by Marinus Jan Marijs
An old theological question was the difference between humans and animals. Do animals have a soul? Or do both humans and animals have a soul, but only humans do have a spirit. This last point of view corresponds with the perception of subtle energy fields; both humans and animals have subtle energy fields, but humans has some additional higher fields.
Is it the size of the brain which provides humans superior mental abilities compared with animals? There are Dr. John Lorber’s studies on patients with hydroencephalia-damaged brains? One person in this studies possessed only 1/45th of a cerebral cortex, yet was normally functioning in every respect except for his cognitive intelligence, which was unusually high! John Lorber, “Is Your Brain Really Necessary?” Science, Vol. 280 (1980), pp. 1232-4.
The question is if an animal brain is for example 1/4th of a human brain, and its mental capacity is so much less than a human’s mental capacity, then why can a patient with a hydroencephalia-damaged brain who possesses only 1/45th of a cerebral cortex, has a high intelligence?
Nothing in evolution can account for the soul of man. The difference between man and the other animals is unbridgeable. Mathematics is alone sufficient to prove in man the possession of a faculty unexistent in other creatures. Then you have music and the artistic faculty. No, the soul was a separate creation.
Alfred Russell Wallace, New Thoughts on Evolution, 1910
