha’s and my souls in whatever form, I don’t want to be anywhere that she is not close by.

If heaven is a place/condition/whatever, where:

·       Unconditional love is the norm.

·       Infinite varieties of beauty abound.

·       There is bonding between all creatures, great and small.

·       Happiness is a bundle of fur softly rumbling on its inside,

Agatha will be there.