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Demonic vs. Inferior functions

Eric B

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Joined
Mar 29, 2008
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3,621
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Te is not a relief thing for me. I know that Si is playing this role for me. However, the "toughness" with which I can come across, the "cut the crap" tough love stuff, was something I actually learned growing up, and from life experience. I don't know if that's Te, but people seem to think that it is. Reality is necessary. People have to learn to function and survive in the real world, and logic cannot be completely abandoned. That being said, I often find people with dom/aux Te much too overbearing and structured, I often don't want to follow their rules, can be hurt by their 'objective' standards, and can even view them as heartless. As I say, I *think* I am better at Sensing than Thinking (Logic) in the MBTI sense. I could be wrong and just not even be aware of what I am doing.

I also wonder about my preference for writing in a more structured fashion than many ENFPs I see on this forum - even highly educated ones who went to grad school, and I didn't even graduate from a four year university. Is that because I'm an INFP? Or is that just a personal quirk?

While Te types might be prone to "tough love" stype stuff, the functions are perspectives, not behaviors. So if you learned that behavior from growing up, it is not your natural functional perspective. (And besides, I think Te in a tertiary position is not going to be so much about tough love, but more childlike. So that was no sign it's tertiary to begin with).
So it does sound like it could be inferior. What you describe would be compatible with being intimidated by it in those who prefer it. You might not necessarily be conscious of looking up to it, though, and that's the point with the concept of the inferior being on the border of the unconscious.

So again, all of this sounds like INFP.

Also, "writing in a more structured fashion than ENFPs" might be a clue, but it would be a very loose one. You can't really go by stereotypical behaviors like that. Any type can have a person who can write in a structured fashion.
 

Amargith

Hotel California
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Nov 5, 2008
Messages
14,717
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ENFP
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4dw
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sx/so
Marm, I'd say you use more Te than me and are probably more extraverted than I am. Ask yourself what you do when you're in a jam. Is it Fi that rescues your ass, or is it Ne? For me, it's Ne...seeing all the options in front of me and somehow miraculously pulling shit off that should never be possible, *becoz* I see those options that nobody else would think of.


Also, I don't find Te a relief either, when it comes to big things. Then it's stressy, makes me impatient and pissed and feel incompetent. But with small mindless tasks, for not too long a time, it can be incredibly soothing (for instance, I bead necklaces when I wanna just have a moment of piece, but the same can come from just reorganizing a small, very tiny part of your living room. Not the entire living room as that's too exhausting, but a tiny part ;))

As much as I enjoy the nostalgia that Si provides, and going back down memory lane (which to me is soothing as well, but also addictive and makes me sluggish and unwilling to back to the world), Si is also somethign I'm ashamed of, as I find that I should be able to do that without effort and somehow always fumble it up. As much as I am ashamed of Te for being so blunt, I will not doubt my ability to get something done with it. Si...is another matter alltogether. It's foggy, and I'm not sure if I'm not mixing Ne in it, and filling in the gaps as I go along :doh:
 

Eric B

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Messages
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Your description of tertiary Te still fits. The negative side of the "relief" role is "unsettling".

When inferior Si develops, it too is very nostalgic, as described by Berens. ("...often with romantic notions. Similarly, they often desire some future life that is set, with conventional trappings, yet are drawn to novelty")
 
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