| Please Use Quote Tags When Copying and Pasting wrote: |
A vampires is a mythical creature who overcomes death by sucking the blood from living humans. The most common variation of the myth portrays the vampire as a dead person who rises from the grave at night to seek his victim from the realm of the sleeping. The vampire is a popular theme of film makers who have started with Bram Stokers's novel (Dracula) and added a number of variations to the theme, e.g., the ability to fly (like the vampire bat); a lust for beautiful women as victims who then become vampires upon being bitten; fear of the symbol of the Christian cross; the repelling power of garlic or garlic flowers; and death by sunlight or by a special stake driven through the heart, a fitting death for a character commonly believed to be based on the 15th century warrior, Vlad the Impaler. However, according to Elizabeth Miller, author of Dracula: Sense & Nonsense (Desert Island Books, 2000), Bram Stoker did not base his vampire Count on Vlad the Impaler. He borrowed Vlad's nickname (Dracula) for a vampire character he had already conceived (and tentatively named Count Wampyr).
Legends of bloodsucking creatures are found in many cultures throughout history. One of the more popular bloodsuckers of our age is the chupacabra. The vampire is also a popular literary subject. Hence, there are numerous descriptions of the origin, nature, powers, etc. of vampires. What seems to be universal about vampire myths is their connection with the fear of death and the desire for immortality. The ritual drinking of blood to overcome death has been practiced by many peoples. The Aztecs and other Native Americans, for example, ate the hearts and drank the blood of captives in ritual ceremonies, most likely to satisfy the appetite of their gods and gain for themselves fertility and immortality. Also typical were the rites of Dionysus and Mithras, where the drinking of animal blood was required in the quest for immortality. Even today, some Christians believe that their priests perform a magical transubstantiation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ to be eaten and drunk in the quest to join God in eternal life.
We might say we've made progress in our ritualistic quest to overcome death. First, we sacrificed humans and drank their blood to keep the gods alive and happy, or to join them in overcoming death. We later came to substitute bulls or other animals for humans to achieve our goal. Finally, we progressed to a vegetarian menu of bread and wine. Even so, the basic truth is depressing: for anything to live, something or someone else must die. Whether this truth sets you free or not depends, I suppose, on your place at or on the dinner table. Since we are deep into metaphors, we may as well note here that the vampire has become a metaphor for those who define and create themselves by destroying others. People whose lives center on destroying other people's lives by disempowering them, who reduce their victims to dependent subjects to be lorded over, have been called spiritual vampires. Some of the therapists, ministers and gurus I've written about elsewhere in the Dictionary could be called spiritual vampires, very aptly.
This cultural link between vampirism and the quest for immortality seems to have been subordinated in literature and film, where other themes, such as blood for blood's sake, fear for fear's sake, or entrance into the realm of the occult, seem to dominate. One sign of the cultural deterioration of our ancestor's noble quest for immortality can be seen in the modern secondary meaning of 'vampire': a woman who exploits and ruins her lover. Another example of deterioration can be seen in the numerous WWW sites on vampires which appeal to occult or New Age interests such as entering the so-called dark side of reality, gaining power, establishing a unique identity as a special person or selling commercial products and games.
Apparently, role playing and masquerading as vampires is not enough to satisfy the bloodlust of some people, and covens or cults of "vampires" have emerged among some occultists. They seek blood to give them power, a sexual rush, or to establish a unique and special fictional persona based on creating fear and mystery in others. Unlike our ancient ancestors, their power is not sought because of fear based on ignorance and misunderstanding of nature, but on ignorance and misunderstanding of themselves. Like other occult cults these vampire covens are attractive to the young and the weak.* Just a few years ago, such "vampyres" would have been considered ill or evil. Today, they are said to have an "alternative lifestyle." |
What do you think about? | Cyberius wrote: |
| What do you think about? |
i think it sucks. <snicker>
Seriously - you asked too many questions at once. What do we think about what? Ancient vampire myths? The culture and history of vampirism? Modern vampires?Yeah, I'm not going to lie - it's weird (at least to me). I'm being ethnocentric, I know, but c'mon...
My own, probably naďve, opinion on this topic goes as follows, and forgive me if it looks like I’m stating the obvious.
Using my “13th Century peasant logic” 
, I would determine that early man had not yet resolved the question of what makes us tick, what gives us life.
Their observations would probably include observations such as “if I stick my prey with enough holes all this red stuff comes out and it dies”
They would then notice though additional trial and error that every living animal had red stuff in it, and that without exception if enough red stuff was lost, it died.
It would then be conceivable that the blood which flowed from the body of the dying, could be correlated with a loss of life, yielding the conclusion that it was the blood itself that gave life. After all, in the case of a deer filled with holes… the only thing it had lost, the difference between life and death … is its blood.
With man being a creative free thinker, and always looking for the edge in a violently competitive society, I can see how a concept for, and belief in the transference of life from one body to another could be arrived at.
None of this is particularly new, and as pointed out it is widely seen in many different cultures. Everything that comes after this, vampirism, ritualistic sacrifice etc I would only describe as a refinement on the concept of transferring life though the flesh.
Since it is my belief that life is not transferable through the flesh it is consequently my belief that all the mythical beliefs surrounding the supernatural elements in this vein of thought are just that … myths.
While I don’t know the exact degree of nutritional value in blood, it would perhaps make sense that a half starving savage who was busy chasing down a deer would in fact feel strong after having a good feed of blood. Additionally and I may easily be corrected here … perhaps the vitamin/mineral content of blood is high and so could perhaps provide a saturated boost for any primitive type who chose to partake in it as a dietary supplement. Vampires are fake. Just like frankenstein is. They were both invented at roughly the same time and published as stories. But they were quite realistic for the contempary age so people believed it. And they made up new myths.
may God bless you all.
I'm going to go with Asgard here, peasent logic definately would prevail for connect blood to life. Also blood is fairly nutritious (The Huns actually drank thier horses blood everyday so the supplies would last longer) especially if you were slightly anemic due to malnutrition, blood is iron rich.
| Indi wrote: |
| Cyberius wrote: | | What do you think about? |
i think it sucks. <snicker> |
That's funny. I think it's a bloody shame. hehehe 
I think vampirism is just a trend. It may have started out due to horro novels and movies, but at the moment the only people taking place in it are there for the erotic effect. They are not drinking the blood of people to prolong their life.
-Handermier
As this is in the religion and philosophy board, I'm assuming your question relates to vampirism as a form of religion. In this case, I would argue that it is as valid as any other form of faith, if one truly believes in it. As faith in Christianity, Judaism, muslim and buddhism all stem from beliefs set down in a book, why should vampirism be considered different? Sure, there is no 'official' text, it may be considered not as strong a belief, but then, the bible was originally a set of many books, condensed into one during the third century. If someone were to compile a standardised 'vampiric' bible, then why should not people follow it? Take for example, Anne Rice's Interview series. It lays down very specific rules that vampires should follow, eg. that one should not kill another vampire, that a child should never be made into one. Whose to say that, given belief in vampires, these rules should be any less valid than the 10 Commandments. Science has neither confirmed or denied the existence of vampires, as there is no general description agreed upon by any writer, except maybe the elongated canines. So, if we accept that they do (or have) existed, and that they have set rules to follow, I say it is a true valid religion.
Vampires? I don't believe in this life forms, because it is just a mental myth.
Than i have a special question: How has the first vampire arisen?
If someone can show me true evidence how this vampire has been arisen, then i will belive in this life form, otherwise it is just big myth.
Vampires do really exist, but not in the movie fashion that you all are accustomed to. They do not need blood to survive neither are they immortal.
Vampires are normal human beings that are possessed by demons of Satan. When the demons enter the human, it changes the human. When the demons are driven out of the human the body cannot take the change and the person dies.
Satan uses vampires to exercised power and educes fear in other Satanists
Further to my last post, check out this link:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/vampire.htm
it has extensive details of vampirism as a religion.
Lord Klorel, if no-one had discorvered a duck-billed platypus, but showed you a sketch of it, would you say that was just a myth? There are more things on earth that haven't been discovered than have, but this is not to say they don't exist. For example, humans have explored less than 1% of the deep sea, who is to say that we may find things previously thought of as myth, such as the kraken?
And wynand, if you believe in Satan, without proof, why not believe in vampires as real? The only reason why vampires have become popular among the young is that they represent total counter-culture. The vampire is an icon, nothing more.
I think it’s a bit of a shame that there are so many, “I think this”, and “I think that” answers here without too much detail as to how these conclusions were reached.
I think this has the potential to be a very interesting thread if it is expanded with thoughtful dialog.
I have stated my theory above on the origins of the vampire and denounced the popular and even monstrous view of vampires as being simply myths.
Putting this aside for a moment, it is still clear, myth or not, that the whole concept of Vampires is very old, and very well developed, across many cultures. The question is .. what sort of logical progression gets us from a caveman’s misconception of life transference through blood to Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
It think there are two main lines of reasoning with similar origins which help explain the progression and development of the Vampire.
The first and most fundamental would be : Things that go bump in the night.
How do you explain what you cannot understand? You make something up that seems reasonable.
For an over simplistic example. Someone is killed in the woods and the mangled body is found. Its not bear season (say), how do you explain the death? - A monster perhaps or still just a bear?
There are a couple of deaths …. Neighbouring villages hear the tale of something in the woods killing people. The story gets exaggerated in the retelling. The original village finds the bear and kills it … but the story lives on. Couple this with a culture whose principal form of evening entertainment is storytelling and suddenly anything can happen.
The second line of development would be along the lines of the deliberately developed myth. A story fostered to promote certain beliefs or point of view. I would suggest that it is here that the religious and irreligious origins of Vampirism began, as a "straw man"if you will. Started by those who would wish to redirect the faith of the flock from physical beliefs to something more spiritual.
Vampirism at least in modern culture consists of a bunch of over privileged crybaby Goth types who get off on the "dark and disturbed". They wallow is self pity and cling to dark mythology as an escape from their self imposed isolation from society.
The Goth crowd needs to grow up, wash off the make up and get a job.
Here is where they label me a "conformist".
I take issue with those who practice vampirism who are not "Goths" as well. Blood borne diseases and pathogens are at an all time high. It is extremely irresponsible and risky to be a blood drinker. Aside from it's moral implication (which I don’t really care about) it is an extreme health risk. I would recommend Jack Daniels in place of human or animal blood. 
the passing of bodily fluids has certain sexual overtones. vampirism is no more than a sexual act ...and I'm a goth.
it has been romantized by some authours. but the fact remains its simply a myth that glorifies the passing of bodily fluids.
and I have fangs.
In my country don't believe about vampire accept ghost... ha ha
Technicaly a human CAN be a vampie, but that doesn't mean he could be immortal. Let's take for instance blood drinkind bats. They don't absolutely eat or drink anything else but blood. Still, a human vampire is nothing but a mith.
Vampires are hardly a recent fad. Long before Buffy there was Bella. And the Catholic Church is always a figure, such as the movie Van Helsing turning the learned old doctor into a 19th century James Bond of the Catholic Church! Then there was the 80’s movie Life Force, about alien vampires (hey, didn’t one of those post just a few posts up?!) that is one of the freakiest and most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen.
I don’t think that something remains such a persistent cultural icon, and gets interpreted in such a huge number of different ways, unless it taps into some deep archetypal truth. Frankenstein was about the dehumanization of technology, disconnecting existence from the natural Source of life. That was intentionally what it was about.
What is Dracula really about? I think there is a little more to that; it is not just an abstract concept.
| Darius wrote: |
| Technicaly a human CAN be a vampie, but that doesn't mean he could be immortal. Let's take for instance blood drinkind bats. They don't absolutely eat or drink anything else but blood. Still, a human vampire is nothing but a mith. |
Your partialy correct here, but it's rather odd that you say a "Human" can be a vampire, but use an animal ( to be be more precise, a rodent) as an example.I think that humans like to be scared like small children do.
They also like to think that there is something over the human being like very powerfull creatures (meaning creatures that have power that humans don't have), demons, ghost, aliens, gods...
One of the reason is because it removes the responsibility they have and give it to other superior creatures. Bad things for instance will come from demons not from people.
It's also an easy way to justify a bad action: you will fight evil not people (that one sounds familiar isn't it). So you don't kill people but evil.
Then vampires are part of it. It satisfies both the scare and the excitement related to blood, and also uses the myth of eternal life.
Well, there are actually some events where people believe they are vampires and stuff. Some even go to dentists and get they're teeth "fixed".
They bite people... But I can honestly say, there is no vampires that can only get killed by getting pierced by a stick in the heart and such...
Its just not happening 
| baronblod2007 wrote: |
Well, there are actually some events where people believe they are vampires and stuff. Some even go to dentists and get they're teeth "fixed".
They bite people... But I can honestly say, there is no vampires that can only get killed by getting pierced by a stick in the heart and such...
Its just not happening |
so very true...but I'm reasonably sure you can kill the people who think they are vampires with a sharp stick. 
Now the ones that can be killed by sunlight...nope, at least not in my opinion.vampires dont actually exist such as immortal, bloodsucking vampires like in the moveis but people have risen up and belived in the myth and have created the religion based on a non-existent being. Its no better than satansim, yet everyones entitled to a belief.
I don’t like lawyers either, but calling them blood sucking vampires is maybe a little excessive. I think just plain blood suckers is sufficient. What do you think?
I think the people that play at being a vampire are mentally ill and they should seek help and not indulgence.
First off, the ingesting of blood in our MultiCultural society is almost a death wish, with all the blood borne sickness that has been spread around the planet. This makes them a vector for desease. Both mental and physical sickness.
Because if they promote drinking blood to others then they are passing on their mental distress.
I'm not saying they should be locked up. Just that they should be shunned and banished.
| divinitywolf wrote: |
| vampires dont actually exist such as immortal, bloodsucking vampires like in the moveis but people have risen up and belived in the myth and have created the religion based on a non-existent being. Its no better than satansim, yet everyones entitled to a belief. |
Sounds like the foundation of any religeon on the planet. All a bunch of boogeymen that people started to take to seriously.Just for the record....I am a true goth (born a true celt, but gaelic by nature), and I love to nip at a ladies neck.....but never to draw blood.
I may be strange heck....I used to wear fangs onstage, but actually drinking blood? 
yeah you'd have to be quite wierd to drink blood but belive it or not some people do it. AAA well thats life. People have choices to make and some make the wrong ones. Well thats if there are right and wrong choices.
