Figshare
January 28, 2026
Mark Lemon
Conscious experience can be understood as a process mediated by an aperture—a bandwidth of awareness—that operates over an invariant geometric structure. The model proposes a twelve-fold toroidal thoughtform that can be partitioned into focal lenses, each describable as an archetypal attractor, phase sector, symmetry class, or developmental band. A central control parameter, aperture, regulates the balance between differentiation and integration, producing distinct experiential octaves. Consciousness units aggregate into metastable configurations depending on aperture width, forming gestalts whose scale matches the active bandwidth. Subjective experience occurs within these constraints rather than being generated by content alone. The framework is interdisciplinary and designed for future formalization and empirical operationalization.
Schizophr Bull
February 1, 2023
Tanya M Luhrmann, Ben Alderson-Day, Ann Chen et al.
In communities where hearing voices is common and expected, people are taught cultural models to identify and explain voice-like events. These communities share common features: they teach discernment to accurately identify the legitimate voice of a spirit or being, and they use two methods to enable experiencing spirits—trained attention to inner experience and repeated speech to the invisible other. The ability to hear spirits becomes more skilled with practice, and what is heard becomes clearer over time. Despite shared cultural ideas, individual variation in experience exists, some possibly reflecting psychotic process. Voice-like events may be shaped by cognitive expectation, trained practice, and an experiential pathway.
Monstrum
January 31, 2023
Aiden Tait
The article analyzes how the animated series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated addresses H.P. Lovecraft's problematic cultural legacy, particularly his racism, by using the concepts of intergenerational trauma and tulpas. It argues that the show reframes Lovecraftian horror to critique inherited prejudices and the cyclical nature of trauma in America, suggesting that confronting these monstrous legacies requires acknowledging their origins rather than simply defeating them. The analysis connects the series' narrative to broader sociological and historical discussions of how media can tackle and transform problematic cultural inheritances.
Psychology of China
January 1, 2023
Mi Jiawen, Jia Peiyu
Imaginary companions—unseen characters or objects children name and interact with—have been studied since the early 1900s and are common among children. Recent international research shows that a notable proportion of adolescents and adults also experience imaginary companions. This review covers the concept and prior research, examines the feasibility and value of studying imaginary companions in older age groups, introduces a new form called tulpa found in adolescents and adults, and outlines future research directions.
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry
November 8, 2021
Emma Palmer‐cooper, Nicola Mcguire, Abigail C. Wright
6 citations
In non-clinical groups, unusual sensory experiences like those in Tulpamancy and ASMR communities are not linked to stronger metacognitive beliefs, but having multiple such experiences is associated with higher hallucination-proneness. Tulpamancers who also experience ASMR scored higher on hallucination-proneness than controls, while Tulpamancers reported lower endorsement of metacognitive beliefs. No differences emerged in delusion-proneness, self-reflection, or self-schemas across groups. Metacognition influences unusual experiences in non-clinical populations, and the relationship varies by group. Improving metacognition in clinical populations may help reduce distress tied to unusual sensory experiences.
May 11, 2020
Anna E Martin, Bailey Thompson, Steven L. Lancaster
preprint
People who create imagined sentient companions called tulpas report positive experiences with them. Contrary to the prediction that host and tulpa personalities would complement each other, they were more similar. Certain personality traits of both host and tulpa were linked to how satisfied the host felt in the relationship. The tulpa-host relationship may serve as a beneficial mechanism in the host's life.
Research in psychology and behavioral sciences
September 24, 2017
Jacob J. Isler
8 citations
The paper challenges the assumption that only one self exists in each brain, arguing that deviations from mental singularity are often stigmatized and pathologized. It examines tulpamancy, a set of meditative techniques for creating autonomous, conscious entities (tulpas) within the mind. Survey results from the online tulpa community show that over 50% of respondents report a mental illness, and many report improvements in mental health and cognition, especially those with mental or neurodevelopmental disorders. The findings reinforce a correlation between tulpa creation and perceived mental health improvements, with no evidence of a causal link to psychopathology. Tulpas appear compatible with optimal functioning, happiness, and mental health.
Peter Lang eBooks
July 11, 2016
Jerzy Kamionowski, Jacek Partyka
The authors argue that the term originally coined by Edwin Ardener and Elaine Showalter has expanded well beyond its initial scope. They contend that this fluidity or fuzziness is beneficial, because in a rapidly changing contemporary world it is language that must adapt to new circumstances and developments, not the reverse.
Nova Religio
August 1, 2015
Natasha L. Mikles, Joseph P. Laycock
The concept of the tulpa, a being that starts in imagination but becomes real and sentient, is commonly attributed to Tibetan Buddhism but actually owes more to Theosophy. The article traces the idea's murky origins to a dialogue between East and West, where Theosophical metaphysics merged with terms borrowed from Tibetan Buddhism, beginning with Alexandra David-Néel's 1929 book.
Psychology
January 1, 2014
David Klugman
Thoughtforms are defined as recurring patterns of thinking that shape psychic life. Drawing on clinical and theoretical evidence, the author argues that dominant thoughtforms can be replaced by new ones, and that this displacement constitutes the fundamental process of growth in both everyday life and psychotherapy.