Animals

A lion

Animals' shape follows the same principles as the shape of the human body. However, most animals' bodies are oriented horizontally rather than vertically. This is because animals are designed for progress (forward direction) as opposed to spiritual ascent (upward direction). This means they have not developed the higher spiritual qualities that humans have, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá explained:

The animal spirit cannot penetrate and discover the mysteries of things. It is a captive of the senses.

Animal species represent collections of attributes of God which have been successful enough together to survive over many generations.

They are beautiful because they don't sin. In this way they are better than humans.

The Bahá’í Writings point us to the animals which are most useful for us to learn from. The most obvious is the lion. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s given name Abbas means lion, and the Bahá’í Writings tell us in several places to be like lions. This means we can learn about how to be a Bahá’í by observing the spiritual attributes of lions.

The lion is the king of the jungle because spiritually he represents the king. Lionesses represent queens. Tigers represent dukes and duchesses, and animals in general represent people.

Animals have lots of love, even in the Kingdom. There is an animal afterlife, which is a bit similar to ours but less spiritual.