Is it weird to have an imaginary friend

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Sillylilgoober
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15 Feb 2024, 1:11 pm

Cuz I’m making imaginary friends and thinking of lore for them


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ocean
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15 Feb 2024, 1:14 pm

its fine...just dont tell anyone you know about it :nerdy:


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blitzkrieg
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15 Feb 2024, 1:17 pm

ocean wrote:
its fine...just dont tell anyone you know about it :nerdy:


:lol:



ToughDiamond
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15 Feb 2024, 4:39 pm

Probably less weird than being in a certain religion that a very large number of Americans belong to, because they have an imaginary friend and they don't think it's weird at all. But that's no reason to think it's safe to tell them about yours. They likely see their imaginary friend as an exception to the usual rule. To my mind, you have the advantage that you know your imaginary friend is imaginary, but to their minds, that might not help much.

But weirdness tends to be in the eye of the weirded-out, i.e. it's all rather subjective. I wouldn't start talking to an imaginary friend in the presence of others, unless they were extremely non-judgemental people. Nor would I mention it to others unless they were fairly non-judgemental. Unfortunately a lot of people are judgemental.

Objectively, weird means "strange or extraordinary." I have no data but I strongly suspect it's a common thing even for secular people to have imaginary friends here and there to prop them up psychologically. It's just that most people don't like admitting it, so it looks more extraordinary than it is.

I often have dialogues with myself when I don't think anybody can hear me. That probably counts as a kind of imaginary friend, though I know it's all me really. I might make an assertion for the "other me" to see if "he" can knock any holes in it. So it feels useful for keeping my thinking rigorous, and it gives me a sense that I'm not alone, which is nice because I often feel lonely when I'm on my own.

I don't think of lore about "him" though, because I'm not that much of a lore person, though I enjoy such stuff as Tolkien and ancient myths well enough. I don't suppose it does you any harm as long as you don't permanently forget that you've made it all up. Fantasy can be good fun if real life is boring.



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16 Feb 2024, 5:44 pm

I don't think it's strange to have an imaginary friend at all. People are so two faced and flakey that sometimes it's better to have imaginary friends.


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16 Feb 2024, 5:50 pm

Not at all, most adults use religion as their excuse to maintain imaginary friends.


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Hokulea
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16 Feb 2024, 6:09 pm

I imagine it's ok.



ToughDiamond
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16 Feb 2024, 7:32 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:
I don't think it's strange to have an imaginary friend at all. People are so two faced and flakey that sometimes it's better to have imaginary friends.

Imaginary friends are great listeners. No matter how long I talk, mine never gets tired of my rants or loses focus on them.



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16 Feb 2024, 9:11 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
CockneyRebel wrote:
I don't think it's strange to have an imaginary friend at all. People are so two faced and flakey that sometimes it's better to have imaginary friends.

Imaginary friends are great listeners. No matter how long I talk, mine never gets tired of my rants or loses focus on them.


Lucky, I haven't even seen my imaginary friend in years. Probably's got better things to do.


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17 Feb 2024, 3:52 am

I used to have several when i was a child. I am not sure if it is abnormal when you are an adult



ezbzbfcg2
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17 Feb 2024, 4:04 am

Depends on how old you are.



cyberdad
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17 Feb 2024, 4:12 am

funeralxempire wrote:
Not at all, most adults use religion as their excuse to maintain imaginary friends.


Imaginary father figures



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17 Feb 2024, 4:37 am

cyberdad wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
Not at all, most adults use religion as their excuse to maintain imaginary friends.


Imaginary father figures


Weird how they're always abusive father figures.


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17 Feb 2024, 4:39 am

funeralxempire wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
Not at all, most adults use religion as their excuse to maintain imaginary friends.


Imaginary father figures


Weird how they're always abusive father figures.


The steppes weren't kind



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17 Feb 2024, 1:52 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
Not at all, most adults use religion as their excuse to maintain imaginary friends.

:lol: my friend calls jesus his wife's imaginary friend


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17 Feb 2024, 2:01 pm

I don't think it is fair to equate a persons idea of a creator of the universe that is a shared belief for millions, perhaps billions of people, with an imaginary friend that has a personality made up by a single individual.

Some people have no idea of things like the theory of evolution and never attain the thinking abilities to be able to think of anything other than God as being the creator of the universe. Other people are aware of the popular scientific theories about how the universe was created, but choose to reject them in favour of an idea that God did that.