XPost: alt.paranormal.reincarnation   
   From: rgrentcom@kcnet.com   
      
   In agrrr-eeance with KimbaLion on this one.  (Bad Pun Noted!)  :)   
      
   All living beings have consciousness and therefore soul.  The reason that I   
   say this is that in my observations of other life forms is that some are   
   able to respond to us (and our created environment) in ways which are beyond   
   the realm of only instinct.   
      
   This struck me when I was watching a flock of birds try to get to some bread   
   which had fallen from somewhere into a busy highway intersection.   
      
   As I watched, it became clear that some of the birds (the least 'conscious')   
   were merely operating by instinct, seeing food, attempting to get to food,   
   scared off or struck by the vehicles.   
      
   Others of the birds were actually studying the environment and acting on it.   
   I could see that they watched the average speed of the cars, the general   
   routes that were being taken by the tires, and planned flight paths to get   
   to the food. These were way more successful than those operating on pure   
   instinct.   
      
   Finally, the last group that I saw, the most successful of all were the ones   
   who watched and planned and acted as a group.  I never saw more than a   
   grouping of three do it but, the first would fly down quickly followed by   
   the other two.  If the first got to the ground and made the decision that it   
   wasn't safe it would immediately take off and the other two would veer off   
   and they would try again.  If the first stayed it would move to grab onto a   
   whole slice of bread, and the other two would land and they all tried to   
   pull the bread out of the way of the moving vehicles.  If the third one   
   veered off without landing, theother two took that as a sign to take off   
   immediately.   
      
   It didn't work immediately, but of the several times (5-6) that I saw it, it   
   did end up working every time. This is intelligent, conscious behavior   
   concerned with the well-being of the rest of the flock, as other birds were   
   allowed to partake of the food as well.   
      
   Is this proof of 'soul'? For me it certainly is a preponderous bit of   
   evidence. Intelligent, creative, brave, caring, heroic, and sacrificial.   
   These are not the actions of 'lesser beings' or biologically instinctive   
   automatons.   
      
   Rog   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)