Nine lives?

Dr. Tom Kirkwood, head of the Department of Gerontology at the University of Newcastle, is an expert on the ageing process. He says we are made of two types of cells, the "germ line" or DNA, which is "immortal" and somatic cells, which are designed to support reproduction*.

As far as longevity goes, Kirkwood says 25% is DNA, 75% is taking care of ourselves. Our somatic cells weren't designed to last forever and Nature doesn't waste a lot of energy on them. It's up to us to stay fit.

Funny to think that much of modern culture revolves around appearance, which is pretty ephemeral thanks to those somatic cells. We humans worship those fleeting moments of somatic reproductive display. I suppose rarity is something we always value the most.

As far as I know this obsession with the somatic is a human thing. Cats are blessedly free from "selfies".

[Dr. Tom Kirkwood] on ageing

The one on sex and death is the most interesting, imo.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvdn

or for PDFs go here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/the-reith-lectures/transcripts/2000/

"The catalytic insight came in 1881 from the distinguished German naturalist August Weismann.

What Weismann realised was that in a multicellular body like yours and mine, there is a profound division of labour between two principal kinds of cells. On the one hand, there is the germ line - the egg or sperm-forming cells of the ovary or testis. These are the cells that, if we have children, transmit our genes into the next generation. The rest of the cells - those that make up the other organs of the body - Weismann termed the soma."

Do cats go to heaven?

Our domestic cats are sure that if you provide them with love, food, warmth, safety, clean surroundings, and companionship, they are in heaven.

So we know love creates the possibility of heaven for cats, even now, in this life. Would God love cats less than we do? So, yes, of course cats go to heaven.

Our Smaller Brethren

I found myself looking back at some of the crazy and disturbing things we were taught in Catholic school back in the early 60s. For example, the nuns told us kids that animals didn't have souls and therefore didn't go to heaven.

I don't know if this was ever official Church teaching or just something the nuns dreamed up. Fortunately, Pope John Paul II was more enlightened. In 1990 he told an audience:

'the animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren', all animals are the 'fruit of the creative action of the Holy Spirit and merit respect', and animals should be considered 'as near to God as men are'.

Cats have feelings, they communicate, they are sensitive to the moods and feelings of others, they give love abundantly, without judgement. They are part of our family.

If animals didn't have souls and didn't go to Heaven, then it wouldn't be Heaven for me. If I died and found the nuns were in Heaven and the cats weren't, I'd have to reconsider my options.