Imaginary being/entity/thing

[uuner]

First off, I wan't to apologize in advance, I tried searching for this, but I couldn't find it anywhere on this forum...

My friend and I were discussing this and that, and at some point the subject turned to imaginary friends. His kid has one and we got to talking about it and I remembered reading about a form of being that, in my opinion, seemed like an imaginary being. It was related to spirits somehow and there were guides on how to "create" one, warnings on how it could go wrong and arguments about the benefits.

The guides were mostly about giving this thing a simple form and slowly developing on it and eventually giving it a voice, personality and even it's own will.

I'm not so much interested in arguing if this works or not, but I would like to know what they are called.

Any help would be appreciated

[MissJatti]

Its called an Imaginary Friend, the person could Imagine the voice and personality, and other characteristics of the imaginary friend/person

[Habitat]

Pixie ! You have to be careful not to become pixielated, or your life just becomes a blur.

[uuner]

I suppose I was expecting these replies too >.>

But like I said, I don't really give a damn if it's real or not or what it actually is, I just want to know what it's called. Because I know I've read about them here, but I can't remember what they were called and it's driving me nuts

[Bendy Demon]

Its called an Imaginary Friend, the person could Imagine the voice and personality, and other characteristics of the imaginary friend/person

I think you had already been answered. They are not real and merely the inventions of a young mind; it would be a mistake to encourage a child to rely on it and give it attention because then all they will do is retreat into their own little world and ignore their daily responsibilities.

If a kid blathers on about their imaginary friend, just nod and say "That's nice" then go on with your day. Problem solved.

[uuner]

I think you had already been answered. They are not real and merely the inventions of a young mind; it would be a mistake to encourage a child to rely on it and give it attention because then all they will do is retreat into their own little world and ignore their daily responsibilities.

If a kid blathers on about their imaginary friend, just nod and say "That's nice" then go on with your day. Problem solved.

Sorry, I might have been unclear, this thing I'm thinking of has nothing to do with the child, it was just something I remembered after my friend mentioned said imaginary friend. To make it perfectly clear, I have no interest whatsoever in discussing imaginary friends with this child, it's my friends business to deal with that.

I know there is a specific word for this thing and there were a few threads about it where some people believed very firmly in them while others didn't believe (like pretty much every subject here).

So I was hoping that someone might recognize what I was talking about. (Yeah I know, needle in a haystack...)

[Darkenpath25]

Auditory Hallucinations

[uuner]

Yes, yes, it may be all of the above mentioned things in reality, but I'm just looking for the name. It had some funky name and it might have had something to do with buddhism or shamanism maybe.... I don't know anymore, might as well drop it

I get it when people are making fun of stuff like people who think rainbows from sprinklers are signs of god or when they think they're vampires and **** (I mean I've been part of some damn cringeworthy discussions in the beginning... *shivers*), but it's starting to feel like it's impossible to get any decent answers here.

If I was writing about wanting to learn how to make an imaginary friend then I'd probably be making fun of myself too, but I just wanna figure out the word so I could find some stuff to link to my friend

[blitzen]

makes me think of tulpas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpa

[uuner]

makes me think of tulpas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpa

Yes!!!

Thank you! That's the word I was looking for

[blitzen]

glad I could help!

[barbco196]

Yes, yes, it may be all of the above mentioned things in reality, but I'm just looking for the name. It had some funky name and it might have had something to do with buddhism or shamanism maybe.... I don't know anymore, might as well drop it

I get it when people are making fun of stuff like people who think rainbows from sprinklers are signs of god or when they think they're vampires and **** (I mean I've been part of some damn cringeworthy discussions in the beginning... *shivers*), but it's starting to feel like it's impossible to get any decent answers here.

If I was writing about wanting to learn how to make an imaginary friend then I'd probably be making fun of myself too, but I just wanna figure out the word so I could find some stuff to link to my friend

Blitzen got it, Tulpa is what you are thinking.

[uuner]

Yeah

And sorry if I got edgy in my earlier post, it's been a rough week >.>

[+OverSword]

You are probably referring to a tulpa

[barbco196]

After reading about this, I thought, "perfect. I'll make a Tulpa for a bf!" UNTIL I read they can become self-aware and have free will.

[GlitterRose]

Tulpas, thoughtforms, egregores, godforms.

[ShadowBoy86x]

My mother had a woman watch my sister, brother and I, and her son had an imaginary friends, but he would argue with it, and get really upset, i can remember be scared of the whole situation, he seem so normal, untill this imaginary girl showed up. He didnt fight with it all the time. You had to be there, never expirences anything like it since. He would even get upset and tell his mom that this thing wouldnt disappear so he could focus on his cartoons, he was like 6 .

Early 90s

Thought id share

[Vlawde]

In September 1972, the Toronto Society for Psychical Research, along with poltergeist expert Dr. A.R.G. Owen, set out to accomplish one singular objective:

To create a ghost.

Not conjure, or contact. They wanted to explore the Tibetan Buddhist concept of tulpas, or “thoughtforms,” the practice of “willing” tangible forms into existence using our own innate mental energies.

Designing Philip Aylesford

The group was composed of eight individuals, men and women of a variety of occupations and interests. Although Dr. Owen himself was an expert on poltergeists, none of the other members claimed to have any “psychic” abilities or other paranormal affluence.

They began their experiment, in September 1972, by creating a fictional character. They named him Philip Aylesford. As though he were an actual person, they gave him a history, likes and dislikes, and a tragic end leading to his own suicide.

Here’s his original biography:

“Philip was an aristocratic Englishman, living in the middle 1600s at the time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been a supporter of the King, and was a Catholic. He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, Dorothea, the daughter of a neighboring nobleman.

One day, when out riding on the boundaries of his estates, Philip came across a gypsy encampment and saw there a beautiful dark-eyed girl. Her name was Margo, and he fell instantly in love with her.

He brought her back secretly to live in the gatehouse, near the stables of Diddington Manor – his family home.

For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but eventually Dorothea, realizing he was keeping someone else there, found Margo, and accused her of witchcraft and stealing her husband. Philip was too scared of losing his reputation and his possessions to protest at the trial of Margo, and she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

Philip was subsequently stricken with remorse that he had not tried to defend Margo, and would pace the battlements of Diddington in despair. Finally, one morning his body was found at the bottom of the battlements, whence he had cast himself in a fit of agony and remorse.”

The drawing of Philip Aylesford

They even had a picture drawn of Philip’s appearance.

Taking all of this information — the made-up history, the pictures, the stories — the group meditated on Philip. They visualized him appearing in their minds, concentrated as hard as they could, willing him to be.

Sometimes, they would even “feel” him in the air.

But for about a year, nothing happened, and the entire project began to seem like a foolish endeavor.

The Séances

The experiment needed a change.

At the suggestion of Kenneth J. Barcheldor, a psychologist, they threw out the clinical, “experimental” nature of the project and opted for something more traditional: A séance.

It was thought that, perhaps, some of the members were having difficulty focusing on Philip because they knew he wasn’t real. Holding something like a séance, with dimmed lights, a table surrounded by chairs, and Philip’s “personal artifacts,” would hopefully create a mood more conducive to conjuring a tulpa.

It worked.

Strange things occurred as soon as the group began their “séance.” As they sat around the table, focusing their will on conjuring Philip, an unseen force began to tap on the table.

Was it Philip? A single thud told them that yes, it was.

They asked him questions about his past, and he would answer — one knock for true, two knocks for false — communicating with them through raps on the table’s wooden surface.

Of course, the group already knew the answers to their questions. They’d created him, after all, and everything about his life. But the answers were consistent, and eventually he began to reveal new details from his “past,” which contained oddly accurate information regarding actual historical events.

He even developed his own personality and, occasionally, the lights in the room would flicker, and the table would levitate. Unexplainable noises were often heard throughout the room.

He was becoming something more. Something independent.

Something real.

Eventually, the group opened their doors to the public, inviting others to bare witness to their strange séance. Footage of one of the events was actually captured on film (note: the linked video is just a dramatic recreation, not the actual footage).

What really happened during the Philip experiments?

Do tulpas exist? Can you truly “will” something into reality?

Although the original experimenters couldn’t explain the supernatural activity surrounding the séance table, there are several possible explanations for what happened during the Philip experiments.

Supposedly, subsequent experiments involving other groups and other fictional characters even yielded similar results.

But Philip never physically manifested as an apparition, only as strange noises and rappings while the group huddled together around a table.

This may indicate that it was all a product of the human mind; perhaps a manifestation of their collective unconscious. The accurate answers that Philip gave to so many questions, for example, may have arisen from the group’s own collective, subconscious thoughts and knowledge.

It could have also been an odd form of confirmation bias or groupthink, or an extreme example of the power of suggestion. Or, perhaps, their shared belief created a shared delusion. A group-wide hallucination.

Others think the group may have “opened a door,” so to speak, that Philip was in fact a ghost or, worse, a demon playing along with the participants’ desires to “create” a thoughtform. In that case, they didn’t design a tulpa; they conjured an actual spirit.

Ultimately, if we’re to be honest, it was never what you could call an “experiment” — there was no control group or real, scientific methodology involved. But whether they conjured a spirit, manifested their own unconscious will, or participated in a shared hallucination, the results of their endeavor are still a profound example of the power of the human mind.

[Goodnite]

Good research.

[uuner]

After reading about this, I thought, "perfect. I'll make a Tulpa for a bf!" UNTIL I read they can become self-aware and have free will.

Yeah it does sound like it could be fun, but at the same time it sounds like the perfect opening for a horror movie scenario

And now that I've read a bit more, I think they had a tulpa in an episode of Supernatural, in one of the earlier seasons before it turned into angel & demon wars

[rashore]

Yeah it does sound like it could be fun, but at the same time it sounds like the perfect opening for a horror movie scenario

And now that I've read a bit more, I think they had a tulpa in an episode of Supernatural, in one of the earlier seasons before it turned into angel & demon wars

Lol, yeah... Ghostfacers house. Like the house has a Tulpa, and what the farmer ghost in the house did or could be killed by was changed depending on the thought focus of the Internet community following Ghostfacers. It was a good episode.

[Gigmaster]

I believe what you are describing would be a Spirit Guide, or Guardian Angel.....harmless for the most part. And who knows? For some people, it may be even a bit therapeutic.

When I was growing up, I only had two friends, and they were both imaginary. And they would only play with each other.......

[uuner]

I believe what you are describing would be a Spirit Guide, or Guardian Angel.....harmless for the most part. And who knows? For some people, it may be even a bit therapeutic.

When I was growing up, I only had two friends, and they were both imaginary. And they would only play with each other.......

Thank you but Tulpa was the word I was looking for

Spirit guides and Guardian angels are different I think, as far as I know they are already around whereas a tulpa is "created". I'm not an expert though so I might be wrong.

[Lumpino]

First off, I wan't to apologize in advance, I tried searching for this, but I couldn't find it anywhere on this forum...

My friend and I were discussing this and that, and at some point the subject turned to imaginary friends. His kid has one and we got to talking about it and I remembered reading about a form of being that, in my opinion, seemed like an imaginary being. It was related to spirits somehow and there were guides on how to "create" one, warnings on how it could go wrong and arguments about the benefits.

The guides were mostly about giving this thing a simple form and slowly developing on it and eventually giving it a voice, personality and even it's own will.

I'm not so much interested in arguing if this works or not, but I would like to know what they are called.

Any help would be appreciated

There are more options. The first is so-called elemental. A being created by meditation. Or it could be a spirit.........

Se magick literature. For example Franz Bardon, Eliphas Levi, Stanislas de Guaita, Alexandra Neel and other autors.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Lumpino

[uuner]

There are more options. The first is so-called elemental. A being created by meditation. Or it could be a spirit.........

Se magick literature. For example Franz Bardon, Eliphas Levi, Stanislas de Guaita, Alexandra Neel and other autors.

Thanks, I actually got the answer I was looking for (tulpa)

But magic literature does seem interesting as well