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Ni and Si Doms: What does the internal world look like?

BlueScreen

Fail 2.0
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
2,668
MBTI Type
YMCA
As an ENFP I have recently realised I understand everything by looking out. I judge it by something that is from within. And I ponder these judgments, and the meaning of what is within, what it is to be human, etc. But I never have a clear picture of within and actually see it. So what do you see within? What's in this strange realm that you guys have dominant function access to? What are we missing? :)
 

BlackCat

Shaman
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
7,038
MBTI Type
ESFP
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I guess that they don't have one. They are all hollow and fake people. =|
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,741
MBTI Type
INfj
Internal world doesn't "look like" anything. Mostly just pondering on random things... how something is like something else. And that reminds you of yet another thing. And then you wonder, whether you can apply to pattern to still more things.
 

Skyward

Badoom~
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
1,084
MBTI Type
infj
Enneagram
9w1
IT depends on enneagram. 5s would be the pondering types with their bucket of info, 4s would probably describe a landscape, and 1s will probably have some value that would be the centerpiece, or the defining style, of the Inner-Universe.

I kind of go by all of them. I would describe my inner universe as a city, probably something taken out of a cyberpunk or steampunk novel/movie, that has everything arrange precisely to balance, but the politics is atrocious; probably something akin to the goings on in the book Kushiel's Dart. Immigrants are well scrutinized before allowed a Visa or civilian license, and even then it's tough going before they're trusted fully.

This isn't what I see in myself every day, just something I came up with that seems to fit.
 

BlueScreen

Fail 2.0
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
2,668
MBTI Type
YMCA
:)

So it is like exploring the realm of memory, imagination and the abstract instead of the external world?
 

secondhandsight

New member
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
30
MBTI Type
INfJ
Enneagram
4
I agree with Nightning, it's a mode of 'unbound consideration'
upon general themes which reveal themselves more specifically
as you 'chase' them. Details from any realm present themselves
and resonate in accordance with the symbolic value they might
hold, inviting or begging you to figure out the key relationship.

Not sure this does Ni any real justice, suffice to say it's
more mysterious than my intuition can handle ;)
 

Cimarron

IRL is not real
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
3,417
MBTI Type
ISTJ
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
It's very rare for me that experiences just seem to "disappear." They all stay with me. So the past is not gone and forgotten, it's part of the present. (something like that)
 

Kra

Black Magic Buzzard
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
912
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
4w5
Ni seems to be the most difficult to describe out of all of my developed functions, but I'll give it a go.

In my mind, Ni seems to behave in a manner similar to a black hole, in that it sucks everything up and never lets it go. Things in the external world are brought into the mind (probably via Te) where they are malleable, and are manipulated in such a way that possible outcomes and products are made apparent. Predicting multiple time-lines from the same point of origin would be another way of saying it I suppose.

It's difficult to describe Ni because it seems to almost infuse with other functions at times. Those other functions' traits make it difficult to lock-on to Ni itself.
 

Mondo

Welcome to Sunnyside
Joined
Mar 1, 2008
Messages
1,992
MBTI Type
EsTP
Enneagram
6w7
Is "Ni" the hunch function?
 

MonkeyGrass

New member
Joined
Jun 13, 2009
Messages
877
MBTI Type
infj
Enneagram
7
Mine is very much like dreaming...ever see Scrubs? I'm not as narcissistic as J.D., but I do often have flashes of how I imagine something might play out in my head, as if I suddenly transport to a reality inside myself and experience it. (that sounds like such babble, I wish I could explain it better!) My actual dream life, btw, is very hyperactive. I often wake up feeling emotionally exhausted.

Other times, it's an almost physical feeling of unexplained excitement or knots in my gut, when I know something will play out poorly. Often, for me, that initial "kick in the stomach" reaction is like the knock on the door that signals an inward retreat to view how something might happen. First, visceral reaction, then, inward movie theater-like exploration.

This, combined with my big F often are responsible for my tenancy to get behind the eyes of others, and I guess I mean that in a very literal sense. I find it easy to guess, from their vantage point, how life might next play out for them, as well.
 

thisGuy

New member
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
1,187
MBTI Type
entp
As an ENFP I have recently realised I understand everything by looking out. I judge it by something that is from within. And I ponder these judgments, and the meaning of what is within, what it is to be human, etc. But I never have a clear picture of within and actually see it. So what do you see within? What's in this strange realm that you guys have dominant function access to? What are we missing? :)

based on that, id say you need to develop your inferior functions a bit more

Fi and possibly Si
 

Erudur

New member
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
190
MBTI Type
INTJ
For me Ni (with Te) is a process of imagining a future reality. I work as a site/land development engineer. So I imagine (see in my mind/build in my mind) a finished project. I then spend time in my inner world working out the process to accomplish that project and bring it into reality. I explore the potential pitfalls and develop novel approaches to solve problems that may arise. I take breaks from that process to draw it all on paper, until the plan is complete.

I tend to enjoy the "reality" of these visions more than the reality of reality much of the time. I probably build many different things in my mind for every thing that actually gets built.

This process plays out similarly with political and philosophical musings. I walk through my perceptions of the world around me and take those perceptions inside to connect and rearrange them to develop a system of "how things are." This "how-things-are" system is then used to figure out approaches for how to solve the worlds problems. I then try to use these understandings of the big picture to inform ways I am affecting the world around me.

My desire is to step from project to project, accomplishment to accomplishment, to build experience and capitol to have greater influence in changing the world around me for the better.

In other words, the bulk of the work is done internally. Then some of that work is translated to external action. But even the stuff that is never externalized develops skill sets that impact that which is externalized.
 

the state i am in

Active member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
2,475
MBTI Type
infj
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
i'm still working on answering this question and i hope this thread picks up.

my first response is that it looks like web diagrams, flow charts, t-charts, lists, murals, collages, montages, quotations and parentheticals, footnotes, landscapes, musical visualizers, science images, 3-D virtual reality, micrscope slides, the weird program on what i think are the latest version of ipods that has great bouncing jukebox scroll features, networks, stacks of hyperlinks built into web pages and a wikipedia day gone awry w/ tabs tabs tabs, graphic design and advertisements, symbols and other mysteries, a few poems here and there mixed in with passages of scripture and things remembered like little plaques from childhood, etc.

it's all these linguistically and visually organized connections between things. large conceptual overmaps. areas that are really musical go from the black and white just words printed on the page to like a weird technicolor and increase in saturation and intensity and finish as they become more musical. very magic mushroom. lots of arrows and connecting bands. lights like an airport runway meets a neural network. overviews of individual systems working together in a biology textbook with the little transportational devices. a floor of wall street traders with notes in their hands and raised voices trying to get "my" attention.

we are very skilled at arranging our internal mappings and understandings. maps maps maps. the metaphors connect it all for infj and the hierarchy connects it all for intj. we both like to violate it (gasp- humor!). Ne doms arrange externally and their desks/computers/brains are often a mess. when i need it i'll find it, etc. we have taken more time to put everything in its right place. to linger longer.
 

cascadeco

New member
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
9,083
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Internal world doesn't "look like" anything. Mostly just pondering on random things... how something is like something else. And that reminds you of yet another thing. And then you wonder, whether you can apply to pattern to still more things.

:yes:

I'm having a hard time seeing my inner world as something of vast complexity and metaphorical haziness - I mean, I wouldn't describe it as such, but maybe others would see it in that way.

I simply have always spent a large portion of my life contemplating, thinking, observing, musing, drifting, theorizing, critiquing, categorizing, and all sorts of other things. When others are in the world of action and interaction, I'm more often than not sitting back and contemplating the nature of what they're doing, who they are, how they tie into the broader context, etc etc. And sometimes I let myself drift down memory lane, which is mostly a sentimental/feeling-oriented thing. Finally, one of my favorite mental themes that I muse over is Time -- past, present, and future -- extended forward and back thousands of years, and pondering recurring themes.
 
P

Phantonym

Guest
I've always felt my inner world to look like - light. Nothing but bright light surrounding some sort of an transparent "core". Light going through the "core". And then things just pop up, depending on whatever I'm thinking about at the moment and then connecting all of those things that pop up. The speed at which they pop up differs as well; going faster/slower and it cannot really be controlled (I guess it depends on my energy level and whether I'm willing to invest a certain amount of energy into whatever I'm currently thinking about). This cannot be explained properly...
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
5,903
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
7w8
For me Ni (with Te) is a process of imagining a future reality. I work as a site/land development engineer. So I imagine (see in my mind/build in my mind) a finished project. I then spend time in my inner world working out the process to accomplish that project and bring it into reality. I explore the potential pitfalls and develop novel approaches to solve problems that may arise. I take breaks from that process to draw it all on paper, until the plan is complete.

I tend to enjoy the "reality" of these visions more than the reality of reality much of the time. I probably build many different things in my mind for every thing that actually gets built.

This process plays out similarly with political and philosophical musings. I walk through my perceptions of the world around me and take those perceptions inside to connect and rearrange them to develop a system of "how things are." This "how-things-are" system is then used to figure out approaches for how to solve the worlds problems. I then try to use these understandings of the big picture to inform ways I am affecting the world around me.

My desire is to step from project to project, accomplishment to accomplishment, to build experience and capitol to have greater influence in changing the world around me for the better.

In other words, the bulk of the work is done internally. Then some of that work is translated to external action. But even the stuff that is never externalized develops skill sets that impact that which is externalized.

Yeah, that's how it works for me too.
 

BlueScreen

Fail 2.0
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
2,668
MBTI Type
YMCA
i'm still working on answering this question and i hope this thread picks up.

my first response is that it looks like web diagrams, flow charts, t-charts, lists, murals, collages, montages, quotations and parentheticals, footnotes, landscapes, musical visualizers, science images, 3-D virtual reality, micrscope slides, the weird program on what i think are the latest version of ipods that has great bouncing jukebox scroll features, networks, stacks of hyperlinks built into web pages and a wikipedia day gone awry w/ tabs tabs tabs, graphic design and advertisements, symbols and other mysteries, a few poems here and there mixed in with passages of scripture and things remembered like little plaques from childhood, etc.

it's all these linguistically and visually organized connections between things. large conceptual overmaps. areas that are really musical go from the black and white just words printed on the page to like a weird technicolor and increase in saturation and intensity and finish as they become more musical. very magic mushroom. lots of arrows and connecting bands. lights like an airport runway meets a neural network. overviews of individual systems working together in a biology textbook with the little transportational devices. a floor of wall street traders with notes in their hands and raised voices trying to get "my" attention.

we are very skilled at arranging our internal mappings and understandings. maps maps maps. the metaphors connect it all for infj and the hierarchy connects it all for intj. we both like to violate it (gasp- humor!). Ne doms arrange externally and their desks/computers/brains are often a mess. when i need it i'll find it, etc. we have taken more time to put everything in its right place. to linger longer.

This is actually really interesting, and makes perfect sense. I think Ne and Ni are almost perfectly consistent with each other, just applied in different domains. Like we see the external world as connections and maps in the same way you do with the internal world. And the links are sometimes just as entertaining and crazy, except you need to watch yourself with what you notice sometimes. You get into a habit of acknowledging the strangeness of it then just committing it to memory or having a small internal giggle about it. Almost every scene has something interesting in it to explore or amuse you. Probably why we look like happy hyperactive munchkins.
 

Tiltyred

New member
Joined
Dec 1, 2008
Messages
4,322
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
468
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I've always felt my inner world to look like - light. Nothing but bright light surrounding some sort of an transparent "core". Light going through the "core". And then things just pop up, depending on whatever I'm thinking about at the moment and then connecting all of those things that pop up. The speed at which they pop up differs as well; going faster/slower and it cannot really be controlled (I guess it depends on my energy level and whether I'm willing to invest a certain amount of energy into whatever I'm currently thinking about). This cannot be explained properly...

I get that (I think). I wanted to say "a prism," and then despaired of being able to explain it.
 

Skyward

Badoom~
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
1,084
MBTI Type
infj
Enneagram
9w1
Mine is very much like dreaming...ever see Scrubs? I'm not as narcissistic as J.D., but I do often have flashes of how I imagine something might play out in my head, as if I suddenly transport to a reality inside myself and experience it. (that sounds like such babble, I wish I could explain it better!) My actual dream life, btw, is very hyperactive. I often wake up feeling emotionally exhausted.

Other times, it's an almost physical feeling of unexplained excitement or knots in my gut, when I know something will play out poorly. Often, for me, that initial "kick in the stomach" reaction is like the knock on the door that signals an inward retreat to view how something might happen. First, visceral reaction, then, inward movie theater-like exploration.

This, combined with my big F often are responsible for my tenancy to get behind the eyes of others, and I guess I mean that in a very literal sense. I find it easy to guess, from their vantage point, how life might next play out for them, as well.

It's similar for me. There's the 'active internal world' which is basically the above, and the 'pensive internal world' which is basically exploring the things I find important and constructing new interesting things.

My F isn't as strong but I can get a decent sense of what the other person's perspective is.
 
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