The Hunger

“None of us really changes over time.

We only become more fully what we are.”
Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat

It was one afternoon, I remember like it was yesterday. Came across the yard without a noise, a tall, blond hair man and silent movements, almost feline. At first I thought it was someone asking for some information. But this suspicion was soon abandoned. He stopped near me, so that his face was in the light, and saw that it was not an ordinary man. His gray eyes burned with incandescence, and long white hands hanging at his side were not those of a human being². I think at that moment I understood everything, and all he told me was just seductive bait. However, inside the bait was something sharp, something that ended my spirit when I felt the first bite³. I mean, when I saw him, I realized his aura, and I realized that I would be reduced to nothing. All my beliefs, my dreams, suddenly seemed to have no importance. It was all ashes. That was the beginning of the hunger, the beginning of the insatiable emptiness ^2,3.

We all know people who have the inexplicable ability to drain us physically in a relatively short period of time. By being in his presence, we actually experience the feeling of our vital energy being sucked. Although there are cultural variations in the various legends, there is always a defining characteristic of a vampire: a vampire wants blood. The blood is the life, and also is the archetypal symbol of the soul, the vital energy^4,5. What we call the soul can be understood simply as a desire to participate in life^3,4.5.
Vampires are not ghosts, but humans who for some reason, because of an attack or traumatic events, lost contact with the source of life within themselves, and so they must prey on others^4,5. For although the red thirst is always a very strong desire to resist, to live in the state of hambre del alma, hungry of soul, is  much more somber. It is feel an insatiable hunger³.

In this situation the person burns with hunger for anything that will make him feel alive again. In this state, the person sinks into excesses _ the most common drugs, alcohol and destructive relationships _ whose driving force is the hunger of the soul³. But nothing satisfies, only intensifies the experience of emptiness and chronic melancholy. The annihilation through excesses is  reaction of the person who went through a period of deprivation and is hungry for a life that has meaning³.

Hambre del alma also involves the deprivation of the attributes of the soul: creativity, sensory perception and the instinctive talent. It is then that life becomes dominated by the pallor  and aridity of death. All the vampire  want is to have the  back to deep life. Thus, his hunger drives him in search of someone to satisf his need³.

The act of killing is not a common act – the vampire said. – We can not be satisfied simply with the blood of another. Certainly it is again experiencing life and sometimes to experience the loss of this life through the blood slowly. It continues to repeat the feelings that I had to lose my own life, to suck the Lestat blood pulse  and hear your heart next to my drumming.

(Interview with a Vampire, Anne Rice)

The idea that hunger can change the behavior of living beings has great significance. There is something about hunger that deprives us of reasoning. Thus, nine out of ten cases of people that fall into traps and get hurt seriously are people whose soul is being, or has been in the past, subjected to hunger. This is the problem of deprivation. If anything give to impression to fill the yearning, the hungry soul is cast in its quest without asking questions³.
In fairy tales soul loss can be described as an incantation. Some legends describe where vampires attacks are more likely to occur. In Gilgamesh, the person who strayed too far from the community, which is isolated from the others, is more vulnerable. Loneliness, spiritual or physical, can allow this complex to manifest⁴. Falling in love is another common way to become vulnerable to this manifestation. However, the most likely location for the transfer of  vampiric energy is the groups, whether academic, spiritual, professional, family, or whatever its nature, the groups impose rewards and punishments to members and non-members with similar application^3,4,5.

In all groups, there are people who consider themselves guardians of the collective tradition, people who support the status quo without questioning it. Its speech is behaving yourself, do not create confusion, not think too much, accept everything even if you do not like. They operate to influence and control all possible areas _ from our thoughts to our choice of partners. They can also disparage or discourage efforts that do not harmonize with their preferences³.

However, follow a value system so devoid of life causes an extreme loss of connection with the soul. So, our challenge in defense of our soul and creative spirit is not to merge with the collective, but we distinguish ourselves from those around us, building bridges to them of our choice, deciding which bridges will solidify and be very moving and which remain in outline, empty³.

To prevent the hunger we should relate to those we provide greater support to our soul and creative life. We have to keep our relationship with meaning, with the passion, with the involvement and with the profound nature of our soul, becoming more fully who we are.

References and Notes

1. Rice, A. B. 1997. Interview with the Vampire. Ballantine, USA.

2. Estes, C. P. 1994. Women who run with the wolves. Editora Rocco, Rio de Janeiro.

3. Johnson, R. L. 1992. The Vampire Archetype, Tallahassee centre for Jungian and Gnostic Studies.

4. Kimberley, S. 2012. A Psychological Analysis of The Vampire Myth. Estreo: Essex Student Research Online. Vol 1(1): 38-45

5. This text  is outside of the discussions about the possibility of Richard Armitage interpret the vampire Matthew Clairmont, written by Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches or the vampire Michael Tyle, written by Syrie James, in Nocturne. These themes were brilliantly discusse in Armitage as vampire?  written by Servetus and Nocturne: I’ve Read it, Liked It and This is why: Richard Armitage!  written by Maria Grazia.

6. The psychological significance of the vampire myth has been widely discussed in the literature and the main lines of interpretation are the Jungian and Freudian. Some references for these studies are listed above.

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