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[Fi] Fe blindness; Fi shortsightedness

teslashock

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Of Feeling users who list their type in their profile:

1362 FP
1232 NFP
848 FJ
745 NFJ

There's no mod magic; just a simple Member List search. There are more NTP users here than NFPs so they could possibly be the main source of the alleged anti-Fi bias and there are more NTJs here than FJs period. The main source isn't FJs. Wonder why? The collective power of Fe hegemony should bowl over anything else.

I'm going to leave the thread for awhile. I don't think I'm contributing anything good right now.

Aww, don't ruin my fun. The fact that you knew the relative ratios off the top of your head was mod magic :). You're one of those moms that's going to tell your kids that Santa isn't real before they turn 3, aren't you?

Crap, I guess I'm not contributing anything good now either.
 

proteanmix

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Aww, don't ruin my fun. The fact that you knew the relative ratios off the top of your head was mod magic :). You're one of those moms that's going to tell your kids that Santa isn't real before they turn 3, aren't you?

Crap, I guess I'm not contributing anything good now either.

LOL, I am!

My mother told me that one of the most heartbreaking moments of her life was when she found out that Santa's not real. She said she vowed she'd never deceive her children like that.

I also knew how to put a condom on a banana by 8.
 

onemoretime

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Before I go on, I want you to know that I accept everything you posted as valid, and that my comments are in no way intended to denigrate a word of what you typed. I'm just playing a point-counterpoint game here, with the hopes of finding an understanding we all can share.

I just reread like 10-20 pages of Lenore thomsons's book hoping that I could quote her on Fi-doms and being predisposed or naturally adept at empathy.
Unfortunately, she kept using other semi-similar words so I can't quote her on that one, and people could debate any word-transference I pick to get from what she says to empathy.

I think she talks somewhere about Fi dom's naturally trying to see things "from other people's shoes/viewpoints" as in "IFP's are most likely to try and see something from someone else's viewpoint or to walk a mile in someone else's shoes". I'll keep looking, maybe its in the INFP section instead of the IFP section.

I'm not sure it innately qualifies as "empathy", but I think the best answer I can try to give is to say this: Fi seeks universal values, and given their universal nature they cut through or ignore societies conventions and expectations [I can find quotes for that part]. To me, I consider this "more directly interacting with a person and their internal experience" as opposed to "social bartering" or "social currency", and to someone on the outside looking at this situation they might more likely describe such a Fi-approach as "empathy"

These are all interesting points. I think it may betray a superficial view of Fe, however. Social currency is empathy, in a large sense, since you can't trade it without knowing the other person's valuations.

Alright, forget Thomson, lets go with Myers-Briggs herself in Gifts Differing. Page 79 contrasts Fe and Fi. Its long and I don't want to quote it all, but personally I'd definitely attribute "empathy" to Fi over Fe based upon the descriptions on this page. Some snippets:

Fe: determined chiefly by the objective factor and serves to make the individual feel correctly, that is conventionally, under all circumstances

Fi: is determined by the subjective factor and serves as a guide to emotional acceptance or rejection of various aspects of life

Once again, I think this gives a superficial view of Fe. It does not want to make sure that others feel "correctly", it wants to make sure all are sharing the same emotions to create a harmonious effect, thus limiting intragroup conflict. A well-developed Fe isn't going to impose a contrary emotion on someone at every turn; rather, it will seek to understand the contrary emotion, and then make a judgment as to whether it is in the person with the contrary emotion's best interests to adapt to the group surroundings and act accordingly, or, whether the group has neglected some very important information, and needs to modify its behavior.

my thought: I'm not sure I fully agree here, but its what she wrote. "empathy" clearly belongs to Fi here [accept what is vs making someone feel conventionally/correctly

Your assessment is accurate. I still do not like the conventional/correct classification. Rather, it's an understanding that one's own individual emotional output affects others.

Fe: adapts the individual to the objective situation [hello, isnt this the opposite of empathy???]

Fi:adapts the objective situation to the individual

Once again, a misconception of Fe. Fe will adapt the situation to the individual... when it understands that the group's actions have a severely negative effect on one of its members. It will try to make the person "go along", but that's simply because it's the easiest way of establishing group harmony. Once it's been established that the person can't adapt to the surroundings, a well-developed Fe user will do what he or she can to modify the situation so that everyone gets along again.

Fe: depends wholly on upon the ideals, conventions and customs of the environment

Fi: depends upon abstract feeling-ideals...

I don't understand this distinction. Wouldn't it just be easier and more accurate to say "Fe derives its emotional determination from the impact those emotions have on others" and "Fi derives its emotional determination from the impact a stimulus has on its own emotional response"?

my thought: Fi again for "empathy" unless one really trusts "conventions"

We in the West are accustomed to thinking of the individual as the base unit of humanity. This is not the only valid conceptualization.

Fe: finds soundness and value in the collective ideals of the community, which are usually accepted without question

Fi: finds soundness and value inside from [personal factors]

my thought: Fi again, unless one accepts the communities expectations over one's own [as in "society says you should be feeling emotion X since you are in situation Y"]

Yeah, I really don't agree with this. Fe finds soundness and value with the sharing of emotional experiences with others. In larger groups, it's just easier to do this following convention. In smaller groups, convention may be flouted to more accurately and acutely impact the members of the group.

Fe: has as its goal the formation and maintenance of easy and harmonious emotional relationships with others

Fi: has as its goal the fostering and development of an intense inner emotional life

That's accurate.

Fe: has a tendency to suppress the personal standpoint entirely...

^ thats like the antithesis of empathy there right???

One's OWN personal standpoint, not that of others, which is valuable information as to the greater goal of establishing harmony among many.

Ok, well I don't know if you agree with the above or what its getting at, but can you see how from what Briggs-Myers wrote about Fi and Fe that Fi seems more naturally empathetic? At best from the above descriptions [which again I don't agree with], the best Fe would seem to be able to do is say "I see that you fell this way, but societies social interaction expectations dictate that I will treat you some other way."

Yeah those aren't exactly accurate.
 

Scott N Denver

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^ I think I agree with all of what you said, within the limits of my interpretation of some of what you wrote.

I don't understand this distinction. Wouldn't it just be easier and more accurate to say "Fe derives its emotional determination from the impact those emotions have on others" and "Fi derives its emotional determination from the impact a stimulus has on its own emotional response"?

I'm not sure what emotional determination means though???

Let me say that I am a huge fan of ENFJ's, I think Myers-Briggs got her Fe wrong, and that her Fe descriptions are more aligned with ESFJ's than with ENFJ's. I totally prefer Thomson's descriptions over hers.
 

sculpting

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This will sound weird to you, no doubt (sounds weird to me as an adult), but as a kid I very much felt like I was the victim of uncontrolled empathy. Put me next to someone depressed, and I would feel depressed. Put me next to someone happy, and I would feel happy. I'm certain it wasn't psychic, but I was picking up on minor cues and it wasn't something I could turn off. Walking through a crowd by myself was like riding an emotional roller coaster: happy, sad, angry, depressed, deadened, in-love... all in the space of seconds as I looked at various people. All the changes could make me nauseous if I wasn't careful. If I had someone with me it was easier, because they would function as an emotional anchor for my out-of-control empathy.

When I read about "mirror neurons" now, and how the autistic (and aspies) may have too many or two few, it makes me wonder (not that I fall into either group). I could see that Fi (and Fe) could be associated with more of that kind of processing. Animals are said to have the same ability, I doubt they consciously choose to develop it, either. I think responsible Fi users choose to refine it and make sure it's accurate before reacting to what they pick up, though.

Can you give me the mirror neuron ref?

I agree with what much of what you said. I would guess that an overly empathic Fi is actually somewhat underdeveloped. I suspect we do not use it, due to pain or lack of security growing up-likely more common in enfps. As an adult when we try to use it or are forced to use it, we cannot block the sensory input. It also is not calibrated properly to the input it receives from the "other" thus we feel more or less pain than they feel. Also Ne makes it cycle and amplify-much like an NeTi will cycle upon thoughts perhaps?

I can cope well with an individual's pain-the pain of the masses can overwhelm me. My entp asks how I know that the pain I feel is what they feel. I have no idea. All I know is that I feel pain and anxiety.

At work I had an office I'd say was as good as the CEO's. It had a giant window overlooking the oak trees out front without any poles, sidewalks or other obstructions like most other offices have. It was on the main drag where all the executives have offices.

I traded it for a cube this last week as I could not handle the constant stream of traffic. Every face would carry stress, anxiety, emotion. I could not block it.


:violin: (wait, j/k j/k!!)
Perhaps you guys are very inclined towards empathy, but I still think it's an acquired skill, and nobody can be naturally good at empathizing. You have to ask questions from your outer world, create some sort of emotional database for referencing, and come across an array of different people before you can accurately empathize. Until you do that, the feelings that you believe you are taking in are just arbitrary hunches with nothing to back them except your own gut. I think this might be why Fi users come off as presumptuous some times, honestly. They don't ask the questions that they should ask in order to enhance their empathetic skills. I simply refuse to believe that Fi users have an innate ability to understand the emotions of others. That sounds almost supernatural. I believe that Fi users are inherently sensitive and generally place a lot of value in emotions, so they take pride in being empathetic, even when their empathy is erroneous.

I think Fi and Ti may have a lot in common. I would suggest that both work off of learned rule sets. Ti is logical rulesets while Fi is value based rule sets.

As I have been told by Ti users, logical fallacies are highly annoying and disruptive to a Ti user. Perhaps this feeling of annoyance helps build a proper Ti ruleset as you grow up?

As an Fi user, pain builds my Fi ruleset. Mirrored external events that trigger internal pain are BAD by Fi ruleset definition. Mirrored external events that trigger internal happiness are good by definition.

My Fi rules are pathetically simple, since I dont use it much.

Rule 1: Did that hurt someone? Will that hurt someone? BAD. Are people happy? GOOD. I let Te take over to settle the equations when there is a dispute in the above two.

I'd assume a more experienced Fi user will have much more resolution built into their Fi ruleset and have it more finely calibrated through proper feedback.

realize "hunch"=pain. Ewwwww.

Also-realize for an NeFi not to "feel" would be much like an NeTi who stopped thinking....do you guys ever stop thinking?

Does Ti mirror the ideas of others as a way to process the information like Fi mirrors emotive states? I think this may occur as I can see my NeTi's get tripped up when given Te info. It's to the point where my ENTP and I cross interpret each other's bosses' emails. "WTF is this guy talking about?"
 

onemoretime

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^ I think I agree with all of what you said, within the limits of my interpretation of some of what you wrote.

I don't understand this distinction. Wouldn't it just be easier and more accurate to say "Fe derives its emotional determination from the impact those emotions have on others" and "Fi derives its emotional determination from the impact a stimulus has on its own emotional response"?

I'm not sure what emotional determination means though???

Let me say that I am a huge fan of ENFJ's, I think Myers-Briggs got her Fe wrong, and that her Fe descriptions are more aligned with ESFJ's than with ENFJ's. I totally prefer Thomson's descriptions over hers.

Emotional determination: "this is a positive feeling" "this is a negative feeling" "this feeling is neutral, but appropriate/inappropriate for this circumstance" so on and so forth
 

sculpting

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Once again, I think this gives a superficial view of Fe. It does not want to make sure that others feel "correctly", it wants to make sure all are sharing the same emotions to create a harmonious effect, thus limiting intragroup conflict. A well-developed Fe isn't going to impose a contrary emotion on someone at every turn; rather, it will seek to understand the contrary emotion, and then make a judgment as to whether it is in the person with the contrary emotion's best interests to adapt to the group surroundings and act accordingly, or, whether the group has neglected some very important information, and needs to modify its behavior.

Once again, a misconception of Fe. Fe will adapt the situation to the individual... when it understands that the group's actions have a severely negative effect on one of its members. It will try to make the person "go along", but that's simply because it's the easiest way of establishing group harmony. Once it's been established that the person can't adapt to the surroundings, a well-developed Fe user will do what he or she can to modify the situation so that everyone gets along again.

From the external viewpoint-typically the discrepant member ends up getting shunned until the group is collapsing. I am very guilty of disrupting the group consensus and typically I will be ignored-until proven right. I am trying to learn how not to speak up.
 

Scott N Denver

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Emotional determination: "this is a positive feeling" "this is a negative feeling" "this feeling is neutral, but appropriate/inappropriate for this circumstance" so on and so forth

I would say that feelings are direct personal experiences of our current inner state. Questions of "appropriate/inappropriate" sound like Fe/social convention to me, and "positive/negative/neutral" even seems weird and definitely judgemental to me. Feelings are a natural reaction to our situation and represent our internal state. I hope you feel bad/negative if you just killed someone for example. We may enjoy or not enjoy our emotions, but it is important to experience them as they are if they are going to be let go off and moved on from. Emotional processing. Not all emotions are pretty, some are pretty complicated. Covering over things or saying "I should feel THIS way so I will ignore or deny that I actually feel THAT way" creates emotional/psychological issues, IMO.

Maybe this is just me, but I think of Fi as asking this question "is this honestly how I feel?" as opposed to "is my emotion acceptable?" or whatnot.
 

onemoretime

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Also-realize for an NeFi not to "feel" would be much like an NeTi who stopped thinking....do you guys ever stop thinking?

More often than you might think. Sometimes, I just switch gears into pure sensory input (not Se, since I don't react to it) and let the information come pouring in. It's very refreshing and relaxing. Unfortunately, it also gets boring after about 5 minutes.

Does Ti mirror the ideas of others as a way to process the information like Fi mirrors emotive states? I think this may occur as I can see my NeTi's get tripped up when given Te info. It's to the point where my ENTP and I cross interpret each other's bosses' emails. "WTF is this guy talking about?"

Mirroring isn't really the right way to put it - rather, start assembling the information as it comes in.

The Te reaction is something like the following:

1: who the F do you think you are? (If a superior, go to 2, if not, start raising hell)
2: do the words coming out of the person's mouth sound like English? (If yes, go to 3, if no, go to 4)
3: do those words make any sense? (If yes, go to 5, if no, ignore and continue on as before)
4: is the person supposed to be speaking English? (If yes, ignore and continue on as before, if no, switch gears to proper language and start again at 1)
5: do the instructions logically follow? (If yes, go to 6, if no, go to 7)
6: is there any way the instructions could be improved? (If yes, point out the improvements, and go to 8, if no, comply with the instructions)
7: does it make any sense to raise the issue? (If yes, start the NeTi browbeating, if no, comply passive-aggressively)
8: does the superior agree with your improvements? (If yes, feel good about yourself, if no, comply passive-aggressively and start looking for a new job)
 

onemoretime

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From the external viewpoint-typically the discrepant member ends up getting shunned until the group is collapsing. I am very guilty of disrupting the group consensus and typically I will be ignored-until proven right. I am trying to learn how not to speak up.

That's more Ne than anything. It's worse with NeTi... not only do you disagree, but absent some other information, you know exactly how and when the boat's going to sink, and there's little you can do to save everyone else. That's the downside of Fe.
 

onemoretime

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I would say that feelings are direct personal experiences of our current inner state. Questions of "appropriate/inappropriate" sound like Fe/social convention to me, and "positive/negative/neutral" even seems weird and definitely judgemental to me. Feelings are a natural reaction to our situation and represent our internal state. I hope you feel bad/negative if you just killed someone for example. We may enjoy or not enjoy our emotions, but it is important to experience them as they are if they are going to be let go off and moved on from. Emotional processing. Not all emotions are pretty, some are pretty complicated. Covering over things or saying "I should feel THIS way so I will ignore or deny that I actually feel THAT way" creates emotional/psychological issues, IMO.

Maybe this is just me, but I think of Fi as asking this question "is this honestly how I feel?" as opposed to "is my emotion acceptable?" or whatnot.

That's the Fi emotional determination scale, I guess. To clarify: when I say "appropriate/inappropriate", I don't mean by social convention. Instead, I mean "is it appropriate toward the ends that I have?" By positive/negative, I mean "does it help me in the long run, or does it harm?"
 

Synarch

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Don't feed him.

These conversations on Fe and Fi go so well until some ENTP shows up.

This is exactly what they want. Responses are usually along the lines of: "I'm not angry! Don't tell me how I feel! NFPs always ___ [whine about NFPs]. I know everything about everything, but you're just too emotional for this conversation to be productive!". :tongue:

Now back to the discussion, which was interesting.

This made me chuckle. I will say that ENTP's can derail a thread pretty easily.

I do think that Fi using can come off as scolding in some ways, though, whereas Fe seems to be a bit more urbane when applied. I'm not sure, though. Just the minutest trace of a thought there.

Can someone please answer why Fi users (actually NFPs because SFPs aren't claiming this) want to claim so badly the Empathy Prize. Fi does not have a monopoly on empathy, Fi is not more predisposed towards empathy.

Interesting.

Perhaps Fi is identification or attempted identification and embodiment of empathy. Whereas, Fe is empathy by way of recognizing the feelings of others without identification?

For example, I find empathy to be presumptuous. So, I try not to empathize. I keep a respectful distance. Rather, I seek to provide support by recognizing what is needed under the emotion. Do you know what I mean?

And as far as Fi laying a claim on empathy, I think that's pretty much bullshit too (read: pretentious). Any strong F types are going to be decent at empathizing. Hell, I'm an ENTP, and I still find myself feeling empathy for the downtrodden and melancholy, particularly the ones that are close to me. You don't have to use Fi to feel the emotional pains of others, so I definitely agree with you that empathy is not an inherent Fi trait; it's merely a skill that many Fi users care to develop because they put such a strong investment in any emotions whatsoever.

I think empathy divorced from action is rather self-serving and dishonest, in general. So, I don't indulge in that either. For example, it may seem logical to feel pity or sadness for a homeless person, but for all I know they may enjoy living on the streets. It's not completely improbable. Likewise, unless I am sufficiently motivated to "do something" about homelessness, why should I engage in empathy? Because I am struck by disgust, pity, sadness, or the questions and conflicts the concept of homelessness stirs in me?
 

Seymour

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Can you give me the mirror neuron ref?

Sure:

Mirror neuron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Science and Reason: Mirror neurons

And here's an article from an aspie questioning if they have anything to do with empathy and autism or not:

Much Ado About Mirror Neurons - Empathy, Autism, and Bias


Anyway, I'm not sure that I buy that have anything to do with empathy, but they are a case of your own neurons involuntarily mirroring someone else's (fallibly and based on observation). No magic here, either.

I agree with what much of what you said. I would guess that an overly empathic Fi is actually somewhat underdeveloped. I suspect we do not use it, due to pain or lack of security growing up-likely more common in enfps. As an adult when we try to use it or are forced to use it, we cannot block the sensory input. It also is not calibrated properly to the input it receives from the "other" thus we feel more or less pain than they feel. Also Ne makes it cycle and amplify-much like an NeTi will cycle upon thoughts perhaps?

I have no idea if it has to do with level of development of a particular function or not. I think that's an interesting question. I sure don't think that kind of involuntary empathy is necessary for being an xNFP, though. Seems like some of us had aspects of it, and some didn't.

I can cope well with an individual's pain-the pain of the masses can overwhelm me. My entp asks how I know that the pain I feel is what they feel. I have no idea. All I know is that I feel pain and anxiety.

At work I had an office I'd say was as good as the CEO's. It had a giant window overlooking the oak trees out front without any poles, sidewalks or other obstructions like most other offices have. It was on the main drag where all the executives have offices.

I traded it for a cube this last week as I could not handle the constant stream of traffic. Every face would carry stress, anxiety, emotion. I could not block it.

That sounds like a drag, and must have been puzzling to your coworkers. While I'm not so hyper-sensitive now, I still get a tension headache if people are arguing nearby. I've learned to take a break and go for a walk, or I have to suffer for the rest of the day.

[...]
Also-realize for an NeFi not to "feel" would be much like an NeTi who stopped thinking....do you guys ever stop thinking?

Exactly. Or like someone with good pitch being forced to listen to something off-key. You can't NOT react... but it's not supernatural.
 

sculpting

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That's more Ne than anything. It's worse with NeTi... not only do you disagree, but absent some other information, you know exactly how and when the boat's going to sink, and there's little you can do to save everyone else. That's the downside of Fe.

Hmmm, I do that with NeTe, identify all the future potholes, and then can predict the future downfall, predict the future pain and FEEL the future pain of the other due to Fi when nobody listens.

I have been drinking a lot more this year....:)

That Te response was hysterical btw.
 

teslashock

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I think empathy divorced from action is rather self-serving and dishonest, in general. So, I don't indulge in that either. For example, it may seem logical to feel pity or sadness for a homeless person, but for all I know they may enjoy living on the streets. It's not completely improbable. Likewise, unless I am sufficiently motivated to "do something" about homelessness, why should I engage in empathy? Because I am struck by disgust, pity, sadness, or the questions and conflicts the concept of homelessness stirs in me?

+3254460

This is exactly what I mean when I say that to have healthy Fi, one must gather information from their outer world. To not do this results in a slew of bad crap. Thank you for the example.
 

teslashock

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Also-realize for an NeFi not to "feel" would be much like an NeTi who stopped thinking....do you guys ever stop thinking?

I don't, but is that really a Ti thing?

Does Ti mirror the ideas of others as a way to process the information like Fi mirrors emotive states?

Hm, perhaps, but I'm not sure if that's totally accurate. I think Ti works by analyzing ideas; my ideas and the ideas of others, and maybe in order to analyze, Ti users some times have to take in the idea as if it's their own in order to get a sufficiently close-up view, but Ti is still a lot less personal than Fi. For us, it's not necessarily about mirroring ideas as much as just systematizing them and analyzing them for logical consistency from an objective lens. Fi is a lot more inclined to mirror emotive states than Ti is to mirror ideas simply because emotive states are by definition much personal more personal than ideas.

I suppose you could make the argument that Ti is personal because Ti users hold a personal value system based on impersonal logic, and some times Ti users are emotionally convicted to such values, but that's about as personal as it gets.
 

teslashock

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LOL, I am!

My mother told me that one of the most heartbreaking moments of her life was when she found out that Santa's not real. She said she vowed she'd never deceive her children like that.

I also knew how to put a condom on a banana by 8.

Man, I wish Jaguar were here to see our Santa Claus conversation. Maybe then he'd give some merit to induction-based predictions. Oh well.
 

Synarch

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+3254460

This is exactly what I mean when I say that to have healthy Fi, one must gather information from their outer world. To not do this results in a slew of bad crap. Thank you for the example.

You're welcome! I am your humble servant.

To my mind, the process should be as follows:

* Pang of emotional reaction
* Check the emotional reaction for reasonability and consonance with reality.
 

proteanmix

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I said I was leaving but I guess not!

Interesting.

Perhaps Fi is identification or attempted identification and embodiment of empathy. Whereas, Fe is empathy by way of recognizing the feelings of others without identification?

For example, I find empathy to be presumptuous. So, I try not to empathize. I keep a respectful distance. Rather, I seek to provide support by recognizing what is needed under the emotion. Do you know what I mean?

I don't know but I do know that at this point the ineffable, immaterial, indescribable Ni sounds substantially less mystic and obscure than this Fi people are talking about. Walking through crowds and picking up people's emotions? Having to move your office because of being bombarded with people's energy? If this is the case, I'm quite happy I have a natural mental boundary between myself and others because this sounds like emotional and mental rape. And here's a mercenary thought: I'd find a way to capitalize on this ability and harness it into something lucrative.

I know for me, my empathy is bound to situations I've personally experienced. When someone says they have/had a family member who has cancer and all the effects of that I feel like I can safely say I empathize. When someone speaks of racism and sexism I empathize. I have once before in my life felt like I was going to murder someone. I've seen red before. Whenever my mother's face scrunches up in pain, I feel that to my soul. I've felt anger, love, lust, shame, disgust, happiness, contentedness, etc. so I'm fully aware that if I've felt it I can make a strong connection to how I've felt and the way another person feels/felt.

I admit to not having the ability to automatically know what another person is feeling if I've never felt it or been in a similar situation. I understand that's not exactly what Fis/NFPs are saying, but that's the closest approximation I can wrap my head around at this point. I can ask, I can conjecture, I can speculate, I can watch their behaviors and body language and make educated guesses (which can be wrong!) but I don't know.

Take this for example (and it's kinda melodramatic but bear with me), if I'm some villager in a war torn country and some American volunteer tells me they know exactly what I feel I would hope for them to fall into a dinosaur sized pile of manure. I'd feel insulted. What would they know of my life? The lesser virtue of sympathizing would be more suited in a situation like this. Sometimes it's more appropriate to admit you don't know what a person feels but still feel compassion for them anyway and stand beside them. Maybe you'll come to develop some empathy in a meaningful and more accurate way.

And synarch, I agree; I find it highly PRESUMPTUOUS to even make such a claim although I don't find empathy itself presumptuous.

I like these definitions of empathy although there are many out there and I bolded what I think are the most important parts:
  1. A sense of shared experience, including emotional and physical feelings, with someone or something other than oneself.
  2. The feeling or capacity for awareness, understanding, and sensitivity one experiences when hearing or reading of some event or activity of others, thus imagining the same sensations as that of those actually experiencing them.

If NFPs want to assert that they have a greater capacity for/predisposed to/more concerned with/biologically hardwired to empathy according to the above then OK. It's not a competition and it will reveal itself somehow.

What's interesting to me is why this thread sat here for a couple of days before anyone commented? Maybe people were reluctant to...obviously there's a lot of opinion about this topic anytime it's brought up it typically explodes into this.

But why did it sit here? Maybe that's an indicator of something. Tesla's thread is winding down, people may not have wanted to answer because of that. Maybe people were reluctant to offend FPs? What would that be called? There hasn't been very much FJ comment on this thread and I wonder why that's so as well. Why was the first critical comment in this thread interpreted as an act of aggression?

I believe the best way to get productive discussion about this is to specifically go to individuals who seem capable of calmly discussing this without offense and that in my experience has happened via PMs.

I'm going to have to ask the NFPs I know if this is something they experience though.
 
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