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We are capable of holding more than one identity in our minds and switching between them. Some people use that ability to create "characters" (tulpas: https://w

We are capable of holding more than one identity in our minds and switching between them. Some people use that ability to create "characters" (tulpas: https://www.businessinsider.com/hearing-voices-in-your-head-real-life-versus-movies-tulpa-psychiatry-2018-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/hearing-voices-in-your-head-...) that they interact with or even allow to take over their bodies. Apparently some people go as far as replacing themselves with a tulpa they've created (they call this ego-suicide).

loves_mangoes 6y ago
That's amazing! I did not expect to read about Tulpas on Business Insider, so thank you for that. Somehow I'm not surprised that the tulpa in question is a batpony. There seems to be an interesting intersection between Tulpamancing and My Little Pony. Perhaps something about escapism.
war1025 6y ago
I started watching that video and something about the interview with the "Tulpamancer" just really creeped me out.
- chews 6y ago
  I think it's because we're watching schizophrenia and a doc who feels it's just rich escapism.
  - Retric 6y ago
    Mental illness like schizophrenia are by definition a net negative, that’s why their disorders. It seems strange but people can be very different without mental problems or seem perfectly normal but have severe issues. It’s why some but not all young children with imaginary friends can be considered fine. More strangely some adults have similar imaginary friends which they realize are mental constructs but they still enjoy interacting with them.
mr_overalls 6y ago
We are also capable of realizing directly that personal identity itself is also construct, a mask we put on to make sense of the world. Seeing through this illusion can be deeply unsettling, as well as deeply liberating. E.g. Buddhist insight into anatta, or non-self. Shinzen Young's description on the nuts and bolts of Shingon Buddhist deity yoga practice is simply fascinating. https://alvinalexander.com/personal/shinzen-young-shingon-shinto-winter-meditation-training/ https://alvinalexander.com/personal/shinzen-young-shingon-sh... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_VizlDWcTA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_VizlDWcTA
- ismail 6y ago
  I came across a concept of “direct experience” with out going through normal meaning-making structures. Anyone have more details on this?
  - mr_overalls 6y ago
    An emphasis on direct experience can be found throughout Buddhism, usually in the context of emphasizing its utility, while downplaying the usefulness of intellectual elaborations on Buddhist ideas. I.e., it's much better to have a single, concrete, personal experience of emptiness/non-self in meditation, than to read several volumes of Buddhist logic. If you want to trot out the doctrinal stuff, Dharmadhātu probably what you're looking for - it's the label given to purified mind in its natural state, free of obscurations. It is the essence-quality or nature of mind, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmadhatu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmadhatu
  - thinkingemote 6y ago
    For hallucinations there's been some research on the brain that found that what we see is more imagined than actually there. Our brains kind of fill in the gaps by hallucinating images.
  - nazgulnarsil 6y ago
    The easiest way to point to the distinction is to ask the question: in your direct experience, who came first, you or your parents?
Florin_Andrei 6y ago
> Apparently some people go as far as replacing themselves with a tulpa they've created (they call this ego-suicide). Sure, but I wonder how useful that is. After all, you're replacing one ego with another. Before, the controller was this group of processes running on this slice of the CPU, now it's a different (but similar) group of processes running on a somewhat shifted slice of the CPU. Maybe if the new processes are better in some ways then it would be worth it? Less anxious, more confident, something like that.
- krageon 6y ago
  There's no "worth it" outside of not existing. The "person" that was there before is not there now, otherwise it would be suicide.
rocketmaster1 6y ago
There's a great Reply All episode on this: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/49hr6k https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/49hr6k (#74 Making Friends)
haten 6y ago
How do we cope wit it

loves_mangoes 6y ago

That's amazing! I did not expect to read about Tulpas on Business Insider, so thank you for that. Somehow I'm not surprised that the tulpa in question is a batpony. There seems to be an interesting intersection between Tulpamancing and My Little Pony. Perhaps something about escapism.

war1025 6y ago

I started watching that video and something about the interview with the "Tulpamancer" just really creeped me out.

chews 6y ago
I think it's because we're watching schizophrenia and a doc who feels it's just rich escapism.
- Retric 6y ago
  Mental illness like schizophrenia are by definition a net negative, that’s why their disorders. It seems strange but people can be very different without mental problems or seem perfectly normal but have severe issues. It’s why some but not all young children with imaginary friends can be considered fine. More strangely some adults have similar imaginary friends which they realize are mental constructs but they still enjoy interacting with them.

mr_overalls 6y ago

We are also capable of realizing directly that personal identity itself is also construct, a mask we put on to make sense of the world. Seeing through this illusion can be deeply unsettling, as well as deeply liberating. E.g. Buddhist insight into anatta, or non-self. Shinzen Young's description on the nuts and bolts of Shingon Buddhist deity yoga practice is simply fascinating. https://alvinalexander.com/personal/shinzen-young-shingon-shinto-winter-meditation-training/ https://alvinalexander.com/personal/shinzen-young-shingon-sh... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_VizlDWcTA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_VizlDWcTA

ismail 6y ago
I came across a concept of “direct experience” with out going through normal meaning-making structures. Anyone have more details on this?
- mr_overalls 6y ago
  An emphasis on direct experience can be found throughout Buddhism, usually in the context of emphasizing its utility, while downplaying the usefulness of intellectual elaborations on Buddhist ideas. I.e., it's much better to have a single, concrete, personal experience of emptiness/non-self in meditation, than to read several volumes of Buddhist logic. If you want to trot out the doctrinal stuff, Dharmadhātu probably what you're looking for - it's the label given to purified mind in its natural state, free of obscurations. It is the essence-quality or nature of mind, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmadhatu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmadhatu
- thinkingemote 6y ago
  For hallucinations there's been some research on the brain that found that what we see is more imagined than actually there. Our brains kind of fill in the gaps by hallucinating images.
- nazgulnarsil 6y ago
  The easiest way to point to the distinction is to ask the question: in your direct experience, who came first, you or your parents?

Florin_Andrei 6y ago

> Apparently some people go as far as replacing themselves with a tulpa they've created (they call this ego-suicide). Sure, but I wonder how useful that is. After all, you're replacing one ego with another. Before, the controller was this group of processes running on this slice of the CPU, now it's a different (but similar) group of processes running on a somewhat shifted slice of the CPU. Maybe if the new processes are better in some ways then it would be worth it? Less anxious, more confident, something like that.

krageon 6y ago
There's no "worth it" outside of not existing. The "person" that was there before is not there now, otherwise it would be suicide.

rocketmaster1 6y ago

There's a great Reply All episode on this: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/49hr6k https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/49hr6k (#74 Making Friends)

haten 6y ago

How do we cope wit it