Dominant-Inferior together

[Two Point Two]

I'm interested in how people experience their dominant-inferior functions together, either as a unit, or perhaps how they experience their inferior not as an inferior that they might view as a weakness, but in light of their dominant, when both are active and useful.

I'll start with an example:

To me, Se is usually a combination of obliviousness and hypochondria. However, there are times when I feel that I kind of synch in with the world. I become aware of colour, light, temperature, the wind, movement, as it occurs in the moment. I think this to be an occasional activation of healthy Se.

With this, though, is an awareness of other things - an awareness of this moment as a facet of something infinitely complex, of the totality of reality, and an awareness that that's not something I can conceive of in specifics; it's unfathomable. Awareness that perception is of things at a certain size, but that what's there is not necessarily determined between subatomic particles, on one hand, or that totality on the other. That the experience is itself momentary, but that we don't understand what that means, in a broader context of what time is. It's not that Se makes me think of these things, as separate things, it's that I experience and interpret the experience itself as an element of something else.

Ni use is fairly constant, for me, and I spend a lot of time not really feeling like I'm 'in the world'. But I find that Se-fed Ni, or NiSe, or whatever, can sometimes be more fulfilling and inspirational than normal, everyday Ni use.

So, that was a long example. But, now that I've recognised this in MBTI terms, I'm interested - what is NeSi like? SiNe? SeNi? FiTe? TeFi? TiFe? FeTi? How do you experience your Dominant and inferior functions together?

 

[Kalach]

I agree with how you describe Se. It's rejuvenating. It reinvests stagnating thought with renewed consciousness.

At least, that's how it works when it's consciously chosen at the end of other stuff finished. Actually integrating the damn process into an ongoing drama calling for decision making and management... that's tiring. Most especially when other people are involved. If the project is one of my own choosing and is to be performed by me alone, then one can get into the groove and go.


Where I used to live I had a lake view. From the seventh floor. Across the lake were main streets with street traffic lights, continuous, low density traffic, few tall buildings... the edge of the city proper, basically. At night there were lots of dots and sparkles and orderly moving lights to see, comfortably far away. Sounds would come in the window. If I walked into the apartment and sat down on the edge of the sofa I'd be looking relaxed out the living room window at that. I used to leave the curtains open and when I went out I'd leave the computer on randomly working its way through the mp3 collection on low volume. So, when I got back from wherever in the evening, I'd be able to walk in, leave the lights off, sit down and look out the window. Sitting there I'd be aware of the lights, aware of the music, and aware of my thoughts. None of the thoughts were guided, they were just there. As where the lights; I watched them. As was the music; I heard to it. Sometimes I could hear a familiar song with far more clarity than normal and it would sound musically deeper and new. Since the lights where never turned on and I'd walked in a sat down without doing anything, maybe get a bottle of water, and there was only the light from outside and off the clouds, it always instantly new, a dreamscape real world, lit like a movie, a place with no story. I wouldn't tune out per se, nor exactly tune in. There was a blending of scene and thought. But, I think, without guide. One of those neither present nor absent times. Times like that were valuable.

The usual sensation of workhorse Te was absent, on the whole. But some kind of thinking was present. A seemingly unguided sifting.

Dunno. It was cool. I don't live there anymore.

 

[simulatedworld]

I'll comment on the actual content later, but I'd like to point out that the OP here is a great example for anybody wondering about what Ni does.

With this, though, is an awareness of other things - an awareness of this moment as a facet of something infinitely complex, of the totality of reality, and an awareness that that's not something I can conceive of in specifics; it's unfathomable. Awareness that perception is of things at a certain size, but that what's there is not necessarily determined between subatomic particles, on one hand, or that totality on the other. That the experience is itself momentary, but that we don't understand what that means, in a broader context of what time is.

 

[VagrantFarce]

Ti and Fe don't always feel that complementary to me, but perhaps that's because they're opposing ways of making decisions - one is inevitably going to step on the other's toes (this is probably the same with Te and Fi). A best case scenario is helping out another person to solve a problem (e.g. growing up I was the guy to talk to when the computer didn't work), a worst case scenario is making an innocent observation and offending the entire room by accident.

Ti also helps to create a model wherein I can understand how other people behave, so that I have a reliable map from which I can navigate that horrible social minefield. If I do end up stepping on a mine, oh well, I feel embarrassed, I retreat to my little hole in the wall, and I know not to step on that little patch of grass again.

Si and Ne probably get along better - everyone's heard of the infamous Si-Ne analysis loop, where you casually notice something that's rife with potential, and you drill it over and over in your mind instead of pursuing it further. It's like twisting a wet cloth to get as much water out of it as possible. I can't tell you the number of times that I've just been casually watching a film, I'll hear someone say an interesting line, and then I'll pause the movie and make up the rest of the scene in my head, pacing up and down the room for 20 minutes. This sometimes happens in the actual cinema, the difference being that I don't actually feel the need to get up and pace (thank fucking christ), and that I'll eventually wake up and find that I've missed 15 minutes of the film!

Gosh, INTPs are so awkward.

 

[Andy]

I agree with how you describe Se. It's rejuvenating. It reinvests stagnating thought with renewed consciousness.

That's true enough. We can be quite flexible with our judging functions, but if we are not carefull we need up over reliant on Ni. As a consequence, our information inflow can become rather stagnant. Se blows in new material for Ni to work with.

 

[Oaky]

I was going to state my experiences of using NiSe but the OP described it much too well. Using Ni and Se together often feels like an epiphany.

 

[OrangeAppled]

Fi + Te = perfectionism.

 

[VagrantFarce]

Fi + Te = perfectionism.

Those functions really don't have a monopoly on perfectionism.

 

[OrangeAppled]

Those functions really don't have a monopoly on perfectionism.

I'm sure they don't, but it's how they seem to play out in me

 

[simulatedworld]

I'm sure they don't, but it's how they seem to play out in me

What sort of perfectionism do you mean? All of the judging functions show their own particular brands of perfectionism; it just depends on the topic at hand.

 

[Two Point Two]

I can see how FiTe could lead to perfectionism...constant valuing with an underlying compulsion to bring about, I guess. I'd love to hear a detailed account from the perspective of an IxFP, though.

VagrantFarce - can you think of any instances in which Fe assists or does good for Ti?

 

[William K]

I can see how FiTe could lead to perfectionism...constant valuing with an underlying compulsion to bring about, I guess. I'd love to hear a detailed account from the perspective of an IxFP, though.

VagrantFarce - can you think of any instances in which Fe assists or does good for Ti?

It's like the saying "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well"
Being an idealist, if I find something that my Fi values a lot, then I'll be extremely passionate and at the same time extremely self-critical about it. I used to write a bit of fiction in my university days but would never finish it because I was never content with what I wrote down, constantly rewriting to find the 'perfect' piece of work.