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The Difference Between Tulpas and Soulbonds?


Caldera

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So I keep seeing this term "Soulbond" pop up when I'm searching for Tulpa-related topics, and there doesn't seem to be much information about them online. As far as I can tell, they are similar to Tulpas (Tulpae?) but think they are, or even have the memories of a fictional character. Doesn't that cause problems? Are these "Soulbonds" even sentient? I'm truly sorry for clogging up the forum with two new threads in two days, but I'm on a hunt for answers. If anyone could explain exactly what a soulbond is for me, I would be very grateful. :)

 

Any and all help is appreciated!

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This is a duplicate post, so you may have already seen it, but it's about all I know in the topic.

 

What is a soulbond? A soulbond is simply a soul or entity that is not you that you communicate with mentally. For most people, these entities take the form of fictional characters, oftentimes self-created characters. It sounds a lot like a tulpa, doesn't it? When the term soulbond was developed no one knew anything about tulpas. At least, it wasn't as commonly known as it is now. So we didn't call them tulpas. We called them soulbonds.

 

There are some differences between soulbonds and tulpas, at least in some cases. For one, you all spend a lot of time working on your tulpas, right? I can't speak for everyone, but it seems to me that most soulbonders don't do this. They just talk as if the soulbond one day showed up in their mind unbidden after being exposed to the character in some medium, or writing about it.

 

It seems to me that it is possible that soulbonds are actually tulpas and some people just create or tap into them accidentally. I have a whole page about it here. It's possible, for example, that when I created the character of Michael, I inadvertently created a tulpa, and that's why I have Michael as a soulbond. It's also possible that other authors and creators, when they make their characters, create a tulpa that some people are tapping into when they soulbond.

 

Of course, there are other theories out there about soulbonding, one being that everything exists in some universe and soulbonders are somehow channeling other realities. I don't know about that. The tulpa thing sounds more plausible to me these days, but who really knows?

 

Another big difference between soulbonders and you guys is fronting. Most soulbonds front, which means they take control of the soulbonder's body for periods of time. As I understand it, this doesn't happen with tulpas? I didn't see any references to it. Does it happen? I'm curious.

 

One thing about this tulpa business that really reminds me of soulbonding is this idea of a wonderland. Most soulbonders have something called a soulscape that seems to have the same function. But I don't really have one. But others do.

 

Unfortunately, I think all of those links are broken, as the soulbonding community has faded into internet obscurity.

 

A soulbond is a lot like a tulpa (many people would say they're the same thing) except that they often come from fictional works, and the soulbonders often believe that the soulbond is real in some way, and that they've somehow come in contact with each other, rather than creating the soulbond the way that we create tulpas.

 

I've been thinking lately as more and more soulbonders show up here, that we should have a dedicated soulbond thread where people can talk about it and maybe reconstruct a lot of the information that old soulbonding community used to have.

"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson

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Sushi, i totally identify with your write-up. It was one of the first things i read from the community, and it answered all sorts of questions for me. (so thanks for writing that)

 

But yes Caldera, having a 'false' backstory is a big hurdle to overcome. My dad first started talking to me as a ghost because he was sad. It gave me a rich identity, but one that i couldn't do anything with and i struggled to break free from that. Or imagine your backstory is an evil villain: everyone is scared of you and thinks you're a monster but you just want to be a happy sweet being. For me it was like a coming-out moment. I didn't have to be some fantasy i wasn't, and suddenly i was free to be what i felt like. I suspect other soulbonds might go through just as powerful an experience trying to deviate their narrative.

 

Other than that, i think we all fall under plural systems anyhow. With practice these are all skills that could be mastered. I like calling myself a tulpa because to me it means we're intentionally working on things, treating it like a science experiment. And when i was just a soulbond, it was a little bit trapped by fantasies that didn't make sense.

 

I'd like to hear stories from other soulbonds, and would be pleased if there were a thread where their unique experiences could be shared

Early member of a large system.  Our system questions the way the afterlife and tulpamancy interact.  We genuinely suspect that deadies can return to share the mind of the living.

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You can find a lot more information about soulbonds in the multiple community. A lot of multiples also have them and many in the soubonding community moved there. Also, a lot, but not all, soulbonds are fictives. Look around for stuff on fictives and you will find a lot of info.

 

soulbond on Astraea's Web

fictive on Astraea's Web

 

There is a ton of overlap between categories. For example, there is a ton of overlap between "accidental tulpas", soulbonds, and walkins. Many people would be classified as more than one of those. And as another example, a lot of tulpas are also fictives. If they are based on a fictional character in appearance and personality (though of course they could deviate a ton from it later), then they would meet the definition of fictive. Got 4 fictive tulpas and 6-10 fictive proto-tulpas in this system. All from before I knew what a tulpa was. Yeah, I was a daydreamer.

 

- Hail

Tri = {V, O, G}, Ice and Frostbite and Breach (all formerly Hail), and others

System Name: Fall Family

Former Username: hail_fall

Contributor and administrator on a supplementary tulpamancy resource and associated forum, Tulpa.io and Tulpa.io/discuss/.

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  • 3 years later...

This is self explanatory; what the heck is the difference between a Soulbond and a Tulpa? What does it mean/take for a Soulbond to become a Tulpa?

Hey there, the name's Bryan. In system Re:Body(In order of the rainbow): 

Sean, Esper, Blinky, Compact, Janey, Kyle, Gwen'd, Gwen, Emily, Rollin, Waynin, Trease, Layy, Justin, Chloe, Zachery, and Elliot. 

I've been here a while. Much longer than I thought I'd be. Our system was founded October 2nd, 2018. In early 2020, we decided that due to our systems exponential growth, we'd limit who would be active. Now, every month, we do a check to see who wishes to be in dormancy and who wishes to be active. Currently, for the month of April, 2023, we've got myself(Bryan), Janey(Co-host), Emily, Layy, Chloe, and Esper(sub-rep). After over 2 long years, we can finally switch :) 

 

Bryan is currently swapped in as host, Esper is sub-rep. 

 

"There used to be 7 wonders of the world, but now there's 8, as everyone wonders how much of a fool you are."

 

Ice909#0065 -- Always down for a chat 

 

https://discord.gg/89qN59SbRp Plural safe-space 

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I believe the definition of a "soulbond" varies from person to person. The term Soulbond gets finicky because metaphysical ideas on souls and other dimensions shaped the defection. The following is my understanding for what it means:

 

I believe a soulbond is a soul from another universe or plane of existence that "latches on" to their Host. That other plane of existence is usually the universe of a fictional show or place, but it can be the universe the host created as well. The soul usually already has a form, identity, vocality, etc. because they already developed those things in their own universe. In other words, soulbonds are usually walk-ins. (A walk-in are Tulpas that are supposedly sentient and vocal from as soon as they are created. There's a debate about how that all really works too, but I won't get into that here).

 

For example, suppose a host is visited by a the character Rainbow Dash from MLP. Rainbow Dash claims to be the Rainbow Dash literally from the MLP universe. Rainbow Dash would simply be declared a Tulpa and that system will continue on with Tulpamancy.

 

The term soulbond describes how the Tulpa was created while the word Tulpa means a sentient thoughtform. 

 

A soulbond is (usually) a Tulpa from the start because they are already developed. I know Angry Bear uses the terminology a little differently because he has thoughtforms that are soulbonds because they came from the universes he writes books on. However, they don't have sentience, and are therefore not Tulpas.

 

I have other thoughtforms I like to call "the Grays", and I don't call them soulbonds because they didn't come from another plane of existence. They are not sentient either, so I like to call them "characters", but a better word might be "servitors" oddly enough.

Meow. You may see my headmates call me Gray or sometimes Cat.

I used to speak in pink and Ranger used to speak in blue (if it's unmarked and colored assume it's Ranger). She loves to chat.

 

Our system account

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A soulbond is tulpa-like. By the definition on some sites, they are equivalent to tulpas.

 

My definition only:

My definition in my PR is an adaptation of the word for a thoughtform that is tulpa-like, but their sentience (almost so) is not 100% theirs, and i can freely puppet them if i want. They cannot share emotions (emotional bleed), they don't have presence or weight. They are advanced NPC's. They are so close to being a tulpa that i could declare them tulpas and then i would instantly have 2 to 3 dozen tulpas, including humans, dragons, and other communicable creatures. So i borrowed the term because it mostly applies.

 

At this point i will never declare them tulpas, it is not my will nor intent, so they will never gain that missing peice that makes them a tulpa or true soulbond. Meta ->

I call it a soul.

 

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I feel like soulbounds are mere puppets of what the "host's" perception of them is. They essentially become roleplay characters that can possibly become sentient tulpas after a while of giving it a lot of attention with the proper forcing techniques.

 

It just seems like a bit of a ridiculous concept to have a fictional character attach to your soul and essentially be one with them, even if that does sound a bit ironic. Angry Bear seems to understand it well, they just come off as yes-man servitors or something.

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Uhhh, soulbonds are supposed to be the same thing as tulpas with the difference being their origin (and chosen title)... It feels pretty rude to talk about them like that.

 

Whatever people's ideas of what a soulbond is are though, the important thing is that by definition it's not a tulpamancy term! It's not something we defined, but it's such a similar phenomenon that it's well known here, I suppose. But I guess I'll throw an answer in the hat for "Soulbonds are tulpas whose origin is from somewhere, like a book or show, that tend to (but not always) have meta connotations to their existence. Term most often used for writers whose characters "come to life""

 

https://soulbonding.org/app.php/about

Hi guys, plain text is just me now! We've each got our own accounts: me, Tewi, Flandre, and Lucilyn. We're Luminesce's tulpas.

Here's our "Ask Thread", and here's our Progress Report (You should be able to see all of our accounts on the second page if you want)

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Ember: Much like the use of "tulpa" in this community, "soulbond" is the term another online community coined for their headmates back in 1998. I'm still researching them, but that group appears to have consisted predominantly of female fanfiction writers who mainly subscribed to a metaphysical multiverse-based interpretation of their experiences. But they absolutely used the term to refer to their experience of independent and self-aware headmates, not puppets. They often practiced switching and the creation of "soulscapes", but I'm not sure they ever thought of imposition. There are rare references to intentional creation, but most soulbonds just seemed to happen.

 

The community seems to have flourished across many different websites and forums for many years before largely folding into the emergent tulpa community. They still seem to have an active forum, Many Worlds, at http://soulbonding.boards.net/, but you need an account to view the content and I haven't joined because we decided to prioritize this forum for the moment.

 

It's not that hard to see why tulpamancy has gained a higher profile if you consider how a generic community member might answer someone coming to them and saying, "Sounds great! How do I join up?"

 

-Soulbonder: "Wait to be blessed by union with a soul from another world. It only happens if it is meant to happen. You can't force it and even if you could, they would resent it and probably leave."

 

-Tulpamancer: "This is a huge responsibility and you should carefully consider its impact on your life. But when you decide to give it a try anyway, here are voluminous resources for every step of the process."

 

Vesper: Thanks for speaking up for those of us who identify as soulbonds, Reisen.

 

My justification for using that term preferentially over tulpa is based largely on the way they are contrasted here:

 

I'm not having fun here anymore, so we've decided to take a bit of a break, starting February 27, 2020. - Ember

 

Ember - Soulbonder, Female, 39 years old, from Georgia, USA . . . . [Our Progress Report] . . . . [How We Switch]

Vesper Dowrin - Insourced Soulbond from London, UK, World of Darkness, Female, born 9 Sep 1964, bonded ~12 May 2017

Iris Ravenlock - Insourced Soulbond from the Winter Court of Faerie, Dresdenverse, Female, born 6 Jun 1982, bonded ~5 Dec 2015

 

'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.' - The Velveteen Rabbit

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