Autonomous entity

An autonomous entity is the experience of perceived contact with hallucinated beings that appear to be sentient and autonomous in their behaviour. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]} These entities can manifest within both external and internal hallucinations. ^[8]

Autonomous entities will frequently act as the inhabitants of a perceived independent reality. ^[7] They most commonly appear alone but can also often be within small or large groups alongside of other entities. While some entities do not seem to be aware of a person's presence, others are often precognizant of a person's appearance into their realm and usually choose to interact with them in various ways. For example, they will often display behaviours such as showing a person around the realm that they inhabit, presenting them with objects, holding spontaneous celebrations of their arrival, engaging them in conversation, merging into and out of the person's body or consciousness, and attempting to impart knowledge of various kinds.

Entities can take any form, but certain archetypes are present and commonly include:

Humans, ^{[4] [9]} shadow people, bodiless super intelligent humanoids, aliens, ^{[4] [9]} elves, ^[4] animals, ^{[4] [9]} giant spheres, insectoids, ^{[4] [9]} beings of light, anthropomorphic beings, ^{[4] [9]} plants, ^{[4] [9]} conscious inanimate objects, fictional characters, cartoons, robotic machines, gods, ^[4] demigods, goddesses, bio-mechanical intelligences, hooded figures, demons, indescribable monstrosities, spirits, ^[4] angels, ^[4] shamans, ghosts, souls, ancestors, fantastical or mythological beasts, glitch creatures, and more.

The appearance, personality, and behaviour of an autonomous entity often correlates with the psychological state of the person experiencing it. For example, a person with a positive mindset will more commonly experience loving, kind, and healing entities. In contrast, a person with a negative mindset may experience hateful, sinister, and mocking entities.

In terms of their overall visibility and clarity, this effect is capable of manifesting itself across the 3 different levels of intensity described below:

The experience of seeing autonomous entities is also often accompanied by other coinciding effects such as geometry, ^[5] internal hallucinations, and delusions. It is most commonly induced under the influence of heavy dosages of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. However, it can also occur under the influence of stimulant psychosis, with extreme sleep deprivation, or during dreams.

Communication Styles

Autonomous entities can communicate with a person via a combination of spoken word, “telepathy”, conceptual thoughts, choreographed movements, mathematics, and geometry-based visual linguistics that generally consist of morphing coloured structures of different textures that are innately understandable as representations of specific concepts. They will often convey insights regarding overcoming personal issues within a person’s life and will occasionally help clarify philosophical or spiritual ideas. However, more often than not, entities are very likely to speak in a cryptic or nonsensical manner that seems to have no clear meaning behind it.

It is important to note that autonomous entities can never convey novel information to the person experiencing them. For example, they cannot provide insights about the external world that a person did not already know on some level. Instead, they can only provide alternative perspectives and help build upon existing ideas. This is presumably because autonomous entities do not have access to any knowledge not already contained within one's conscious or subconscious memories.

When communicated with through spoken word, the level of coherency in which these entities can communicate with is highly variable but can be broken down into five distinct levels. These are described and listed below:

Personality Types

Autonomous entities will often embody at least one of a few approximate personality types. Although there is considerable overlap between them, these personality types can typically be identified primarily through their behaviour, their appearance, and an innate sense of their character that is often felt during the interaction.

The individual types are broken down and described within the four separate categories listed below:

Representations of characters

This personality type can be described as a seemingly sentient representation of any hallucinatory character that the brain has either spontaneously generated during the trip or was already aware of at a prior time. These entities can include newly hallucinated characters of any sort, people that the person has met in real life, people that the person is aware of as existing in the real world, or characters from fictional media. These entities will usually adopt an appropriate personality and set of mannerisms to fit the chosen concept with an impressive degree of detail. An example of this might be meeting an insectoid mantis like creature that is playing the role of a shamanic teacher and acting accordingly. Another might include meeting the hallucination of a deceased loved one or a currently living family friend.

Representations of ideas and concepts

This personality type can be described as a seemingly sentient representation of any known concept or idea. These specific concepts could include personified representations of abstract ideas, events, and emotions. An example of this might be meeting a mocking jester that feels and acts as if it represents one's own insecurities. Another might include meeting a group of hooded figures that feel as if they represent the very concept of organized religion itself.

Representations of the subconscious

This personality type can be described as an entity that may take any visible form, but is also subjectively perceived to be an autonomous controller behind the continuous generation of the details of the person’s current hallucinations. They may also be felt to simultaneously control or manage one’s current perspective, personality, and internally stored model of reality. When interacted with, this category of entity can often possess abilities that allow them to directly alter and manipulate one’s current experiences. They commonly want to teach or guide the person and will operate under the assumption that they know what is best for them. However, although a relatively common experience, it still cannot be known whether this type of autonomous entity is genuinely a representation of the "subconscious" or is merely an approximation that behaves in a convincing manner.

Representations of the self

This personality type can be described as a direct copy of one’s own personality. It can take any visible form, but when conversed with, it clearly adopts an identical vocabulary and set of mannerisms to one’s own consciousness. This entity will often take on a similar appearance to oneself, but could theoretically take on any other appearance too. During this experience, there is also a distinct feeling that one's own consciousness is somehow being mirrored and duplicated into the hallucinated autonomous entity that is being interacted with.