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asteram · 01-15-2009, 02:16 PM

Nina's question:

"Do you think vampires can change into donors?

Its my experience that they can change if they run into total resistance. No food, no needs met. It may be a ruse, over time we shall see about that. It also may be that they have the capacity to visualize the illegitimacy of their actions....."

Psychopaths would be one category of vampire that plays a prominent role in our world.

If you have done any reading on psychopaths, you will know that it is not a mental disorder, it is more a species. Psychopathy is no more curable than being a wolverine or a shrike is curable. The species is so alien to the majority of humanity that we are largely unable to conceive of them. They appear human and can interbreed perfectly with humans, so we don't yet know if the difference is genetic. They have managed to hide their difference and even their existence until quite recently. The work of Hervey M. Cleckly, starting in the late 1940s, and more recently Andrew M. Lobaczewski, and Robert Hare have given us most of what we know about them. The more intelligent psychopaths are to be found at the highest levels of power which gives them great abilities to maintain their cover and even the knowledge of their existence. An example of their control is that the phenomenon is still not listed or described in the DSM IV standard diagnostic manual of mental disorders; the closest DSM IV comes is something called anti-social personality disorder which is thoroughly mixed up with a list of mental symptoms that have nothing to do with psychopathy. The fact that psychopathy is not listed in the DSM IV strongly indicates that there are psychopaths in positions of great influence in the mental health and psychiatric professions. Psychopaths know they are not human like the rest of us and that their only hope for survival is camouflage.

Recent work in brain imaging has shown some interesting differences in brain function. The most significant is that their brains do not appear to have a functional emotional center. In humans the amygdala and limbic system process emotions; in psychopaths that function seems to be performed in the intellectual centers, in the parts of the brain that humans use to process language. Rather than feeling an emotion and processing it through the amygdala, psychopaths analyze the emotion with the speech centers, looking for word associations in order to decide their most advantageous response to the human emotions that they have no capacity to feel themselves. They are cold and calculating, unfeeling, and without the ability to experience even the higher animal emotions such as affection and loyalty.

Another facet revealed by brain imaging is the psychopath's reaction to photos of extreme violence, tragedy, and gore. Whereas the higher centers of a human's brain tend to shut down when shown such things, those same areas in the psychopath's brain show increased activity indicating enhanced interest.

They are very much predators, and not only predators but predators that take pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering, which is why I compared them to shrikes and wolverines, animals well known for random senseless killing of other living things. To a psychopath, a human is at best a useful possession. They do not know loyalty, much less love or true affection; they only know personal advantage and what they want. Combine that with innate sadism and high intelligence and it creates one dangerous animal.

They have an incredible advantage over humans in a competitive situation as they have no compassion or conscience, and no compunction about using any tactics whatsoever in order to get what they desire. This leads to m_astera's corollary to the Peter Principle: In any hierarchy, the highest positions will eventually be filled by the most competent and ruthless psychopaths.

Psychopaths are definitely "vampires" , though whether or not they actually derive energy from the suffering of others is unknown at this point. In their case the answer would be no, they cannot change into "donors" or givers of emotional energy to others. They have nothing to give. They don't even experience fear the same way humans do, though they do know anger. It seems likely that psychopaths would make the best servants and enforcers for oppressive regimes in this 3-D plane and even more likely that they would be useful tools of the emotional vampires that are invisible to our eyes.

We have all interacted with those who drain our energy, and certainly not all of those would be psychopaths. Some are just "tiresome" people, to use an antique phrase. How much of the energy expended in the presence of tiresome people really goes to them as emotional food is anyone's guess, but it could probably be estimated by observing if they seem energized by interactions that leave others drained, or if they simply derive perverse pleasure from causing emotional distress. I see no reason that a normal non-psychopathic human could not learn compassion and do away with the practice of draining others should they make a conscious choice to do so. A religious conversion could initiate such a change.

In any case, whether dealing with human emotional vampires, tiresome people, or the invisible eaters of negative feelings, it's not so much a weapon that is needed as a shield. That shield is constant vigilance of one's own emotional state and reactions, and the conscious decisions not only not to feed the vampires, but to apply one's own emotional energy in a positive manner, deliberately using it to create a better world for their self and everyone else.

01-15-2009, 02:16 PM	#33
asteram Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Isla de Margarita, Venezuela Posts: 161	Re: Onwards Nina's question: "Do you think vampires can change into donors? Its my experience that they can change if they run into total resistance. No food, no needs met. It may be a ruse, over time we shall see about that. It also may be that they have the capacity to visualize the illegitimacy of their actions....." Psychopaths would be one category of vampire that plays a prominent role in our world. If you have done any reading on psychopaths, you will know that it is not a mental disorder, it is more a species. Psychopathy is no more curable than being a wolverine or a shrike is curable. The species is so alien to the majority of humanity that we are largely unable to conceive of them. They appear human and can interbreed perfectly with humans, so we don't yet know if the difference is genetic. They have managed to hide their difference and even their existence until quite recently. The work of Hervey M. Cleckly, starting in the late 1940s, and more recently Andrew M. Lobaczewski, and Robert Hare have given us most of what we know about them. The more intelligent psychopaths are to be found at the highest levels of power which gives them great abilities to maintain their cover and even the knowledge of their existence. An example of their control is that the phenomenon is still not listed or described in the DSM IV standard diagnostic manual of mental disorders; the closest DSM IV comes is something called anti-social personality disorder which is thoroughly mixed up with a list of mental symptoms that have nothing to do with psychopathy. The fact that psychopathy is not listed in the DSM IV strongly indicates that there are psychopaths in positions of great influence in the mental health and psychiatric professions. Psychopaths know they are not human like the rest of us and that their only hope for survival is camouflage. Recent work in brain imaging has shown some interesting differences in brain function. The most significant is that their brains do not appear to have a functional emotional center. In humans the amygdala and limbic system process emotions; in psychopaths that function seems to be performed in the intellectual centers, in the parts of the brain that humans use to process language. Rather than feeling an emotion and processing it through the amygdala, psychopaths analyze the emotion with the speech centers, looking for word associations in order to decide their most advantageous response to the human emotions that they have no capacity to feel themselves. They are cold and calculating, unfeeling, and without the ability to experience even the higher animal emotions such as affection and loyalty. Another facet revealed by brain imaging is the psychopath's reaction to photos of extreme violence, tragedy, and gore. Whereas the higher centers of a human's brain tend to shut down when shown such things, those same areas in the psychopath's brain show increased activity indicating enhanced interest. They are very much predators, and not only predators but predators that take pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering, which is why I compared them to shrikes and wolverines, animals well known for random senseless killing of other living things. To a psychopath, a human is at best a useful possession. They do not know loyalty, much less love or true affection; they only know personal advantage and what they want. Combine that with innate sadism and high intelligence and it creates one dangerous animal. They have an incredible advantage over humans in a competitive situation as they have no compassion or conscience, and no compunction about using any tactics whatsoever in order to get what they desire. This leads to m_astera's corollary to the Peter Principle: In any hierarchy, the highest positions will eventually be filled by the most competent and ruthless psychopaths. Psychopaths are definitely "vampires" , though whether or not they actually derive energy from the suffering of others is unknown at this point. In their case the answer would be no, they cannot change into "donors" or givers of emotional energy to others. They have nothing to give. They don't even experience fear the same way humans do, though they do know anger. It seems likely that psychopaths would make the best servants and enforcers for oppressive regimes in this 3-D plane and even more likely that they would be useful tools of the emotional vampires that are invisible to our eyes. We have all interacted with those who drain our energy, and certainly not all of those would be psychopaths. Some are just "tiresome" people, to use an antique phrase. How much of the energy expended in the presence of tiresome people really goes to them as emotional food is anyone's guess, but it could probably be estimated by observing if they seem energized by interactions that leave others drained, or if they simply derive perverse pleasure from causing emotional distress. I see no reason that a normal non-psychopathic human could not learn compassion and do away with the practice of draining others should they make a conscious choice to do so. A religious conversion could initiate such a change. In any case, whether dealing with human emotional vampires, tiresome people, or the invisible eaters of negative feelings, it's not so much a weapon that is needed as a shield. That shield is constant vigilance of one's own emotional state and reactions, and the conscious decisions not only not to feed the vampires, but to apply one's own emotional energy in a positive manner, deliberately using it to create a better world for their self and everyone else.