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What is a tulpa?


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I still feel like "tulpa" is poorly defined, and I think the vagueness of that definition is not helping our community any.

 

Take this for example: Melian says that most hosts are roleplaying their tulpas and just aren't aware that they're doing so. This offends a lot of us, but let me ask you: What is the difference between having a part of your brain trained through habit and belief to act out a personality without conscious thought, and actually having another sentient being in your head? Is there any difference? Could we ever know if there's any difference?

 

Where does being a tulpa end, and being whatever Melian is begin? And if Melian is not a tulpa, what is she?

 

These are precisely the questions I am asking myself! I don't know if I will ever know the truth of the matter for sure. ~Mistgod


But yeah, what's the difference between unconsciously roleplaying (whatever that means) and something being there? Experientially the two are indistinguishable (although in this case Melian bizarrely denies that, e.g., possession is possible) and in terms of underlying mechanism, the whole thing is confused beyond hope to try to disambiguate there.

 

Just to clarify, Melian and I never said that possession was impossible. We just said that we are dubious of claims concerning true sentience and possession of a host. In our opinion such things are a type of self delusion. Melian and I have arguably experienced what some of you may consider being moments of possession or switching. I am so conflicted in my mind between being a skeptic and a believer that it is difficult for me to believe that Melian is "real" and took over my body. The baffling contradictions in my writing that you are seeing are a result in inner turmoil and uncertainty concerning the nature of Melian and other tuplae. ~Mistgod


I think that Melian's attitude is coming from ambiguity she faces. She is very intelligent, to the point she can't easily delude herself into something she's not fully convinced to. She lacks strong arguments and nobody is giving it to her so she's labouring the point because she thinks that if she repeats questions many times she'll dig to satisfying answers at last (Melian if you're reading this and you're like 'hell no', tell me, this is just how I see things).

 

You have Davie and I spot on and this was PERFECT! Thank you dearly! ~Melian


I think the key is in Melian's personality - she strives to be the best.

 

Thank you! That was a very sweet thing to say! ~Melian


So, to make it short: all tulpas are thoughtforms but not all thoughtforms are tulpas.

 

Hey, I think I like that. Really, I don't care that much about labels. I want to be part of the community, and I do think I belong and can make a contribution, but Mistgod and I just want to approach all of this honestly. Am I a tulpa? I have no friggin idea. I could live with "some form of enigmatic thoughtform" though. *giggle* ~Melian

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Well, Mistgod brought up something interesting here that I think we should discuss. Mistgod says that he and Melian share 100% of their thoughts and emotions -- what he calls integration. On the other hand, with tulpas we strive for independence -- 0% shared thought (I suspect 0% shared emotion is impossible for two beings that share a body -- but I could be wrong).

 

I got to thinking about that today, and it occurred to me that Melian is very similar to a "Magical Personality" described in the book The Magician, His Training and Work. The author suggests that magic is somehow more effective when the magician assumes another personality during the act of magic. I don't know about that -- we can leave that discussion to the metaphysics form. But the thing is, he goes through the process of creating this magical personality.

 

When creating a magical personality, you pick personality traits and practice embodying them. Sounds really familiar, doesn't it? But it doesn't go the way a tulpa does -- he stresses again and again that the personality is never to be permitted to act without your permission. It is not to develop independence or sentience.

 

He suggests associating the personality with a particular piece of jewelry, like a ring. That way the personality can be easily put on and taken off the way that the ring is: ring on, personality on; ring off, personality off.

 

Obviously this isn't what Melian is, as this magical personality has a very narrow definition based on its purpose, but I think there are some similarities as well -- like 100% shared thought and emotion. You might say that magical personalities are one kind of integrated thought form, and that Melian is another kind.

 

Does all of this make sense? Or would anyone argue that magical personalities, Melian, or integrated thoughtforms are tulpas?

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

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