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Paulo Coelho accepting an award from the Brazilian Academy of Letters:

What is this force that drives us far from the comfort of the familiar and makes us take up challenges instead, even though we know that the glory of this world is only transitory? I believe this impulse is called the search for the meaning of life.
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If you agree that part or all of you is engaged in a search for the meaning of life, would that change for you if you were suddenly "taken" by a vampire (in the fictional sense), and became a vampire yourself?

How would you handle this questing part of your psyche?

Would it be irrelevant? Is the whole question of the meaning of life an ironic quest for the undead?

I think the answer to this differs from person to person

for me its freedom not being held down by what society shunts, Being able to live how you want when you want.

The answer is the same as it has been for ages, "Blood" for use in invocations for magical purposes...

I believe that as a sentient being a vampire would continue to quest for meaning.

The same questions would exist, but in a different context:

"Why am I here?"

"Do I have free choices or is everything predestined?"

"How can I make the world a better/worse place?"

"What happens if I get staked/beheaded?" "Does something live on or is that the end of the road?"

"I wonder what that girl tastes like?"

All of these questions and more could be relevant to both humans and vampires, but in different contexts.

In many cultures we see the search for ones self, alot of us even change to search for it. some call it mid life crisis and others may call it search for religion.

Yet as a avmpire i would have to say that the search of thy own self would be the same. to find the real you and why you are here. and for what purpose.

To tell the truth, I do not think the vampire actually thinks about all that pre-destination jive. Instead, I would think the vampire figures out new ways to break the oldest laws since it knows how to get away with quite a few of them...As well as plenty of other ways to play with their "food". Making fun of the masses and joining in on occasion, just for shits and giggles.

I do it all the time, it never gets boring.

personally i think that if i were to be turned in to a vampire i would still seek the same things i would have as a mortal that would be to find out why and what is the meaning of life the reason i am here, and for what reasons do i have to live for.

I think if I was changed over *The meaning of life * would be different. It would not have the same meaning to me.

Just searching for the absolute truth!

what is truth, and why must life have a "meaning"? life is about gaining knowledge and experience. one should experience as much as they can before they can experience nothing more.
for me, that is the meaning. if i get the change to help others, and be a generally nice fellow while im living it, then so much the better.
~W~

Would the search be based on ones own innerself, or the quest for knolwedge. to know everything would be remarkable seeing that you would live the knowledge at the time it happened, yet the quest for inner enlightment is always evading.

The question boils down to how much of a person's core personality remains once transformation takes place?

It's like how people respond to dire stress. Some break down, become their most cowardly mean and selfish selves. Others rise above, become heroes.

Since it would take one's own death, and the deaths of many others in order for the vampire to survive, I think their QUEST for MEANING would be paramount.

Pantervamp's question of head and heart sparks my interest.

How many vampires have you read about who had compassion? Who?

Louis. Joe Pitt. Who else?

Only in fiction do your examples exist. The meaning of life for a living vampire is in his/her belief.

I feel if I was turned and became immortal and had to live forever until I was hunted down and killed, my whole outlook on life would change how well that is the deeper question. I myself cannot even fanthom..

Fictional vampires would in fact have the meaning of llife to hunt for, for they infact would lose much of this in the transistion period of turning. spirtual or emotional imbalance of the thoughts of the mortal to vampire

Yet society dictates a inner spirtual look at finding ones self. No and stated, yet we all go through this period different.

Sorry but The meaning of life is 42

This it the answer to The meaning of life the universa and everything so covers the lot

Forgot about the Hitchhiker's Guide. Is there an exemption on the 42 for the undead?

I am sure there is an exemption for the dead, Blood Mother.

But yes you have to apply for it. Sorry.

Meaning of life is different for many people- for the search or meaning of the individuals life is unique to others.

the meaning, whether living or undead, is the search for our place in the divine puzzle. all the pieces are important and form the whole. it calls us, that is why we search--there is nothing else for us.

I would personally say if i was suddenly removed for searching for the meaning of life, knowing my ancestry and whatnot and turned into a vampire, i would reevaluate the questions that drive me, formulate new ones such as:

- Where did vampires really come from
- Who is/was the 1st of "Our kind"

the quest would continue just in a different context i feel.

For me, it would be divine irony and proof that God exists.

Search for faith is always been the indeavor for people,

Why Are we here?

Is their a god?

Death, what lies beyond?

Many people face this alot in our culture anymore, with the rush rush society that we have created. More peer pressures and economic instabilty has caused us to look somewhere else for reasuriance.

Possibly the answer is the same for both vampires and humans. We will find out (or not) after we die. In the meantime, have a blast.

If we look at it from a religion point , were all will be know before the time of deat, which could be that the knowledge we have is all we get.

yet in all societies the truth of knowledge is always been looked for, vampire or human. truth of the start of things, religion and thy true inner self.

Vampires have an interesting way of embracing life. truely Life has no meaning to fictional vampires because they are technically dead (undead). If I was a fictional vampire I probably wouldn't care about life

Nighgod,

life has no meaning to fictional vampires, yet they strive to live and keep living, survival not from the undead aspect, but as a predator to attack and be unnoticed.

I still believe that the fictional vampire has some meaning to their life and person. for if not they would surely be just like a zombie, feed and feed until death is given to them.

To me personally it is not a Deeper Meaning that I look for, it is A Better Understanding of the Physical World.

To be free of pain and heal without scar would make it worth it. But then again to wittness your loved ones die? You can"t turn them all.

If i was or were turned by a "vampire", I believe the meaning would be, to find your own kind of people to simply live your life to the fullest, do all that you can and want, no matter what that is, you will have plenty of time to do it, knowledge you will have plenty of years to get bored with it..The basic meaning of life for humans is simply that search for confort, happyness and what fulfills them or their needs, what do they do to get it? they study/work to get money = power. Why would it be any different when you are turned or are one? I believe that answer relies on each character perspective as well as his vision of life and what fills his reason to live, everyone have different types of it, some materialistic other spiritual.. to question the meaning of life and the reason of existance is to hit your head in a wall,and lose time, we all know we live in a box and we cant see past it, noone has come back from death to tell us what comes next, you will not find it by questioning only by living to it..

cadrewolf didst say:
"Nighgod,
life has no meaning to fictional vampires, yet they strive to live and keep living, survival not from the undead aspect, but as a predator to attack and be unnoticed.

I still believe that the fictional vampire has some meaning to their life and person. for if not they would surely be just like a zombie, feed and feed until death is given to them. "

a vampire does need to feed certainly, but so does a nonvampire. if you take away a persons food, they will tend to focus on gaining it, but once a steady supply of food is aquired, then it frees up time for such pursuits as philosophy. i think that would apply to any being with intellect.
respectfully
~Wolf~

lordwolf

if you read done, I did add that fictional vampires would in fact have some meaning in their life, just like humans we have a purpose to exist and follow a path in which we are destined to be.

So meaning of life no matter fictional or not would still hold true for all life on earth.

yeah, i realized it after i posted. basically we are in agreement...but i did want to expand on it a bit.
it made me feel good LOL.
yr obt svt
~W~

bmp.

To me, the meaning of life for a vampire is to learn as much as possible about the "supernatural" and the regular life as well. Or maybe to survive in general, needing a different kind of energy that normal food can't give..
Also, to fall in love with another who is just as special

Whats the purpose of life for a human? To learn, acquire a purpose to contribute to others, and possibly, to fall in love with a soulmate.

Both are similar. But vampyres just do it better.
Hmm... maybe those that dont believe are just jealous?

It would mirror the meaning of a mortal to a degree. But how far would it be thought out completely? No science can explain life, only myth and legend can be told. All are fantastic and beyond belief of the "real world". The more we think of why we are here, even as a vampire, we must also consider why does all else exist as it does?

"The meaning of life for a Vampire, is to learn the most about the Humans, because they are the prey"

Well Im already a vampire, but the meaning of life to me is love.

to me the meaning of life is to live, to experience, now if that were to happen then you would just have a whole new outlook and different ways to experience things, so really wouldn't weigh on my psyche.

Unconditional love. Nothing else drives me.

Living forever will give you chances to find the meaning of life.

Chances are you won't, you decide what it is.

I don't want to find the meaning of life so much as to complete it.
There really is no meaning, I don't think.
We exist because we evolved. We live because we are just like every other species on earth.
People too often forget that we are animals. Like it or not, we're just like the rest of them.
We're just here.. There is no meaning.

I don't know that there is meaning to it, and if there is, it varies from vampire to vampire just as it does from human to human.
But the purpose of life is survival. It is inate in nature and all other instincts, needs, and meanings line up behind it.

Depends on who the meaning is for. For me it would be "life" without sickness. That would be great!

oh, I completely agree with you!

Espicially this time of year.

The one thing that changes with immortality in the fictional sense is that now you have unlimited time to accomplish all that you desire and want. Forever is a long time in the mind of a human. As such, not a single one of us can ever hope to understand what forever actually is. We are such temporary creatures, fragile ones at that.

If one has immeasurable time and as a result over time, immeasurable resources, then the meaning of life reverts back to the basic needs that we all have. We all want to be loved, we all want to belong in a way, and we all want to fulfill our immediate sense of need.

I suppose an eternity of infinite need itself is enough of a detractor to be an 'immortal vampire' from the fictional standpoint.

I want to return to the question in the original post.
"what makes us leave the comfort of our home"
Remember that most people dont do just that. They stay in their safe zone.
So made a vampire, would this make people leave their comfort. This is in no way easy.
And more. People who stay in their comfort and dont search for any meaning of life. Have they found it or is it just that they dont care?
I feel like I just come up with more questions as I think about the original.

I don't know if any fictional vampire would be searching for the meaning of "life" since they are supposedly dead and sometimes called undead depending on the source. Their whole motivation even in stories where there is conscience, is either hunger for a source of food or trying to get around that some way. Not so much any meaning to their life because many of them seem like they feel life is now meaningless but they still seem to hold onto their immortality.

I think Anne Rice is going to be writing a new novel that might possibly deal with this topic to a degree. Supposedly she changed her mind about writing another book for the Vampire Chronicles and it will deal with redemption. Of course this depends on whether she again changes her mind. I would suspect that it would get into the area of the meaning of life and if it was valued, etc.

To me the meaning of "life" is being open to exerience it to its fullest. That rings true weather you are human or immortal.