Role of Si in nostalgia

[Totenkindly]

I don't even know what I'm trying to ask here per se, but i was wondering about a myriad of questions revolving around use of Si.

In the Buddhism thread, Toonia posted something about just how wonderful it is experience things as they totally are. She sounds very caught up in it. I see value in it, but am rather "meh" about the whole thing, and when she made the comment, I thought more about how much I feel in regard to my internalized Si world -- the continual contrast between it and the outer Se reality, and how the external world continually changes, leaving my poor Si world behind. There is a great sense of loss for me attached to the passing of time, despite the fact I am very flexible and able to adjust fine -- it's bittersweetness for me -- and it reminds me of Tolkien and other authors who seem to lament what is lost as the world changes.

1. Do types that possess Se as one of the four "major" functions have more of the connection to the external world such as Toonia (INxJ) is expressing? Is it more essential for them to be rooted in that way?

2. Do types with Si have more of a bittersweet feeling towards the world and are they impacted more by time passages? Is it more essential for them to be rooted in that way or learn to accept change, change that a more Se type would simply take in stride?

I'm not sure if these questions make sense, but any personal experience or ideas that they trigger can be posted here.

[cafe]

I don't know how types are in general, but I see what you are describing in my relationship with my INTP.

It's hard for me to understand when he is sad about changes in the concrete world even when they are obvious improvements. I think it's great when historical objects and places can be preserved but we can't preserve everything.

[Totenkindly]

It's hard for me to understand when he is sad about changes in the concrete world even when they are obvious improvements. I think it's great when historical objects and places can be preserved but we can't preserve everything.

So you are saying that, although you are mentally aware of everything being lost, you are not attached to it in a way that overrides the excitement (or, maybe better, the positive feeling) that you are experiencing at making the improvement?

[cafe]

So you are saying that, although you are mentally aware of everything being lost, you are not attached to it in a way that overrides the excitement (or, maybe better, the positive feeling) that you are experiencing at making the improvement?

Yes. I think the loss is sad but inevitable and progress is good. I am primarily future-focused.

[disregard]

I am an N, but i am very connected to the world around me and I enjoy every moment because I soak it up in my senses. My S mother doesn't seem to be as connected to nature as I am, and is future oriented.

[Totenkindly]

Yes. I think the loss is sad but inevitable and progress is good. I am primarily future-focused.

Yeah, I think the progress is good and even essential, so there is no choice but to move forward (and often this feels great)... but in situations where something is being lost, it really lingers in the heart and head, like something is gone I can never get back.

I wonder how much that has to do with imperfection in the system, and wishing that the system could be more perfect but never can be.

[Ravenetta]

2. Do types with Si have more of a bittersweet feeling towards the world and are they impacted more by time passages? Is it more essential for them to be rooted in that way or learn to accept change, change that a more Se type would simply take in stride?

Not to confuse the issue here, but I am very much driven by a bittersweet sense of the passage of time. It is my inner ache. It is not tied to objects except when they represent an attachment to a person. My sense of continual/impending loss is related to living breathing beings that I love. That 'we' are fleeting is my deep ache. Some of this is described in my incremental loss thread. It is escaping into the moment, of connecting with nature as it is w/o judgment that soothes that continual ache of loss for me. This relationship is very intimate and inter-dependent. I guess that is why music has had such a draw on me over all else. It is the art of time, but is experienced in each moment. Each moment holds within it the whole. It encapsulates the sense of my existence - its attachments and losses. Does that make any sense?

[ptgatsby]

Yeah, I think the progress is good and even essential, so there is no choice but to move forward (and often this feels great)... but in situations where something is being lost, it really lingers in the heart and head, like something is gone I can never get back.

I wonder how much that has to do with imperfection in the system, and wishing that the system could be more perfect but never can be.

I've always thought of it as how Js and Ps view time.

J's tend to schedule things. This requires presence in the present moving forward through time. P's don't do this to the same degree which leads us to exist in any moment we choose... past, present or future.

I can't say how many times my GF says that I plan too far away because I don't know what will happen next... This always struck me as odd until I realised that I was skipping through time - playing "what if" as a schedule, as a plan... And when we talk about the past, I reflect about what that moment was like, what it became. My GF has a far simplier version of "My stuffy. MINE MINE MINE" as compared to my more "Remember when I got that stuffy in Vegas? I snuck out so it would be a surprise. I sure got you, didn't I? And I made you wait through dinner before you could open it... and... and...". Her response is: Yah, that was a great trip.