The Ghost in the Machine

While he was muddling the mint leaves together with the sugar in the bottoms of our julep cups, my dog, General Sherman, posed me an interesting question. “Do dogs have souls?”

I added the crushed ice and bourbon to each silver cup, stirred briskly until the outside of the cups were frosty, took an evaluatory sip (which was found to be satisfactory), and returned to my seat beneath the ceiling fan on our shaded porch, the perfect spot to ruminate on the matter, and pray tell to deliberate through peaceable discourse... at least to the point where General Sherman’s views branched so sharply away from my own as to lead to a discordance. After all, a man and his dog should always remain civil towards one another.

“According to Christianity,“ I pointed out, “dogs do not have souls, and therefore cannot be admitted to heaven.”

”Sadly true,” responded General Sherman, “but Hindus believe otherwise, and so admitted the dog along with the other animals into their cycle of death and life.”

”That is so, but according to Aristotle, plant life has a living soul, animals have animate souls, while only humans have souls capable of self-awareness.”

”Yes, but you are assuming that he submitted that theory in a positive vein. Is it not your self-awareness that drives you to commit crimes upon one another?”

”No, silly dog. That is our human nature, which is an entirely different thing.”

We enjoyed our refreshments quietly for several minutes before Sherman began again. ”The ancient Egyptians believed that their gods hid inside the spirits of animals, and that their pets would join their human partners in the afterlife, and together they might ascend to greatness.”

”The ancient Egyptians were a wise people. Would you care for another julep, General Sherman, or would you rather play some ball?”

“Ball, please.”

“Yea, me too. It’s getting stuffy on this porch.”