Hey,

I'm a bit late to this particular conversation, but I thought I'd chime in. I'm glad you guys are talking about it, because coming from you it hopefully sounds more real... you know, so it's not just us adults ranting about these things.

(2024-04-05 13:56)Aspen on Pawrs Wrote:  2) I agree with that to. I do feel like a lot of newly awakened therians who don’t have a real grasp on what therianthropy is resort to gear and quads to sort of prove that they are “a real therian”, especially if they have only learned about therians from YouTube and TikTok. At least in my experience that’s what I’m seeing. But don’t get me wrong, gear and quads aren’t bad at all and can be super fun!

I think we all wanted to prove we were really therians back when we were young. But if someone can't find anything other than gear and quads (which anyone can do) to do so, then probably they're not actually a therian and are just trying to be part of the trend on tiktok.

I've been told many times that nobody is trying to be part of therian community because they want to be a therian but aren't... but is that really true? With all the things I've seen over the years (I've been a member of the therian community for 20+ years), I feel like I have seen so many people doing exactly that.

(2024-07-20 5:15)WanderingForests Wrote:  

(2024-07-20 2:31)ArisazuTheRodent Wrote:  So happy I see others who actually agree with me! I’m glad I found this post.

I don’t really have much to add, since you guys pretty much said all the points I wanted to say, but another thing I wanted to add was the theriotype edits and animations of past life memories. I know it’s not that prominent in the community, but I still see it and it bothers me. The most common thing seems to be being run over by a car. I get that for some species, but there was one that I saw where it was a serval that got run over by a car. First off, that is extremely rare to happen, since servals don’t even hang near cars ever at all really, and second off, it’s highly unlikely for a serval to be run over by a Honda suv.. especially out in the savanna…

Hi from someone who was a coyote in a past life and got hit by a car and died lol

I just wanted to add this... personal experience of mine in case it helps someone.

When I was first discovering my therianthropy, I had a dream that I had found some horses with a brother wolf who had black fur, that we killed them and then got spotted by humans and tried to escape (I remember the chicken wire fence). That we got chased around the local landscape, the forests and the bendy roads. That I thought I got away, but when jumping over a stream I felt my hind legs give our suddenly, which would have probably been a bullet wound. That I fell down and felt the cold feeling of blood loss wash over me, until I was no more.

For a long time, I was sure that these were my past life experiences. But I realised over the years that it was just a dream. It was a dream I had while thinking about my therianthropy... it was the kind of dream it would make sense, for a person who is part wolf, to have. My therianthropy is no less real because that experience was just a dream.

I realise some of you identify more spiritually and the past life explanation may seem more appealing to you. But just try to remember that you are a human who is part animal as a therian. It makes sense for your animal part to influence what you dream about. It makes sense that your human part would dream about it too if your therianthropy is important to you. Sometimes, what exactly happened and where you were is not that important, it's just a dream.

In english the phrase "to dream" also means to envision things you wish were true. It is this way for a reason. It makes sense for you to dream being the animal physically. It makes sense to dream up the physical proof you've always wanted to have as a therian. But it's not to be interpreted literaly. It doesn't mean it actually happened.

LP,
Dusty

(2024-07-20 2:31)ArisazuTheRodent Wrote:  So happy I see others who actually agree with me! I’m glad I found this post.

I don’t really have much to add, since you guys pretty much said all the points I wanted to say, but another thing I wanted to add was the theriotype edits and animations of past life memories. I know it’s not that prominent in the community, but I still see it and it bothers me. The most common thing seems to be being run over by a car. I get that for some species, but there was one that I saw where it was a serval that got run over by a car. First off, that is extremely rare to happen, since servals don’t even hang near cars ever at all really, and second off, it’s highly unlikely for a serval to be run over by a Honda suv.. especially out in the savanna…

Hi from someone who was a coyote in a past life and got hit by a car and died lol

I agree heavily on this one. I see getting hit by cars or getting shot by hunters. I saw one where a bear got hit by a car. A bear?? I'm pretty sure that would do more damage to the car than the bear. If you're gonna lie, at least be smart about it.
Plus, like you said about it being a specific type of car: first off, animals don't see certain colors. I had a kid tell me when they were a cat that they got hit by a red truck. No you didn't. Cats can't see red *face palms*. Also, I get knowing the general color of the car if you were hit during the day, but the entire layout of the car? It's just crazy. Did you have time to examine it before you died?
Sorry, that was a bit of rambling. It just bothers me.

So happy I see others who actually agree with me! I’m glad I found this post.

I don’t really have much to add, since you guys pretty much said all the points I wanted to say, but another thing I wanted to add was the theriotype edits and animations of past life memories. I know it’s not that prominent in the community, but I still see it and it bothers me. The most common thing seems to be being run over by a car. I get that for some species, but there was one that I saw where it was a serval that got run over by a car. First off, that is extremely rare to happen, since servals don’t even hang near cars ever at all really, and second off, it’s highly unlikely for a serval to be run over by a Honda suv.. especially out in the savanna…

Anyways, I completely got off track there. What I was trying to say was that the theriotype edits pretty much do the same damage that wearing gear and doing quads does to the community, even if it’s not seen as much. There have been quite a few people who lie about what their theriotype is just to make those edits so they can “look cooler”. There’s also been people lying to themselves about what experiences they’ve actually been noticing in themselves, just so they can fit the animal they wanted to be but know that they’re not. I’ve noticed that I’ve done the same thing for a while…

And finally, in the fictionkin community, there has been people who immediately contemplate “wait what if that’s my fiction kintype” whenever they see some character they like after watching a movie/show or something because they could relate to them. But my thought on it is how do you know you’re still gonna relate to that character like, 10-20 years from now? You may relate to them now, but that’s probably because you’re younger + characters are purposefully created to be relatable to their audience. However, I do believe it depends on why you relate to that character. If it’s mainly because you just like them or because “they’re just me-core!!!” then I’ll become skeptical..

Well that was a lot more than I thought I was gonna add. And I did get off course for some parts, but hopefully I got my point across. And without being rude.

(2023-01-05 1:26)ArisazuTheRodent Wrote:  aren’t contherian and suntherian the same thing? Dusty said in a post when/why the term “suntherian” was made.

What "Dusty said" can be found in this thread:
https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-History-of-the-word-Suntherian#content

This more modern thread also provides some reasoning why it's not a good idea to use any of these terms:
https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-Contherian-suntherian-vacillant-therian-otherkin-%E2%80%93-outdated-so#content

TL;DR using the terms is a great way to be misunderstood. It's best to just explain your experience instead. Also, many therians grow more integrated over time.

LP,
Dusty

Hi,

This thread was posted in the wrong place, as the "Explanations of therianthropy" forum is not the forum where you ask for explanations, rather it is the forum where different people propose their explanations of what therianthropy is. To ask questions about therianthropy, use Therianthropy Discussion & Help.

However this seems to be quite a popular thread so I'll leave it public.


Regardless, anyone reading this thread should also read:
https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-The-actual-difference-between-psychological-and-spiritual-therians#content

There are also a number of other similar threads that can be found by putting "spiritual and psychological" into search. Please try to reuse the existing threads before making new ones, so that the insights of older therians are not lost.

LP,
Dusty

That is a good answer you clearly thought a lot about this

(2024-06-29 16:29)QFurry Wrote:  Huh I don't know xD

I think both identities are still there. We have that 1% unique human DNA so I guess tooling is in it? Therians are just way more focused on their animal identity and non therians repress it but the percentage doesn't change because we are therians

*nods* Just something to ponder.

Huh I don't know xD

I think both identities are still there. We have that 1% unique human DNA so I guess tooling is in it? Therians are just way more focused on their animal identity and non therians repress it but the percentage doesn't change because we are therians

@QFurry

Like any other animal humans have instincts to make shelter, hunt and forage, mate, protect their territory, create groups, parental instincts, and a particularly unique human instinct is to create tools(even gear is an example of tools). So humans have these instincts, but how they innately go about fulfilling them is going to be different than the wild animal/non-human counterparts. So when you have more primitive instincts as you describe, how do you decern?

(2024-06-28 7:08)Siris Wrote:  I would be curious how those of us in the mythic persuasion would fit in your theory.

(2024-06-28 14:32)Hawk_Fox_Girl Wrote:  I second Siris's question as a draconic shapeshifter how would that part of me fit in? If there were n mythical/magical creatures then how do I have this theriotype?

It's because I believe the theriotype isn't actually the smallest particle of the story. I love theriotypes and identify myself as feline, more specifically as a cat. However, I think of things more as "traits". For example, you can have a strong feeling of having paws instead of hands, or you can feel your tail, wings, and so on. When we search for theriotypes, we compile all these traits into a list and try to find a species that checks all the boxes. I don't think this approach is bad at all because it greatly simplifies things, but identifying as an animal also allows us to reason about it on a personal and psychological level. I think it actually reflects empathetic behavior (identifying as a specific theriotype), and ultimately comes down to all these traits.

Identifying as a mythical creature isn't strange at all; those creatures were created based on existing creatures and share the same traits as existing animals. It's these traits that allow us to identify with those creatures, even though they don't exist in nature.

To illustrate with a concrete example: plants. I recall reading an article about someone who married a plant. Some saw it as a curiosity, others as madness. Right now, it kind of makes sense to me; humans have empathy towards anything that comes from nature, and plants are part of nature. Rough estimates suggest we share around 20-30% of genes with plants, though this number may vary. It's safe to say there are significant overlaps in basic biological processes between humans and plants. So, if a therian tells me they identify as a plant, I would believe it because I believe there are common traits in my own belief system. (Though, who am I to judge anyway.)

We often discuss obvious traits and characteristics like paws, tails, behaviors, etc., but there's more to biology that one might overlook. For instance, the sun is a crucial component of life. Plants process sunlight, and animals bask in its warmth and light; our cells use sunlight to create various hormones and vitamins. While most people know about vitamin D and the sun, did you know we also produce melatonin (I do mean melatonin and not melanin here) from sun exposure, through our skin and not just in the brain glands? This comes from recent studies, so it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it highlights that there are many traits and sensations that go beyond our usual set of characteristics.

(2024-06-28 22:06)Wolf Wrote:  My only problem with that point of view is, humans are animals, and have primitive instincts of their own as well. So, how are you decerning human instincts from non-human, which cannot be explained by evolution of human brain alone?

What kind of human-specific instincts? Can you give some examples?