Thread: Functions
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Old 07-21-2007, 06:26 AM   #2 (permalink)
SolitaryWalker
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Yes they all stay in the same order. Though it may not seem that way in different periods of our lives.

Ages 0-10 Full focus on the first function--Ni
10-20 Shift onto the Second, yet solidifying the first--intense focus on first function
20-30 Shift onto the third, intense focus on the second
30-40 Shift onto the last, and more focus on the third
40-50 Intensify the focus on the inferior function

It is the order that makes a temperament, not the functions.

Ni Fe Ti Se--This is an INFJ

Let me rearrange them..Ti Se Ni Fe--ISTP, all the same functions..

As an INFJ, you may think that your Ti precedes your Fe perhaps because you were in the stage of your life where you were developing your third function and because of the circumstances you were forced to rely on it more than on your feeling function.

Ni Ti Fe Se is impossible because the secondary station has to be focused in a different direction than the first. Like Jung said, nobody gains all energy exclusively from introversion or extroversion, such a person would be in a lunatic asylum.

Generally, when we think that our two strongest functions are aimed in the same direction it is the case that we are relying much more on our dominant function rather than secondary.

For example, an INFJ may be so absorbed in their Ni that whatever Fe claims goes to serve the Ni, the focus of which is internal. You dont become an Ni-Fi, (Fi is an entirely different mechanism), it is just that your Fe energy is unnaturally focused inwards. I am using the word unnaturally because Fe is meant to be on the outside and will not handle properly unless it is aimed in that direction.

To answer your question, no you cant be an F with a stronger T, the more your inferior functions grow the more they push the superior ones forward. Albeit you can get very comfortable with your T and be in situations where you are forced to use it, (but in the meantime while your T grows, F is being pushed ahead automatically) and you may see how strong your T is because there is clear-cut evidence for this, but you may not be able to see how strong your F has become as a result. And therefore assume that the T is actually stronger.

This is why you cant develop your inferior functions ahead of the superior ones, you just wont be able to focus on them and will be forced to turn to those that are higher in rank. If you already have a strong Fe, you'll be free to develop your Ti, but not before that point.

Another way to think of this is that we use our superior functions first, so every time you use your Ti, you have to go through the Fe first.
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