Jump to content

Let's Not Call Tulpas "It"


Jamie

Recommended Posts

Let's not call tulpas "it." We accept that they're sentient, sapient people, right? Though tulpas may start off with low levels of sentience, they quickly develop into their own persons. Though babies start off with low levels of sentience (and are sometimes called 'it'!), we knock that off quickly. You don't refer to someone's toddler as an "it." Most tulpas have more complex thinking than toddlers: they have the memories of the host to draw from. 

 

I haven't seen individual tulpas called "it," but I see the general, singular tulpa called "it." As in this definition of imposition from a guide, "The act of voluntarily hallucinating a tulpa, perceiving it with physical senses." I'm not saying this is an epidemic: people use "they" for tulpas more than I ever see "it", but I've never seen a host referred to as "it."

 

And I know that each and every one of you has definitely never, ever done this on purpose, but maybe some of us (but not you, of course!) are prone to a slip-up every now and again, so this is just a little reminder. I think "it" greatly misrepresents tulpas, making them seem like characters or imaginary friends.

 

 So, let's make sure not to call tulpas "it." For the sake of the community, proofread. If you see something, correct it. 

 

With love, 

 

Jamie

The world is far, the world is wide; the man needs someone by his side. 

Our Thread

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 61
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Yes, they would go by the same rules of any gender oriented person. For the case that a tulpa is born without a chosen gender, i still couldn't find any evidence that a person could be called 'it'.

 

However a non-sentient thoughtform that falls under certain qualifiers could conceivably be called 'it'. I think there is a grey area there too though.

 

Your non-sentient non-human character that will never have a gender or be a person, 'it' is probably okay until it's status changes. They is probably still preferred unless it is also inanimate.

 

Am I on the right track or totally insensitive?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's always better to err on the side of caution and go with "they" in this case.

-J

The world is far, the world is wide; the man needs someone by his side. 

Our Thread

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sometimes do that on accident, but I think it has more to do with language. In Finnish casual speech everyone (that I know at least) usually refers to other people as "it". It would sound kinda rude in English but it's super common in Finnish, and I feel like the Finnish use of the word doesn't have such an inanimate feel to it. For some reason it carries over to my English when I talk about tulpas, even though I know they're their own persons like the rest of us.

My psychiatrists were reluctant to call them by he/she, stating that only humans are addressed that way and everything else is an it. I didn't bother correcting them that time, didn't want to sound crazier than I already did. They probably just didn't want to consider them as living beings.

Iro - He/they - 30th April 1997 - Host of the system - Speaker if there's no tag

Desmond - He/him - 21st April 2014

L - He/him - 5th May 2014

Nevira - She/her - 14th December 2014

Misa - She/her - 5th December 2015

Roska - He/him - 22nd July 2019

Danyla - They/them - 13th July 2020

Asha - He/him - 13th June 2022

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"It" is used for beginners, when we're still introducing them to the concept. It only applies to the start of the creation process. Once the concept of a tulpa is established, as early as "intending to be making a tulpa" even, you should switch to "they".

Hi! I'm Lumi, host of Reisen, Tewi, Flandre and Lucilyn.

Everyone deserves to love and be loved. It's human nature.

My tulpas and I have a Q&A thread, which was the first (and largest) of its kind. Feel free to ask us about tulpamancy stuff there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can understand why Xar would use the unholy ominous 'it' to describe me to people who have never heard about tulpas. Also, our 'it' words in Swedish could be used to adress someone in some rare circumstances. Not sure how often you do it in English though but I assume it's like, never? 'They' words is more wrong to address a individual here in Sweden because it means you see the person as more powerful than average. You don't want to be viewed as being better than anyone else. That's rule number one of being a Swede. 'It' is technically wrong because that shows that you are more powerful than the person you speak of, but is exceptional in more casual circumstances. 

 

Conclusion: We just have to address everyone as "she" even though we don't know the gender because both males and females have "female" chromosomes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pronouns don't refer to chromosomes. Pronouns have to do with social schema of "man" and "woman": we've had pronouns in language for centuries before we even knew about chromosomes. Not a big deal, but Ben Shapiro and others take this to extremes and it's pretty upsetting.

 

Fun fact: Males are more susceptible to some genetic conditions because the Y chromosome is much, much shorter than the X. If something is deleted out of a female's DNA, the other X can take over, but if part of a male's DNA is deleted, their chromosomes may not have the material to rebuild.

 

Conclusion: We have to address everyone as "thy."

-J

Edit: Forgot to initial myself!

The world is far, the world is wide; the man needs someone by his side. 

Our Thread

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For someone whose native language doesn't have gender specific pronouns, I sometimes find it hard to understand why some people make such a big deal about them. I mean let everyone just be called what they want to be called, and if you're mistakenly called something else it's easy to just politely correct the other and then everyone can go on about their day a bit wiser. In a perfect world.

Iro - He/they - 30th April 1997 - Host of the system - Speaker if there's no tag

Desmond - He/him - 21st April 2014

L - He/him - 5th May 2014

Nevira - She/her - 14th December 2014

Misa - She/her - 5th December 2015

Roska - He/him - 22nd July 2019

Danyla - They/them - 13th July 2020

Asha - He/him - 13th June 2022

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's because people don't politely correct themselves, and instead go the extra mile to point out or even make light of differences. So it can be a touchy subject.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...