Do Animals Have Spiritual Experiences?

I like to think that the bumper sticker for evolutionary continuity between humans and nonhuman animals would simply be: "If we have something they have it too."

Charles Darwin's well-accepted ideas about evolutionary continuity remind us that the differences among species are differences in degree rather than kind; shades of gray, and not black and white differences, distinguish us from one another. We accept this continuity in anatomy and physiology, so why are we resistant to continuity when it comes to animal emotions, moral behavior, or spirituality? Really, there's little reason for skepticism, and it’s actually on the decline.

But still, some people get upset when animals are treated as if they're human. For example, when a dog was recently given communion in a church in Canada, the uproar made it all the way up to the Anglican Diocese of Toronto and the reverend ended up apologizing to her congregation. We can’t really know if dogs get anything out of attending church, but do they have spiritual lives?

Do animals marvel at their surroundings, have a sense of awe when they see a rainbow, or do they wonder where lightning comes from? What are they feeling when they perform funeral rituals? Of course much turns on how the word "spiritual" is defined, but for the moment let's simply consider nonmaterial, intangible, and introspective experiences as spiritual, of the sort that humans have.

Consider waterfall dances, which are a delight to witness. Sometimes a chimpanzee, usually an adult male, will dance at a waterfall with total abandon. Why?

Jane Goodall, in an entry on primate spirituality (pdf) in The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, wonders whether these dances are indicative of religious behavior, precursors of religious ritual. She describes a chimpanzee approaching one of these falls with slightly bristled hair, a sign of heightened arousal. "As he gets closer, and the roar of the falling water gets louder, his pace quickens, his hair becomes fully erect, and upon reaching the stream he may perform a magnificent display close to the foot of the falls. Standing upright, he sways rhythmically from foot to foot, stamping in the shallow, rushing water, picking up and hurling great rocks. Sometimes he climbs up the slender vines that hang down from the trees high above and swings out into the spray of the falling water. This 'waterfall dance' may last ten or fifteen minutes."

Chimpanzees also dance at the onset of heavy rains and during violent gusts of wind. Dr. Goodall asks, "Is it not possible that these performances are stimulated by feelings akin to wonder and awe? After a waterfall display the performer may sit on a rock, his eyes following the falling water. What is it, this water?"

The actions are deliberate but obscure. Could it be a joyous response to being alive, or even an expression of the chimp's awe of nature? Where, after all, might human spiritual impulses originate?

In June 2006, Jane and I visited the Mona Foundation's chimpanzee sanctuary near Girona, Spain. We were told that Marco, one of the rescued chimpanzees, does a dance during thunderstorms during which he looks like he is in a trance. Perhaps numerous animals engage in these rituals but we haven't been lucky enough to see them. Even if they are rare, they are important to note and to study.

Dr. Goodall wonders, "If the chimpanzee could share his feelings and questions with others, might these wild elemental displays become ritualized into some form of animistic religion? Would they worship the falls, the deluge from the sky, the thunder and lightning — the gods of the elements? So all-powerful; so incomprehensible."

It would be worth years of research to discover what animals see and feel when they look at the stars. Good evolutionary biology warrants that we give serious attention to the idea that animals might have their own sorts of spiritual lives just as they have rich emotional and moral lives.

We need to conduct further research and engage in interdisciplinary discussions before we say for sure whether or not animals experience spirituality. For now, let's keep the door open — meager as it is, available evidence says yes, animals can be spiritual beings and have spiritual experiences.

Photo credit: Rennett Stowe