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Switching Questions For Personal Research


Ranger

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(edited)

Howdy, I wrote these questions a while ago and planned on using them to interview systems in DMs. However, I realized that it was easier for the respondents to give me the answers all in one go.

If you would rather PM or DM me your responses, please feel free to do so! I wrote all of the questions on this Google form, but you're more than welcome to look at the questions here:
 

Spoiler

Switching Interview Questions:

  1. How do you define switching?
  2. Do you think your idea of switching is different from other systems?
  3. What is it like to be switched-out and switched-in? Are there any significant differences or similarities?
  4. How do you think switching works?
  5. Does the idea of different types of switching make sense to you or are you skeptical of the idea?
  6. How did you learn how to switch?
  7. Were there any significant barriers to learning switching? If so, how did you overcome them?
  8. How is switching similar and/or different from other ways to control or be connected to the body? Do you have any unique fronting experiences that are different from switching?
  9. What do you think is the most important advice a system learning to switch should know?
  10. Is there anything about teaching switching that frustrates you?

CREDIT: How should I credit you? Would you prefer I quote or paraphrase your response(s) and leave a citation, keep your response anonymous, or should I leave your response(s) out of my switching guide?


FEEDBACK: Are there any questions you have for me or anything else you would like to discuss about switching?

 

If you would rather have a casual interview instead, message me and we can arrange a time to meet on Discord, VC, or in PMs.

Thank you!
 



For the sake of this thread, feel free to answer any of the questions or give feedback on them here. I'll assume I can't use anything in this thread without permission.

 

Edited by Ranger

I'm Ranger, GrayTheCat's cobud (tulpa), and I love hippos! I also like cake and chatting about stuff. I go by Rosalin or Ronan sometimes. You can call me Roz but please don't call me Ron.

My other headmates have their own account now.

 

If I missed seeing your art, please PM/DM me!

Blog | Not So Temporary Log | Switching Log | Yay! | Bre Translator | Art Thread

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(edited)
Spoiler

Switching Interview Questions:

1. How do you define switching?

Switching is changing active control or functionality of the system body between egos/thoughtforms/tulpae/headmates either partially or completely.

2. Do you think your idea of switching is different from other systems?

Not really. We're pretty vanilla here.

3. What is it like to be switched-out and switched-in? Are there any significant differences or similarities?

I use the car driving analogy a lot. For me (Darron) being switched out is a lot like getting to ride in the passenger seat when you usually have to be the driver. It's novel, interesting (maybe a little stressful if you're actually driving-Hey! I'm a good driver!) and just kinda different. I wouldn't quite put it in out-of-body-experience territory but certainly different-place-in-body territory. And: (Jaina) Being switched in is like a kid getting to drive for the first time. 😊 Okay, short and sweet just like...well maybe not. Tall and sweet just like you? We'll have to workshop that one.

4. How do you think switching works?

I guess mechanically it's like switching train tracks or circuits from a console. My OS starts running Jaina.exe instead of Darron.exe. Same company, different product line. 😉

5. Does the idea of different types of switching make sense to you or are you skeptical of the idea?

It makes as much sense as anything psychologically. There's underpinning principles and natural laws at work but everyone grows, experiences and develops uniquely so it would make sense for people to go about things at least somewhat differently.

6. How did you learn how to switch?

Uhhhh, dunno. I think it's a capability that already existed that just needed to grow, be nurtured, exercised and developed like a muscle. I would describe myself as a mentally flexible person and my intimate knowledge of my own mind through self-reflection, meditation, philosophy education and general open-mindedness probably provided ample fertile ground for Jaina (my tulpa) to grow and develop. 

7. Were there any significant barriers to learning switching? If so, how did you overcome them?

      Time, confidence and encouragement. Pretty simple and straightforward like any discipline or activity requiring training but it's    still work.

8. How is switching similar and/or different from other ways to control or be connected to the body? Do you have any unique fronting experiences that are different from switching?

Not much from what I've already said. It feels like hopping seats in a car (bio-gundam? Can I put Darron pilot on my resume' now?). It's a little....odd? novel? of a feeling to divorce your image of your body and your self/ego. At least I have a trusted friend to drive me. :classic_love:🤗

9. What do you think is the most important advice a system learning to switch should know?

Establish trust and develop confidence. It's like guiding or teaching anyone with a new activity. Be a good teacher. Establish structure, order, boundaries, guidelines and patiently assist your headmates in learning. Small steps and encouragement are they key. With practice it will get easier and easier with confidence and mental-muscle memory.

10. Is there anything about teaching switching that frustrates you?

Not really enough experience to comment. Explaining the process and translating it into phrasing and terms that make sense for the student maybe? I'm fairly friendly but I have trash social skills and have very little faith in myself. 😅 (🙄that's what my job is: to give him unceasing encouragement. Wait, am I the teacher in this analogy?)

 

CREDIT: How should I credit you? Would you prefer I quote or paraphrase your response(s) and leave a citation, keep your response anonymous, or should I leave your response(s) out of my switching guide?

Um, I guess just use my forum handle or refer to me as Darron (and me as Jaina). Go ahead and quote, paraphrase, whatever you like.


FEEDBACK: Are there any questions you have for me or anything else you would like to discuss about switching?

 

 

Sorry about the formatting. I'm getting college ptsd from bashing my head against a desk trying to get cross media formatting to cooperate. Feel free to fix the numbers. 🙄😣

 

Edit: fixed the numbers

 

 

Edited by Glaurung26
fixed number formatting

Darron: Host 💍 

Jaina: Tulpa 💍 

(Raccoon Queen 🦝👸)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Dain and Nova

Aggrok: Tulpa Void Dragon

Viktor: 🐺

[DeviantArt]

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Spoiler

 

1. How do you define switching?

 

As the end result, being: The tulpa is now everything the host was (but themselves, of course), and the host is now everything the tulpa was. Assuming they're proficient enough at switching, a switched tulpa should be able to live the entire rest of the body's life as if they were the host to begin with.

 

2. Do you think your idea of switching is different from other systems?

 

I think switching is the most subjective tulpamancy experience after having a tulpa itself. I think even if people use the exact same words to describe their experience switching, that if you were able to mind-read/share their perspective it would be at least a little different if not completely different. But otherwise, it's only different from people who think the host is supposed to bring their consciousness into the wonderland, or people who... have the definition wrong, I guess.

 

3. What is it like to be switched-out and switched-in? Are there any significant differences or similarities?

 

Of course they're significantly different, if they weren't it wouldn't be switching. One of my tulpas switched in has the same experience I'm having right now (and that any singlet etc. is), whereas me switched out experiences things the same way my tulpas normally do. What being a tulpa is like is somewhat subjective/different by system, though, so I'll leave it at that universal comparison.

 

4. How do you think switching works?

 

My model of identity says the personality, relations to memories and emotions and thought patterns, and basically everything else that makes you "you", is basically "plugged in" to the brain's consciousness in order to enable it to, well, be a person. I think switching is your brain switching out all of those things with a sufficiently-developed tulpa's who also has a strong sense of those things, while relegating the host's to "existing, but not plugged in to the driver's seat", like a tulpa. Since I believe the brain can only have one overarching "consciousness", I don't believe the host takes anything like that with them - the tulpa switching in simply gains ownership of it, and everything else.

 

5. Does the idea of different types of switching make sense to you or are you skeptical of the idea?

 

Well, I certainly don't think everyone has somehow perfectly created the exact same experience for themselves as everyone else, there's bound to be at least small differences. And, there are plenty of people with a different understanding of how switching works, which must change their resulting experience, too. I think people should only use the term "switching" when their experience lines up with existing definitions, and either use a term like "possession" or some newer made-up term if it doesn't match.

 

6. How did you learn how to switch?

 

We saw people describe it was possible to do, so we figured out how to do it however made sense to us. It wasn't particularly hard, but I have a long history of directly working with my mind and thoughts, so it wasn't a completely foreign prospect to be doing something so weird.

 

7. Were there any significant barriers to learning switching? If so, how did you overcome them?

 

The only thing of note for us is that my tulpas would quickly get tired after an amount of time when switching, which increased from an hour to 24 hours over a period of practicing switching for maybe a couple months? We simply practiced switching once a day or so and switching back when they reached the point they could fall asleep, which (the tiredness) always immediately went away when switching back with me. The time they could stay switched went up linearly over time, until it eventually hit the entire day without issue, at which point they also became able to stay switched upon sleeping and waking up. From that day forward, they've been able to stay switched indefinitely, with Lucilyn having stayed switched for two months straight once.

 

8. How is switching similar and/or different from other ways to control or be connected to the body? Do you have any unique fronting experiences that are different from switching?

 

Possession is the third most subjective experience after switching and having a tulpa. I don't for a second believe any two people experience possession exactly the same way. But again, experiences should line up roughly with the definitions of the terms in order to use them. Possession surely works differently for many systems, but the main point is that the host never feels like they've gone anywhere or changed positions, in relation to their consciousness. If a host were able to fully dissociate, while a tulpa was able to fully associate, that should probably then be considered switching - though I think it's only a switching-like experience.

 

Personally, I think that practicing possession for a long time will only start to create blurry, incredibly subjective/individual experiences that become far too different to cleanly match any tulpamancy definition. Switching has a clear sort of "end state", whereas I think with possession, a tulpa's immersion and a host's un-immersion will naturally progress to a point where they've gotten close to a switching-like experience, yet still don't quite match the definition.

 

This is by no means a bad thing for the system in question, though. It's only bad if you're trying to relate your experiences to others'.

 

9. What do you think is the most important advice a system learning to switch should know?

 

That switching is not "a thing" that you'll just correctly fall into or must perfectly match up with, "like everyone else". Like more or less all of tulpamancy, it's a totally custom-created experience that you shape with your expectations, beliefs, and practice. Set a desired outcome, and expect to be able to reach it with enough practice and dedication - and if you're happy with what you've accomplished, don't worry about trying to match existing definitions. The practice of tulpamancy exists to serve the people practicing it. However... Try not to muddy the definitions we've painstakingly created as guidelines, if your experience doesn't end up lining up with them.

 

10. Is there anything about teaching switching that frustrates you?

 

That it's INCREDIBLY subjective, but that nobody realizes they're going to be manually shaping their own unique experience, and instead believes there's simply a biologically pre-existing "right way" to do it. Which of course, often leads to them either thinking they're doing it a "wrong way", or, sometimes worse, doing it their own unique way, and then thinking everyone else does it exactly the same way (or that others are wrong if they don't).

 

Understanding that experiences are all subjective and that you shape them yourself is why we were able to learn to switch so easily with no real guidance. And obsession with preconceived rules and expectations that others set out for them - that they're unable to match perfectly - is a big reason why people struggle with it.

 

Just look at what people have said is possible, decide what the optimal result for you would be, and then go about creating that experience for your system. That's how it works.

 

 

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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