Cool thread. Very interesting. Probably easier for me to talk about in Myers-Briggs/Enneagram terms, so I'll go about it that way for now -- although there's obviously so much more to it than that.
This is a squirrely topic. Everyone has an inner life, but my impression is there is some distrust in them.
Not sure. I get the impression from some people that their inner world is less scary, more trustworthy, and better in general than their outer world. Seems more common with introverts than extroverts (and I'm not using those terms by their MBTI definitions), and more common with other-focused people than self-focused people.
the other persistent notion is "healthy", but what's that?
Regarding this question, I think I agree with you about balance. You aren't leading a balanced life if you're cultivating your inner life and not your outer one, or vice versa. Both of those things exist for a reason, and there will be consequences for your well-being if you don't achieve that balance.
So, the inner world... it makes people nervous to talk too freely of what's in there, but if there's nothing in there, there's no "you" either... so what are they, these inner worlds?
I'm guessing that the reasoning behind not wanting to talk about one's inner world depends on the person. In my case, it's because I know it isn't rational. I take a lot of pride in being rational and reasonable most of the time, but inside, it's all emotion, it's all resentment and gut reactions and id. I want to be reasonable all the time, but my inner world gets in the way. On the one hand, like you said, it can be poetic, it can be artistic and beautiful, and it provides 99% of my motivations in life, but it is also dangerous, unreliable, and potentially humiliating. I try and express it, and it almost always sounds childish or stupid. And it can be hard to accept that my inner world, which technically defines me as much as my outer world, expresses the complete opposite of what my outer world does. It represents everything I don't want to be: childishness, irrationality, selfishness. It not only makes me feel like a hypocrite, but it makes me realize that the very fabric of my being is hypocrisy. And oh, do I loathe hypocrisy.
So... Where I struggle to find the balance between the two, is struggling to accept the more lovely aspects of that despite the aspects that I'm ashamed of. Technically they should balance each other out, but it really doesn't feel like they do.
I was wondering if it was going to be an F thing, this topic, BECAUSE THE INNER WORLD IS SENSITIVE1. And it is sensitive, right? Even for the people who base their inner world around thinking, the world is personal, individual, and... sensitive.
Indeed. I know that in my case, what I've been describing is almost entirely my sensitive Fi. I wonder what the inner world of an Fe user would be like in comparison. I can't even imagine.
It's there. though. And persists over time. And it kind of defeats the conception to start talking about what everyone's inner world has in common, but probably inner worlds do have a lot in common. They have one vital thing NOT in common, they're only experienced by the one person, but other aspects likely exist too, and may be common.
Does it defeat the conception? Frankly, I think it would be more constructive to compare and contrast, than to pretend like there are no patterns at all and that we're all Unique And Special Snowflakes. We're all human, we're all driven by our gut and our emotions (and sometimes our minds and capacity for logic), and in theory we should have more in common than not.
The thought is starting to be that, heaven help me, it's poetry.
Poetry is a high-minded form, and probably no one will ever confidently say that their inner constructs are sufficiently rarefied that if you took them out and looked at them, they'd be beautiful. But that's sort of the idea. Only it's the other way around.
See, maybe proper assessment of an inner world is in terms of some notion of beauty. The beauty of the individual construct, or the individual terms of experience, or... some damn thing.
Maybe. It would explain how some people are so much more comfortable with their inner worlds than others. Like the experience of being an actor. At the very beginning of your career, you learn that you will take criticism personally, because method acting is so personal, that criticism of your performance can feel like criticism of who you really are -- and feel all the worse because you know they're right. But many actors begin to build up a shell after that, where they decide that they will not accept anyone's criticism, except for a select few people that they trust -- and they will become much more confident in their acting. I think it's the same with expressing your inner world. Either you share it unashamedly without fear of getting hurt, or you hide it for fear of someone criticizing it and making you feel like less of a person.
But calling it actual beauty or proper poetry *FEELS* wrong, like too pure a claim. Inner worlds aren't pure, and they aren't lovely.
Or are they?
Beauty isn't perfect or pure either, so it makes sense to me. Seems fair.