[Si] Si's approach to history and classics

[mez]

I remember reading a lot that types who have a highly placed Si (like ISTJ's for example) must be very interested in history and are more inclined to follow traditions.

However, (I don't think I'm an ISTJ btw), I noticed there's two ways and reasons you can be attracted to history and traditions.

Reason 1: because you feel attracted to how things were done in the past, you have faith in your ancestors and/or want to respect them, you want to continue what has already been established/done.
Reason 2: you don't care how things were and what has been done or established, but you seek pursue/exercise/attain/create "timeless" things (like classical music, classical clothes, classical jewelry, classical knowledge) because you find mental security and comfort in things that exist "outside of time" or are "immortal" and "everlasting", can't "age" and can't be "discarded" by anyone in the past nor future.

The reason #2 I described above is heavily influential on my decision-making whenever I try to attain anything new in life, be it knowledge or physical items or status. (the only place I don't apply it to is food)
Do you think this focus on "timelessness"/"immortality"/"invulnerability to the vogue" regardless of past and future, also provoked by Si, or it's a different function/group-of-functions that causes this?

 

[Agent Washington]

YouTube

What provides reliable sets of data for theories?

...History, of course.

 

[LucieCat]

Well, I don't think Si necessarily means a person will have a love of history. I know some Si users who actually aren't all that interested in it. And there are people who are interested in history who don't even have Si in their stack, my ISTP Dad being one of them.

There may be a strong pull towards history for people because it allows people to have an inlet to observe how the traditions and culture of the past connect to that of today. And it shows the origins of systems and methods behind things. Si is concerned with precedent and what is reliable and proven over time. I've noticed that Si often draws from personal experience, but it can also take on a much longer timeline as well.

There are also people who have Si as a weakness who are interested in history as well. It's my inferior process actually, and I suppose you could say the past (or as I jokingly say "old things") is one of my main passions. I love to feel connected with the past, but I think it's more of a quality of my Ne because it helps me make connections in the outside world and figure out "okay, I know X, Y, and Z, but what does it mean and how are they connected." This is part of Si too probably because Ne and Si exist as a polarity and one can't be present without the other. But, for me, History is very much an Ne area. But it's impacted by my inferior, and it teaches me in a way the lessons Si has to give so I don't undervalue it's importance is the world.

I also read that our inferior can surface as an aspiration or something we'd like to strive towards. I find that making connections between the past and present is something that inhabits this area. I go about it with Ne mostly, but the two are so interrelated that it's hard to pick them apart.

Now, where I falter with Si is if we're talking about connecting personal experiences at a reasonable pace and being able to remember orderly systems and I have a very Ne tendency to want to rip everything up and start all over new instead of building on what is there and known and functional in society. History helps that rebellious spark in me because it shows that the systems in society aren't completely broken (usually, there's some things I still would just completely chuck out of the window if I could).

I also find history to be like a giant story. And I've always adored stories, which help me get into an Ne flow state. So there's that too.