Attributing feelings to inanimate objects

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Not temporarily for the purpose of play, but genuinely feeling sorry for things even though you know they aren't actually feeling anything. Is this more common for people with ASDs? It's something I've always experienced and a few times now I've seen it mentioned in connection with autism. For example, I used to leave my pencilcase slightly unzipped so that the contents could 'breathe'. I knew that they didn't have to breathe, but the feeling was strong enough that I had to do it anyway to stave off guilt.

I feel very attached to my red headphones. I don't know what I'd do without them.

But, if someone said something bad about them, or stepped on them, would you feel sorry for them, as if that might hurt them?

I posted a story like this once before, but when I was around 12 started thinking that my stuffed animals were watching me undress in front of them! I remember just geting dressed after a bath and they just seemed to stare and stare with their big button eyes. I got so uncomfortable and yet I knew if I told anyone they would think I was crazy. When i finally did tell my parents took me to a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with Schizophrenia Form Disorder and put me on pills that gave me severe anxiety, muscle twitches, dry eyes and mouth and made me gain weight until I was the size of a baby orca whale.

Why would you assume they aren't feeling anything? Mystics have been telling us for thousands of years that we are all one, that the universe and everything in it is formed from the same single substance - and the past half century of particle physics seems to verify that. Which means on some level, everything that is, is conscious, including rocks and trees and even seemingly empty space. Materialistic, existential thought leads us to assume that the brain creates consciousness, when in fact it may turn out to be the other way around.

I don't recall attributing feelings to things, as if they were exactly a person, but I would feel strongly about inanimate objects, or even whole environments - or rather it seemed that everything had an distinct emotional 'content' that I would experience, if that makes sense.

Like when I would go into school it was hard to concentrate because, I would seem to be feeling the emotional charge of the lightbulb, and the sky outside, or the window pane, my desk, cracks in the wall etc. It was a kind of sensory overload in that everything would 'speak' to me with an emotion or feeling (not literally, I didn't hear voices). It was hard because everyone else seemed to be able to concentrate and narrow their focus to what the teacher was saying and what the class was about but for me everything was 'speaking' as loud - or louder - as the teachers.

Does that make sense to anyone?

Even now that I'm a lot older I get very attached to certain objects and feel a compulsion to buy certain things, which are often totally age inappropriate for me, because I just have an emotional reaction to them. Weird.

I talk to things a lot, especially when looking for them.
I've decided to call inanimate object or things I can't find, 'he' and animate ones 'she'

a bit like having pets.

Also on a bit of a sideways note.
The sun is 'warm' and 'yellow'
it's also up and light.

say, water is cold and darker and wet.

I know a lot of people make that kind of 'synaesthetic' attribution of 'feeling' to other objects, or colours or what have you.

Also people have dolls and toys and things that 'obviously' have no 'feelings' as such, yet they often treat them that way.
And also they often treat other animals or plants as if they have similar feelings to humans. (or sometimes as if they have none at all).

I tend to look at my 'diet' for instance as 'well if cows and mushrooms didn't want to be eaten then they'd put up a fight like poisonous mushrooms and lions'
Cows do make me fat and ill if I eat too many of them, so I figure that's them telling me that they only want to be eaten a little bit.

If I wanted to eat people, well, then there's one here now typing away at the keyboard. Oh that's me.

I've had a problem with this for as long as I remember.

When I was about 8 I spent all my money on a toy because It looked sad and lonely on the shelf on its own.

I feel sorry for objects a lot and act like they are alive with feelings. I don't do it as much now as I did when I was little.

You mean bowling balls aren't surprised?

They don't make cars like they have a smiley face for nothing.

I used to apologize to inanimate things if I kicked them or hit them when I was upset. I would feel that I had hurt the thing's feelings by hitting it. I still kind of feel that way, but it's not as strong as it was when I was a child or even in high school.

i remember feeling sorry for the things we didn't "choose", the rejected objects. if my sister hesitated between two teddy bears at the store as a baby and wanted both, and my mum made her pick one, i felt bad for the rejected teddy bear. really sad...
i also remember being scared of one particular doll she owned because one day i was so mad at my sister i spit on her doll when she wasn't there, and for the following year i slept facing that doll, just in case. gosh, that's weird.........

Object personification is a form of synesthesia, which seems to be more common among people with Asperger's. I have this and so does my sister. We like to compare objects' genders, personalities, and feelings.

Did you agree about them?

I think I just do it more for fun that anything, possibly because other people do 'animal' personification so much I started to personify objects and all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff.

if something falls out of my mouth when I'm eating (well trying to put it in my mouth) and someone asks my why I dropped it, I'll say he didn't want to go in my mouth so he jumped out because he didn't want to be eaten.

Now it's more of a dialect than a hobby.

on the very odd occasion that I get angry, and find something that doesn't 'mind' my hitting it or whatever, I will apologise afterwards.

I may say things like 'common Mrs car, cheer up, your not very happy today, did I give you enough petrol to drink'
or tell people off for picking on a colour if they don't like it.

it makes me feel better if I'm nice to things, even when they've got two arms, two legs, walk and talk.

Inanimate objects can't hurt us the way that people can.