[personality] The art and skill of tulpas (Understanding and creating tulpas)

[RaveCrazedDave]

Link for the guide

 

I know there are already plenty of guides on creating tulpas around, but I often openly voice my concerns with the guides and many general views presented around here, so with this guide I have set these objectives:

- To provide newcomers with a clear picture of what a thoughtform is;

- To do away with the morals and warnings that, in my opinion, muddle things up for newcomers still struggling with the concept itself;

- To provide a picture of thoughtforms and tulpas which extrapolates from a series of well known phenomena experienced by everyone;

- To provide a practical guide that leaves no room for someone to doubt they can achieve this, and which can be followed by anyone;

- To provide a method that will yield results for - dare I say - everyone, and that isn’t entirely faith based;

- To avoid esoteric or religious beliefs when discussing the subject.

 

My main concern is with the creation and development process, as well as interaction within the mind, so you won't find anything specific about other techniques like possession or imposition.

 

And by the way, this mirrors radically different views from the bulk of the community, so trigger warning, I guess?

 

Changelog v0.3

- Added several chapters on character creation

- Fragmented the tulpa creation section into two other sections and clarified how to go about it

- Added an "undoing a tulpa" section

 

Changelog v1

- Changed title to better reflect what the guide is about

- Added closing section

- Developed the introduction

- Added a section on tulpa interaction

- Added a section on symbolism

- Removed todo list

- Worked on some grammar

 

Changelog v1.1

- Added a section on common concerns

- Added a small FAQ section

- Fleshed out the introduction a little

 

Changelog v1.2

- Removed the warning at the end and the FAQ section, I felt these were unnecessary and went against my goals for this guide.

[tulpa001]

Summary: definitely needs redraft. Especially your definitions. Thoughtform section needs expanding.

 

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"A thoughtform is an entity with which we associate a certain set of thoughts, a “form” made of thoughts."

 

Made out of thoughts. Entity which is associated with thoughts includes almost everything in the human field of experience, including teapots. #formallogic

 

"...usually people who don’t know what thoughtforms are, think of them as unimportant, irrelevant and inconsequential..."

 

[citation needed] Not doubting you, so much as having recently come across a lot of scientific research which has stimulated me to think about this philosophically in a way where I question if people who learn of thoughtforms instantly think them trivial. Needs testing.

 

"yet, realizing the simple power of the word “thoughts” in the previous sentence will reveal the endless array of possibilities that stem from this simple concept of a thoughtform..."

 

Hmm, lofty words. long sentence. Philosophy. This is pushing a couple flags up. Possible pretence.

 

"This concept of a thoughtform might seem a bit abstract for some people, but it seems to be a sound and solid philosophical concept.."

 

Lack the ability to comment due to not having a feel for your definition of thoughtform. So, you could be right. But I have no mental picture of the subject matter. You lost your audience.

 

"if I imagine a little pink ball, and if I then associated every feeling of warmth and love I feel when I look at my significant other with that pink ball, I have effectively created a thoughtform"

 

What have I done? Seriously, uh, the pink ball is what?

 

"this ball has become an imaginary entity with which I associated those thoughts,"

 

Getting more lost.

 

"making it the source of those thoughts in a way."

 

... And water flows up hill.

 

Okay, reading further... I'm sorry, you lost me completely with your thoughtform stuff, so I can't actually comment on it. I think this section needs a complete rewrite from an audience centric viewpoint, throwing out meta commentary, and making sure not to lose someone with no prior familiarity with the concepts.

 

"... something imaginary is very much real; not real in the way of affecting our physical world with their form directly, but very real in that they have a true impact on our mind..."

 

Actually, no. [ignoring the assumption that a thoughtform has a form] Your mind is part of physical reality [assuming the standard model of metaphysics within the scientific community]. The impact they have on your mind is that of a hypothetical, not a reality. The impact alone is real.

 

Reality in this case breaks down to if an object is what it seems to be or not. So a real apple is an apple. But an imaginary apple is not an apple.

 

By hypothetical, I mean a thing that could exist but does not, and you know it does not, but you consider how it would be if it did.

 

---

 

Okay next section. Tulpa. Right off the bat we hit another logic fumble. As ill defined as both tulpa and imaginary person are, they cannot be equated. Particularly as there are trillions more imaginary people than tulpas.

 

"...certain reactions to certain impulse with it - simply put, a personality..."

 

False equivalency. This sentence also violates at least one rule of grammar. Gonna go with runon, but could be something more obscure.

 

"All this might seem a bit overwhelming..."

 

Seems a misguess of the most likely audience reaction. What aspect is overwhelming? Most people are trying to figure out what you are talking about. At this point in the document.

 

Overall, this section is dramatic.

 

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Your tools.

 

"...most [people] are very mentally weak nowadays..."

 

This is a painfully subjective statement. The kind that makes people ask, what are you trying to say? And where are going with this?

 

Most likely the reason empathy works for tulpa is different than the theory you put forward here. Ideally, I'd like that backed up with evidence.

 

"...deem..." "... I deem important ..."

 

Overall, this section talks about itself and your personal feelings.

 

---

 

Personality.

 

Is most likely more and less than "...the set of connections our brain uses to deal with the various problems we encounter in our day to day lives." False equivalency.

 

There is no scientific basis for the idea that simulation is connected to connection based architecture at this time. More likely, simulation and connection based architecture are both fundamental to computing systems.

 

Overall, this section is fine.

 

---

 

Simulation.

 

"...imbue it life, and we do that by running the personality through a series of scenarios, events and situations, and consciously thinking about how and what they’d do; we’re allowing that personality to essentially live through us."

 

Those are three different things. That tend to be very different things. Though, the first and third are used in multiple different senses.

 

Overall, this section fails to live up to the goal of providing a method anyone can use to succeed. It provides a single path, which has so far proven to not work for everyone [A path that does has yet to be identified].

 

---

 

Creating a tulpa

 

The "not really happening" thing is confusing.

 

The Separate the tools thing is also confusing.

 

Okay, we are puppeting a fictional character. Now, how do we turn the fictional character into a tulpa?

 

Not sure the believable part is important. Needs testing.

 

Repetition and consistency are probably bad ideas. They'll end you up with a habit locked robot by my guess. People grow and learn when thrown into new situations.

 

Writing about it is a very good suggestion.

 

The transition from character to tulpa is surprisingly thin. Apparently, it might happen on its own, or you let it happen somehow.

 

The simulation thing is confusing. Mostly in how a person might confuse a simulation for reality.

 

Overall, this section is fine. An average guide. Relatively unique.

[/hidden]

[RaveCrazedDave]

I was honestly not expecting such detailed critique right away, so thank you very much.

 

I've not been able to write much during the week (because it's the week, and ain't nobody got time fo that), but I managed to edit a couple things.

[RaveCrazedDave]

Ok, major changes coming through.

 

I rewrote A LOT, and I'd say everything reads way more clearly now. I'm still not 100% happy with the creation part, but I think it's getting to a point where I can go no further with it. Next I want to flesh out the Tulpa chapter, make a decent intro, and add a very important chapter on interacting with your tulpa.

 

I'm almost done here! :D

[RaveCrazedDave]

Another update, and now I feel like I'm ready to submit this for approval, since mostly everything I wanted to voice is in place and edited to the best of my abilities (which the exception of the new sections which need some extra work). It's not perfect, but I think keeping it as a WIP is severely stunting it's growth, since, and lets be real here, nobody cares a work in progress.

[RaveCrazedDave]

Another sizeable update.

[tulpa001]

I'd hope that other reviewers would take a look at this. It would help to balance the feedback. However, I will be taking another look at some point.

[RaveCrazedDave]

Update, probably the last one.

[Apollo Fire]

Your entire guide is pretty long and rambly and I can't see it of being much use to newcomers. You talk about a lot of stuff that serves no benefit to the reader other than complicating everything with nothing important. Your long sections can easily be shortened to just a couple of paragraphs. The entire "creating a character" part can be cut.

 

And no, personality isn't "chosen," it's developed through experiences.

 

You shouldn't be promoting "undoing a tulpa." That is morally reprehensible. 

 

I know you probably put a lot of time and effort into this, but I'm disapproving it (on behalf of my host). It says a whole lot of nothing, and like I said I don't think it'll help newcomers, which is the entire point of a guide.

[RaveCrazedDave]

Thank you for the input. I just want to ask something: where am I promoting undoing tulpas? That shouldn't be the case, so if it is, I need to fix it.