Worms

A couple of weeks ago I had some stents put in after several cardiac veins started to fill up with unwanted plaque. Post procedure one of my goals is to try walking every day in order to exercise my body. The walking also gives me time to think, plot and plan my day and mentally to write such things as this blog. Walking through our neighborhood gives me lots of opportunity to observe and this morning I noted that at some time in the past the weather had called out lots of earth worms that then got caught on the sidewalk by the summer sun. The walk was littered with the desiccated remains of venturesome worms that had paid the penalty for extending themselves. For some reason I felt sorry for the each of those worm and with lots of walking and thinking time I contemplated the great mystery of life: Do worms have a soul?

Those thoughts conflated into the bigger question concerning what is it that drives some people to deny the existence in any other species other than themselves. It is characteristic of humans to realize that they have a soul and that it is the presence of that soul that sets us apart from all others. It’s that belief that because we can think, and reason, that we are special.

But other species have demonstrated the ability to think, and even to reason and there are uncountable examples of animals living and responding in ways that are similar to our ability to think, live and reason. So perhaps it is human kind’s ability to occasionally suspend reason that sets us apart?

Nearing the end of my walk I finally concluded that what we call soul is really awareness that we are aware of our awareness and of our existence. All creatures’ great and small have to be aware that they exist just to able to survive and reproduce so my stream of thought concluded that all who are aware of self must also (by our definition) have a soul.

I suspect that many who read these words will strongly object to my conclusion but that’s what makes us the multifaceted species we are. It also allowed me to escort the small insect I found while I enjoyed a morning cup of tea to the great outdoors so he/she/it could enjoy its existence.