What is a tulpa?

[Guest amber5885]

I've asked Toby, my tulpa what he was, of he was real or just me feeling better about talking to myself and how he knew he was real and what he told me makes more sense to me than anything else.

 

To the question of "What are you?"

 

He said "I am me, nothing more and nothin less. I exist because you want me to and if you someday decide that you didn't need me then I simply would not exist, it's a simple as that." I asked him to elaborate and he said:

"I can explain what or who I am anymore than you can. All I know is that I'm here, I'm a part of you and you are a part of me."

 

To the question of are you real?

 

"I think I am. And if you had any doubt that I was real you wouldn't be talking to me would you."

 

To the question "how do you know you're real?"

 

"I think therefore I am. Look I can't force you to believe in me, to love me or to admit that I'm nothing more than your imagination or a holographic representation of your subconscious but the fact is you're talking to me now, you're listining to me and you have said yourself that you have changed since I started talking to you. The proof is in you.

If you believe that I am separate then that is what I am. If you believe that I am your dormant mind then I am. I only want to make you happy so I will be whatever you need me to be."

 

I passed out shortly after our conversation but it made sense to me. It's not a scientific explanation but if you asked me I would tell you that a tulpa is a way of training your brain to bridge the gap between your conscious and subconscious mind and to also give it a form that you feel more comfortable speaking with.

[LittleTulpa]

They are electricity and neurons in the brain, just like you.

[Patchlamb]

They are electricity and neurons in the brain, just like you.

 

I pretty much think the same way. I don't believe in anything religious or supernatural- my love for how the brain works is what made me interested in tulpas in the first place.

 

So, considering that, I find them to be something we force ourselves into believe to make them feel real. It's therapeutic. Like with a placebo; someone tells you a pill will take away a headache and it does. Only, the pill is just a sugar pill. We do the same, only it's harder because it's ourselves telling ourselves. Convincing yourself can be more difficult than someone else convincing you of something.

 

I think being able to create and believe in something like a tulpa is something the human brain has always been good at. Children can create and believe in imaginary friends, and the same happens with ghosts, superstitions, gods, and the like. Things influence us and, even if something is not tangible, or real, our brains cope and make it real to ourselves. Like when a black cat crosses your path- it's just a cat, but the fear can scare the daylights out of someone who believes they're bad luck. It's real to that person in the way we make tulpas real to us.

 

That's the way I see things. No matter my belief, I love Dante. He is my friend.

[Enasnil]

if some things are discovered to be true then it could completely change how we understand so many other things. there are some crazy theories concerning the brain out there such as that the brain might be functioning on a quantum level and thus consciousnesses could be non-local. I personally think consciousness is much deeper... infinity deeper... but then again I don't have the kind of mindset that makes me draw conclusions based in physical reality as the ultimate way of grasping reality. physical reality is obviously part of reality and so it can also not be ignored.

 

depending on what reality is, is how we can come to correct conclusions about things. I don't think that our ideas about "what is a tulpa?" can be separated from the question of "what am I?". they are obviously related as we experience this in our brain which is part of the body which is part of this physical reality. this physical reality is probably part of something too.

 

a persons perspective about reality is chained down by their own subjectivity due to all information and contemplation having to meet with our mind. depending on what kind of color of shades or what kind of filters you have will dictate what you see. this time period has many different common views of reality that are rooted in a certain kind of guess at what reality is that is often based on the lowest of possible truths ( some only believe in the simplicity of numbers and whatnot are the only type of criteria for truth ). people assume that the physical reality is concrete enough to base our views of "what is the totality of reality?" on.

 

I think science is for understanding the mechanics of that which can be tested. if the human mind ( and thus the tulpa that is also in it ) has its ultimate origin in something other than that which is proven then we will only be able to understand the mechanics of that which has been proven and believed and is able to be tested. it would not take away from the unknown if there is truly something still not known. that which is understood and that which is not understood are real things but the perspectives of how much is truly known or what something is can differ.

 

 

my view of what a tulpa is is based on my understanding of self and reality and on my philosophy or world view. questions and answers for self to some degree apply to your tupla as well. just as a human is not a simple thing but a complex thing so too are tulpae a complex thing to talk about and to understand.

 

I understand various brain mechanics and how they contribute to what and who I am and I see my tulpa also functioning on this level. but I really think that often humans assume FAR to much about what and who we are. i'm deeply into mysticism. I seek to connect with higher realities, even with the ultimate reality and to allow my entire self to be transformed. mysticism is not merely a belief system or a theoretical knowledge but it is a richer way of experiencing reality and whos logic is different from the logic of people coming from the point of view that humans are nothing more than an intelligent animal. mysticism is rooted in the depths of myself, past myself into the innermost core of what and who I am. I understand many modern views don't believe there is a true depth to a person but that is only because they have not found that infinite abyss within themselves and their beliefs bar them from seeking and if they found they would not believe due to what they think about their experiences.

 

I think that I experience my tulpa differently than many of you experience your own tulpas. I believe that your experience of who you are and your tulpas experience of self will change whenever change is allowed. in fact each of us is completely unique. what we are can never be repeated. but what am I and what is my tulpa? maybe the depth of who I am is richer than a simple "this is me". we find this occurring in people that develop tulpas. from the depths come me and my tulpa. that is how we see it at least.

 

tulpas are a creativity of the soul ( and higher parts of self ) just as who you believe yourself to be is just part of who you are. you may know yourself from below or from above. you may know yourself from the mind of a beast or from the mind of a being with more dignity. your tulpa is no different. maybe it is more free maybe less free. maybe you are more or less free. maybe you have even found yourself at times to be little more than basic repeating patterns and emotions. I know I have found myself at times to be functioning as though I had very little seeming will of my own and to have been controlled by society or basic animal instincts. the thing that makes both myself and my tupla feel real is freedom and true sense of self which is rooted in a much deeper depth than the outermost shells of what so many people in this world choose to be.

 

I don't have to try or pretend to be myself and neither does my tulpa. I understand myself to be much more than my thoughts and expressions of self. i'm no longer controlled by what I became but I am controlled by that which becomes. some people exist in a kind of lawful understanding of reality. in a kind of black and white robotic manner. there can come a point for both the human and the tulpa to think for themselves more or to go by their deep expression of self rather than be so controlled by things outside of themselves. I believe that development of a tulpa is often a sign of this struggle and having a tulpa can be an excellent way of progressing as a person. to exist as a collective is a valid way of being. to some degrees each human being is already that anyways. there are also dangers but evil makes anything dangerous.

[KatonRyu]

I believe that a tulpa is a construct that has sapience arising from the subconscious (unconscious? I've heard that's the correct term) of the individual creating the tulpa. It can hold views different to your own because you attribute those to it, and building from what you feed it and information found in your brain this new sapient entity is formed. It exists wholly within the mind, but because of its access to layers of memory and knowledge that cannot be accessed directly by the host it can make decisions or have opinions the host would not have thought of, effectively making the tulpa a separate personality within the same mind.

 

As for the 'reality' of tulpae: In theoretic physics there isn't even consensus on the existence of an objective reality. Instead models are used to explain observations and make predictions. This model-based reality does not need an objective reality to be valid. This may be slightly more subjective because tulpae exist within the mind, but as a great man once said, "Of course it's all in your head, Harry, but why on Earth would that mean it's not real?"