Tulpas

[VioletRose]

Tibetan Buddhism has a rich and ancient mystic tradition that includes techniques for creating something called a tulpa, also known as a thought-form. The idea is that a properly-trained, sufficiently-enlightened mystic can use intense and prolonged mental effort to give objective physical reality to any object or creature he can imagine.

Alexandra David-Neel, when she traveled in Tibet in the 1920s, reportedly studied this technique and created her own tulpa over the course of a few months. In her autobiography she says that she eventually succeeded in creating a being (a stout, balding monk character) that other people could perceive independently- she didn't tell her traveling companions about her little experiment until afterward, but they still began to ask questions about the "stranger" that had recently joined their camp. She eventually had to reabsorb her creation when it began to act independently and make a nuisance of itself.

Roberta (and everybody else), what do you think of this idea? Are tulpas real? Can people actually create beings or objects this way?

[Annie]

I have no idea if this is real or not, but that would really be something. Lol, this reminds me of when I used to watch Spongebob Squarepants, and there was an episode where Spongebob draws a little doodle version of himself with a magic pencil. He has fun with it at first, but eventually the doodle gets out of hand and starts causing all kinds of trouble, and in the end Spongebob has to erase him.

[Carol and Mikey]

Mikey tells me tulpas are not real. People cannot create beings or objects. Only God can create these things.
Carol and Mikey "in Spirit"

[Firebird]

I'm pretty sure tulpas were the topic of an old X-Files episode. The plot was that some kind of phantom beast was created by the collective will of a neighborhood organization to enforce its strict home and lawn care standards, and would murder anyone who let his grass get too long or didn't use an approved color of house paint. Or something like that, been a long time since I saw it.

Also, I remember reading a pop-supernatural book once that claimed groups of people could create tulpas by accident if they all focus on a shared imaginary persona, one that they believe exists even though it actually doesn't. According to the book, this kind of "created being" was the source of most reported hauntings and monsters of folklore. It was also the book's explanation for why nearly every reported sighting of aliens now follows the "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" archetype (small, gray, huge head, big black eyes) even though they were tremendously varied in older reports: people were really creating these "visitors" through their collective belief and imagination.

If you ask me, this kind of thing seems right up the alley of any "Consciousness creates reality" paradigm.

[OrichalcumEye]

You do have a strong point there, Firebird. IF we were to assume for a moment that everything else put forth here is true- particularly the parts that claim all of reality is the subjective creation of a nebulous transcendental consciousness- it absolutely makes sense that people would be able to create a facsimile of a living being through sheer will alone. After all, isn't that what everything that exists is supposed to be anyway? And it makes no sense to declare this phenomenon impossible due to the created being's lack of a "soul", since it would basically just be a sophisticated automaton.

Of course, the entire concept of tulpas reeks of self-hypnosis and confirmation bias to me.

[RudeAwakening]

[QUOTE=OrichalcumEye;3670] it absolutely makes sense that people would be able to create a facsimile of a living being through sheer will alone. .QUOTE]

Not necessarily, it merely makes absolute sense to you.

[Roberta Grimes]

I've been thinking about this since first reading dear VioletRose's interesting post and following her link, and it seems to me theoretically possible that something like a Tulpa might be created by someone whose mind was sufficiently advanced. It wouldn't be a full-fledged being, of course - I'm sure that Mikey is right, and only God can create those - but rather, it would be a kind of concentrated-thought-made-visible. It would be animated by our own minds - a manifested robot, if you will - but since our minds operate on a number of levels, it might well give the illusion of being an independent being. Here is my reasoning:

1) Our minds are of the same infinitely and powerfully creative energy as God. They are capable of anything, but they are simply untrained! As Jesus says, we can do anything if we only believe: "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him." (MK 11:22-23) In the Summerland more-advanced beings can routinely manifest a solid building, and I once read an account from a more-advanced person who was recently dead who said that he had just had a lesson in mind-manifesting the flowers that are all over the Summerland.

2) There is evidence that advanced beings in the Summerland can mind-create animal species. I have read some hints that very advanced beings can try their hands at creating new animal species for various planets (which would explain some of the unbelievably grotesque creatures that lived during our Age of Mammals!). If they can do that, then a living person whose mind was very well trained might be able to do the same thing.

3) A Tulpa is not a living being - it is instead an extremely good illusion. There is so much evidence of people manipulating matter in extreme situations, and evidence in general that matter is not the solid and inviolable stuff of our imaginations, that it is not hard to imagine that a trained person could create a solid-seeming and animated-seeming illusion of a being. Not much of a stretch.

I'm not saying that it's certainly true, mind you! But I do think that it is possible. And it is quite an amusing idea!

[Andrew]

Hi all! I am currently on vacation, and I haven't yet had any time to post, but this is an extremely interesting subject.

I agree with Roberta, if the mind is properly trained, then it is indeed possible to create a physical being. The being wouldn't be sentient though - merely a robot.

Believe it or not, there is actually a real life example of this. Has anyone heard of greys? They're a type of extraterrestrials that are frequently reported on earth. These aliens are known for being unfeeling and robotic. It turns out, that several sources suggest that these beings are not sentient at all. Rather, they were created by a more advanced race to use here on earth. The purpose of this is to minimize death. It's actually a fairly dangerous job coming here to help out humans, so they don't use sentient beings to do it. That way, if they get shot down or attacked, there is no life lost.

That being said, there are instances when real alien beings do have to come here, and there are also incidences where they have been killed by humans. I don't know what circumstances warrant a visit from actual aliens, nor when they decided to use greys. It's a pretty amazing system though.