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As a human observer on the vampire community, I tend to notice things about
the community that are often left unmentioned. Among the most prominent of these
is the effect of the Beast on relationships and politics within the community.
Orthae and Shadowmind have posted several informative and well-written articles
about the dangers of surrendering completely to the Beast and I completely agree
with them, but the subtler ways in which the Beast affects the everyday life
of vampires have been, for the most part, neglected. I will attempt to address
some of them, from a human perspective, here.
The Beast, as I understand it, is the bestial, uninhibited and unreasoning
aspect of the vampire personality. It is the Id discussed in Shadowmind’s
article “The Mradu Road: Managing Id and Ego” [viewable
on the House Eclipse website linked below ~Sphynx] and in Freud before
him. It is the predator instinct that lies at the root of the vampire's need
for external sustenance, whether in the form of psychic energy or blood, and
drives vampires to feed. If left unstated for long enough, it can drive vampires
to violent, often brutal measures to obtain what they lack. Like the predator
in the wild, the Beast knows full well that it is at the top of the food chain
and regards itself accordingly. The majority of the time the Beast lies dormant
within the psyche of the vampire, being repressed by the vampire's will. Nevertheless,
it seems to me that the Beast is such an integral part of the vampire's being
that even while lying dormant it affects the consciousness of vampires—primarily
manifesting itself as selfishness.
This selfishness can be seen in at least three ways. Most simply, it can be
seen in a vampire’s arrogance. In the wild, lions sleep, eat, and generally
do what they want when they want to because they have no natural enemies to
threaten them. They are the top of the food chain and they act like it. The
same can be said for vampires. Human beings have established themselves as the
top of the global food chain, so those who feed on humans see themselves as
the pinnacle of evolution. The Beast knows this and that knowing translates
into arrogance on the part of the vampire of which it is a part. This arrogance
can also lead vampires to believe that as a species they are superior to humans,
but an honest look at vampire psychology and interrelations reveals that they
are no better, but no worse, than humans. Certainly different vampires display
this arrogance to different degrees, but it seems to me that all vampires have
at least the tendency toward arrogance.
Selfishness can also be seen in the way some vampires respond to criticism.
It seems to me that vampires have a tendency to react aggressively when criticized.
They tend to become defensive about their own position and then attack the criticizer
without giving adequate thought to the possible merit of the criticism. It seems
that the Beast responds to criticism in much the same way that it responds to
a physical attack: it defends itself and then lashes back at the attacker before
the intellect can even register what happened. This instinctual behavior is
essential in responding to a physical attack, but can lead to misunderstandings
and worse in response to criticism. Again, some vampires are better at controlling
this aggressive reaction than others, but it seems to me that the tendency is
always there.
Thirdly, selfishness can be seen in the way vampires, especially those belonging
to different houses, react and treat each other. Vampires are, for the most
part, natural politicians and one of the essential qualities that a politician
must have in order to be successful is self-confidence—a polite way of
saying egotism. Politicians must believe in the justness and righteousness of
their positions to be able to survive in the sea of ideas in which they are
immersed. One concomitant of this attitude is that those who do not hold the
same position are by default unjust and unrighteousness. This fact seems to
apply to vampires as well. It seems to me that vampires have the tendency to
equate their beliefs and opinions with Truth and condemn or humiliate those
who stand for different things. This might explain the baffling persistence
of George in attempting to discredit Orthae: she stands for different principals
than he does and thereby poses a threat to him and his affiliations that cannot
be permitted to endure. As always, there are notable exceptions and each vampire
displays these traits to different degrees, but I believe that all vampires
have at least the tendency toward such behavior.
It is in these three behaviors—arrogance, aggressive response to criticism,
and ideological self-righteousness—that I have observed the Beast manifesting
itself in the lives of vampires, but these same three modes of behavior also
brilliantly demonstrate the selfishness inherent in human consciousness as well.
Indeed, the entirety of this article applies as truthfully to humans, including
myself, as it does to vampires. As I stated earlier: vampires are neither better
nor worse than humans. Vampires might be more inclined toward selfishness than
humans due to their closer bond to their animalistic nature, but both vampires
and humans are irresistibly drawn toward these modes of behavior. And it is
by acknowledging this truth that we make it possible to reconcile ourselves
with what we are.
SOME CAVEATS CONCERNING THIS ARTICLE:
First
I realize that I am walking on very thin ice in writing much of this.
On the one hand I risk overstating my case and offending people (which I probably
have) and on the other I risk diluting my position to the point of nonexistence.
I sincerely hope that I have not offended anyone with this article. I merely
wanted to offer an outside assessment of vampire psychology, not an attack
on vampirism or vampires in general.
Second
As I stated earlier, this article is written from a human perspective. Since
it is, it will surely be inaccurate in some, or most, of its assertions about
the Beast and its manifestations. I encourage you to correct these inaccuracies.
The goal of this article is to generate discussion about a topic which I have
not seen discussed much around here.
Third
I wrote this in one afternoon, so I apologize if I’m a bit more rambling
and disorganized that I usually am.
This article is presented as part of an ongoing effort to present other views outside of, as well as within, the online vampire community. Those of us who consider ourselves vampiric don't always look at things from the same viewpoint due to our life experiences. As such, the views and opinions 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 - you are responsible for using your own reasoning and judgement, so judge wisely.
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