I have a thought experiment that I'm still formulating in my mind but I thought I'd commit it to the good people of Steemit for some good old fashioned critical review. It stemmed from a conversation I had with a Jehovah's Witness who claimed that only humans were conscious beings and he would have no qualms with killing a dog as it had no soul (Pat Bateman anyone?). The below is what I explained to this chap in hoping that, in thought experiment, he could understand that he may not be correct in his belief.
I'm not sure how many of you will be familiar with hermetic philosophy. It is an ancient philosophy that derives from pre-dynastic Egypt, or Khem (as it was known back then). Very briefly put, hermetic philosophy incorporates seven principles to the universe. I will write a more detailed post about them in future but I want to concentrate on two for now and the first being the principle of correspondence.
"As above, so below; as below so above." - This Principle of Correspondence embodies the truth that there is always a correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of Being and Life. - The Kybalion
This principle states 'As above, so below. As below so above'. This means that, similar to a hologram, one part of the universe represents the whole. It can also be likened to the fractal universe insomuch as the universe acts in part as it does in whole. A very basic example of this would be the spiral galaxy and the hurricane on Earth; they both behave and move and look very similar. A more in depth example could be looking at the human as a representation of the universe with both having degrees of physical, mental and spiritual elements.
The second principle I want to briefly explain is the Principle of Polarity.
"Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet...”It explains that in everything there are two poles, or opposite aspects, and that "opposites" are really only the two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees between them" - The Kybalion
So bearing the above in mind, we can see that opposites do not really exist in the universe. Think of examples of opposites and you will see that they are actually just polar opposites of the same scale. For example:
Light and dark - opposite poles on the scale of photons
Up and down - opposite poles on the same scale of direction
Hot and cold - opposite poles on the scale of temperature/heat energy
Right and wrong - opposite poles on the scale of moral action
Love and hate - opposite poles on the scale of emotion
And so on.
This was something my JW associate agreed on, it's not rocket science but often overlooked. The point I made to him following the explanation of these two principles was that if consciousness exists then it cannot not exist, in anything - including dogs or rocks. The universe is a mental universe. Consciousness must exist in all things but in varying scales, as dictated by the principle of polarity. Also that if we are conscious, then 'as above so below'; our consciousness is represented in the universe as a whole.
I hope that makes sense, it may take a couple of reads to digest but the concept is sound as far as I can tell. Hermetic philosophy is finding itself more and more relevant as modern science advances as it's principles are being shown to be accurate through particle and quantum physics. I highly recommend you looking further into it as it is something that will give you a new perspective on the cosmos, your mind and the spark of life that we are all enjoying at the moment.