You may think of yourself as an animal if you so choose. I do not. I see you as a child of God and as spirit temporarily surrounded by flesh.
You may choose to believe that all thought is the result of chemical-electrical processes and that all of existence is no more than a fortuitous combination of various particles bound by various energies. My world is much larger and more varied than that. My world is a place of freedom and infinite possibilities. The materialist is bound by the shackles of a totally determinist universe. Nothing is free because all is the result of an inescabable chain of causation and the human being has no more freedom or significance than a stone. What a drab and horrid existence. But I know some take great satisfaction in this belief. They are free to so choose. I pray for them every so often.
One thing is certain. We will all learn the truth of our condition - sooner or later.
If souls exist, and I am sure they do, than animals have their version of souls.
I am not sure how it works, or if their souls are divine in the same sense that human souls are (cats probably think their souls are superior) but that doesn’t matter much.
Any creature that is capable of love, as cats, dogs, etc, are, has a soul.
I love my cats. I know my cats love me.
A mere book recommendation should not have unleashed THAT!
And I’m very sure that you ought not be directing your lecture at me. Maybe somebody else, but definitely not me.
I’ve never been called a materialist before, that’s for sure!