Mass Intro' and Returns Thread

[Guest Riy]

I realized today I neglected to introduce myself when I became a member a while back.

Sorry about that!

I'm Riy, I've been working with my tulpa 'Zala' for roughly a span of a month, with most of my progress being done within the last 2 weeks or so.

So far this community has been great. Everyone's been very kind and generous. I look forward to developing Zala and working with you all!

 

Cheers!

[querist]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm here for the first time after discovering the concept of a Tulpa. I've sort of come at this backward, so I'll give a little info here and hope that someone with more experience can help me out.

 

My Tulpa was created quite by accident and unintentionally at first, but I have been nurturing her existence. I was challenged by a friend to try to roleplay a female character on SecondLife (don't start, OK?). I've been involved in various roleplaying games since my teens, and I just (Friday) turned 48, so I've been doing this for quite some time. However, I had one very hard-and-fast rule: No female characters.

 

My friend, a very talented artist, created a very nice avatar for this character along with a name and gave me the information to I could try it. Something very unusual happened. I honestly don't remember much of it, but my friends captured the whole interaction and sent it back to me.

 

I was online for quite some time, and the character I was "roleplaying" took on a life of her own... apparently a charming personality (there were RL men and women there), and the RL women there all said that the character I was playing was absolutely 100% female, not a guy trying to play a woman. They were surprised and a bit shocked that a guy who had never roleplayed a lady before could do that. When I told them that I did not remember most of what happened, we all started to wonder about this.

 

Anyway, that was Kalanda's birth. (The name was given to her by the friend who created the avatar.) I'm trying to nurture her and allow her to develop, but I don't know what to do. I'm reading what I can find here on the site (I've read all of the guides I could find here, and then I signed up for the site) but I'm still confused.

 

Help!

 

PS. I've never done drugs, and I don't drink (never have).

[bersinger]

PS. I've never done drugs, and I don't drink (never have).

Indubitably very important information to have here.

[querist]

Indubitably very important information to have here.

 

No need to be snarky. Given what I've read about tulpas, what I posted seemed sufficiently unusual that I thought it would be a good idea to include that to rule out possibilities.

[left blank]

 

No need to be snarky. Given what I've read about tulpas, what I posted seemed sufficiently unusual that I thought it would be a good idea to include that to rule out possibilities.

 

Joyous day! Someone on this forum who's actually older than me instead of my junior by 15-20 years. I appreciate this opportunity.

 

Try to pay the trolls and immature posters as little mind as possible.

 

I respect your candor, and I think offering information on chemical ab/use (or teetotaling) is an extremely helpful, if greatly overlooked and avoided, gesture when seeking advice on here.

 

But mental health history is also important. By and large, people who frequent online roleplaying games are already 'sensitive' and imaginative ('low latent inhibition') individuals, sometimes with features of (or fulminant) bipolar disorder, Asperger's syndrome, schizotypy, avoidant personality, and dissociative disorders, all of which can more easily facilitate fugue states than in he normal populous. Usually.

 

Which is not to say that you're suffering an acute mental illness. I would imagine at 48 you've been cleared of such an obvious diagnosis. I could also argue that, anthropologically-speaking, experiencing the occasional personality dislocation/disassociation while conducting ritualistic roleplaying, be it a tribal ceremony or meditation prior to creative expression, is not all that uncommon.

 

The ease with which you fall into 'possession' is largely dependent on your neurochemistry and wiring -- the hardware components of your personality. Since you're in your midlife, you've had plenty of time to amass an army of personality features and experiences that have yet to be consciously explored to their fullest extent and deepest depths. Surprises await, like your long-ignored and imminent Jungian anima.

 

There's not much else to add, other than you're not an especially unique case where spontaneous 'possession' is concerned. I personally don't encourage people to provoke intense dissociation and personality shifting in themselves or others (through hypnosis), but if you have your poop in a group, the results shouldn't be too disastrous.

 

You might want to try extricating the female personality by way of meditation (forging a 'tulpa') and carry out a conversation before inviting anymore blatant dissociative blackouts.

 

Really, it's about following your intuition. Do what feels right, consequences be damned. I don't get the feeling you're a danger to yourself or others.

[querist]

(Responding above original post to make reading easier)

 

I'm glad to increase the average age of participants a bit. :-)

 

Yes, I'm cleared of any mental illness diagnoses.

 

Kalanda is very much an anima in the Jungian sense. I'm trying to sort through all of this now. Also, she emerged in 2010, not 2011. I checked my notes.

 

I've had a few dissociative blackouts with her, but there's never been a struggle to regain control or anything. She's always been gentle about it and quite willing to return control when I needed it. In fact, she's just always been wonderful. That's why I want to learn as much as I can about nurturing her and allowing her to develop.

 

I've been accused of having a bit of Asperger Syndrome, but never officially diagnosed. I have two doctorates in completely unrelated sciences if that's any clue.

 

I'm sure I'm not unique in the spontaneous possession aspect, but spontaneous generation of a communicative tulpa? That's why I wanted to seek help from those more experienced in such matters.

 

 

Joyous day! Someone on this forum who's actually older than me instead of my junior by 15-20 years. I appreciate this opportunity.

 

Try to pay the trolls and immature posters as little mind as possible.

 

I respect your candor, and I think offering information on chemical ab/use (or teetotaling) is an extremely helpful, if greatly overlooked and avoided, gesture when seeking advice on here.

 

But mental health history is also important. By and large, people who frequent online roleplaying games are already 'sensitive' and imaginative ('low latent inhibition') individuals, sometimes with features of (or fulminant) bipolar disorder, Asperger's syndrome, schizotypy, avoidant personality, and dissociative disorders, all of which can more easily facilitate fugue states than in he normal populous. Usually.

 

Which is not to say that you're suffering an acute mental illness. I would imagine at 48 you've been cleared of such an obvious diagnosis. I could also argue that, anthropologically-speaking, experiencing the occasional personality dislocation/disassociation while conducting ritualistic roleplaying, be it a tribal ceremony or meditation prior to creative expression, is not all that uncommon.

 

The ease with which you fall into 'possession' is largely dependent on your neurochemistry and wiring -- the hardware components of your personality. Since you're in your midlife, you've had plenty of time to amass an army of personality features and experiences that have yet to be consciously explored to their fullest extent and deepest depths. Surprises await, like your long-ignored and imminent Jungian anima.

 

There's not much else to add, other than you're not an especially unique case where spontaneous 'possession' is concerned. I personally don't encourage people to provoke intense dissociation and personality shifting in themselves or others (through hypnosis), but if you have your poop in a group, the results shouldn't be too disastrous.

 

You might want to try extricating the female personality by way of meditation (forging a 'tulpa') and carry out a conversation before inviting anymore blatant dissociative blackouts.

 

Really, it's about following your intuition. Do what feels right, consequences be damned. I don't get the feeling you're a danger to yourself or others.

[left blank]

I'm sure I'm not unique in the spontaneous possession aspect, but spontaneous generation of a communicative tulpa? That's why I wanted to seek help from those more experienced in such matters.

 

I think 'possession' and 'tulpa' are two sides of the same coin. The main difference is that you're either perceiving the personality fragment from first person or third person perspective. People with DID often experience both states.

 

According to a casual poll on the topic (thanks to user Kevin/'Nobillis' for the heads-up), spontaneous or involuntarily induced sentient thought-forms (probably just a hair away from psychosis, for better or worse) constitute roughly a quarter of reported 'tulpa' experiences.

 

I'm one of those people, which is how I (eventually) discovered this community.

[querist]

I'm glad I'm not alone. Thank you!

 

 

I think 'possession' and 'tulpa' are two sides of the same coin. The main difference is that you're either perceiving the personality fragment from first person or third person perspective. People with DID often experience both states.

 

According to a casual poll on the topic (thanks to user Kevin/'Nobitis' for the heads-up), spontaneous or involuntarily induced sentient thought-forms (probably just a hair away from psychosis, for better or worse) constitute roughly a quarter of reported 'tulpa' experiences.

 

I'm one of those people, which is how I (eventually) discovered this community.

[Yori]

Envolucris, I think with MPD that personality is the only one with the awareness at the time and there may not be reason to think that the multiple personalities are fully fleshed out individuals like a tulpa can become. I wouldn't say that having someone you can talk to inside your mind (how you do a tulpa, ik, not schizophrenia, to be clear) and the 'possession' that happens in MPD are two sides of the same coin

[left blank]

Envolucris, I think with MPD that personality is the only one with the awareness at the time and there may not be reason to think that the multiple personalities are fully fleshed out individuals like a tulpa can become. I wouldn't say that having someone you can talk to inside your mind (how you do a tulpa, ik, not schizophrenia, to be clear) and the 'possession' that happens in MPD are two sides of the same coin

 

Fair enough, but I'm basing my opinions on lifelong first and second-hand observations.

 

I bear in mind that not everyone with DID experiences their alters in the same way. But, from what I gather, many dissociated people report developing what appear to be, in almost every respect, 'tulpas,' some of which are capable of 'possession'. Some are simple and straight-forward, others are rich and complex. I see a similar spectrum with intentional thought-forms and imaginary companions.

 

Whatever the case, I have ample reason to suspect 'tulpas' and DID alters are just a couple facets of a greater, holistic phenomenon. There seems to be far more convergence than divergence, at any rate.