Enlightenment and animals

[Tistepiste]

I am confused about how animals view the world.

Leo says, "don't fix what isn't broken" referring to e.g your cat, that you don't have to teach them about enlightenment.

However. I have read some stories about elephants carrying traumatic events for years after someone dies, or they get mistreated etc.

Or even a dolphin who committed suicide by drowning himself after they had sex with a human and the human just left them. Heartbroken the Dolphin swam to the bottom of the sea. (If you want I can post sources)

So how do you explain this? If one is enlightened, then why carry lifelong trauma? Or commit suicide after the deed? 

[Nahm]

You know or don’t know. The dolphin is. 

[Barry J]

1 hour ago, Tistepiste said:

dolphin who committed suicide by drowning himself after they had sex with a human and the human just left them.

[FrgttnDeer]

You can be enlightened and have a trauma. Enlightenment means seeing the nature of the self.

The thing is, since animals very probably don't think conceptually, they don't construct a conceptual self. So there is no self to see the nature of.

That being said, I heard that dolphins are very intelligent. It might be possible that they developed a conceptual way of thinking. Actually this is an interesting question, I'm going to look for some research on that.

[Misagh]

@Tistepiste Animals are conscious beings with souls. Every animals is different with respect to the development and sophistication of their minds. Not sure. Also you can still be enlightened and have a miserable ego/mind.