Vampires

Just a happy little story about life and undeath.

The story of Dracula the great vampire has an odd and fascinating detail I have been thinking about lately. If I remember it right (and I am open to correction if I am wrong) it goes something like this:

In the castle of the vampire, the mirrors are covered. There are thick dark cloths draped over all of them. This is because, in the story, Dracula is unable to see his own reflection. It is because vampires are dead and have no soul that he lacks the ability to see himself in a mirror. The immortal vampire can not engage in self reflection. One needs a soul to do such important work. The mirrors therefore are covered so that Dracula does not have to face this terrible truth. He is dead. He has no soul. No matter how many centuries he exists, he is not alive. He is not living, he is merely undead.

Self reflection is hard work. It is confronting. It means taking a hard look in that mirror and dealing with what everyone else sees when they look at us. And that may not be flattering. The mythology of vampires is deep and rich and it is an image that has been mined for a very long time by playwrights, authors, and the motion picture industry. There are enormous insights into human nature that have been probed in each of those genres. Sometimes the vampire is just terrifying: violent and evil and the object that the hero must destroy. (Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) Sometimes vampires are a device for exploring the immense power and mystery of sexual attraction. (Ahem… Twilight.)

But when it is done well, and there are bits of this in all good vampire fiction, the figure of the vampire is a device for exploring human nature. Vampires are driven by an irresistible hunger. The vampire needs blood to go on. And blood has always been a symbol of life. No blood, no life. So the vampire feeds on the life-blood of their victim. They may take small amounts and rely on numerous people for their supply. They may even try to minimize the harm they cause. Those are the “good” vampires. But when they drain a body completely they become, for a short time, immensely powerful. And often the story as it is told is that to be drained in this way is how the victim becomes a vampire themself and joins in the hunt for the living.

In order keep the story interesting, the vampire is often not a one dimensional figure. There is that one character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series who is a vampire, but fights alongside the vampire slayers. He is aligned with the human side and he tries to end the terror of the completely predatory ones. But there is an air of danger about him. He could turn at any time and give in to the darker impulses of his blood sucking kind. He is conflicted. That makes him interesting. Furthermore the vampires in the Twilight stories are hypnotically attractive, with that same sense of danger and the uncertainty as to what they are really after.

What has that got to do with us here in the real world, in the 21st century? After all vampires are mythical creatures, right?

Sure. But myths are not lies. Myths are stories that have something to teach us about life, society, and civilization. They use earthly and concrete images, even if they are imaginary ones, to talk about spiritual realities. The stories are trying to get at something deep about life and about being human and alive.

Now stick with me as I try to take you into a vampire story. Open your imagination and see how this feels to you:

We DO have vampires. They walk among us. They take the life blood of humans to sustain their hunger and keep them alive. They drain the life out of us that they may live. They themselves have no soul, no spiritual life, no self-consciousness. They are incapable of reflection. They do not like mirrors because they are vampires. They have all the legal rights of living beings. They are immensely powerful. They suck the life out of thousands, or even millions of victims. Some they drain completely so that they become as soulless and as merciless and as uncaring as they are.

They are corporations. The bigger and older they are the more powerful they get. They live off the lives of those who serve them. We want them to be like the vampires in the Twilight books. All that power and all that attraction draws us to them. We shop in their stores, we work in their warehouses. We order from their well craftted websites, and in generations past we ordered from their glossy catalogues. But they are not alive. They have no souls. They have no compassion or love or understanding of the actual needs of humans.

Corporations really are vampires. They feed on us. They suck our life force. If they are the best companies, they give us something in return. We get our phones, our vehicles, our clothing, and our food mostly from large corporations. But we can get wrapped up in the comfort of the vampire’s embrace and forget. It is our blood that feeds them. They are not alive. We are. When we make the mistake of letting them have full power in our economy and our political life, they take over. They can suck us dry and make us into vampires too.

You see it. I see it. Look at the richest and most powerful people in the world. Are they happy and joyful humans? Do they live lives of generosity and care? Are they able to use all that power and wealth to benefit others? Or have they too become blood sucking vampires, feeding off the life of those under their feet? Have they had all of the joy and life and love and spirit sucked out of them, leaving an empty undead shell starving for the life of others? It is the rare exception that is able to escape the fangs of extreme wealth. Melinda Gates comes to mind as perhaps one who gives far more than she takes. There are less of those than would be good for the world.

But the corporation itself has no humanity. It has no soul. It can not see its reflection. Humans with souls need to do that work. Power and wealth are perilous. The vampire’s kiss is tempting. The illusion of unlimited power and eternal life is the promise. We have billionaires, and now trillionaires, building bunkers and offshore refuges. They are keeping their super yachts and their private planes fueled up and ready for their escape as they suck the life blood out of nations worth of victims. They are preparing to flee into space or into computers, looking for a way to upload their consciousness into cyberspace so that they may escape the fate of us mere mortals. They want to become immortal and exist drinking the life blood of humanity and of nature.

But there are mirrors. And there are natural mirrors.

There are reflecting pools.

Eventually we find ourselves looking into one. And reflecting pools have a habit of growing green and scummy and full of unwelcome life. They do not stay dead. The life in them does not stay hidden. They do not stay neutral and safe. The life in the reflection does not behave. Pour in all the toxic chemicals you like, fill it with bleach or peroxide or whatever, it will keep reflecting. And it will contain life within its water. And vampires hate that. They can not stand the very fact of their soullessness. Vampires are afraid of actual life.

So hold up your mirror. Hold it high. Check your own reflection and if you find it fading, be quick to do the most anti-vampire thing you can. Risk yourself. Pour out your life for another. Be the opposite of the blood sucking vampire. Shed your blood for another. Don’t play it safe. Don’t hide out in your casket of safety waiting for the darkness. Go out in the bright sunlight and grow your soul. Stare deeply into reflecting pools. Gaze at your beautiful human face. Hold up your mirror to others so that they may join you in the human journey.

And sometimes, well, sometimes you need to get together with a band of brothers and sisters and sharpen a wooden stake to plunge through the heart of a ravenous vampire.

Happy hunting.