T
ThatGirl
Guest
Okay, I see what you're saying. I ran across this same theme with an ENTP I was getting to know recently, but it was hard for me to get exactly where he was coming from. He'd say the same things you are saying--that sometimes people take him too seriously, and sometimes he just wants to put things out there, that he doesn't necessarily believe or subscribe to himself.
From my perspective in trying to meet him halfway, I was never offended at anything he said. So it wasn't a values or feelings-type reaction. It was just that sometimes he would say some pretty outlandish things, but they didn't read as though he thought they were outlandish. The presentation was often the same as the stuff that he'd given a lot of thought to. So it was very hard for me to tell the difference between him saying stuff just to get a reaction or see what I had to say about it, and him sharing a perspective that was pretty concrete in his values system. So naturally, one wants to err on the side of taking someone's ideas seriously as a sign of respect.
Occasionally he would say stuff like "I don't know if I believe any of that or not," and then I'd realize that was a not-serious time. But even at those times, I was unsure what he wanted my reaction to be. Especially because as an INTP, I usually run my wild Ne ideas through Ti before I release them into the environment. And ENFP type unrestrained Ne is pretty easily recognizable as being silly. This wasn't, so much. If I'd gotten a clear idea of the kind of discussion he wanted, maybe I could have played in that world, but I never got a picture of that. The serious stuff looked a lot like the not-serious stuff. But he did restate pretty often the idea that people misunderstand him, and only a few people "get" him naturally, and that people shouldn't take him seriously. I wanted to understand him, but didn't know how.
Can you maybe tell what an optimal reaction would look like, or maybe give an example of when the conversation went wrong and what you had hoped for?
Did he have a sarcastic sense of humor? Because I used to do this.
It seemed like no one could distinguish between my 'crazy' ideas, and what I personally thought was so absurd, no one could possibly think that was serious....
Truth: You know, if you understand the basic elements of what a black hole emits, and tie that into what it absorbs, then calculate a dynamic where one exists without the other....you can anticipate more dimensional dynamics?
Joke: No, seriously just put a fucking parachute on the plane itself!
Anyway.