Zashiki Warashi: Imaginary Friend or Foe (9/18/24)

A recent Hollywood trend has showcased the childhood custom of imagination. Movies like IF, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and Imaginary all tap into the fantasy of childhood, and the potential horrors in the latter case. It’s estimated by a report in Psychology Today that by age 7, about 37% of children have Imaginary friends. Sometimes they are animals, other times they are human with varying genders, and other times they are unidentified but speak different languages. The obvious question is whether children are using their imaginations or are the target of supernatural forces. In Ancient Rome there were household deities who were kept and honored for the protections they offered to the home. Inanimate objects in Rome were supposedly brought to life with their own spirit called NUMEN. This is a belief shared by the Japanese with both KAMI and YOKAI, and the famous Hakkiyagyo procession or Kamikakushi. The household spirits of Rome were called Zashiki Warashi in Japan, and they would both protect a home and befriend children to sing songs and play games. In countless horror movies we may recall children talking to spirits in the home before bad things begin to happen. The playful nature of children indicates a level of emotional intelligence separate from logical critical thinking intelligence. Their ability to play imaginary friend is vastly different than the large percentage of adults who may not have any ability at all to imagine or hold inner dialogue. A small recent study published in Psychological Science suggested that 1/10 have no inner speech. Based on the work of Russell Hurlburt, it’s estimated that 30-50% of the public has no inner dialogue. They therefore struggle with language, memory, and other things. This has given rise to the idea of the NPC Theory that up to half the population is nothing more than robotic computer-controlled beings. Perhaps the imaginary friends of childhood take possession of the child and push out the newly formed soul-body so that the growing human never develops any sense of self - they are spiritually dead and the body is left only seeking pleasures in the activities of demons. Correlation is not causation but with about 30% of kids having imaginary friends and 30% of adults having no internal dialogue, perhaps there is a connection - especially when we separate real imagination from the supernatural. Those adults then act as automatons. Perhaps that is also why all over the world sacred texts inform us to stay away from certain meats, because they could pollute our body, i.e., place parasites inside of us. -FREE ARCHIVE & RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-secret-teachings Twitter: https://twitter.com/TST___Radio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesecretteachings WEBSITE (BOOKS, RESUBSCRIBE for early show access): http://thesecretteachings.info Paypal: [email protected] CashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: [email protected] / [email protected] a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tst-radio--5328407/support.