XPost: alt.paranormal.reincarnation   
   From: ssake@goldthread.com   
      
   If "soul" = "consciousness", then we lose our soul every night when we are   
   unconscious. That's not it--soul must be something more basic than   
   consciousness.   
      
   Steve S.   
      
      
   "Roger Ruffner"  wrote in message   
   news:10agblik9p9jg49@corp.supernews.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)