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The True Purpose of the Tertiary

Such Irony

Honor Thy Inferior
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Messages
5,059
MBTI Type
INtp
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
I have good access to my tertiary Si and use it to reminisce about the past- sometimes in vivid detail. I enjoy unique sensory impressions about things I get from tertiary Si. I like Si for the storehouse of information it provides and pulling out the best piece of information at the best time.
 

Redbone

Orisha
Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Messages
2,882
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Tertiary Si can be great at times but it can also be a refuge (and not the best one) in times of stress. I have noticed that if I am extremely stressed, I'll stop trying to gather information. My vision is more like a tunnel at that point. I stop trusting myself and what I see. Since I can't see, I start flipping through memory files, thinking that something...there's got to be something that is familiar and can get me out of this jam. It's almost like going into an archive, locking the door, and concentrating on finding the answers in there. It can help but if I let it go on too long, I get myself into a lot of trouble.
 

mrcockburn

Aquaria
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Jan 3, 2010
Messages
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¥¤
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sp/so
Strangely enough, I find that my Fi's been playing with me. Which is weird for an ESTP. It manifests in pure, unadulterated enjoyment of aesthetics and beauty - mostly through music, sights, etc. But similarly to what someone above said, it's usually an intentional surrender to marveling the beauty. It's a very personal/vulnerable state for me to be in, and I don't normally let myself get like that, and definitely never with others around.

Fe I just don't get, and I never will get. I see its purpose in society, but there are other people who are better with that. Let them handle it.
 

mrcockburn

Aquaria
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Strangely enough, I find that my Fi's been playing with me. Which is weird for an ESTP. It manifests in pure, unadulterated enjoyment of aesthetics and beauty - mostly through music, sights, etc. But similarly to what someone above said, it's usually an intentional surrender to marveling the beauty. It's a very personal/vulnerable state for me to be in, and I don't normally let myself get like that, and definitely never with others around.

Fe I just don't get, and I never will get. I see its purpose in society, but there are other people who are better with that. Let them handle it.
 

Little Linguist

Striving for balance
Joined
Jun 23, 2008
Messages
6,880
MBTI Type
xNFP
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sx/so
Interesting, I experience Te not as a relief, but as an embarassment, displaying my stress /loss of control for the whole world to see. I have the same embarassment as you with Se though.

How is the tertiary pleasurable for you? And, fellow ENFPs, do you experience Te as pleasurable and how so?

Very pleasurable – to the point where I take absolute *pride* in it. "Look how I pulled off all this stuff! Look how I managed my time and resources!!! Look, look at how perfectly organized my room looks!!! Look how wonderful my notes look now!!!"

How can I describe it? I feel almost *euphoric* when things are perfectly ordered (books according to subject, subcategorized according to topic, largest to smallest, so that a marble could cascade down my books from left to right).

Alternatively, I look at my room now, whose order has taken second place to working, studying, and procrastinating by distracting myself, and I feel almost *disgusted* at seeing the lack of order. It's not *dirty*; it's just *not in place, not fixed up*, but that makes me feel *wrong, bad, distracted*. I need to be in a perfectly-ordered environment to concentrate. Which is nearly driving me insane because my lack of Se has made me unaware of the build-up of papers, laundry to be ironed, to the point that it's such a massive overload that I want to scream and just throw everything away so that the mess is just GONE.

:((( Will someone please help me fix things up so that I can feel euphoric again??? Please??? *bats eyelashes* *hugs for whoever helps*

P.S. The funny thing is that my INT husband looks at the same thing and says, "Mess? There is no mess! It's not that bad!" But inside I feel queasy and uneasy. I want it fixed. Fix it, damn it, fix it!!!!!
 

INTP

Active member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
7,803
MBTI Type
intp
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5w4
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sx
tert works as a supportive function to inferior like aux works to dom

jungs description of tert:

http://www.nyaap.org/jung-lexicon/t/#tertium said:
Tertium non datur
The reconciling "third," not logically foreseeable, characteristic of a resolution in a conflict situation when the tension between opposites has been held in consciousness. (See also transcendent function.)


"As a rule it occurs when the analysis has constellated the opposites so powerfully that a union or synthesis of the personality becomes an imperative necessity. . . . [This situation] requires a real solution and necessitates a third thing in which the opposites can unite. Here the logic of the intellect usually fails, for in a logical antithesis there is no third. The "solvent" can only be of an irrational nature. In nature the resolution of opposites is always an energic process: she acts symbolically in the truest sense of the word, doing something that expresses both sides, just as a waterfall visibly mediates between above and below.["The Conjunction," CW 14, par. 705.]"

tert also works as transcendent function:

http://www.nyaap.org/jung-lexicon/t/#transcendentFunction said:
Transcendent function
A psychic function that arises from the tension between consciousness and the unconscious and supports their union. (See also opposites and tertium non datur.)


"When there is full parity of the opposites, attested by the ego’s absolute participation in both, this necessarily leads to a suspension of the will, for the will can no longer operate when every motive has an equally strong countermotive. Since life cannot tolerate a standstill, a damming up of vital energy results, and this would lead to an insupportable condition did not the tension of opposites produce a new, uniting function that transcends them. This function arises quite naturally from the regression of libido caused by the blockage.[Ibid., par. 824.]"

"The tendencies of the conscious and the unconscious are the two factors that together make up the transcendent function. It is called "transcendent" because it makes the transition from one attitude to another organically possible.["The Transcendent Function," CW 8, par. 145.]"

In a conflict situation, or a state of depression for which there is no apparent reason, the development of the transcendent function depends on becoming aware of unconscious material. This is most readily available in dreams, but because they are so difficult to understand Jung considered the method of active imagination-giving "form" to dreams, fantasies, etc.–to be more useful.

"Once the unconscious content has been given form and the meaning of the formulation is understood, the question arises as to how the ego will relate to this position, and how the ego and the unconscious are to come to terms. This is the second and more important stage of the procedure, the bringing together of opposites for the production of a third: the transcendent function. At this stage it is no longer the unconscious that takes the lead, but the ego.[Ibid., par. 181.]"

This process requires an ego that can maintain its standpoint in face of the counterposition of the unconscious. Both are of equal value. The confrontation between the two generates a tension charged with energy and creates a living, third essence.

"From the activity of the unconscious there now emerges a new content, constellated by thesis and antithesis in equal measure and standing in a compensatory relation to both. It thus forms the middle ground on which the opposites can be united. If, for instance, we conceive the opposition to be sensuality versus spirituality, then the mediatory content born out of the unconscious provides a welcome means of expression for the spiritual thesis, because of its rich spiritual associations, and also for the sensual antithesis, because of its sensuous imagery. The ego, however, torn between thesis and antithesis, finds in the middle ground its own counterpart, its sole and unique means of expression, and it eagerly seizes on this in order to be delivered from its division.["Definitions," CW 6, par. 825.]"

The transcendent function is essentially an aspect of the self-regulation of the psyche. It typically manifests symbolically and is experienced as a new attitude toward oneself and life.

"If the mediatory product remains intact, it forms the raw material for a process not of dissolution but of construction, in which thesis and antithesis both play their part. In this way it becomes a new content that governs the whole attitude, putting an end to the division and forcing the energy of the opposites into a common channel. The standstill is overcome and life can flow on with renewed power towards new goals.[Ibid., par. 827.]"
 

Soph11287

New member
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Jun 10, 2015
Messages
24
MBTI Type
ISFP
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?
Is the tertiary function the same thing as the transcendent function?
 

Eric B

ⒺⓉⒷ
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Mar 29, 2008
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INTP
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No. The transcendent function is supposed to be what unites opposites, such as the dominant and inferior. Such a function "transcends" the divided poles of the other functions.
 
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