• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[NF] What does it mean to be an idealist?

am_i_evil666

New member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
325
Since we are in the NF Idyllic, and well, NFs are called idealists...

Do you see yourselves as idealists? What does it mean to be an idealist? How do you experience it?
 

Lady_X

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
18,235
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
784
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
you dream up ideal scenarios like...ideally...i wouldn't have to look at that loud dot as i type...haha kinda like that. :D
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
It literally means you dream of a better world. That you want people and yourself to experience good emotions, good things; to get along, and to see the world as one cohesive, harmonious unity. And working towards that goal fulfills you with satisfaction, much like being faced with constant disappointment can depress you to no end.
 
P

Phantonym

Guest
I do see myself as an idealist or rather...a realistic idealist / idealistic realist depending on my mood.

There's this deep inner belief that no matter what, ultimately things will turn out to be good and positive. When I look at the world, I see all the things that have so much potential for improvement and I don't see that as something negative but rather positive that there is hope for the future. And I don't see that as something unrealistic or impractical either.
 

am_i_evil666

New member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
325
I want to see how other NFs experience this ...

Amargith, I can relate to your answer, as that's why I get depressed. Nothing is like what I fantasize about in real life. Though I can't say that I necessarily see idealism as dreaming of a better world, in which you get along with everybody. It's holding on to an ideal, striving to reach it but it doesn't necessarily have to be a better world or it as a harmonious unity. Maybe you believe in chaos and evil etc.

Or maybe it can just be a better world for you, not the notion of a better world in general.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
With time, you come to realize why the world works the way it does, and you come to term with it, seeing the good in things that previously you could not comprehend. That allows you to zone in on the points that do need improving, and makes the idealism and realism gap smaller and gives you hope, instead of being trapped in an imaginary world with fear of stepping into the real world as it is such a big contrast with what you'd like to see. ultimately, the synthesis of the two is what you're striving to accomplish.

Easier said than done though.
 

ajblaise

Minister of Propagandhi
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
7,914
MBTI Type
INTP
"Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves."
Robert Anton Wilson

hehe
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
He clearly wasn't an idealist at heart then ;)
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
To the OP: Idealism is having that avatar and imagining that people will actually like it.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
No, that's not idealistic, that's down right delusional :D
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
No, that's not idealistic, that's down right delusional :D

:laugh:

But...yeah, being an idealist means that you understand how the world is but always hope for better, believing in change, believing you can make a difference, and unfortunately sometimes retreating into a sort of fantasy world to be able to cope until you're strong enough to go out there and make changes again.

Being an idealist means dreaming up schemes and actually going through with things other people only wish they could do, or say they'd like to do someday "only if" but never get around to it...we're actually crazy enough to do it NOW, and sometimes we win.

We don't always win of course, and we can take it pretty hard when we don't.

Being an idealist means looking for the good in people even when you understand there's bad in everyone.

Being an idealist means foolishly believing my little rants might actually change someone's mind or behavior.

Being an idealist means being disappointed a lot, but it also means being hopeful and loving a whole lot too. :wubbie:

We go out on a limb, and like, live there on that tenuous branch, hoping for someone who understands us to join us so someone will catch us if we fall from our fabulous dreams.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
4dw
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Being an idealist is feeling like you're from another planet, at times *sigh*
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
Oh christ... another cat avatar? Are we serious? :)


Oh, you can't help that. Most everyone's mad here. You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself.
 

William K

Uniqueorn
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
986
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Firstly, I believe that everything has its role to play in the universe. Call it the "circle of life" or "web of life" or whatever. Everyone has the potential in them to contribute. And yes, I believe that by default everyone is good deep down in their hearts, however naive that may seem.

The second part then is finding what role I can then play. What will be my legacy and contribution to this web? Life becomes a journey to achieve this 'ideal'. It's not a straightforward journey and I might not reach the destination, but that is the guiding light.
 

孙康翔

New member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
3
MBTI Type
INFP
I am an Idealist,
I live ideas
I live ideals
I live in the between of now and never
Find me if you must
But let me be
I may be sitting
I may be thinking
When im done,
my thoughts are fixed
there can be no more,
For I have seen all things
 

valentine

New member
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
106
MBTI Type
intj
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
To me being an 'Idealist' stems from having a deep dissatisfaction for the way things are. I'm often perplexed on how the world ended up the way it is, and how people did not act to stop it from forming this way. I'm constantly bouncing ideas back and forth in my mind on how things could be better (though I realize that 'better' is completely relative). I guess I'd define 'better' as moving away from self-interest and greed and more towards altruism.
 

Jaguar

Active member
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
20,647
There should be a law against that seizure-inducing avatar. :D
 

entropie

Permabanned
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
16,767
MBTI Type
entp
Enneagram
783
I took a screenshoot of Jaguar posting in the "what does it take to become more idealistic" thread :D
 
Top