How do You Define Tulpa Terminology?

[Guest Reilyn-Alley]

Oh, I dunno, I guess I just felt the need to explain my use of a term I felt applied, that's all.

 

I've just noticed that since I've joined here, there have been a lot of systems that have shown up that have seemed a lot less wonderland/gateway/background, and more physical/bodily/foreground. Not that there is anything wrong with either of course, we think it's amazing to be able to just be lost in a vivid and infinite landscape of potential.. We just can't figure it out. We have brief jaunts here and there, some more vivid than others when the right conditions are met, sure! But the stuff many of you guys talk about just boggles my mind and fascinates Lance. He has changed his entire view on what is "real" and possible and the brain's potential and stuff since joining here.

 

 

At least one problem with Lance and me though is we got this way by what seemed accident. Had just started practice for possession stuff two days prior. I think I was able to make a finger twitch. We weren't even 100% sure on that yet, then.. Boom. Meh, it's in our PR. So we have no idea how it happened or how to repeat it. For all I know, some kind of groundwork had been laid years ago then the brain just decided whatever we were trying to do was.. *throws a dart at a board while blindfolded* This thing! We totes aren't about to brag about something we had no control over.

[Aijada]

Well i'm not here to argue the nature of language, but i certainly don't have your faith in the consistency of technical language.  

 

For the phrase 'co-fronting' i'd instead offer 'concomitant awareness'.  It may be a clunky, old-fashioned word but i think it's important to convey that it's not just multiple people having the same experiences at the same time, but that they are residing in or accessing the same place where sensory information pipes through.  If you'll indulge the metaphor of Cartesian Theatre, it amounts to sitting side by side while you watch the show. 

 

I also like it because it may help answer why some systems have it while others don't.  Without researching through old posts, my suspicion is that a tulpa who lives only in wonderland is less likely to witness the senses than one who practices possession.  The why of it?  Well, it would seem that it's easy enough to use the visual cortex primarily on its own, but once you're using the motor cortex it's very hard to not also overlap and use the whole somatosensory cortex.  Is that perhaps an inherent link between the two?  Maybe, but it is also just a practical skill that if you're moving the body the around it really, really helps to not just look around but be aware of senses such as balance and proprioception to keep yourself from smashing into things. 

 

And once you're wired yourself up to those skills, a tulpa should be able to stay synchronised with that sensory info in principal.  Perhaps it takes some personal interest on the tulpa's part; i myself am much more interested in the outside world than any wonderland existence.  Or perhaps the host needs to not be so all-consumingly obsessed with their own thing to leave a few processor cycles for other consciousnesses to take part as well. 

 

I shouldn't be clogging up a terminology thread with what is turning into gigantic side but we don't pop on here often, and i want to at least mention the few insights i can offer.

 

The other relevant question i'd bring up is the relevance of aphantasia or that other word i can't remember for people who don't replay their memories.  We are not unable to picture things or play movies in our mind, but we practically never do so by choice because it's just quicker and easier to work with purely conceptual information.  I wouldn't think that 'unlocks' anything per se, but it does mean a lot less processing spent elsewhere and perhaps leaves more room for each of us to just follow the senses.

 

And back on topic now.  I'd imagine we end up just calling it co-fronting in the end, because that's the phrase that is already understandable in the plurality and DID communities.  It's certainly where i learned my definition of the term.

[Lucilyn]

I didn't know 'co-fronting' was a contentious term but it's pretty much the default that our system-members are always aware of sensory info and bodily context, even if they're not strictly in possession/physical control.

 

pretty sure that's just called existing, and even if it is a thing some tulpas don't do (I guess some tups are too immersed in wonderlanding/internal affairs to know what's going on in the real world, but it's like one in a hundred lol), the opposite is NOT co-fronting in ANYONE's definition of that term. the reason the word is a problem is because it literally doesn't fit in to tulpamancy, it's kinda stepping on toes of terms we already have

 

I don't accept the idea that "the guides are written, the field is mature, the few of us here now can do nothing better than follow faithfully in the footsteps of our predecessors". Co-fronting is potentially a new frontier in tulpamancy. I'm sure it's part of the natural range of variation and that many pioneer tulpamancers experienced it, but since they never defined it, maybe they never realized that some systems had it and others didn't. (Time to sift the deep archives again.) Discussing who is and isn't experiencing it may lead to an understanding of how those who want it can achieve it. But we can't even have the conversation if there are no terms for the phenomenon.

 

well I guess that's true, but, you're gonna need to define it better than "being aware of what's going on with the body", 'cus that's basically all tulpas, especially ones made on .info

 

like.. you guys probably do have some kinda semi-fronting going on I guess, but you know it's really hard to define new experiences right? and you gotta do that. you have to put just as much work in as everyone before you did to create the terms for experiences we already have, becauuuusseeee I have no idea what co-fronting entails but our system knows a decent amount about EVERYTHING tulpamancy from being here so long

 

you guys are literally bringing in a new term that wasn't part of .info's "Tulpamancy" before, probably to cover a slightly different experience most people weren't having under its guidance, but if enough people are having that experience that're in the community now then it could be worth exploring y'know

 

 

For anyone who does "co-front", I recommend this thread! We needa know what the heck it is!! {Actually, wait.. we should probably make a whole new thread for this since it's its own topic. The thread I linked is super great and deserves attention, buuuut this topic deserves its own thread!}

fair warning since we've seen this a lot before - some of you are going to have a totally different experience you call co-fronting that won't fit in with the majority, and you might feel a little left out or something, but that's a necessary part of defining a shared experience and doesn't invalidate yours

 

 

 

... I've had this post sitting here written for hours now, I should probably figure out what exactly to put in that thread and just do it already

 

edit: BAM made a thread for talking about what co-fronting means to you