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Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

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Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#31

Post by thisiswater »

smoldesu wrote: post #11

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…

This is interesting, because my (more literary than scientific) understanding of ego development includes becoming aware of an 'inner tribe' or 'multiple voices' inside one's mind which simultaneously are and aren't the self, to differing degrees. Integrating these voices, allowing them to discuss with each other, et cetera has been a method which allows great insight into problems where reaching a solution was blocked by a limited perspective.

Accessing these voices is invaluable for writing fiction, perhaps the difference with a tulpa is the level of reality and influence ascribed to a single 'not-me' voice?

I also see the ability to have an internal Socratic dialogue as requiring a kind of ego-splitting, in a way that could be conceptualized as a tulpa asking (often surprising) questions.

Very abstract and hard to talk about stuff, I hope that makes sense.

Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#33

Post by codezero »

Interesting. I have been doing this for decades but I absolutely started to get more intentional and in depth during the pandemic.

I’ve never been good in social situations and I generally avoid them, and I used this kind of day dreaming to play out various scenarios like a decision tree to “workshop” how to interact with specific people, and it has served me well for practical purposes, but I started using it more for “fun” since the pandemic.

Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#34

Post by codezero »

theshadowknows wrote: post #6

Wow, and here I am dropping cash on weed and shrooms like a chump. I’ll be honest, this strikes me as similar to the whole binaural sounds thing…I tried that way back in high school and got nothing from it but my friend swore it was elevating. I won’t knock it, I’m sure some people really do get something out of it and who and I to say otherwise. I might even try it some time. But shrooms haven’t ever let me down. So…

If you can learn to focus in your day dreaming, weed can make it much more fun, I can’t speak for shrooms but I suspect if you can handle the hallucination it may be additive to the experience.

Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#35

Post by eightails »

In a way it reminds me of being engrossed in reading, in that there's an almost complete suspension of awareness of the outside world in favour of the fictional one. The fact that RS users report writing detailed scripts seems to support this:

> Before I plan on shifting, I write myself a script in the notes app on my phone, in which I plan exactly what happens in the desired reality. This makes it easier to visualize exactly what I want to happen

I suppose one difference is that in reading, you (or I, at least) tend to also dissociate the self somewhat in favour of the main character in the novel, whereas RS users seem to retain their sense of self.

Following this train of thought, I wonder if reading could itself be considered a kind of meditation?

This sort of thing is so interesting from a psychological perspective, is a shame it has to come laden with bogus rationalisations via the occult or pop-quantum physics, which just provides an avenue for easy dismissal of the effect.

Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#36

Post by jimmygrapes »

spats1990 wrote: post #16
bencollier49 wrote: post #12

Interesting 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…

I interact very often with young people both online and in reality (barring the article's mention of several such things), and I see the same trends you mention. Some of it has always been mostly the purview of youth, such as interest in exploring known religions and inventing "new" ideas about the whys and hows of existence. Specific topics such as renewed interest in tulpamancy, dream interpretation, and chaos magic[k] I think can be traced roughly to a reflection of modern society: a desire to make sense of and control a world in which you have increasingly less control. As populations and communications grow, the signal to noise ratio that any given person experiences increases, leading to less sense of "I know what is what".

Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#37

Post by codezero »

nynx wrote: post #3

This paper is worth reading, the whole reality shifting thing (and related concepts like tulpamancy) is a very interesting psychological phenomenon.

I learned about tulpas in the pandemic and it absolutely terrified me as a concept. I encourage anyone who hasn’t heard of it to look it up or go down the Reddit rabbit hole for a bit.

Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#38

Post by jimmygrapes »

theshadowknows wrote: post #6

Wow, and here I am dropping cash on weed and shrooms like a chump. I’ll be honest, this strikes me as similar to the whole binaural sounds thing…I tried that way back in high school and got nothing from it but my friend swore it was elevating. I won’t knock it, I’m sure some people really do get something out of it and who and I to say otherwise. I might even try it some time. But shrooms haven’t ever let me down. So…

I'd recommend seeking out a copy of the original HemiSync recordings and follow along at least for the first 3-5 of them. I was skeptical and had no results from other binaural beat and similar things, but HemiSync blew me away.

Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#39

Post by Le_Dook »

vsareto wrote: post #9
mensetmanusman wrote: post #4

Also known as having an imagination. I remember doing this on bus rides to better understand quake levels.

I’m thinking being able to replay worlds or map geometry like your brain is rendering it live is more rare and maybe this is teaching it a bit. No one’s ever quizzed me on how many details (big and small) I could get right though.

Reminds of Maths class in school when our teacher got us to try visualising and manipulating a 3D object in our mind. Very few were able to do it, which surprised me a lot.

Re: Reality shifting: an emergent online daydreaming culture

#40

Post by depressedpanda »

Le_Dook wrote: post #39
vsareto wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m thinking being able to replay worlds or map geometry like your brain is rendering it live is more rare and maybe this is teaching it a bit. No one’s ever quizzed me on how many details (big and small) I could get right though.

Reminds of Maths class in school when our teacher got us to try visualising and manipulating a 3D object in our mind. Very few were able to do it, which surprised me a lot.

What kind of object? Visualize and manipulate how?

I tried imagining a cube, rotated it and then morphed it into a tetrahedron, which wasn't too difficult, but perhaps it was more complicated than that?

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