Alatar's Tulpa musings for newcomers

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-Tulpae and mental disorders
-How the imagination creates concrete changes
-Self-Imposition
-Benefits of the tulpae
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Whenever people come across the concept of tulpae, their reactions vary. Some deny it outright, and
sometimes label it schizophrenia or some other mental disorder. Others are more curious and might
attempt to more objectively analyze the tulpa concept against their pre-existing beliefs, and could
even end up being tulpamancers themselves. A few might realize that it's all real, but will not bother
making one. After all, tulpamancing does require both notable effort and lifelong commitment.
In this guide, or whatever this could be called, I would like to clear some things up. It discusses the
mechanism behind self-imposition, the nature and use of imagination in creating concrete changes
in both the body and the mind, as well as the relation between the tulpae and mental disorders. In
the end, I will also list some possible benefits that the tulpae can bring into their creator's lives,
though admittely this aspect has already been discussed thoroughly on the tulpa.info forums.
These musigs and theories aim to ease the newcomers and possibly the more skeptical people into
the world of the tulpa phenomenon. That is, the kind of folks who might be keen to label the tulpa
phenomenon insanity or otherwise preposterous. Whether it's necessary to do this is debatable, but I
feel like (attempting to) explain certain mechanisms behind the tulpae, so that the newer users might
understand the phenomenon and some of it's seemingly more controversial aspects a little better,
and hopefully take their time to make their own conclusions.
Some, if not all of these things may be obvious to some users, but I would still like to comprise this
file from a few things I've learned and would like to theorize on. Perhaps some of the readers learn
something new, or maybe I will learn something new when receiving criticism for what I've written.
That would be grand.
Tulpae and mental disorders
There is no consensus on the exact mechanisms behind the creation of the tulpae, nor has science
yet gotten it's fingers near this stuff. Some say that the Tulpa is a consciously created dissociative
identity disorder (DID) and possibly some sort of a branch of it. However, the DID theory sounds
unlikely to me. That disorder is characterized by splintering and fragmentation of one's identity,
rather than the creation of a separate personality. That is exactly why, in 1994, the name of the
condition was changed from a multiple personality disorder into the dissociative identity disorder.
Very interestingly, the people who suffer from DID and who have then created tulpae, have often
reported that the tulpa feels "much more separate". A tulpa seems to, indeed, appear a controlled,
and much more separate a thing when compared to this particular disorder.
Others say (i.e. I made this up) that the mechanism is a remnant from the creation of
childhood imaginary friends that could, in some cases, perhaps have been tulpae themselves, rather

than completely imaginary. Maybe this imaginary friends-mechanism is an evolutionary benefit in

itself, having allowed the child to play with a thoughtform, learning more, practicing social
interaction and preparing, which is exactly what play is for, whether it comes to Humans or other
mammals. And later, this mechanism would still remain, and could be used in order to create a tulpa
even after childhood.
Another claim is that tulpa is a form of schizophrenia. This, according to my own experience
and that of the others, is far from the truth; schizophrenia is mostly characterized by severe
disturbance in logical train of thought, as well as, sometimes, uncontrolled hallucinations. I have
not heard of a single tulpa-maker who would have experienced a loss of control like this. Rather, the
Tulpa appears to be more or less stable and controlled (not in a sense that you had to direct their
actions, but rather in a sense that they won't just mess you up out of the blue), and does not distrupt
the individual's ability to function in everyday life.
Personally, I think that the creation of a tulpa and the mechanism behind it does not
necessarily have to be related to any phenomenon or disorder. You simply give your unconscious,
automatic process an order, and it can fulfill it. With the help of your imagination, motivation and
daily tulpaforcing, this expectation is fulfilled and the tulpa can be created.
But how could mere imagination create a thing that is purpotedly another, separate
personality with it's own feelings, opinions, awareness and a desire to be alive?
How the imagination creates concrete changes
Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic foundation in Ohio investigated the possibility of how
mental excercise affects muscle growth. What they found out was that the muscles can be
strenghtened and toned through mental effort alone.
They split thirty young adults into three groups. The first group imagined excercising the
muscles in their hand, the second group did the same with their biceps, and the third control group
did not participate in the mental excercise at all. MRI imagery was used in order to map the areas in
their brain that were activated during the mental exertion, and EEG measurement was also
conducted in order to measure electrical brain wave activity triggered by the muscle exertion.
It turned out that the mental contractions of the muscles produced electrical activity in the
brain, indicating that the muscles were being worked. The comparisons of strength in the hand
showed increased strength in the participants who practiced mental contractions. The strenght in the
hand was increased by 35% and the strength in the elbow and arm increased by 13 percent.
In another study, a neuroscientist Alvaro Pascual-Leone divided a group of to-be pianists
into two. The first group was only allowed to sit in front of an electric piano two hours a day for
five days, and only imagined both hearing a sequence played, and playing it themselves. The second
group actually played the music for two hours a day for five days. The brains of both of the groups
were mapped before the experiment, as well as during and after it. Both of the groups were then
asked to play the sequence, and the accuracy of their performance was measured by a computer.
Both of the groups had learned to play the sequence, and displayed similar brain map
changes. The mental practice alone had produced the same physical changes in the motor system, as
actually playing the sequence. By the end of the fifth day, the changes in the motor signals to the
muscles were identical in both of the groups, and the imagination-group was as accurate as the
actual players were on their third day.
Some people think that imagination and mental exercise are just tools of fantasy, perhaps
useful for the artists and the authors, but still just mere imagery. They may think that imagination is
only a way to find solutions and tap into your unconscious inspiration, your personal well of ideas.
However, there is also a more recent view; a view based on the preliminary evidence that
imagination can create concrete changes, not only in the act of learning practical things, but also on
the level of your body and it's muscles for example.
When you understand what the imagination is capable of, you might now see that the tulpa
phenomenon is perhaps not a "far-fetched" thing after all. The power of imagination can create a

separate personality, an independent consciousness inside your brain, much the same way as you are
an independent consciousness in your brain yourself. It's parallel processing, like a virtual box in
the computer, running a separate operating system on the same hardware. It's not magic, it's not
mystical, it's how the human brain works. And that, in my opinion, makes it all the more interesting.
Self-Imposition
You probably knew this already, but you are living inside a simulation.
When the brain takes in stimulation, regardless of whether the stimulation is visual, audial or any
other, it comes in as similar nerve impulses and is decoded by the brain. The world itself contains
neither colors nor sounds, for example. The brain can differentiate between different wavelenghts of
light for survival, and we see them as colors. The brain can decode the changes in the air pressure as
sound, but neither colors nor sound exist in the nature. The brain takes in this stimulation and
decodes it through a series of nerve impulses, functioning a bit like the morse code. Based mainly
on this outside stimulation, the brain creates an almost real-time simulation of the outside world.
This is exactly why hallucinations are possible; in addition to the outside stimuli, the brain
can also create it's own. Practically all kinds sensations can be created by the brain alone, except
maybe a strong feeling of pressure which would require a physical object. In addition, your visual
system shuts down and is reactivated about three times a second, whenever you automatically
observe your surroundings. That's how it works. However, your vision seems smooth and normal.
This is, again, because the brain fills the gaps with simulation for your convenience. But this much
is common knowledge.
However, what some people seem to sometimes forget is this: the almost real-time
simulation created by your brain is fully three-dimensional. When you impose your tulpa in the
"real space", you don't impose them in the real space. You impose it into your simulation of the real
world, that is affected by both the decoded stimulation coming from the real world, and the
stimulation created by the brain alone, without outside stimuli.
This is where the self-imposition comes in. The self-imposition is essentially a very
controlled out-of-body experience; when you renounce the control of your body and become selfimposed, you can freely move in the three-dimensional simulation created by your brain, just like
your tulpa can. Or just like any thoughtform or hallucination could exist anywhere in this simulated
field of vision as an illusory form. An out-of-body experience is, therefore, not an out-of-body
experience, but an illusion of being out-of-body. The only difference between moving around in a
dream, and moving in this simulation in the waking life (as a switched tulpa yourself) is that the
latter is based on the outside stimulation of the real world. And when self-imposed, you can only
see where the eyes of the body are seeing, everything else is fuzzy and confusing. Regardless of
how this "out-of-body" experience, the self-imposition, feels, you are still limited by your brain.
It might seem incredible that you could seemingly walk outside your own body, and the
claims of self-imposition are indeed the kind of thing that some newcomers may find too
preposterous to be real. But it's all really explainable by the basics of the function of the Human
brain, and the strong illusions that it can be used to create.

Benefits of the tulpae

In the book "doors of perception", Aldous Huxley talks about the Human mind. He says that in spite
of living together and reacting to one another, we are by ourselves. The Martyrs go hand in hand
into the arena, but they are crucified alone. Lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies
into a single self-transcendence; in vain. He says that every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and
enjoy in solitude. That sensations, feelings, insights, fancies - all these are private and
incommunicable. That words are uttered, but fail to enlighten. The things and events to which the
symbols refer belong to mutually exclusive realms of experience. Always.
He was wrong.
Having a tulpa will allow you to develop a bond like no other. You can feel the emotions,
sensations, insights and fancies of your tulpa directly, and they can feel yours. You can easily
communicate with mindvoice. When bonded like this, you can effortlessly feel and understand your
tulpa, and they can do the same. You are different from your tulpa, but you can have very, very deep
connection, probably the deepest that a consciousness can achieve with another. This is
incomparable to any bonding with the other, physical people. The emotional support alone is a big
plus in the tulpamancy; it's strange how having a tulpa will often end up pushing you to develop
yourself mentally, to become a better person and to enjoy life so much more.
There are also other practical benefits. The tulpae can help to use your brain more
effectively. A tulpa can help you remember things that you might have forgotten, digging them up
from your unconscious mind. They can aid you to learn faster, and provide a different viewpoint,
helping you to see the world and your own beliefs more objectively. There are also tons of other
functions; eventually you can do pretty much everything that the limitations of the brain allow. For
example, you can ask your tulpa to act as an alarm clock and wake you up at a certain time. Your
biological clock is usually approximately right. Or you can ask your tulpa to give an illusory sense
of warmth or cold. Or even to numb pain (now, that would dip the sales of the opiates and
pregabalin). Learning to manipulate your brain like this can be of tremendous therapeutical benefit.
That is why I think that this phenomenon bears extreme importance.
I don't know if it will ever become mainstream, or what kind of consequences that would
have. I'm not telling anyone to create a tulpa. As mentioned in the beginning, tulpamancing does
require both notable effort and lifelong committment. But I do believe that it has potential, that it's
not just dreams and delusions, but a practical way to improve yourself as a person, learn faster,
grow mentally and receive tremendous emotional support.
But of course, even though the tulpa is stable rather than psychotic, and will not turn you
insane and illogical, a tulpa is still a sentient, independent consciousness. This means that they will
have their own opinions, and could disagree with you, or even show hostility if you mistreat them.
I'm not saying that you cannot have disagreements, sometimes even leading to anxiety, because
even though having these with a sentience that can understand you so well is rare, these kinds of
negative occurrences can still happen, and that's as far as it goes.
Some say that this thing is not for everyone, but please read, learn, think and consider of the
phenomenon and it's possible implications. You might be surprised. Positively.