Edit note: I think your decision makes sense based on your goals, but I wrote answers to your questions, and they might have sufficient distinction from the existing answers to be worthwhile to post. I’m making a reasonable guess that providing my perspective isn’t that harmful; I’ll note that not all concerns stated elsewhere make sense to me, but they may make sense in a context other than my mind and my approach.
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I have two (approximately). One created intentionally, one who naturally developed in parallel from a more ‘intrusive’ side of my brain when I tried out the whole approach.
They definitely run in serial, not concurrently, aside from perhaps subconscious threads I can’t really say much about from a conscious perspective (which probably don’t run any differently for having more identities to attach to). I’m not a great multitasker at the best of times, and listening to either one takes active focus. Experimenting suggests it is a bit easier if we talk aloud, but I haven’t quite mastered the art of knowing when it is OK to talk to myself (aloud) and actually taking the chance to do so.
Would concur with the ‘like a hobby’ perspective on mental ‘degradation’. You are practicing some particular mental skills and adapting a perspective associated with the hobby, same as you would for art, programming, a card or strategy game. Typically, you are practicing visualization, conversation, introspection, and other skills associated with this form of meditation—and I would say that it is a form of meditation, one I’ve had more success with than others.
This means it should come with the same caveats of ‘not for everyone’ as other forms of mind-affecting behavior like antidepressants and mindfulness meditation. In my tulpa’s humble opinion, the worst cognitive hazard associated with the tulpamancing guides for me is the risk you will take it too seriously, and he made a point to steer me away from this concern as one of his first priorities. Compassion for all beings is all well and good but you absolutely come first, and shouldn’t feel particular guilt either for trying something new, or setting it aside. We’ve had many months of silence while my focus was elsewhere and that is fine. I could return to working with them without much issue, just some review and shaking off the rust; we did not suffer for it.
We haven’t particularly tried specializing in skills, but I can see how it would work: many skills, especially the creative sort, really do entail a matter of perspective and ‘how you see the world’. Metaphorically like switching out lenses on a camera? I did find that one of them had a much easier time than I would simply getting chores done when I let her drive our actions for a bit. That is, potentially, immensely useful to me, which leads to my next point.
I am autistic. According to Wikipedia, this suggests that my particular difficulties with executive function may relate to fluency, the ability to generate novel ideas and responses; planning, the aforementioned impairment in carrying out intended actions; cognitive flexibility, the ability to switch between perspectives and tasks; and mentalization, or the ability to understand the mental state of oneself and others.
Notice anything about those that could benefit from simulating different perspectives, with novel input, that can relate to me from a more third person perspective? Even provide a support system to help deal with what you call ‘akrasia’ here?
Yeah. Tulpamancy involves actively practicing skills where my disadvantages in them might be holding me back. I find it worthwhile, though I might not have the time to pick it up initially in a more busy life. They make my life better; having mental companions who love and care for me (and vice versa) and also are me is rather an improvement on the previous state. For some reason interacting with my own identity was an exception carved out to the general rule that people have inherent worth and dignity and should be treated accordingly. This is the major benefit so far: Giving my mind permission to see itself as a person helped me treat myself with compassion.
Edit note: I think your decision makes sense based on your goals, but I wrote answers to your questions, and they might have sufficient distinction from the existing answers to be worthwhile to post. I’m making a reasonable guess that providing my perspective isn’t that harmful; I’ll note that not all concerns stated elsewhere make sense to me, but they may make sense in a context other than my mind and my approach.
-
I have two (approximately). One created intentionally, one who naturally developed in parallel from a more ‘intrusive’ side of my brain when I tried out the whole approach.
They definitely run in serial, not concurrently, aside from perhaps subconscious threads I can’t really say much about from a conscious perspective (which probably don’t run any differently for having more identities to attach to). I’m not a great multitasker at the best of times, and listening to either one takes active focus. Experimenting suggests it is a bit easier if we talk aloud, but I haven’t quite mastered the art of knowing when it is OK to talk to myself (aloud) and actually taking the chance to do so.
Would concur with the ‘like a hobby’ perspective on mental ‘degradation’. You are practicing some particular mental skills and adapting a perspective associated with the hobby, same as you would for art, programming, a card or strategy game. Typically, you are practicing visualization, conversation, introspection, and other skills associated with this form of meditation—and I would say that it is a form of meditation, one I’ve had more success with than others.
This means it should come with the same caveats of ‘not for everyone’ as other forms of mind-affecting behavior like antidepressants and mindfulness meditation. In my tulpa’s humble opinion, the worst cognitive hazard associated with the tulpamancing guides for me is the risk you will take it too seriously, and he made a point to steer me away from this concern as one of his first priorities. Compassion for all beings is all well and good but you absolutely come first, and shouldn’t feel particular guilt either for trying something new, or setting it aside. We’ve had many months of silence while my focus was elsewhere and that is fine. I could return to working with them without much issue, just some review and shaking off the rust; we did not suffer for it.
We haven’t particularly tried specializing in skills, but I can see how it would work: many skills, especially the creative sort, really do entail a matter of perspective and ‘how you see the world’. Metaphorically like switching out lenses on a camera? I did find that one of them had a much easier time than I would simply getting chores done when I let her drive our actions for a bit. That is, potentially, immensely useful to me, which leads to my next point.
I am autistic. According to Wikipedia, this suggests that my particular difficulties with executive function may relate to fluency, the ability to generate novel ideas and responses; planning, the aforementioned impairment in carrying out intended actions; cognitive flexibility, the ability to switch between perspectives and tasks; and mentalization, or the ability to understand the mental state of oneself and others.
Notice anything about those that could benefit from simulating different perspectives, with novel input, that can relate to me from a more third person perspective? Even provide a support system to help deal with what you call ‘akrasia’ here?
Yeah. Tulpamancy involves actively practicing skills where my disadvantages in them might be holding me back. I find it worthwhile, though I might not have the time to pick it up initially in a more busy life. They make my life better; having mental companions who love and care for me (and vice versa) and also are me is rather an improvement on the previous state. For some reason interacting with my own identity was an exception carved out to the general rule that people have inherent worth and dignity and should be treated accordingly. This is the major benefit so far: Giving my mind permission to see itself as a person helped me treat myself with compassion.