Interesting to see them mention tulpas here. It's always been a bit of a meme online, but I knew a pretty tenured hypnotist who was utterly terrified of the things. He'd seen tulpas cause irreversible psychological damage to the people who adopted them, where many people would become completely attached to a character or particular fiction in their head. This could cause them to act out involuntarily, induce constant paranoia or even completely alter their perception of reality. He figures the human brain is simply not meant for multiple inhabitants, and I'm inclined to agree. Hearing the occasional story of a person who's gotten in too far with tulpas just makes me sad, particularly because there's no real easy "fix" for it. Oftentimes, people wall themselves in to an altered reality and refuse to leave, be it by their own volition, or even another's.
Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
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Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#12Interesting how occult concepts like astral travel (reality shifting) and familiars & daemons (tulpamancy) are getting recycled without the Victorian baggage.
Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#13Interesting to see them mention tulpas here. It's always been a bit of a meme online, but I knew a pretty tenured hypnotist who was utterly terrified of the things. He'd seen tulpas cause irreversible psychological damage to the people who adopted them, where many people would become completely attached to a character or particular fiction in their head. This could cause them to act out involuntarily, induce constant…
From reading around the subject there seems to be a weird intersection between the My Little Pony fandom, Tulpas, and some of the more unusual sexual proclivities.
I actually know an exorcist from a mainline church; I should ask him what he makes of it.
Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#14That's lots of undead bodies to support; a huge market potential for BSaaS (body-support-as-a-service).
But there can arise a conflict of acronyms, because Bull-Shit-as-a-Science is already alive and kicking.
Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#15The only novel part of this is the particular way that kids talk about it with each other on the internet. The activity itself is the same old stuff.
Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#16Interesting how occult concepts like astral travel (reality shifting) and familiars & daemons (tulpamancy) are getting recycled without the Victorian baggage.
i think in the last 5-6 years we've seen in western/anglosphere culture a growing surge of interest in both occult stuff, like you say, or occultish New Age stuff (astrology) as well as renewed interest in the old organised religions among younger people. at the very least there is a willingness to hold a "live and let live" attitude toward the spiritual beliefs of others.
of course this is just a hunch and other people's anecdata might say otherwise, but i tend to think it could be a swing of the pendulum or "backlash" from New Atheist influence in the discourse in the 2000s and early 2010s.
Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#17Many young females report joining Draco Malfoy as his girlfriend. Draco is a fictional character from the Harry Potter series, characterized as a cowardly bully who tricks and hurts people to get what he wants, a cunning user of magic.
Were people paid to write this paper?
It sounds like their research was browsing wattpad and reddit for an afternoon.
Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#18Interesting how occult concepts like astral travel (reality shifting) and familiars & daemons (tulpamancy) are getting recycled without the Victorian baggage.
It's funny because those things were couching certain phenomena (chiefly, being able to imagine things and, perhaps to an extent, hallucination due to external factors) into terms compatible with the dominant beliefs of the time (magicks of all sorts) while this is somewhat couched in the ideas of rationality and science, at least "reality shifting."
Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#19What a fascinating paper!
Somewhat sad that one of the top fantasies for young women is to be partnered to a cruel and abusive Draco Malfoy. I'm guessing it is an extension of bad boy syndrome.
Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture
#20Interesting how occult concepts like astral travel (reality shifting) and familiars & daemons (tulpamancy) are getting recycled without the Victorian baggage.
i think in the last 5-6 years we've seen in western/anglosphere culture a growing surge of interest in both occult stuff, like you say, or occultish New Age stuff (astrology) as well as renewed interest in the old organised religions among younger people. at the very least there is a willingness to hold a "live and let live" attitude toward the spiritual beliefs of others. of course this is just a hunch and other peo…
The mystical stuff cycles around about every 25 years, but comes in from a different direction each time. The last boom was around the millennium.
As for the traditional religion, my guess is it's traditionalism in response to the increase in cultural warfare we've seen recently.