[INTP] INTP and Escapism

[The Unknown Essence]

I enjoy indulging in escaspism, both in my mind and through external entertainment. Some people mistakenly think that all those who enjoy fantasy or sci-fi and related things are somehow depressed or unhappy. This is not the case for me. Escapism for me is a way to postulate new ideas and concepts and to enter new worlds where the norms of reality are challenged.
In my own mind I can run free unconstrained by the barriers within reality. I often have vivid and epic thoughts. Real life is mundane by comparison.

I think the Ne and Ti functions really give us INTPs a love of the creativity and imagination more than any other type.

What is your relationship with escapism? Why do you enjoy it?

 

[skip]

Why are you defining that as "escapism?"

 

[Seanan]

Perhaps too simple but... I escape through video and PC games and movies. It is the only, acceptable, way I've found to turn off my thoughts... especially those I find annoying. I don't know about other INTPs but I experience thinking as what some would understand as almost obsessive/compulsive... not any particular subject.. just the frequency and degree of it. I saw a movie where a schizophrenic was holding their head and screaming Stop it!... that's how I experience thinking sometimes. I usually play an RPG before going to paint for instance as the degree of my thinking interfers with it. I need an escape to be truly content.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

If you consider detachment and observation as escape, then I engage it in quite regularly. Putting aside all my worries and concerns and just watching life dance before me is how I recharge.

 

[MerkW]

I enjoy indulging in escaspism, both in my mind and through external entertainment. Some people mistakenly think that all those who enjoy fantasy or sci-fi and related things are somehow depressed or unhappy. This is not the case for me. Escapism for me is a way to postulate new ideas and concepts and to enter new worlds where the norms of reality are challenged.
In my own mind I can run free unconstrained by the barriers within reality. I often have vivid and epic thoughts. Real life is mundane by comparison.

I think the Ne and Ti functions really give us INTPs a love of the creativity and imagination more than any other type.

What is your relationship with escapism? Why do you enjoy it?

I myself can be very much of an escapist. I enjoy it because it allows me to retreat into my own vast inner world when the external world becomes to chaotic and frightening. My MBTI type is either INTJ or INTP.

Regarding the italicized text, although the Ne and Ti functions certainly give INTPs a love of creativity and imagination, I would argue that, since what you described has less to do with Ti than N, ENxPs would have slightly more of a love for creativity. However, INxPs are by far, more escapist, since the dominant introverted judgment function would channel the Ne into a deep, inner focus.

 

[Wandering]

I think the Ne and Ti functions really give us INTPs a love of the creativity and imagination more than any other type.

I don't see why that would be. Creativity and imagination come in all kinds of flavours.

Why are you defining that as "escapism?"

My husband does that too, defining it as escapism. It hurts and irks me.

***

Regarding the italicized text, although the Ne and Ti functions certainly give INTPs a love of creativity and imagination, I would argue that, since what you described has less to do with Ti than N, ENxPs would have slightly more of a love for creativity. However, INxPs are by far, more escapist, since the dominant introverted judgment function would channel the Ne into a deep, inner focus.

With that logic, then the INJs are the most creative+escapist of all, since we are both Dominantly Introverted and iNtuitive.

 

[nozflubber]

Perhaps too simple but... I escape through video and PC games and movies. It is the only, acceptable, way I've found to turn off my thoughts... especially those I find annoying. I don't know about other INTPs but I experience thinking as what some would understand as almost obsessive/compulsive... not any particular subject.. just the frequency and degree of it. I saw a movie where a schizophrenic was holding their head and screaming Stop it!... that's how I experience thinking sometimes. I usually play an RPG before going to paint for instance as the degree of my thinking interfers with it. I need an escape to be truly content.

I had Everquest do that for me for a number of years. I really miss it sometimes, even if it did turn me into a "zombie" (aka, a social person)

 

[Badlands]

I definitely need to escape reality sometimes. For me, that's most of my free time, looking up things on my laptop. Even when I am talking to others, I am most gravitated to discussions on abstract things like religion and philosophy.

 

[Dansker]

I enjoy indulging in escaspism, both in my mind and through external entertainment. Some people mistakenly think that all those who enjoy fantasy or sci-fi and related things are somehow depressed or unhappy. This is not the case for me. Escapism for me is a way to postulate new ideas and concepts and to enter new worlds where the norms of reality are challenged.
In my own mind I can run free unconstrained by the barriers within reality. I often have vivid and epic thoughts. Real life is mundane by comparison.

I think the Ne and Ti functions really give us INTPs a love of the creativity and imagination more than any other type.

What is your relationship with escapism? Why do you enjoy it?

I've bolded the sentence that I really relate to - although I'm not sure that I call it escapism. I have places that I consciously go to internally think about things - it's a rich, endless place where anything is possible, where I can get new insights, new ideas and make sense of things that have been on my mind. I also have other worlds that I have and visit all the time - I relate to your statement that real life is mundane by comparison.

I believe anyone can also foster a love of creativity and imagination - it's just a question of whether they chose to embrace and develop it.

 

[owarinoTenshi]

I've always been a daydreamer. One of the things that I love to do is to make up stories. I used to do it all the time with my toys as a kid (I'd make characters out of Legos and stuff), but it gradually transitioned to staying in the mental realm. Usually, I'll just have one story at a time that I'll work on when I'm bored. They've always been rather simplistic and are often take a lot from books or movies I've watched, so I don't really consider them to be too creative. Often the themes coincide with issues I'm dealing at the time.

Tying this into being an INTP, there are certain aspects of my style of escapism that seem somewhat INTPish. For instance, none of my stories are constructed linearly. I'll imagine out individual scenes at completely random locations in the timeline, and then I'll gradually try to tie them together, throwing out and rearranging scenes as I go. I also leave a lot of details out. I find it extremely difficult for some reason to come up with names, so characters in my mental stories often go nameless in my mind. I've never actually written any of my stories fully down, mainly because I find it so frustrating to spell out all of the details.

It's kind of sad because I know I'll inevitably end up forgetting them. Since I imagine the scenes visually, I'd really like to be able to draw out my stories (and I think it'd be easier than trying to write them in words), but I have absolutely no ability to draw whatsoever.

 

[nyshygirl71]

Perhaps too simple but... I escape through video and PC games and movies. It is the only, acceptable, way I've found to turn off my thoughts... especially those I find annoying. I don't know about other INTPs but I experience thinking as what some would understand as almost obsessive/compulsive... not any particular subject.. just the frequency and degree of it. I saw a movie where a schizophrenic was holding their head and screaming Stop it!... that's how I experience thinking sometimes. I usually play an RPG before going to paint for instance as the degree of my thinking interfers with it. I need an escape to be truly content.

This is me too but I am an INTJ. When things start to get me down I feel that I have to start playing games or watching movies just to get away. I do this a lot.

 

[foodeater]

If I want to turn off my thoughts for a while I play video games or watch movies, too. But when I let my imagination run is usually when I am most happy. I put some music on in my head (I actually play songs in my head, and sometimes they're songs I've never heard before) and/or go on "adventures." A lot of the time they are 'epic,' and those tend to be my favorites.

But when I'm trying to go to sleep my brain won't shut up!

 

[suzyk]

I like to escape from tough debates... but meh. Who can?

All INTP's do escape, to some extent. We mostly think internally, and we are concerned with our brains more then reality. I escape into anime's/manga's, sometimes books, and mostly the computer.

I feel odd saying this, as I was a 'former' INTJ.

 

[umop_3pisdn]

I created a fictional universe for a sort of science-fantasy novel I'm writing... I've more or less created my idealized multi-dimensional playground for escapism, in which I can explore any possibility while still having a sufficient veneer of pseudoscience/metaphysical nonsense to give it some vague semblance of credibility, from my perspective. It's generally a sort of dream world, through. But it involves spirits of the dead, or other spiritual entities that may be larger or more transpersonal in nature. And the way they are experienced by the observer, is similar to a very vivid dream.

I use it as a way to support short side stories or excursions into theoretical locations that only exist in a subjective reality. I can suspend physical, objective reality, as the "locations" exist only in the essence of thought/memory. So it basically amounts to some sort of spiritual or astral plane, I guess you could say.

I've been using image streaming and lucid dreaming to help me think of some scenarios and integrate them into the story I've been writing. Even just sitting down and imaging, as well. The notion of a spirit/dream world seems to offer me enough freedom to explore basically anything, creatively... so I've had a bunch of explorations under one common idea ... subjective or dream-like experience, and it's offered me enough potential that I haven't gotten tired of this route of escape, yet.

My ideal career would be writing stories kind of along the lines of what I described above. Escapism is almost central in my identity as a writer of speculative fiction. I also use escapism through nearly any form of media or art. Storytelling mediums and music are a favorite.