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AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE for 04/24/2006
Vol. 2, #184
More on Tulpas
Recently, I discussed the fact that two points do not make a line but three do. Today I should like to take this a little further and explain some further things about tulpas. As we all know by now, a tulpa is not the simple result of a conjunction of forces, or a chromosomal intrareaction that repeats some of the forms from each of the different sides that happen, for whatever reason, to conjoin. I'm treating the subject as broadly as possible in order to narrow things down to a specific mode of living being that bypasses any biological mediation.
As I have explained many times in these columns, a tulpa is created by a kind of focused thought, a kind of emulation of a biological being of which the best description I can provide today lies in the notion I expressed a few weeks ago, "two points do not make a line, but three do." Looking at this notion more intently, it seems that biological life can occur out of the abstract reality of two points. That is two points which, in themselves are without focus, direction, purpose or meaning. Two points which are, in fact, the mere beginning of meaning, like the rudiments of a something still undefined, the basis, in a sense, of what we call desire. They are, in other words an expression of energy seeking unspecified form. This is the only way I know how to define "desire" at this initial stage. Were I a sage, or a visionary I might be able to do better. But I do know that these two points are real, they are not abstractions, and the expression of their reality in terms of presence, morphic structure and intention are, at most, a kind of reaching out toward a third point. Hence we understand that two points do not make a line. They are, at most the lineaments of desire, which is that third point necessary for the creation of a line. A line is tangible, visible, can be located and ficused in any of a variety of ways. It becomes itself as the tangible action of thought which, in effect, lies in its attachment to two points. We can describe two points but cannot locate them or predicate anything of them, desire in its most rudimentary form, the urge to come into being.
Now all this may sound very abstract. It's no more than a kind of self yearning, or better yet, the yearning for selfhood, or a third point and a line. What about the process itself? Consider that this description is simply thought. And consider further that the joining of thought and desire brings with it what we can now call form. Yes, a kind of birth. From what we know of tulpas, they are the product of mental concentration, of imagining, driven by desire. What we do know too is that concentration by a biological mind can be weak or strong in desire and sometimes powerful and just as likely weak, a flash of fancy from which emerges an actual independent being, a line, if you like, or a complex, forceful, organized self, a congeries of thought, feeling and purpose and everything else in between.
In all the literature available to us about tulpas we learn of some who barely exist, fluttering in and out of existence, of others that specialize in emotion, and still others that are powerful and remarkable personalities such that in Tibet the practice of erasing a tulpa once it has been created is not always successful. While in some sense, they all remain dependent on their creators for a kind of sustaining force, very few manage to control that sustaining force through the action of a strong, independent ego. In earlier columns and elsewhere, I have indicated that concatenations of high purpose and power can sometimes occur when, a tulpa having somehow originated, it falls into other controlling hands, picks up new force and purpose through the combining effect of many creators, through groupings of desire not only of single individuals but multiple personalities and even mass beliefs as expressed in the power of patriotism, religion or love, or all similar powerful feelings defined by many creative personalities sharing a single purpose.
In a previous column, I indicated that Superman, having been created by one man, and then reshaped and reformed by many other strong personalities has tended to blend desire and power into an incalubly powerful force that is beyond the control of any single one of its creators. Great tulpic forces have appeared in history before, bursting out of conditions of quiet and simplicity like a cyclone bursting through the calm of a sunny prairie day. Is it possible to think that a weak, essentially pusillanimous personality like Adolph Hitler simply grew out of himself? Is it possible to think that any great human historical tide owes anything to such simple beginnings? Always, there is a concatenation of other forces that go into the shaping of these vast, powerful human movements. And in fact, if you look carefully, today especially, a number of these cyclonic events seem to be shaping up across the entire globe, not only among men, but in nature itself. How to confront such forces is considerably beyond my capacity. But it's helpful to know that not only do tulpas exist, but they do so in great numbers, mostly in pewling personalities that fade away quickly, often in the capriciousness of day to day events in which things follow one another without apparent rhyme or reason.
Many of the strange events I've described in these columns can be ascribed to tulpic action. I keep looking for more, and sometimes finding them. There's so much more to this creation, as it were, of a line that in calling your attention to it, I ask you to bring to the Round Table your own thoughts and experiences in the matter. I can assure you that you've had them but too often have shrugged and let them all pass. Instead, take notice and tell us about it. You'll find we may have opened up a very interesting path.
--Alvin
<< 04/10/2006 | 04/24/2006 | 05/29/2006 >>
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