Thalassa
Permabanned
- Joined
- May 3, 2009
- Messages
- 25,183
- MBTI Type
- ISFP
- Enneagram
- 6w7
- Instinctual Variant
- sx
A lot of the 6 descriptions make the healthiest levels of E6 sound kind of hokey and dull and conservative, which probably means that a lot of counterphobic or even just non-Si type 6s feel a kind of revulsion toward some of the descriptions.
I know for the longest time I felt a clear identification with the "average health" levels of 6, all of the reactivity and raging against the machine sounded a lot more like me, and I thought what am I doomed to never be "healthiest" since I'm counterphobic?
Then I started working on my spiritual self (which is probably something I also desperately needed to do not just because of 6 reactivity and defensiveness, but also because of having a strong 7 wing making me distractable and escapist) because the integration of the 6 is at the zen like 9. My Fi could definitely hang with that, so I focused instead on integrating at 9 instead of those lame Boy Scout definitions of top health level 6s.
That's been working for me.
But tonight in the hipster thread I had an amazing revelation: I take popular culture VERY seriously as a reflection of society. I'm constantly scanning music, literature, and art, and all the connected variables, for their reflection of the attitudes, ethics, and politics of the current (and past) societies. It's a life-long obsession, literally something that naturally began in childhood.
I take popular culture seriously in a way that probably strikes some people as vapid or maybe pretentious, but I see it as a very genuine form human art, it's the art of the common people, it's the creative expression of what life is like in that era. You really can change people's minds with songs and pictures and books and films.
Art is power, even if it's not "high art."
So yeah I realized that I actually take a kind of childlike glee in the hipster culture, not just because it's fun or I like some of the music, but because I proudly see a reflection of my own societal values becoming mainstream (such as non-Hollywood film, creativity in music, handmade, DIY, sustainable, eco-friendly, alternative transportation, artisanal foods and beverages, anti-corporate, et al).
I realized just how fundamentally the overall hipster culture reflects a "normalization" of my own values, and to see those values start to become mainstream is a joyful thing for me. Unlike a 4, who I think maybe make up the majority of "real hipsters" who are very bitter and angry about "mainstream hipsters" and feel like they shouldn't call themselves hipsters at all.
But my thinking is, look, these cultural values aren't yours to hoard as some reflection of your own narcissistic identity, these are ideas and ethics that are good to share with others. Other people adapting to these values is a good thing. It's a happy thing.
It means the world is changing. I have played a part in building a community, that's how I feel, I feel like I've had indirect influence on helping to create a new world, and that new world, no matter how imperfect, is clearly emerging.
In a world where progressive politics and experimental music and counterculture and high valuation of that which is independent and non-corporate is actually becoming the "norm"...dude, this isn't something to complain about THIS IS PARTY TIME.
And this is what it feels like to be a healthy counterphobic 6, or to have "a moment" of high level counterphobic 6 health.
The counterphobic 6 at high health levels also delights in building community. It's just a counterculture community. The counterphobic 6 is the one building the brave new world, rather than the phobic 6 who works within an already agreed-upon conservative framework to solidify their communities.
That probably means most cult leaders are also counterphobic 6s, but I digress.
I know for the longest time I felt a clear identification with the "average health" levels of 6, all of the reactivity and raging against the machine sounded a lot more like me, and I thought what am I doomed to never be "healthiest" since I'm counterphobic?
Then I started working on my spiritual self (which is probably something I also desperately needed to do not just because of 6 reactivity and defensiveness, but also because of having a strong 7 wing making me distractable and escapist) because the integration of the 6 is at the zen like 9. My Fi could definitely hang with that, so I focused instead on integrating at 9 instead of those lame Boy Scout definitions of top health level 6s.
That's been working for me.
But tonight in the hipster thread I had an amazing revelation: I take popular culture VERY seriously as a reflection of society. I'm constantly scanning music, literature, and art, and all the connected variables, for their reflection of the attitudes, ethics, and politics of the current (and past) societies. It's a life-long obsession, literally something that naturally began in childhood.
I take popular culture seriously in a way that probably strikes some people as vapid or maybe pretentious, but I see it as a very genuine form human art, it's the art of the common people, it's the creative expression of what life is like in that era. You really can change people's minds with songs and pictures and books and films.
Art is power, even if it's not "high art."
So yeah I realized that I actually take a kind of childlike glee in the hipster culture, not just because it's fun or I like some of the music, but because I proudly see a reflection of my own societal values becoming mainstream (such as non-Hollywood film, creativity in music, handmade, DIY, sustainable, eco-friendly, alternative transportation, artisanal foods and beverages, anti-corporate, et al).
I realized just how fundamentally the overall hipster culture reflects a "normalization" of my own values, and to see those values start to become mainstream is a joyful thing for me. Unlike a 4, who I think maybe make up the majority of "real hipsters" who are very bitter and angry about "mainstream hipsters" and feel like they shouldn't call themselves hipsters at all.
But my thinking is, look, these cultural values aren't yours to hoard as some reflection of your own narcissistic identity, these are ideas and ethics that are good to share with others. Other people adapting to these values is a good thing. It's a happy thing.
It means the world is changing. I have played a part in building a community, that's how I feel, I feel like I've had indirect influence on helping to create a new world, and that new world, no matter how imperfect, is clearly emerging.
In a world where progressive politics and experimental music and counterculture and high valuation of that which is independent and non-corporate is actually becoming the "norm"...dude, this isn't something to complain about THIS IS PARTY TIME.
And this is what it feels like to be a healthy counterphobic 6, or to have "a moment" of high level counterphobic 6 health.
The counterphobic 6 at high health levels also delights in building community. It's just a counterculture community. The counterphobic 6 is the one building the brave new world, rather than the phobic 6 who works within an already agreed-upon conservative framework to solidify their communities.
That probably means most cult leaders are also counterphobic 6s, but I digress.