I don't know about this. Is this how you experience it, or is it just an idea? I definitely don't experience it like this, rather I think I can identify all the functions being used at a time, if I'm so inclined. If all are always being used, then that must be in very very subtle ways that we cannot observe ourselves, and that would make it useless to talk about functions.
I'm starting to not care for function-speak in general - I don't see it as being terribly beneficial to ones' development to view himself that way - but, since that's what this board is about, I'll continue on w/ those terms.
I do think with healthy individuals, multiple functions will be used at any given moment, and I don't think it's necessarily easy to dissect it at all. I think people who tend to rely on just one function are going to be less balanced, pretty transparent, and dare I say less healthy. But I'm also of the opinion that relying on ones top function or top two functions, and disregarding all others, isn't really a good thing. So I tend to WANT to move into all of the other 6 functions. Will I ever be skilled/competent at all of them? Definitely not. But I don't view them as the enemy, or anything.
sleepless said:
I think there is a point in having not more than one basic approach to life (Dominant function, that is), instead of some compromise between two or more. The Ti and Ni approach (for example) collide with each other and doesn't approve of the other. The question then is: Which one do you approve of? What is your approach? If we refuse to choose then we might not get anywhere with anything. One day we try to logically prove something through thorough analysis and argumentation, the next day we see through it all as being completely irrelevant and out of perspective. Mort Belfry, as an INTP you probably don't have to bother with Ni very much. For me, Ni is a holistic function whereas Ti is quite narrow. Your Ti probably works much better.
I don't see that it's necessary that it be a compromise. I think all of the functions can build upon one another.
Certainly one or more function can conflict with one another, in terms of coming to opposing conclusions, but the way I look at it is that I take pieces of all (I guess I may view all 8 functions as 8 different perspectives or priority-systems???), sift through all of them, discard some that just don't jive with my priorities, goals, or the specific situation at hand, take pieces of others and tie those in....
In other words for an INFJ, Ti doesn't HAVE to be the enemy. I guess I've never viewed it as such.
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Anyhow, details and practical things, when it comes to large life changes, can stress me and annoy me, so I'll often postpone some of that stuff. (but some details, like budgeting and household chores/etc, I keep on top of very well)
Conflict, being misunderstood, or freaking out about decisions I have made, and their implications (if there are substantial elements of the unknown, or risks involved) can stress me out.
When very stressed or emotionally upset (usually they go hand in hand), I become judgemental (don't typically externalize that, though), don't want to deal with people and am easily annoyed by people (so I tend to avoid them and want to become more hermit-like), my mind spins and I can't stop the cycle of thoughts, I beat myself up a lot, and I guess that's about it. Summary would be that I'm not 'calm' - my internal world is turbulent rather than a still, more rational/reflective surface.