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Ummm...why are you reading this? It's PRIVATE!

Monday, July 24, 2006

Spike

I've been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer somewhat obsessively over the last few weeks. I am about 8 episodes deep into Season 7 and will probably finish the series this week, as my girlfriend's out of town.
The return of Spike's soul has me thinking about what exactly having a soul means. For a vampire, it seems that it means anguish over centuries of evildoing and general moodiness. But don't humans with souls do evil all over the world without a modicum of remorse? How does one explain the severe reactions of these particular characters to the returns of their respective souls?

Perhaps it's the sheer weight of the evil done over such a long period of time. Or maybe it's particular to those vampires who have had their souls returned: Angel, though quite the rabble-rouser in his day, probably would have never resorted to mass murder in his lifetime had he not been turned. Spike is an even less likely candidate. The sudden return of a basically decent soul to a reprobrate consciousness would probably be quite the shock. And as in the case of Angel, time doesn't heal all wounds. He can only hope that by the end of his days the good he's done outweighs the bad (Spike's path remains to be seen, as I have not yet finished the series).

So if the state if a soul varies from individual to individual, how do explain the mass murderers in our societies who are not vampires? Are some souls defective right from the start? Or do they start out basically good and become overcome by evil- whether supernatural or circumstantial? Perhaps other types of demons get in there and snuff out the good souls, much like turning into a vampire replaces the soul that originally existed in its human host.

Well, without knowing the basic nature of humanity, one cannot really ever answer these questions. So, I suppose I should get back to work. It is fun to wonder, though.

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