The whole of nature is made of spiritual energy and it all intercommunicates ... what is soul but a specific vibe ... in this sense trees have souls

http://voiceofthetrees.blogspot.fr/2011/08/communicating-with-trees.html

"see the incredible bare trees on the winter horizon,

lit by the cool blue moon on a starry night"-blubird

I'd personally say in every sense this answer is an absolute yes. Animals are another highly controversial point. Many people claim animals don't have souls, but they most certainly do. All living things have souls, and all 'non-living' things have a unique energy to their specific type, of which there can be vast numbers.

The 'uniqueness' of an energy signature, soul, identity, whatever label you wish to use begins according to its birth. Your genetics, your pedigree, the 'nature' in the [incomplete] nature vs. nurture question, your ancestors, this is your starting point in the 'race' of life. Animals (us included) start out out with a unique energy according to their birth, which may not make them 'unique' enough of an energy (as we all are energy) to warrant saying they have a 'soul' in the eyes of nay-sayers who claim they have none. I imagine if there are 'higher beings' up there above us they probably ask the same questions about whether or not we as humans are unique enough to warrant qualifying as having 'souls', because I conjecture their souls are considerably more 'complex' than humans, though it's probably likely they're above the need or perhaps interest for questions of philosophy like I am addressing in this moment.

As we live experiences begin to make them more and more unique as time goes on; we react with all of the energy we encounter on our path, and it begins to shape our identity / soul / energy. Interaction with living beings, particularly more 'unique' ones will cause an even stronger push towards being increasingly unique. Parents (those who raise us rather than our pedigree and ancestors) and childhood make up the nurture portion of the [incomplete] question of nature vs. nurture. This is either your handicap or your head start in the 'race' of life. Some get a jump on their lives through young fortune from any sort of source, others experience more obstacles or hurdles getting started but when they make it through they're stronger for the experience. Interaction causes the soul to become shaped by (and in the case of long exposures, like friendship with your 'pets' [I'd rather just call them friends or companions due to the realizations leading me to answering this question] their soul is no longer merely shaped by your encounter, by the reaction of your two energies being exposed to one another, but they actually become a part of one another's souls. The stronger the bond or connection between two souls the capacity for more energy to flow between them increases. In cases of extremely powerful connections (twins are regularly reported as doing this, even by nay-say-ers and science alike) one can even feel the emotions of another, or know in the time of their passing.

We're all transferring energy constantly with everything around us [some unwittingly, like myself who is still learning how to perceive these streams of energy], as well as all we have created a bond with (even those dearly departed, I believe, and perhaps in some cases such as prophecy births the dearly not-yet-arrived). They in turn are all also sharing energy in the same nature, and so at the fundamental level of energy we are all ultimately connected, though some after more steps in between than others. Another of explaining this phenomenon is the expression if you followed every handshake you would be connected to every other person on the planet after only ~7 steps, an incredible thought!

The step in the ladder 'nature' vs. 'nurture' is missing is free will. Our choice, our desire, down which paths we decide to let our feet lead us. Our gift from God, the One, the Source, the highest step on the ladder, is the ability to switch back and forth between two polar opposites at [free] will. These two polar opposites of course make up the next two points of the triangle, light and dark. Yin & Yang, left or right. Not necessarily 'right' or 'wrong' nor 'good' or 'evil', those are entirely different points to be differentiated from the two sides of the Yinyang.

As we live we get to switch back and forth between at will between these two sides, or even pick a middle ground, a shade of gray (the third step in the ladder). If we're using this color analogy still, one might ask 'Where does color come from then I wonder?' That'd be the fourth step, what we surround ourselves with, the environments and encounters our decisions lead us. Our decisions move us forward (or sometimes backwards! ^_^) along our paths in lives. As we take our steps we encounter others walking in near enough paths to interact with one another, with whom we have the opportunities to create the aforementioned 'bonds' of energy allowing flow of energy between entities.

Where our decisions lead us make a mark on our soul, an experience unique to however many individuals have encountered this same point on a huge web of paths; something we experience when we find others whose lives seem 'inexplicably' intertwined with our own, it is the bonds we create in this life and lives past explaining the energy which draws us together (or pushes us apart). The flow of energy between us is a part of our free will.

As you make decisions and encounter experiences which have impact on our souls, you become more and more unique, you develop more of an identity that is uniquely your own. Exposure to extremely unique experiences [or individuals..] can help rapidly increase One's uniqueness. This is part of why we sometimes feel the urge to do something few have done before us, it helps to shape us, to build us, sometimes even to break us down a bit (making us more malleable, but still whole and unshattered) to make us more easily take the shape we desire, the shape we're attempting to draw into our experience and reality using the LoA.

[Something I felt inspired to write after writing the next part I was inspired to write, but felt inclined to place this bit first. Really just me reflecting on my own understanding of the LoA, but I desired to share it and felt this was a somehow strongly appropriate question to place it. I feel it's relevant, I hope anyone who continues to read after this point agrees. ^_^y]

The LoA doesn't simply deliver to us any and everything we ask it to. The LoA is absolutely a genie, capable of granting our wishes and making our wildest dreams come true, but there's more to it. Some people interpret their genie will always answer their wishes, but do it in a way making it unpleasant for the wisher, as is depicted in the older (non Disney) version of Aladdin. In the reality I (and likely We if you're still reading this) if you make a wish only involving yourself, one only you will observe or be influenced by, it will likely be granted near immediately with little or no resistance at all. If you make a wish you want to be able to share with others or to influence others, rather than the Genie granting your wish by handing it to you, it first hands you the tools you will need to be able to create the experience. The shape and method these tools are delivered depends on how we wish, what we wish for, our experiences, our intentions behind the wish, and all of these things for any other Ones experiencing or observing your wish (or if it is a wish for the future, the impacts of your wish. Your wish's ripples, if you like).

Sometimes the tools are placed in our hands, sometimes they are placed near us for us to find and utilize on our own, sometimes we are given the knowledge or understanding of how to create the tools ourselves. Our intention, wish, the first step of manifesting, is simply having the desire to accomplish a goal. The moment we do this the tools are also created, and we're then given a choice, our free will to decide do we pursue this wish? More than to do or not to do, to be or not to be, we're also given the free will to decide HOW we pursue this wish. All of these decisions determine how exactly our wish is delivered to us by the Genie.

Those who interpret the Genie as one who delivers us only bad wishes or our wishes in a way we did not desire are blaming the Genie when actually this result is caused by our decisions made about how to approach and pursue (or not pursue) this wish. In reality the Genie (One, God, Source) can and will deliver any and everything we could ever desire, but how the wish takes shape is shaped by us, ourselves. If our wishes are regularly taking forms we find different from what we believed we were wishing for, it's because by use of our free will we are causing it to take a different shape than we envisioned it in our minds.

Random aside, story from my past I felt inspired to share.

I had an exercise in high school (which I conveniently happened to understand because it strongly paralleled a book I had read before) where we were divided into [If I Recall Correctly, 7] groups, we were given a specific set of rules, but given no objective. Each group was to pick an ambassador, to go and meet with the other ambassadors and simply speak with one another. After a timed period we (I was an ambassador) returned to our own groups, and as a group discussed whether to decided to hold up a red sign or a green sign, though the final decision was in the hands of the ambassadors. A + or a -. If all groups hold a red (-) sign all groups lose a static number of points (we'll say 10 here, I don't recall the specific quantity). If all groups hold a green (+) sign, all groups gain this same static number of points. If there is both green and red signs being raised, all those holding a green sign lose a set number of points and all those holding a red sign gain the same number of points divided evenly among them.

Do trees have souls?

I think in your heart you already know the answer.

I won't even answer it for you. I'll just ask some questions for you to reflect on and get your own answers....

When you look at nature, what do you see? Do you see beauty, life, and balance?

When you are around trees, what do you FEEL? Do you feel peace, the air is fresher?

When you are around nature and trees do you feel death, sickness, disgust... or is it life, pace, and harmony?

That question will let you know if "nature" is living and if "trees" are living things (spirits).