Hello steemians and welcome to part two of the series that will only leave you questioning. Defining the mind might be an impossible task, but it's I think it is one worth pursuing.

So. Is consciousness divisible?

Well... maybe. We have all heard of people with multiple personality disorder, in serious cases separate personalities can take on complete lives of their own, and one won't remember what it was the others did. Is this a case of sharing a head with another mind, or just a case of one mind switching between identities?

Now we shall travel to the land of children and Buddhism. Everyone has heard of children creating imaginary friends, and most people just label it pretend, but did you know adults have done it to?

Ancient Buddhists referred to their imaginary friends as Tulpas, and they are far from pretend. Though in the beginning the practice involved much imagination, they got to the point where they could see their tulpa move, and hear it speak apparently of its own volition. The consciousness of tulpas could be so convincing that some believed they weren't really a creation of their mind, but that they were actually possessed by a god.

Crazy right?

Well... not so much. If you think about it, we all have imaginary friends don't we? Most dreams usually feature a character other then "you", and the interactions with them can be as complex as anything you or I can have. Like tulpas these dream characters seem to possess wills and even lives of their own.

Are they fleeting partitions of our consciousness, living their lives inside of our dreams? Do they know that their just a creation of our dreams? I dont know man, but maybe you should think twice before telling your dream people or a childs imaginary friend they dondon't exist.

Image credits: First Second