Apocalypticism

[FunnyDigestion]

Which type would you say is most prone to apocalypticism?

I'd assume INTJ, followed by INTP & INFP. It seems vaguely characteristic of the Enneagram 5 & 1 worldviews.

Anybody know why?

 

[JocktheMotie]

More of a 6 and 1 thing I'd think. 5s tend to know/accept human life and its existence is devoid of inherent importance if compared to the rest of reality to really worry too much about it ending.

 

[FunnyDigestion]

5 apocalypticism is more about paranoia & emotional isolation, often with a bizarre techno-political angle... the definitive text would be Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon-- total conspiratorial paranoia running thru-out, literally awesome book... 5's might not always worry in the emotional sense about the world ending, but it'll make them neurotic & anxiety-ridden as it comes to control their thought process.

Going by observation as well as bits of personal experience since I test as 5 about a third of the time.

 

[Eric B]

Apocalypticism would probably be connected with Ni. Dominant for the INTJ, and Senex for the INP's. So the INTJ will be more naturally prone to that, and the INP's when in shadow mode (The WItch/Senex is perhaps the main negative complex for dealing with others; hence more prominent for INP's than for ENP's and ESP', for which Ni and its related complex will be more about the ego. And conspiratorialism is of course right up the Senex's alley).

I imagine it would be seen in INFJ's as well, but perhaps less than the INTJ because of the F.

 

[FunnyDigestion]

Yeah, INFJs seem like by far the most balanced of both INs & IFs, & they don't seem to get out of control unless something really awful happens to them.

 

[Stanton Moore]

So you think that all of the people who follow crazy apocolyptic ideas are one of those three types?

Wankery.

 

[FunnyDigestion]

So you think that all of the people who follow crazy apocolyptic ideas are one of those three types?

Wankery.

Well, I didn't say that, so what do you think?

 

[FunnyDigestion]

By the way, does one have any interesting apocalypticism stories? I.e., stories involving apocalypticism.

I have a few I might post later.

 

[Stanton Moore]

Well, I didn't say that, so what do you think?

I think that sort of thinking is a product of a vulnerable psychology and irrational fear, not type.

 

[FunnyDigestion]

Yeah, your remark ends up raising a good point: sometimes the people you'd least expect it from are the most apocalyptic once you stick around & really listen to them. I've been around ESFPs & ESFJs etc who'll start talking & just spit the craziest, most ridiculous apocalyptic theories, though usually more oriented around religious escapism & herd-panic involving a lot of stuff they've heard other people say (think Glenn Beck)... using the cognitive-function model I guess you could explain it as the stressed-out wild flailing of inferior intuitive & thinking functions-- which is interesting in light of how people with superior abilities in those areas can be equally apocalyptic but in different form (lone paranoia etc).

 

[JivinJeffJones]

Some apocalypticism is escapist fantasy, for people dissatisfied with the parameters of their existence and wishing for a fresh start not only for them but for the world. Not a different card, but a fresh shuffle and new hand. Some people see it as as way of simplifying their problems into more immediate, easily-overcome ones, like not getting eaten by zombies.

Yeah, there are a lot of different kinds of apocalypticism.

 

[Stanton Moore]

Yeah, your remark ends up raising a good point: sometimes the people you'd least expect it from are the most apocalyptic once you stick around & really listen to them. I've been around ESFPs & ESFJs etc who'll start talking & just spit the craziest, most ridiculous apocalyptic theories, though usually more oriented around religious escapism & herd-panic involving a lot of stuff they've heard other people say (think Glenn Beck)... using the cognitive-function model I guess you could explain it as the stressed-out wild flailing of inferior intuitive & thinking functions-- which is interesting in light of how people with superior abilities in those areas can be equally apocalyptic but in different form (lone paranoia etc).

Agreed. Intelligence is not a relevant factor in this. Maybe it's a general sense of emotional unease or anxiety, that then is filtered through one's intellect, which causes one to accept any theory that eases or makes sense of it. So irrational fear is turned into an idea that is in-line with one's value and belief system.

 

[FunnyDigestion]

Some apocalypticism is escapist fantasy, for people dissatisfied with the parameters of their existence and wishing for a fresh start not only for them but for the world. Not a different card, but a fresh shuffle and new hand.

Maybe it isn't as simple as that though. I mean, I think there might be other needed parameters other than dissatisfaction. You never hear of crazy suicide-cult groups or mass political-conspiracy-movements (e.g the Tea Party thing, Lyndon Larouche etc) coming up in the third world, like the slums of Bombay. I guess because people who are REALLY dissatisfied are more occupied with trying not to starve or be killed by paramilitaries etc.

So maybe, since they're always busy they don't have TIME to be dissatisfied, i.e. maybe 'dissatisfaction' is a condition of leisure. But in either case, I think there's a particular kind of strangeness in one's living environment that is necessary for true apocalypticism. Like the way America & Western Euope are so bureaucratic & there's so much plenitude, yet happiness is objectively difficult to achieve for so many people.

Obviously, apocalypticism is a very intriguing subject to me.
Glenn Beck for prez! jk

 

[Lightyear]

INFJs are pretty prone to that. Am speaking from experience, INFJs are future thinkers and there are SO MANY possibilities how a situation could go wrong. I sometimes have to tell my brain to STFU and to just take things as they come.

 

[Killjoy]

Yeah, INFJs seem like by far the most balanced of both INs & IFs, & they don't seem to get out of control unless something really awful happens to them.

 

[FunnyDigestion]

lol

Wel he was a failed artist right?

Just a very senstive guy.

 

[Eric B]

I still don't believe he was an INFJ. (John Beebe suggested he was an ISxJ manifesting "Demonic" Ni!)