Open-eyed visualization

[russellsteapot]

I don't know whether something similar to this has been posted here already or not (I used the search function but nothing specific came up), but I started working on this after reading an article on tulpas and hinduism, and it seems to be helping. I don't believe in anything metaphysical myself, so the rest of the article is of no interest to me, but this section seems to be describing a midway step between visualization and imposition, and it might be helpful.

 

So what is a tulpa? The concept of a tulpa can probably best be explained by the following little thought-exercise:

 

Try closing your eyes and, with your mind's eye, try to visualize the following pastoral meadow scene. In other words, you'll not just "think about" this scene, but will try to actually see it in your mind. You'll try to see a pleasant green grassy meadow on a warm sunny afternoon in early summer. You see a few white and yellow meadow flowers amongst all the lush grass. You're sitting in the grass under a big leafy shade tree, and you can feel the soft coolness of the grass under you. You hear some birds singing and you see the clear blue sky with only a few white billowy clouds in it. You smell the fresh sweetness of the grass and flowers and hear a small brook off in the distance. With your eyes closed, and concentrating, you try now to visualize that whole scene.

 

It does take a certain amount of concentration and focus to be able to truly visualize a scene like that. Some people are able to do that kind of visualization fairly well, but it takes concentration and practice. Let's call this the first level of visualization.

 

The second level of visualization would be if you could see that same scene just as clearly, but this time instead of doing it with your eyes closed, you do it with your eyes open. That means you have to simultaneously not see, hear and feel the things that are actually there in the room with you, and you do see, hear and feel the whole meadow scene. To accomplish this with your eyes open would take a great deal of focus, concentration and practice, and most people are not really able to accomplish it very well. [...]

 

In any case, that's what a tulpa is. It is a reality made up only of thought-stuff, not physical stuff, though it may feel as if it has all the substantiality of physical stuff. In this way a tulpa is much like a dream: it is created out of thought-stuff but appears and feels as if it were made of physical stuff.

 

TL;DR Open-eyed visualization without trying to impose your tulpa. You visualize the entire scene, including your wonderland, exactly as you would with your eyes closed, but without visually imposing your tulpa yet. (Using a

or something similar might help. Soundscapes, essential oils, or whatever you use to involve your other senses are welcomed at first as well.) The idea is to use this exercise to train yourself to ignore distractions. Plus, it's really difficult to focus on all five senses with your eyes open, so it might help with imposition upon the other senses as well.

 

Bonus: I've also been using the

(without music though) to work on feeling my tulpa's presence around me. Among the other things, this makes me feel better when I realize that I haven't been forcing much due to all the time I've wasted on the internet, but I digress. I just do really short sessions of five-ten minutes, possibly multiple times during the day, where I keep my eyes focused on the candle and try to sense my tulpa moving around the room. It can lead to chatting in mindvoice (they might be curious about what you're doing and how they can help), which is good. Just try not to get distracted by what you see around you and you should be doing fine. (If you do get distracted however, just go back to the candle. It's no big deal. You'll get better.)