These imaginary friends have a name in Buddhist esoteric tradition: Tulpas.

A Tulpa is a being or object created through visualization and mental discipline. In modern usage, it often refers to an autonomous entity or consciousness, an imaginary friend or companion brought into existence through focused mental effort.

It is said that Tulpas can act on behalf of the person they are connected to and even affect the world around them. So when a child talks to an imaginary friend, they may be instinctively tapping into something ancient and powerful.

But as we grow, these “childish” things are conditioned out of us by a sensible, rational society. In that process, we are robbed of something vital: our power to imagine, to create, to connect with unseen forces.

And yes, God might also be an imaginary friend. But the thing is, these “imaginary friends” may have far more reality than we give them credit for.

After all, a thoughtform believed in, worshipped, and visualized by billions across centuries is not just an idea. That belief gives it reality.

When a Christian speaks to Jesus, they are speaking to something real. Not necessarily the man who walked the Earth two thousand years ago, but the being shaped by every prayer, painting, gospel, and act of devotion since. The Jesus figure we know today is less a historical man than a living psychic presence.

This is very much like a Tulpa. But more accurately, it is what occult traditions call an egregore.

An egregore is an autonomous psychic entity born from the collective thoughts, emotions, and beliefs of a group. It is a kind of group consciousness, formed through ritual, myth, and devotion, that can take on a life of its own and in turn influence the people who created it.

And he is quite real. Children with an imaginary friend, knows this well.