Yes, and no.
I'm a Little Dreamer so this explanation could get quite in depth, hmm...
Little Dreamer's are typecasted as having extraordinary imaginations, are infinitely creative, and supremely unfettered.
We come in two flavors, external and internal, I'm the former.
This means that my mind creates hallucinations externally.
I can create new objects within my mindscape and will them into being, where they become tangible, and fully interactive.
A good clear cut example is from nine years. I saw a painting that I liked online, but it was going to cost a lot of money to get a print of it, and at the time I was very young and poor, but I really wanted it, badly. Later that same day I noticed the painting on my bedroom wall. I'd been subconsciously bringing living beings into the world since childhood, but this was the first time that I'd subconsciously willed an object into being. So I took it down and hung it in the living room. To this day I still see it hanging there every time that I look at it, and I've previously taken pictures that reveal a blank wall. New visitors to my home always inquire about the nail sticking out of an otherwise blank, and suggest that I should hang a picture up there.
As to the imaginary individuals that live with, and follow me around. I am fully aware that they are imaginary, and consider all conversations with them to essentially be akin to thinking out loud. Since they only know what I know, it's impossible to have a meaningful conversation with any of them. It's been a long time since any of them have addressed, or spoken with me directly. Instead, they spend most of their time talking amongst themselves, coming and going as they please. Occasionally, one them will say something profound and I'll query them on it, which I consider a form of humoring myself.
Though most were subconsciously created to fulfill an important role, a few were consciously created on a whim, such as was the case with "Odric, Master Tactician" created with the looks and personality cast of "Count Dooku". I learned the important lesson that, if I wanted a hallucination to be more like the person they were hallucinating, I would to actually know a bit about that person first. So I done all the research needed, and it worked, but the result was very anti-climactic, which is why I've created so very few of them.
In case you were curious, yes, I can, among other things, kiss these hallucinations and it feels exactly like kissing an actual person. Sadly however, I learned the painfully hard way, that as tangible as they are, they cannot physically support my weight.
There's nothing quite like that feeling of slipping on ice, and instinctively grabbing hold of an hallucination for support.
I'd delete most of them if I could, but sadly I can only do so subconsciously, consciously I'm restricted to creating and modifying, though the older hallucinations are extremely difficult to mold, though it is possible. For example, the more bestial hallucinations, such as the Alien from Alien, and the Predator from Predator, that were horrifically frightening and nightmarish to me when I was a child... Have now developed quaint British accents, and can usually be found in the garden sitting legs crossed on the bench, having a very casual and laid back discussion about the local fauna and flora while sipping tea. They are very apologetic about the distress that they caused me as a child, and hope that we can move on from that very ugly business.
I generally view my hallucinations as being as positive part of my Autism, and attribute to them all the credit for why (among other things) I'm extremely good at rationalizing everything. For example, I believe that my hallucinations cannot harm me, because to do so would be harming themselves. It is thus in the best interests of all hallucinations to hold my security an welfare above all else, in order to secure the future for themselves. If I die, then they all die. Though they do adhere to it, this revelation did lead to many of my hallucinations having existential crisis', and questioning their very existence. Though they don't talk much about it now, I sense that for many these questions remain unanswered and weigh heavy on their minds.
Anyway, this post is getting really long, so I'm going to wrap it up here.
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Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment, but the last step on the path to salvation.Idealist wrote:
My Autism was cured/treated in late childhood (this makes me a walking, talking, contradiction to 90% of the Forum who all believe Autism is incurable)