"Other World" tendency

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I was milling about on Youtube a while ago and came upon a video of a young lady describing the autistic tendency to produce and inhabit a purely mental "other world." Here is the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T10V4xoE8I . I realized that I have something like my own world, but I often use this capacity for rendering situations that might happen in the real world (more on that later).

I inquire whether or not anyone on here has his/her own separate world and would care to describe it. What is it like? Are you a character there? What are the characters like? Are you the narrator? A god? The God? Do you control what happens there? Is it anything like the real world at all, or is it purely of your own creation? Can it even be described in words or is it essentially incomprehensible to outsiders? How many observable dimensions are there in it (can you see more than three as in our world)? Is this a world of people, places and objects/ideas or is it something else entirely? A mathematical/geometric world? What language is it in, if any? Do the characters even speak at all? Do you have one or many worlds that you may switch between? Are the laws governing the universe there the same as ours here in our universe? JUST TELL ME EVERYTHING!! !

I will go first: I have about three main worlds that I spend time in. I typically think of these worlds in the shower or on long car rides. The characters speak English and what little Spanish I happen to know. The first is in Africa, on a grassy plane in which there is an eternal sunset (thus the sky is a light scarlet color and the clouds are of a goldish hue). The premise is that I (a character in the story) have made my fortune and assembled a team of individuals to establish a new country in the most lawless place on Earth. The team and I arrived and live in great red Zeppelins, with all of the supplies to modernize a settlement. We have descended upon a small shanty town and have presented ourselves to the natives. Soon thereafter we begin to build schools and sturdy structures, teaching the natives how to do so the whole way. We employ techniques of architecture never before used in modern settlements. Structures are built with a material similar to canned string, but much more rigid. This structure is then overlain in concrete for strength. All lighting is done inductively with tuned Tesla coils and resonant circuits on the individual lights to catch the signal current. The team and I build schools and teach the inhabitants the sciences and mathematics. We also establish factories to produce raw materials to later erect a wall around our new city. The wall is then fortified with a number of artillery style chemical weapons. This is about as far as I have gotten on this world. There is still no police force, plumbing, justice system, power generation system, water sanitation, etc. but I am working on it.

The second is a post apocalyptic version of the town that I live in. The cataclysm that caused it is not described, but the premise is such that we have gathered all of the resources that we can and are trying to make a sort of city-state out of our still-intact town. We have an established army with whatever firearms they happen to have on hand, and a few electroshock weapons (that I have produced). We have built a wall around the town and grow our own food on what used to be the golf courses, and have rice paddies where there were once marshy water retention spaces. I am not an interactive character here, but I do have some limited efficacy. This world is not very detailed, as the previously stated is about as far as I have gotten on it.

The last world I use to solve physics problems. It is a world with actual objects on a two-dimensional, vertically oriented plane (with respect to the observer). The backdrop is black, and the whole place is dimly lit. There is no sound save for the equations and mathematical concepts that I whisper and mumble in my mind as I watch the situations play out. Most of the time this world allows me to gather my thoughts and figure out the best solution to an engineering problem or a physics problem, and according to my average in AP Physics C, it works pretty well most of the time.

Okay, your turn...

I thought for years I was the only person who did this. I have a futuristic/medievally city (futuristic in design and tech level, with some very medieval-fantasy type architecture), with a great citadel at the center where my 'muses' (usually fictional characters ~waves little 'fan-geek' flag~) and I live... there's mountains and woods nearby, and a beach, and we take annual 'road trips' to events like Pennsic War and Burning Man (probably nothing like the actual events save for the general feel, because out here in 'meatspace', as I call it, I've attended neither event). I'm a sorceress there, and although I'm equally protective of my meatspace and headspace friends, my inner world is where I can actually leap to their defence if need be. I'm the proper species in there too... ~heh~ I wonder just how many Aspies and autists consider themselves Otherkin?

As an adult, my "worlds" consist of "The X-Files," "Star Trek," and a cop show I enjoy.

I mentally re-watch episodes, or parts of episodes, I enjoy, or I rearrange the characters and story lines. This is generally what I' doing when I'm stimming or staring off into space.

As for creating my own stuff, it's mostly piecemeal and comes in bits and parts. I get flashes, but I don't have any coherent "plot lines," per se. But I do enjoy designing worlds and creating different cultures, but I can't seem to invent actual characters to inhabit them. I also can't seem to write fiction unless provided with a specific prompt. I prefer creative non-fiction.

Hrm. Maybe my imagination really does suck.

I do that too. I don't really talk about it much and don't think I ever talked about it with real life people. I think if I did it would make my fantasy world sound silly and stupid and maybe make people think I'm crazy.

My fantasy world is mostly based on the real world but has things in it like vampires and some other stuff that doesn't exist in the real world. It is inhabited by my other self that I made up and various tv show characters that I like.

All excellent entries, but still none with a theoretical/geometric premise. Come on folks, let's see how many "worlds" there are out there.

I do this but I never knew it was an Autistic trait.

But I have a tough time getting into my "Other World" when I'm in a very deep depression and I can't think straight or even use my imagination constructively.


I don't really considered it separate from my real life - I mean, it's where my brain is sometimes, and I'm on auto-pilot in the real world much of the time. I zone out, and I'm totally here.


I love those moments right before I fall asleep - that's when my Other World is the most vivid.

For a few years, I kind of lived in Stephen Donaldson's Land (from the Thomas Covenant series(s)). Also, Middle Earth. LOL
My own version tends to show up in my poetry. Hard to explain, but I do this a lot when I'm heavily stimming. I also "Live in" music I really like. This I did when I ran, I could play my favorite rock songs word for word, and blot out most other things aside from my movement.

Sincerely,
Matt

my mental world tends to really only be active when I am falling asleep or waking up. Its usually the Marvel Universe, although ive had a gundam one and a walking dead one happen already.

I don't know. I know I used to read non-stop, and a lot of what I loved was fantasy & some sci-fi. I was/am really into Anne Mccaffrey--I love how extensive and detailed her book series are. I really really like Star Trek a lot, too (ever since I was a kid).

Not sure if it's relevant but I've had recurring dreams about imaginary locations in the real world since I was a kid, ones that I have a pretty strong attachment to but haven't been able to figure out.

I have a parallel universe, but it appears in dreams, not while daydreaming.

Well during dreams I'll spend time in cities that are named after north american cities but look abstract. They're usually shaped very weird.

But I like to day dream about the future and real things that could potentially happen. But it's things like me living in new york, working at Wall Street or something. But whose to say I can't do that?

That's actually similar to how my parallel universe is. That's funny.

Excellent, I had not considered recurring or continuous dreams as a manifestation of this tendency, but please try to keep discussion more in the realms of places in your mind that you consciously choose to go to.

Alright, I'll leave this discussion.