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Switching Out Question - going "catatonic"


Apollo Fire

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In a few guides/posts/etc., people often say "you could switch out of the body but have no one switch in, then you'd just go catatonic." However, I don't think I've actually ever seen anyone talk about what it's like if nobody is fronting and everyone in switched out. By "switched out" I mean they're unaware/inactive, that sort of thing.

 

What would happen if everyone switched out? Would the body kick into autopilot? Would it go catatonic? Would it fall asleep? Would somebody get forced into the front? Is it even possible?

 

In our experience as tulpas, it's hard to go inactive if there's not somebody else ready to take over. It would probably be a bit tricky to get to the point where everyone is switched out in this way. The closest we ever get in a situation like that is just sort of observing the body from the "backseat" so to speak, and "telling" it what to do, but not going inactive.

 

Anyone have experience with this sort of thing?

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🪐 Cosmicals: 🔥 Apollo Fire the Sun God (12/3/16) Piano Soul the Star Man (1/26/17)

🐉 Mythicals: ☁️ Indigo Blue the Sky Dragon (10/2/17), 🦑 Gelato Sweet the Sea Monster (12/11/22)

🦇 Nycticals:  Dynamo Lux the Shock Rocker (3/3/17), 🎸 Radio Hiss the Song Demon (2/8/00)

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"Being in the backseat" is a form of dissociation too. I have dissociated, especially when I was young, in order to avoid extremely negative and traumatic experiences and it simply felt like temporarily watching things happen without acknowledging anything external and without feeling much of anything. From the outside, you simply look shut down, frozen in one position, unwilling to acknowledge anyone addressing you and not reacting to stimulation.

My question is, is it even possible, as a host, to just go completely inactive (dormant)? Has Lyrico achieved that? I'd love to hear more, if not here, in PMs. I'd love to learn more about what switching entails, from more points of view.

~ We are Venny, the host, and Viper, my soul! ~

        Click here! Come join us on the chat!

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My assumption is that if it's possible for the tulpas it's possible for the host, but we haven't gotten there yet. Someday.

 

Things for us are usually pretty linear in terms of what the body does. Co-fronting is pretty easy when we get the hang of it, we just sort of flow together rather than on our own, controlling the body from the inside rather than directly applying ourselves onto it. When our host was going through a pretty dark mindset for an entire day, all of us ended up really dissociated, but the body still acted. We just told it what to do from our dissociated position, similarly to what we do during co-fronting. The same thing happened when we worked at Wal-Mart, as well. We were dissociated as fuck during our shift, our body just acted on its own with us guiding it indirectly. Trippy whenever stuff like that happens, but it's not the same thing as actually going inactive and leaving the body with nobody to steer it, which is what I'm curious about.

 💡 The Felights 💡 https://felight.carrd.co/  💡

🪐 Cosmicals: 🔥 Apollo Fire the Sun God (12/3/16) Piano Soul the Star Man (1/26/17)

🐉 Mythicals: ☁️ Indigo Blue the Sky Dragon (10/2/17), 🦑 Gelato Sweet the Sea Monster (12/11/22)

🦇 Nycticals:  Dynamo Lux the Shock Rocker (3/3/17), 🎸 Radio Hiss the Song Demon (2/8/00)

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Since we switch out and then the next fronter switches in, the body's always in that state for like 10-20 seconds (sometimes longer if we have a conversation in between lol). Functions like normal except there's no "voice" to thoughts. Thoughts, if any, are mostly unconscious. If for example someone walked in on us and we were snapped to attention, whoever was most associated with the body at the time would snap into association. By default that'd be me, but in the case of say Tewi switching with Lucilyn, it'd likely be whoever had just switched out. Our body/mind will scratch an itch or reposition a body part if need be, but there's a lack of any driving force to do.. I don't know, hard to explain. There's no will/drive to do things without one of us in control, you know? So yes, the body would just sit there doing nothing in specific if no one switched in. But I think this state is less foreign than you'd expect. Heavily distracted people who were walking or driving do the same, and I'd consider that "weird state where your body isn't really doing anything!" what happens when the host is heavily immersed in the wonderland, anyways.

 

As always, it comes down to the perspective you're missing from never having switched. Once you do, (hopefully) you realize there's quite a bit of separation between who and what "You" are, and what your body/mind is. People who've not switched, or learned about that concept from self-help/personal development stuff like I did, have this idea that everything about them is them. That's, for example, why Mistgod never considered Melian a tulpa; he was old and simply couldn't comfortably think any differently. But I assure you, it's you (maybe "your ego" to some people, though I don't really use that term) associating with other parts of your body and mind. You aren't "them" to begin with. Having tulpas, and especially learning to switch, will teach you that.

 

Edit: Oh, and very nice question, by the way. Wish there were more interesting topics like this being brought up recently.

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.

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Heh, we very much know that we're separate from the mind/body, we consider both to just be tools and not being or belonging to anyone in particular.

 💡 The Felights 💡 https://felight.carrd.co/  💡

🪐 Cosmicals: 🔥 Apollo Fire the Sun God (12/3/16) Piano Soul the Star Man (1/26/17)

🐉 Mythicals: ☁️ Indigo Blue the Sky Dragon (10/2/17), 🦑 Gelato Sweet the Sea Monster (12/11/22)

🦇 Nycticals:  Dynamo Lux the Shock Rocker (3/3/17), 🎸 Radio Hiss the Song Demon (2/8/00)

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@Lumi

In that case, isn't it just dissociation, the way we described it? The way you talk about it, it sounds like all/most of you, or at least one of you are/is still there and 'awake', definitely not with every member dormant, like Apollo mentioned. And if I'm wrong, how do you know what is happening (like the body scratching an itch), without any member of your system being aware and not dormant? Does the body somehow automatically store memories without anyone being conscious? And then it's accessible for anyone when coming back from dormancy? I do know if Viper is dormant and they come back, they have access to my personal memories, albeit in a way that feels 'second-hand' as opposed to them doing the thing themselves, while being conscious. But I feel that this wouldn't be the case if we were somehow both dormant and unconscious. Assuming that it would even be possible.

 

If what I wrote makes any sense at all. To clarify, these are genuine questions. Nothing is meant to be rude or impolite. I'm just super curious. If I could, I'd legitimately ask everyone who has had experience with switching to try and explain to me what it feels like to them. I'm still very confused about what it is, what it can be, what the differences between it and possession are and what is the limit of it.

~ We are Venny, the host, and Viper, my soul! ~

        Click here! Come join us on the chat!

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What I'd assume is that you'd still have memories, they'd just be vague and without substance. Like if you're zoning out in class, you can still remember things that were going on, but you don't remember the content of what was being talked about.

 💡 The Felights 💡 https://felight.carrd.co/  💡

🪐 Cosmicals: 🔥 Apollo Fire the Sun God (12/3/16) Piano Soul the Star Man (1/26/17)

🐉 Mythicals: ☁️ Indigo Blue the Sky Dragon (10/2/17), 🦑 Gelato Sweet the Sea Monster (12/11/22)

🦇 Nycticals:  Dynamo Lux the Shock Rocker (3/3/17), 🎸 Radio Hiss the Song Demon (2/8/00)

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Almost always we would have a shell/veil, etc., in place even if no one was in front. Basically a broad based, background running, plug and play servitor.

 

  • servitor: as used in these forums. 
  • broad based: looking NOT catonic, and performing very simple tasks. passing for normal a bit.
  • background running: it's always on.
  • plug and play: the rest of us can plug in and access buffered memory in real time for seamless(ish) transitions.

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Yeah but my biggest question would be, wouldn't that mean someone in the system would still be conscious/awake to some degree, even if dissociating? To us, unaware/inactive automatically gets translated into dormancy, so maybe I got that part wrong? If somehow both me and Viper went dormant, I'm not sure we'd remember anything happening. Which, I guess, is kinda like dreamless sleeping?

Now if what you meant is just a more severe version of dissociation where you just detach yourself from the body, while still being conscious, even if vaguely, then I'd assume it's just like when a non-plural (?) person, with no headmates, dissociates. Which is kinda catatonic and also kinda how Lumi described. The body does take care of itself at least to a minimum, but that's about it.

 

When I've dissociated in order to avoid things I perceived as traumatic, I wasn't able to think. I wouldn't be able to 'steer the body from the backseat' because I was literally ... I'm not even sure how to explain. Almost brain dead, while still conscious? Existing but without thoughts and without feelings. Watching things but not reacting because they didn't register in my brain until I was out of the state. Effectively shut down and unable to do anything about it.

This is, I think, different from the dormancy which Viper experiences if I focus too intensely on other things. I think... Hmm...

~ We are Venny, the host, and Viper, my soul! ~

        Click here! Come join us on the chat!

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Guest LanceReilyn

Aren't some of these descriptions of being distant and disassociated similar to what a person in a state of mental shock experience? If so, does that mean one of the goals is to somehow self-induce that state on demand and have someone else step in at that moment?

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