|
Vyrdolak
Tue Nov 12 13:17:06 2002
I'm not human, and I generally strike most people as being pretty much
in my right mind. There are times when I feel like one of the few sane
people in the world, actually. I have some qualifications for assessing
sanity, at the least, since I'm a certified counselor with a Master's
degree and have worked in a shelter for battered women for the past six
years. I'm also in my 40's and my life is in fairly good shape--home ownership
and a pristine credit rating and all that sort of thing--so my mental
health rarely strikes anyone as in doubt.
As for not being human, I don't necessarily expect anyone else to believe
it, but there are a few of us around.
Vyrdolak
Sun Nov 24 19:55:42 2002
I do not consider myself immortal. I am on the high end of the bell curve
for general toughness--I wouldn't say "invulnerable," but strong, resistant
to injury, rarely get sick, etc. However, this in no way exceeds the normal
range for humans, it just makes me an extraordinarily and enviably healthy
individual. (In two solid years in my very stressful and demanding job,
I logged one and a half sick days.)
To state it briefly, I am a non-human "soul" (entity, spiritual being,
what have you) incarnated for the time being in a humanoid body. My body
ages more slowly than most, but again, I'm just at one end of the normal
bell curve for humanoid bodies and their aging process. I don't know what
a DNA test would show up, probably nothing startling although I do have
some medical anomalies. I also can't have children. :-(
There is a folklore tradition of "living vampires" that is found worldwide
and in almost every culture--sometimes folklorists or anthropologists
refer to them as "vampire witches" or "blood drinking sorcerers" and the
like, to differentiate them from the stereotype "vampire" that is a revived
corpse. Everywhere this cultural tradition is found, these people share
the same characteristics: they are considered non-human (including by
themselves), they resemble in every respect human beings and blend into
the societies they inhabit, they tend to have certain natural advantages
that make others somewhat envious or suspicious of them, and they can
utilize blood to attain power.
There are a number of serious academic monographs dealing with some specific
cultural examples.
As for "what I think of those who consider themselves human and a 'vampire'",
uh, well, I think they consider themselves human and some sort of "vampire"!
I mean, if someone is confident that they're human, I'm the last person
to argue with them, I guess they must be in the best position to know!
I've noticed that over the last several years, there has been a marked
tendency for those in the "vampiric communities" who are human-defined
to want to get away from the "vampire" identification, and find other
terminology. The "V-word" has too much cultural and psychological power
to relinquish easily, though.
I have some articles planned for my website that will get more into this,
but so far I haven't had time to finish them. I have recently added some
additional old folklore material to the Rare Articles Archive section
of my site, articles and book excerpts from the mid-19th century.
I don't know if this helps clarify anything.
Vyrdolak, 2002
This article is presented as part of an ongoing
effort to present other views outside of, as well as within, the online
vampire community. As such, the views and attitudes contained in this
article are entirely those of the author(s), and may not necessarily
be shared by SphynxCatVP. The webmaster is not under obligation to update
or otherwise keep current the contents of this article. Most
importantly, only you can decide for yourself whether this article or
any of the author(s) other views are useful or applicable to you - use
your own reasoning and judgment.
| 
