religion and your views on your dolls.

I am a Christian, and as such I believe that everything I have is either directly or seemingly indirectly a gift from God. Because of this, I try to treat my possessions (and those of others) as well as I possibly can, and dolls are no exception. As for the "personalities" that come with dolls, I believe that we as humans tend to project our personal thoughts and ideas onto things that have a recognizably human form (and even some things that don't). I think that's why a lot of us talk to our dolls. It's not that we honestly think they can reply, so much as we could imagine what it would be like if they could carry on a conversation. I think it's along the same lines as personification in literature in a lot of cases.

I also think that some of it stems from our version of problem-solving. If I have a problem with another person, my first instinct is to talk it out and come to a solution that way. If my doll's being kicky, I'm probably going to tell it to stop it, even though at the end of the day it's resin held together with elastic and can in no way help whether or not it's kicking me in the face as I'm trying to put on its pants.

 

I think religion can contribute ones views on things. Some believe that they posses souls and should be taken cared of and respected. On Christianity, as kaschan said, is given by God. We take care of it because it is entrusted to us. At a tribe, things will be thought to have demons residing in them.
Most of it stems from the importance of taking care of ones possessions. Making it religious would implicate that the person should dedicate oneself into using it properly.

My dolls are mostly for artistic purposes~ It would be odd for me to talk to them. Giving praise or insults, maybe, but never to converse. XD

 

I've been reading the comments here... what an interesting thread! I mentally talk to my dolls all the time... not that I think they have souls... I think they represent the many faces of myself at some level.

 

Ditto!! I love the way you said that!

 

i am an atheist, i do not think myself nor my dolls have souls in the literal sense. however i believe in the "metaphorical" soul, which i would describe as being a persistent personality or character trait that, no matter how much someone changes, still resides within them. anyway...

just because i am not religious or spiritual, does not mean i don't have a hyper-active imagination. all my dolls have "personalities" but i recognize them for what they are - fictional characters that may or may not be reflections of different aspects of my psyche.

what LooLoo said is pretty much on the ball, i see dolls as inanimate objects without souls, but even with this knowledge i feel emotional and sentimental attachment to them, enough that when i was keeping my first BJD ever on my (low to the ground) bookshelf and she fell off flat on her face, i immediately burst into tears and couldn't stop crying because i was thinking about how much she must have "hurt" herself even though there was no damage to her face at all!

so, my imagination is strong enough to project and empathize with something that is "not real" feeling pain- but don't you do the same when you read a book or watch a movie with a character you really like, and that character gets injured, hurt or killed?

it's not a rational or logical behavior, but at least i am conscious of that fact. it is also part of human nature, in my opinion, and people who don't anthropomorphize and empathize with anything "unreal" at all are either very boring or potentially psychopathic.

edit: i also read a couple pages back into this thread and i really liked this quote from Nihmo which sums things up nicely...

 

I would probably describe myself as agnostic somewhat religious humanist - I don't know and don't really think it's possible to know whether Deities exist/beliefs are real, but I study ethics and philosophy and think it's really interesting to find out what other people believe.

I don't think my dolls have souls as such, but they represent characters in my stories who are completely fictional, though it's an interesting view that they could be vessels for wandering souls, even if I don't personally believe this happens, I think it's probably closer to Looloo's view, but some people would say that views like Leitan's are akin to Hindu and Buddhist views of a 'soul' as not being a soul at all (anatta) but having certain aspects of there character which are like an irreducible core, so you can get a different doll portraying the same character and they will differ slightly, but retain that core character - that's really similar to reincarnation.

yeah, I'm not sure where I'm going with this so I'm just gonna be quiet now :L.x

 

Can't really say for sure yet since I don't actually have a full doll yet. I have taken my DD head out and talked about her but not to her. I don't believe that they have or could have souls. Sentient beings have souls. I would say that animals have souls but not inanimate objects or even plants for that matter. I love trees but I don't believe there's a tree heaven.

Being that these are ASIAN ball jointed dolls I could understand why this is a relevant topic. From what I know about asian culture they're more apt to believe in spirits and such things. So a spirit be it good or bad possessing a doll wouldn't be much of a stretch in Asian cultures from what I know. Pardon me if I'm wrong. I think Christians, Jews, and Muslims are less likely to believe in such things. Possessions are a very real thing as are exorcisms. But those have to do with people being possessed, not inanimate objects, ie dolls. Will I say something to Power Girl once in a while (once she has a body), yeah probably. Will I think she hears it or finds deeper meaning in it, no.

 

I don't mix religion with dolls at all.
They are separate to me. For me dolls have personality, and yet they are dolls. No sould or any other way of being alive. They are a part of my imagination and are thinking, living aventurous there, but they do not as their plastic/resin/whatever selves. That is an interesting concept though.

 

To create my characters, I take bits and pieces of my own personality generally the less used bits, and I sort of glom them together and shape them into my character's mind and psyche, reminiscent of creating a Tulpa, but lacking the free will. I get dolls specifically to embody those minds I create, making my characters more lifelike than if they just stayed in my head

 

I wouldn't say I have a religion but I classify myself as a spiritual person. I believe that my dolls have souls, a lot of people who aren't into the hobby don't understand this and they often look at me as if I'm crazy but it's my own belief. I treat my dolls like real people because of this and yes, I occasionally talk to them but not all the time. It frustrates me sometimes when someone is dressing their doll and their rough with them but they say something like "Oh it's okay they can't feel it. They're just dolls." because to me they aren't just dolls. Sorry if I did a bit of ranting there .

 

To me, psammead's theory is close to what i feel, but it happens over time. That or it was there and i slowly began to learn my doll's personality?
then again, my mind is crackling since i love the theory, and yet the rational side of me hates me for it. Dreams can come true, that is correct, but most doesn't. No matter how much i dream of dragons, they will never come, no matter how much i dream of my dolls walking around beside me, they will not do so on their own accord.
I've often caught myself thinking of my dolls as little pieces of art. something that someone has poured their hearts into.. and that makes them alive to me! or atleast contain something more than the resin they're made of.
if anyone has seen DN angel i feel it's sort of like that. That art are made by people who realyl put their heart into it and gains a soul. Not sayingEVERYTHING gains a soul, since a can of soup isn't a piece of art, but a convienient way of keeping food fresh for a longer time and mass produced to satify all soupmakers that needs it on the shelf yesterday.

But thinking of me acutally not siding with anything religion, because i think most are most riddiculous because of the kind of bloodshed they've caused. I'm not saying all have done that, but christianity has a lot of blood on their hands among a lot of other religions and therefore i will not follow them when their motto is: love your kin, and then they don't and just kill everything and everyone they see as 'wrong'

But to me my dolls have life, i named them because you name your loved ones, and as a lot of people say, there are a lot of ways to love your doll, be it naming it and taking photos or talking with it and seeing it as a part of the family. I don't care, to me they're little pieces of art, little pieces of heaven that is here to make us happy, for us to care for in our own special way. Though i also know the story about Dolls as wandering souls that needs love or they go bad on you (Chuck! spooky doll) i don't realyl see it like that, but i like to think that if you care for them, and love them, they will also love you in some far of way. But i'm also very fast to give or guess personalities in things, like my last laptop who went PMS on me every month and burned it's own graphics card all the time (factory fault, but still made me think of it as a bitchy Lady)
And like you can't see the personality of a dog you casually walk by on the street, the owner knows it very well (depending on how deep their bond is ofcourse or if the dog is beaten into a no-personality robot, but assuming it's a well loved dog)