11 replies to this topic

[hooko22]

So why do we believe in monsters? I'm sure you guys have asked yourself this question from time to time as we have all. I have often pondered this myself.

Anyway I decided to take a better look at this and wrote up an article where I try my best to answer this question:

http://www.themyster...ve-in-monsters/

Perhaps if some of you guys had the same questions in mind, my findings might be of interest to you.

I would also love to hear why you guys think some of us believe in monsters?

[and then]

The article makes perfect sense to me.  We evolved from ancestors who learned that there were very good reasons to fear the dark.  Today most of those dangers are removed and we in some subtle way miss the adrenaline we used to create naturally....

[hooko22]

and then, on 04 June 2012 - 01:54 AM, said:

The article makes perfect sense to me.  We evolved from ancestors who learned that there were very good reasons to fear the dark.  Today most of those dangers are removed and we in some subtle way miss the adrenaline we used to create naturally....

That's another very good way of putting it!

I think our fear of the dark has a very large part to play when it comes to our belief in monsters.

[Alisdair.MacDonald]

I think that it has something to do with early human being's massive exposure to death, and its aftermath. We've managed to sanitize it and keep it at a certain distance in modern society, but early humans were exposed to it on a daily basis. Even still..the site of a rotting corpse is sure to fill one's head with dark images.

After all, monsters and death to tend to go hand in hand.

[hooko22]

Mider, on 07 June 2012 - 05:27 AM, said:

I think that it has something to do with early human being's massive exposure to death, and its aftermath. We've managed to sanitize it and keep it at a certain distance in modern society, but early humans were exposed to it on a daily basis. Even still..the site of a rotting corpse is sure to fill one's head with dark images.

After all, monsters and death to tend to go hand in hand.

Yes and after we are far away from the violence in our modern protected world, we play with it like everything else, creating monsters.

[Real-Time]

I disagree. I don't think any of us believe in monsters. We are inquisitive beings and can't help but wonder about possibilities when people keep coming in from the cold saying they have seen unusual creatures and the reports bear a consistency. For those that have witnessed these things, most tend to believe they have observed real solid creatures. For the rest of us, it is the desire for the mystery to be solved and the neverending journey to reach that end which is so compelling and attractive. I think the irony is we don't actually want these mystery creatures to be solved as the pursuit would be ended creating a new emptiness to be filled.

The real monster is that emptiness.

[Royal]

Real-Time,you bring up a very valid point,it's kind of like after a tornado, people have to go look at the damage, like we're turned on by debris.The fear of the dark point brings out the primeval in us all,and we can't control it.Good posts.

[BorisIWantToKnow]

Real-Time, on 09 June 2012 - 01:30 PM, said:

I disagree. I don't think any of us believe in monsters. We are inquisitive beings and can't help but wonder about possibilities when people keep coming in from the cold saying they have seen unusual creatures and the reports bear a consistency. For those that have witnessed these things, most tend to believe they have observed real solid creatures. For the rest of us, it is the desire for the mystery to be solved and the neverending journey to reach that end which is so compelling and attractive. I think the irony is we don't actually want these mystery creatures to be solved as the pursuit would be ended creating a new emptiness to be filled.

The real monster is that emptiness.

You could have majored in psychology you know.
That post is so mature and psychologically  correct that it radiates with awesomeness

Edited by BorisIWantToKnow, 09 June 2012 - 08:58 PM.

[hooko22]

Real-Time, on 09 June 2012 - 01:30 PM, said:

I disagree. I don't think any of us believe in monsters. We are inquisitive beings and can't help but wonder about possibilities when people keep coming in from the cold saying they have seen unusual creatures and the reports bear a consistency. For those that have witnessed these things, most tend to believe they have observed real solid creatures. For the rest of us, it is the desire for the mystery to be solved and the neverending journey to reach that end which is so compelling and attractive. I think the irony is we don't actually want these mystery creatures to be solved as the pursuit would be ended creating a new emptiness to be filled.

The real monster is that emptiness.

Yes I completely agree with you, most of us don't believe in monsters. The article seeks to explain why we have believed over the years. Where monsters came from originally.

[Archosaur]

Fear and the unknown are good answers.
There is something more as well. Mankind has not always been on top: in the past humans would have been easily overpowered by nearly any wild preditor. I expect this feeling of not being in control, of facing a living being as uncontrollable as a thunderstorm is part of the fascinaion. As the Atomic Age came to be, the monsters grew to true leviatheonesque stature (even using the power of nuclear fission) thus keeping a step ahead in presenting an indomitable monster.
Many today travel in the wild, not to destroy large animals, but to feel the rush of being in the presence of something alive, and yet powerful. Monsters are the ultimate expression of this. Indeed, many of mankind's earliest gods were the very monsters later depicted in fantasy...

[hooko22]

Archosaur, on 13 June 2012 - 08:34 PM, said:

Fear and the unknown are good answers.
There is something more as well. Mankind has not always been on top: in the past humans would have been easily overpowered by nearly any wild preditor. I expect this feeling of not being in control, of facing a living being as uncontrollable as a thunderstorm is part of the fascinaion. As the Atomic Age came to be, the monsters grew to true leviatheonesque stature (even using the power of nuclear fission) thus keeping a step ahead in presenting an indomitable monster.
Many today travel in the wild, not to destroy large animals, but to feel the rush of being in the presence of something alive, and yet powerful. Monsters are the ultimate expression of this. Indeed, many of mankind's earliest gods were the very monsters later depicted in fantasy...

Atomic age. giant monsters? Are you talking about us humans as in a metaphore?

[ygoloozotpyrc]

Maybe it's because we don't want to think that we've found everything there is on this big planet of ours.