Some float in godliness, live as god. Other things are only vaguely aware of the connection. This is the nature of intelligence, the option to think thoughts that are not godly in nature, to create separation of the awareness of one's godhood. If humans are unique to any degree from all known things which exist it could be just this separateness from godhood. It distances us from other entities on this planet, from the planet itself.
Critters are more at one with god and most are probably blessedly unaware of any other option.
However, critters do feel emotion and pain and have memory. Elephants examine the bones of their ancestors and remember the lessons of their parents and grandparents. Great apes carry the bodies of their dead infants and learn to sign to humans. Dogs mourn the loss of their families, their human ones. Horses, dogs, apes, elephants, they look into our eyes and accept us wholly, our good and our bad.