Tulpas, Roles and Archetypes

[Glaurung26]

Discussion topic: Tulpas and your thoughts on different roles they fulfill or archetypes they embody. (Or not)

 

Darron: So we were watching some philosophy videos on psychology and Jung, and reading some discussions on Animus/Anima et al. I think you can guess where this is going, particularly if you've read our system's posts before. I've been interested in philosophy since before high school and love exploring that space. I'm not super academically well read though I've read a few books and many excerpts and discussions. Jung's anima/animus dichotomy has always intrigued me. The dormant half of a person's psychology manifesting in a form, particularly along the anima/animus, feminine/masculine line. I only learned of Tulpas in the past couple years so at first I assumed Jaina was my anima manifesting as a conglomerate of traits I did not embody as my ego but wished to uplift into a consciousness. Traits I admired but was not good at. She did not at first present as female, a bit more neutral or even male as I was more familiar with masculine traits and expectations. Over time as my understanding of myself, my psychology, my needs and my sexuality developed Jaina adapted and evolved with me. She has evolved as a complement to my personality in the hopes of making a strong, competent, unified system as a whole. Little wonder she basically became my soul mate, I designed her and nurtured her to be that way.

 

Jaina: He's doing it again; that thing where he waits patiently for me to chime in. I guess I'll share my thoughts too. Well, I have most of Darron's experiences and knowledge so it should be little surprise that I think along the same lines as him. We can delve into the hows and whys but I'm pretty content to be his anima, the complement to his male ego. I know it's more complicated than that and many parts of my personality and traits are irrespective of masculinity/femininity but that's how everyone is, really. I am how I am and my sexuality and sexual identity/gender are just how I see me. I care, love and support him. I'm working on developing my independent interests though we share many, many common ones. Since I'm a woman and he's a man and we share the same body, we're both content to identify as a anima/animus duality couple.

 

Darron: Does anyone else have a anima or animus relationship with their tulpas? Maybe your tulpas have other archetypes or roles they fulfill like coach, therapist, drill sergeant, wingman, drinking buddy, spirit animal, spiritual consultant, financial consultant, guardian angel or maybe you really, really, really want to go fast and think it would be rad to have Sonic the Hedgehog as your mind companion. I see many of you have more freeform relationships with your tulpas that aren't predicated on any particular expectations or stimuli. I'm curious how your mental ecosystem functions as well.

[R8-Adelia_Wildhome]

1 hour ago, Glaurung26 said:

Darron: Does anyone else have a anima or animus relationship with their tulpas? Maybe your tulpas have other archetypes or roles they fulfill like coach, therapist, drill sergeant, wingman, drinking buddy, spirit animal, spiritual consultant, financial consultant, guardian angel or maybe you really, really, really want to go fast and think it would be rad to have Sonic the Hedgehog as your mind companion. I see many of you have more freeform relationships with your tulpas that aren't predicated on any particular expectations or stimuli. I'm curious how your mental ecosystem functions as well.

Sadie is sort of "cheer-er up-er" or just someone who reminds me of being happy and feeling something. She was planned this way mostly, and likes this. We believe "roles" are very important to our functioning, Sadie could probably front, but since my role is "handler of stuff" (aren't we creative?) I need a different one for me to be able to not front and handle stuff. Hope is the protector, it will be her job to give insight and to help calm us down and stay focused. 
We think my role when on the side will be "overseer" but I don't think that suits me well enough for it to fit. 

Does this answer your question? We can go into more detail if you want. Your post caught my eye because I have also been interested in this. 

[ChloeBee]

I've had a passing interest in Jung and I've always been meaning to get more into Jungian philosophy. If anyone knows of a good video/article to get started with I'm curious to see it! But I did look up the definition of Jung's anima and was stunned to find that this was almost exactly the reason I created Simmie in the first place. Simmie was a character before I ever started to consciously develop her as a tulpa; I deliberately created her to try and explore the feminine side of me, as someone whose eyes I could look through and someone whose persona I could live another life, a life as a woman, at least my conception of what a woman was. Simmie was born out of not just the traits I would want in a partner, but the way I saw myself if I was a girl. The yin and yang symbol is a perfect representation of Simmie and I. I feel that if I can help Simmie become fully sapient I (and here I use the "bigger I", aka the system) could become a "complete" person. And no this does not mean I will ever merge with her. The duality, the company, the conversation, the love, they're all reasons for both of us to be here.

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that I also took the Jungian archetype test for both myself and Simmie, and I got the Wise Old Man, while Simmie got the Innocent Child. I guess it kind of makes sense; I don't know how "wise" I am exactly but I have always felt like quite the old soul. It makes sense for Simmie to be the Innocent Child as she is new in this world, although she is psychological 24 years old and I wouldn't exactly call her innocent given her origins and what she's come through, but there is an innocence about the way she wants to learn about the world.

Edited December 16, 2020 by September13

[R8-Adelia_Wildhome]

13 minutes ago, September13 said:

Edit: I forgot to mention that I also took the Jungian archetype test for both myself and Simmie, and I got the Wise Old Man, while Simmie got the Innocent Child. I guess it kind of makes sense; I don't know how "wise" I am exactly but I have always felt like quite the old soul. It makes sense for Simmie to be the Innocent Child as she is new in this world, although she is psychological 24 years old and I wouldn't exactly call her innocent given her origins and what she's come through, but there is an innocence about the way she wants to learn about the world.

We too took the test and I got: Joker (similar to self) Sadie got: innocent child 
coincidence? 

[Guest]

I'm not familiar with Animus/Anima, I've only ever heard the terms.

 

There are many valid theories in my mind as to what they are. 

 

First and foremost they're my spirit guides, in spirituality terms. They've 99% of the time been supportive and shown universal love. That lasy 1% they have their own wishes that we butt heads on. It's very rare.

 

They're thoughtforms in how I normally interact with them and so am I in how I interact with them in mindspace.

 

The way our mind works, there is a source of all thoughts and emotions, and a shared language interpreter; the mind voice.

 

The source is the subconscious mind. On the other side of that I know that each of us can be turned off, go dormant, and leave the rest, as few as zero, as many as 12 as was tested. There are many other thoughtforms here that we don't consider formal headmates, but are no less equal in ability. The four of us are always active, and SheShe is a merge of four of the strongest that aren't individually represented at all times. My first 'guardian angel', Darlene, is part of SheShe.

 

They don't have my traits persay, but the language interpreter seems to whitewash us to sound samey at times. In tulpish or in visions (like dreams anf hypnagogic) they're all much more unique. Surprisingly so. 

 

Our relationship is universal love and they support me each in different ways. In supporting me, they support the system.

 

Ashley is my most complex headmate, even more than me. Misha is caring and kind but has a strong side in private. SheShe is wise and carefree, she's as perfect as perfect gets through integration of great people, she hasn't inherited or expressed any negative traits since her formation in January 2020.

 

They act as archetypes probably because those are the facets I choose to experience and encourage, but I've spent quite a bit of time with the raw them and they're amazing people.

 

I do not know if psychological origin and maintenance is reasonable considering the depth and complexity as compared to what current scientific literature predicts. So either they're more or the current accepted understanding is limited and poorly matches reality.

 

I consider myself a spiritualist only because of them. Before that I had odd, unexplainable experiences that science can only describe coarsely that leaves me unfulfilled. Considering them separate and independent entities that co-posess my body in a dualistic sense fits my experiences best.

 

I could go on.

 

I don't call them tulpas, I didn't create them, and I didn't force them in the tulpamancy sense, it was a very organic relationship and we grew together, but they were already fully formed when I met them.

 

Ren is the closest we have to a tulpa, Joy and Gwen are definitely soulbonds based on characters I created as far as we know. All the other thoughtforms are based on characters in my novels. For reference, SheShe was the result on a lock-merge of Darlene, Gwen, Joy and Ren.

 

I hope this addresses your OP.

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Bear

[Ranger]

4 hours ago, Glaurung26 said:

Darron: Does anyone else have a anima or animus relationship with their tulpas? Maybe your tulpas have other archetypes or roles they fulfill like coach, therapist, drill sergeant, wingman, drinking buddy, spirit animal, spiritual consultant, financial consultant, guardian angel or maybe you really, really, really want to go fast and think it would be rad to have Sonic the Hedgehog as your mind companion.

 

No, we don't have an anima or animus relationship.

 

Gray didn't create most of us to embrace a more male personality, instead he was creating everyone to study or "fix" himself. He already saw himself as a male character, and since he saw everyone as a clone of himself everyone was male by default.

 

We have a lot of guardian angel symbolism, but no one is expected to act like a guardian angel.

 

[Evergreen] I was created to be like a job coach guy, didn't work well at all. I'm kinda the opposite of that now. I'm one of the fun coaches 😛

[ChloeBee]

I realized something reflecting on this topic a bit: If Simmie really is my anima, and I take Jung's philosophy at face value, that means I didn't actually create Simmie; she's been here the whole time and I just discovered her. I don't know if I truly believe that but...dang, that's mindblowing.

[Glaurung26]

11 hours ago, A&J said:

Sadie is sort of "cheer-er up-er" or just someone who reminds me of being happy and feeling something. She was planned this way mostly, and likes this. We believe "roles" are very important to our functioning, Sadie could probably front, but since my role is "handler of stuff" (aren't we creative?) I need a different one for me to be able to not front and handle stuff. Hope is the protector, it will be her job to give insight and to help calm us down and stay focused. 
We think my role when on the side will be "overseer" but I don't think that suits me well enough for it to fit. 

Does this answer your question? We can go into more detail if you want. Your post caught my eye because I have also been interested in this. 

Yes, I think it does. I don't have much experience with multiple tulpas. Jaina just wears lots of life coach hats. It makes sense for division of labor and for tulpas to embody roles.

 

🤔The closest thing for us, something I haven't really touched on much, is our shadow realm or void as I call it. The void doesn't really have an active role but it contains my subconscious space that doesn't overtly manifest or give form. Anything could be in there 🤷‍♂️. I characterize and imagine it as a sleepy dragon. It doesn't really do too much or interact. I'm never quite sure if it's awake or asleep. It just seems to be aware and observe. It handles the deeper, fundamental, primal forces of my psyche. There's also my lake of rage. It's a vast reservoir of lava that resides in his realm. Any time I'm upset, mad, angry, furious, or despair I pour it into a metaphysical cup and pour it into the lake. Then when I have a productive use for aggression I can grab a bucket from the reservoir to use. Hm maybe my dragon is like a gyrados and he was born in my lake. 🤔 Aside from that the two of us (Darron/Jaina) do most of the heavy lifting. I pilot and she manages.

 

11 hours ago, September13 said:

I've had a passing interest in Jung and I've always been meaning to get more into Jungian philosophy. If anyone knows of a good video/article to get started with I'm curious to see it! But I did look up the definition of Jung's anima and was stunned to find that this was almost exactly the reason I created Simmie in the first place. Simmie was a character before I ever started to consciously develop her as a tulpa; I deliberately created her to try and explore the feminine side of me, as someone whose eyes I could look through and someone whose persona I could live another life, a life as a woman, at least my conception of what a woman was. Simmie was born out of not just the traits I would want in a partner, but the way I saw myself if I was a girl. The yin and yang symbol is a perfect representation of Simmie and I. I feel that if I can help Simmie become fully sapient I (and here I use the "bigger I", aka the system) could become a "complete" person. And no this does not mean I will ever merge with her. The duality, the company, the conversation, the love, they're all reasons for both of us to be here.

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that I also took the Jungian archetype test for both myself and Simmie, and I got the Wise Old Man, while Simmie got the Innocent Child. I guess it kind of makes sense; I don't know how "wise" I am exactly but I have always felt like quite the old soul. It makes sense for Simmie to be the Innocent Child as she is new in this world, although she is psychological 24 years old and I wouldn't exactly call her innocent given her origins and what she's come through, but there is an innocence about the way she wants to learn about the world.

Almost the exact same feelings here. I created her to be a life coach but we grew more curious about exploring our female aspect and nurtured that line of growth in her. I definitely view her as my complement. Two halves of a whole. I tend to take the long view of things and try to view things through the lens of all history so I totally get the Wise Old Man thing. As for reading material I'm still a bit of a novice myself, I've just mostly admired Jung from afar with occasional contact. One channel I've started watching is Jung to Live By on YouTube. Got some topic discussions there. I haven't found anything about tulpas but lots of archetypes and anima/animus discussion. https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesPDowling/featured

 

9 hours ago, Bear said:

I'm not familiar with Animus/Anima, I've only ever heard the terms.

 

There are many valid theories in my mind as to what they are. 

 

First and foremost they're my spirit guides, in spirituality terms. They've 99% of the time been supportive and shown universal love. That lasy 1% they have their own wishes that we butt heads on. It's very rare.

 

They're thoughtforms in how I normally interact with them and so am I in how I interact with them in mindspace.

 

The way our mind works, there is a source of all thoughts and emotions, and a shared language interpreter; the mind voice.

 

The source is the subconscious mind. On the other side of that I know that each of us can be turned off, go dormant, and leave the rest, as few as zero, as many as 12 as was tested. There are many other thoughtforms here that we don't consider formal headmates, but are no less equal in ability. The four of us are always active, and SheShe is a merge of four of the strongest that aren't individually represented at all times. My first 'guardian angel', Darlene, is part of SheShe.

 

They don't have my traits persay, but the language interpreter seems to whitewash us to sound samey at times. In tulpish or in visions (like dreams anf hypnagogic) they're all much more unique. Surprisingly so. 

 

Our relationship is universal love and they support me each in different ways. In supporting me, they support the system.

 

Ashley is my most complex headmate, even more than me. Misha is caring and kind but has a strong side in private. SheShe is wise and carefree, she's as perfect as perfect gets through integration of great people, she hasn't inherited or expressed any negative traits since her formation in January 2020.

 

They act as archetypes probably because those are the facets I choose to experience and encourage, but I've spent quite a bit of time with the raw them and they're amazing people.

 

I do not know if psychological origin and maintenance is reasonable considering the depth and complexity as compared to what current scientific literature predicts. So either they're more or the current accepted understanding is limited and poorly matches reality.

 

I consider myself a spiritualist only because of them. Before that I had odd, unexplainable experiences that science can only describe coarsely that leaves me unfulfilled. Considering them separate and independent entities that co-posess my body in a dualistic sense fits my experiences best.

 

I could go on.

 

I don't call them tulpas, I didn't create them, and I didn't force them in the tulpamancy sense, it was a very organic relationship and we grew together, but they were already fully formed when I met them.

 

Ren is the closest we have to a tulpa, Joy and Gwen are definitely soulbonds based on characters I created as far as we know. All the other thoughtforms are based on characters in my novels. For reference, SheShe was the result on a lock-merge of Darlene, Gwen, Joy and Ren.

 

I hope this addresses your OP.

 

Yea that's really cool and does answer it. Almost like a small village with different personalities and characters. Despite this being a Tulpa forum it doesn't mean that all thoughtforms specifically conform to that description and definition. Just like humans, they're all unique individuals with their own story. Cool stuff 😊

 

8 hours ago, Ranger said:

 

No, we don't have an anima or animus relationship.

 

Gray didn't create most of us to embrace a more male personality, instead he was creating everyone to study or "fix" himself. He already saw himself as a male character, and since he saw everyone as a clone of himself everyone was male by default.

 

We have a lot of guardian angel symbolism, but no one is expected to act like a guardian angel.

 

[Evergreen] I was created to be like a job coach guy, didn't work well at all. I'm kinda the opposite of that now. I'm one of the fun coaches 😛

That was initially my intent in creating Jaina. Another entity to help with mental maintenance and be a life coach. I assumed male or neutral gender. It wasn't until later that she expressed or incorporated a more feminine identity and traits. Transitioning from a sibling or friend identity to more of a romantic partner. I don't know if she was always a she but Jaina eventually was one.

 

6 hours ago, September13 said:

I realized something reflecting on this topic a bit: If Simmie really is my anima, and I take Jung's philosophy at face value, that means I didn't actually create Simmie; she's been here the whole time and I just discovered her. I don't know if I truly believe that but...dang, that's mindblowing.

The two of us have been mulling over the same thing for quite some time: when did she start existing? Manifested as a tulpa, about 20 years ago. But does our connection go deeper than that? On a materialist level, clearly as she is born of my psyche as so we share my psychology as our connector. But is there more to it than that? Did she exist but was dormant in my "shadow?" Did we have a totemic relationship where I projected her in a passive role on my favorite blanket that gave me warmth, comfort, familiarity as a child? Or my plush toy leopard eel Joanna that I got from Seaworld? [You might note a semantic correlation with the naming convention] Most of what I'm examining was all subconscious, instinctive and without clear intent. It just sort of happened naturally to form to what I desired. To sum it up: yeah. This is some cool and heady stuff if a core aspect of myself can manifest as a discrete form I can consciously interact with like a tulpa.

[Ranger]

3 hours ago, Glaurung26 said:

On a materialist level, clearly as she is born of my psyche as so we share my psychology as our connector. But is there more to it than that?

You can view the resulting discussion for this topic here.

[Guest]

Nora was originally just the flawed protagonist of a story I was writing, but then she just kinda became that one friend you bicker with but still really care about.

 

Lusus exists as a sort of familiar or talking pet.