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Dont know if this has been a discussion before but:
There are those that believe Vampyrism is an innate ability, something you are born with, others believe that it is something that you can teach yourself/ learn from a mentor.
What are your thoughts.

From my understanding it is an innate ability. I would love to find out the reasoning behind it being a learned behavior. What are there classes on how to be a vampire? Today we learn how to be sensitive to the sun... :)

Learned/innate ability to do/be... what?

Sensitivity to light is not necessarily a trait of the fictional vampire (historical vampire accounts mention no light sensitivity) as there are many medical conditions that can cause this. Energy feeding is also not a known trait of vampires (historical vampire accounts mention no such ability). Even blood drinking, the easiest of all the "learned" behaviors, is also not necessarily a trait of true "vampires" (historical vampire accounts mention NO blood drinking, which behavior was only assumed and entered into the folklore after corpses believed to be vampires were dug up and some discovered to have what then seemed to be fresh blood in their bodies and/or in their mouths... the results of natural decomposition).

Thus... to what specific "ability" is your question directed?

Im referring to the ability not neccessarily "traits" Not all living Vampyres drink blood and not all feed off of energy, but the process of....say the psi vamp or the tantric vamp. The feeding off of the pranic energy.
I know there are other rituals out there completely seperate from vampirism that teaches energy healing and the like but this question is directed toward the feeding and using others energy for yourself, hence the "abilities" of the Vampyre.

Your born that way. Teaching is just a way of helping you understand better. In some cases it's used to bring something out in someone that was already there. A bit confused on what you were asking. Answered to the best of my understanding.

its not something your are born with unless it is when your Human body dies and your Vampire bodies is born

I agree with UpirLikhyj, but would add that what one human is able to do, so are others.

I believe it is an innate ability.

You can't be taught how to be a vampire. Their might be abilities that vampires have, that other people can learn, but I think there would be a big difference in technique.

I know a lot of energy workers who aren't vampires..and I know a lot of people who say they are vampires and know nothing about energy...

Sinora makes a very key point that what one Human can do, so can others. I would add also that what one Human can imagine themselves doing (energy feeding, etc.) others can likewise imagine. And in all the above, all such can be "taught" or otherwise acquired or imagined as acquired.

There is, however, one exception to all of this: as found in almost all historic accounts of those today called "Vampires" beginning with the Sumerian and Egyptian accounts and continuing up through almost all the Eastern European accounts, there is one specific "vampiric" trait common to them all that has also been long declared by modern scientists and andrologists to be "physiologically impossible" to all males.

And that trait is most definitely... innate.

You are born with it! I don't think this type of thing could be taught!

it is the way some are borned. even when they discover it later.

*Waits to see who will be the first person to ask UpirLikhyj what that is* lol

Oh, the nature verses Nurture debate.. Well, no matter how much we like to believe we will not turn out to be like our parents.. We generally will be more like them then not.. Why, I really think nature has it'd limitation... But nurture and the environment we learn in.. will probably have the most effect on how and what we learn... I what your potential is at born if you are not shown your potential through others you will be less likely to develop them.

Meska
*its not something your are born with unless it is when your Human body dies and your Vampire bodies is born*

So you believe that you dont become a vampire until you die?

I'm not entirely sure how one could be taught to be a vampire....so I'd say it's an innate ability.

I could go with born to ... but taught maybe at least in a Phy way I guess.

i feel it would be an inate ability, tho im sure ppl who are really into it. will try and learn it.

LOL Sinora..just keep reading his stuff..that one is not hard at all to figure out.~Smirks~

Vampyres are born as such. However I believe there is more of a spiritual birth than a physical, as to incarnate requires a soul, and Vampyres live many lives as the same soul. Given a belief in reincarnation, all die and are reborn, but a Vampyre is aware of their previous lives and are very ancient souls.

when born into this world as a vamp you must feed to servive

i think you can learn to use/do it.

Darkwarlok..tell me,when you say "feed to survive"
you talking on blood or what?

Are we talking about mythological vamps here or as a subculture?

I believe that it's innate.
Though it being a learned ability would be pretty cool, but if it were learned then couldn't someone stop being a vampire as much as they learned how to start?

Things can be learnt but like any dark art must have some natural flair for it

I believe itis both. there are some who are born that way, and some who learn from another...usually one who is born that way.

The posts here say u are born a vampire. If vampires really existed they would be the living dead so it would be impossible to be born with it. Its something someone believes they want to be so they teach themselves

The Living Vampyre is not the 200 year old pale wo/man living in the shadows like the movies.

People are born with it, but there are certain factors that can come in to start an awakening in a persons DNA...

hmmmm how to even answer this...

Sinora, Oceanne, and others have a good handle in this already.

As a subculture, perhaps some things are innate, but otherwise would just be drawn to that particular subculture for whatever reason/how that person is made and needs in their life.

i think it is innate also, only a certain bloodline

any body can learn something but to truely know someting and be ~~~~ innate ..

Now, are we talking simply vampirisim in regards to innate abilities vs. learned abilities?

I believe we all have psychic abilities/powers, etc.. some are just more aware than others of these abilities.

As far as vampirisim goes - psy, etc.. I think we all have the capabilities to draw from other sources our energies, etc. it's just that some label it as psy vampirisim - semantics, same meaning, different wording - but regarding physical vampires, I think if there is indeed such a thing, it would be an inherent ability.

:D

vampirism is some time something that you are born with and somethimes you can be made into it. its not a bad idea to learn all you can about it in the mean time.

I guess both could be true. I mean if you live in a cave for long enough you will become very sensitive to the sun. As far as lusting for blood go's, I guess if pushed in that direction one could learn to crave blood.

you dont have to live in a cave to be senitive to the sun. you are or not and nothing you do can change that part about you.

If you lived in a cave without seeing the sun light, ever yes you would become very sensitive the sun. You would not be able to see very well in the light if at all. And your skin would burn very easily from not ever being in the sun. Of course this could take a very long time to happen.

How can you learn to be light sensitive? or learn to love to bite? this i would like to know.

i think it's sumthing your born with and you dont nessasaraly have to come from " vampire " parents.

*Sigh*

I keep hatin' to bring this up... but sensitivity to light and biting people were not traits of the historical vampire but instead the creation of fiction writers of primarily the 19th Century, over 500 years after the original accounts themselves.

Just trying to interject a bit of fact amongst all the fiction. :)

It's inate

I believe a person is born with it. Someone said something about DNA earlier, and I agree. They could be born with it and not experience anything until it is awakened.

I believe it can be both a learned and born with talent. I also feel that there are older souls that have walked the lifestyle in the past and are reborn with an innate sense for the life. I believe that the new souls are the ones that have to be taught and instructed on what it means to live it.

lol never let the truth get in the way of a good story, innate.

My thoughts are that its a natural instinct. Its like sex, everybody knows basically how to do it, even if you never done it. Only thing that can be taught and learned is different techniques.

research has shown that learned abilities or behaviour can become innate - ie. an acquired skill can be passed down genetically. this has been observed in animals as well as humans. to a large extent, our behaviour will affect our physiology, so it is likely that all innate skills were originally acquired via behaviour modification at some point. in short, al skills can be learned, to an extent. some people are more easily disposed to acquiring certain skills than others, which may be due to an anscestor having used those skills. though somehow i very much doubt that any of my anscestors had IT and computer skills. maybe i inherited them from my descendants.

karnstein, you would be meaning your forefathers - your descendents are those that come after your.. your child, grandchildren, great grandchilden and on.

The fictional vs 'real' is still intertwined and confusing in this thread. State real or fictional perhaps in your statements would be helpful.

it really depends on your views as a person... What do you believe? Personally I think it's both... I think it is something that can be learned... but it's better if your born with it.... that kinda thing...

In my experiance Traveler, it works both ways accordingly. A born vampire may not have the innate abilities at first, but needs to "awaken" these attributes, as well as to adjust to them in time.

Those of whom already have the abilities may take on a student and therefore become a mentor, but all in all...We are all students of one another at one point or another.

Many people have abilities and talents that they have no idea they have until an event or situation that helps to 'bring them out' and other times it is practice and study.

*Chuckles just now, reading Upir's posts* Yes indeed!!! I have fallen and can't reach my WHAT!?

My apologies Sith, I should have been a bit more clear on what the term "awakening" means in my perspective. I do agree, that with a certain situation or circumstance, that the individual does indeed "awaken".

Whether it is from the born innate attribute or not is still to be decided. Though for the most part, the innate is by instinct alone...That instinct usually does not come before the "awakening" in some instances. Specifically when the hereditary factor skips generations...The link is weaker than from generation to generation.

That sounded a bit clearer.

I guess it is both. I don't buy into psychic vampirism myself... but people always say you are born a vampire, then most of those people also believe in some kind of mentorship.

I think you can only be born as a psy or other vampire. You cannot learn to be one, in my opinion.

i say its something in the blood. as u know when u are bitten u turn into a vampire and then have all the abilities it comes with. at least what i thought

vampirism is like being (punk or gothic or a vegeterian) it is something that is instilled w/ in the mind so yeah in a way your taught to be this way you copy what you've seen, heard and based on your perception of things choose to either like what you have seen or dilike it and think more along the lines of (non of this is real!) more of a realistic [*for a lack of a better word* no offence to anyone ByTheWay] and going back to that theory that there are a chain of different experinces causing you to judge things the way you do. it controls your perception of things.

A tough concept.... Though I beleive one thing, you may beleive in one aspect of vampirism whilst person A beleives another, person B beleives yet another and person C thinks we are all retarded and full of shit. This extreme variance in opinions makes it difficult to say fully. I beleive and agree with the statement that it is more of a mind set. yes there may be physical changes that come about as well as mental but it is how you have adapted.

I believe we are all psi vamps, just the degree of ablility to call it that is different for us all. How many of us have experienced a Psi vamp and the person didn't know they were draining others of energy. So I think that is definitely an ability we all have.

It is my opinion that so called vampire traits or even skills can be innate or learned ...

but what I want to know is what innate trait you speak of UpirLikhyj ...

i agree with wensala

interesting reading for us that dont know

I think vampirism is a state of mind conjured by people who wish to identify themselves as vampires. However, this does not make them physically manifest into a mythological 'monster'; it's rather a revolution of living.

I guess in those terms, vampirism is learned. But people do not extend their lifespans significantly by doing nothing but consume blood, so it's important to remember that even though a person might identify as a supernatural being doesn't actually make them one.

Quite frankly, when you start tossing around terms like "learned" and "innate," it sort of stirs the psychological beast that lives within me...and THAT, my friend, is something that was innate within me and fostered through education.

You have to first qualify and quantify which characteristics of a "vampire" you are specifically addressing before that question can definitively be answered.

Overall, it takes nothing more than a person identifying themselves as a vampire for it to be true for THAT person. Is that either innate or learned? Or, did they simply identify with a specific genre of movies somewhere in their developmental process and say, "hey, I think I'd like to live that lifestyle, too"?

The most burning question is...what IS a vampire? We all know from our time here that that's a controversial question, one to which you would get any number of answers, particularly depending on whom you asked.

Innate or learned, indeed.

MorbidLullaby's Magna Cum Laude is showing well in her response here... very well written and well reasoned.

I thought this tread would be interesting and it was...

good answer ML...

I think it is an innate ability kinda of like a mark u are born with.

it's a mark that you are born with, i believe.

I just wanted to say thank you for bringing so many views and aspects to this topic.
I am enjoying it very much.

I would say that it is mostly innate but I would imagine if you are bitten there would have to be things you learned from the one who made you.

I personally think its both i mean most are born with it making it an Innate ability but there are some out there who are bitten making them have to learn therefore making it an Learned ability so I personally think its a mixture of both.

truthfully i dont know but as far as i know being sesative to the sun isnt an ability its an disease and skin deffect

Yes if you are made you would have to learn from the one who made you so it wouldn't be innate