[INFJ] Book Suggestions?

[IrishStallion819]

Hey all,
I was just thinking about stopping into Barnes&Noble tomorrow and just wandered if anyone had any suggestions on a good read. I perferably would like it to pertain to, "the infj personality" and have it geared more towards the male perspective. Just a book that would contain more indeph knowledge about the infj temperment and any tips/ strategies in being successful as a male infj.. so any input would be greatly appreciated...thanks.

 

[helen]

Well, there is an awesome novel by George Eliot called "Daniel Deronda." The main character is an INFP male, and the focus of the book is on his search for self and purpose and all that. There is also an important INFJ male character in the story, but he does not appear until about half way into the book.

You could try reading "I and Thou" by Martin Buber. It's non-fiction, a kind of mystical, poetic, theological existentialist work. Quite incredible. It may appeal to you as an INFJ. I have heard it said that Martin Buber was one, and can see how this might be likely.

Sorry nothing more specific to your query comes to mind.

 

[Pseudonym_Alpha]

Personally, and I know this sounds strange, but I really liked V For Vendetta(both the movie and the book..the book more so).

Just so indepth with the character, even though he is masked, its so...well..good! If you like it, you'll understand what I mean(i'm going through a period at the moment where some things I type wont make sense, so next time i do post, maybe it'll be good! )

 

[Sniffles]

You could try reading "I and Thou" by Martin Buber. It's non-fiction, a kind of mystical, poetic, theological existentialist work. Quite incredible. It may appeal to you as an INFJ. I have heard it said that Martin Buber was one, and can see how this might be likely.

Martin Buber is very good reading material for INFJs. I would also suggest anything by GK Chesterton - another probable INFJ. In fact Barnes and Noble are selling Chesterton's classics Orthodoxy and Heretics at special low prices now(part of B&N's library of essential reading series).

Continuing on that line of thought: read Abraham J. Heschel's classic study The Prophets. Don't know if Heschel himself was INFJ, but his study is perhaps the best that's ever been written about the archetypical INFJ figure. This is especially true in the first chapter, describing the character traits of the prophetic person.

Whats interesting is how Heschel contrasts the Prophet with other spiritual figures. Contrary to popular view, the Prophet's main task is not foretelling the future, but proclaiming "the Pathos of God".

Here's an excellent summary of the concept:

"The prophets did not have a new idea of God, but rather understood themselves and the people of Israel in that God-situation which Heschel calls God's pathos. In pathos, the all-powerful God goes outside of himself and enters into a relationship with a people of his choosing. He places his complete interest in his covenant with his people. Hence he is affected by the experiences, actions, and suffering of Israel.

His pathos has nothing to do with the whims of the mythical gods. It is his free relationship to creation, to people, and to history. God takes man seriously to the point that he suffers from the actions of man and can be injured through them. The prophets did not identify God's pathos with his essence, but rather saw in pathos the form of his relationship to the world, of his involvement and concern.

Prophecy is therefore not the foretelling of the future, as determined by fate or by God's plan of salvation. It is rather an insight into the present pathos of God, in suffering at Israel's disobedience, and in passion for justice and honor in the world. When Spinoza maintained that God neither loves nor scorns, he completely failed to recognize the pathos of God. God's wrath is nothing less than his wounded love and a pain which cuts to the heart. His wrath is therefore an expression of enduring interest in man. Only indifference would be a withdrawal of God from pathos for man....

....Through sympathy, man corresponds to the pathos of God. He does not come into an ahistorical unio mystica, but rather into historical unio sympathetica with God. He is angry with God's wrath. He loves with God's love. He suffers with God's suffering. He hopes with God's hope. In covenant with the God of pathos, man steps outside of himself, takes part in the life of others, and can rejoice and suffer with them. He is interested and concerned.

This sympathy is freedom, too. It is not a world-transcending freedom of the mind, but a life-awakening freedom of the heart, that is, of the whole man. It is not the freedom of rulers over nature and body, but the freedom of brothers in their solidarity."

Theology Today - Vol 31, No. 1 - April 1974 - ARTICLE - The Crucified God

This just screams Fe all over it!

 

[IntermitntTranquiliT]

The Sunflower, by Simon Weisenthal

A friend passed this book on to me recently. I really enjoyed it. The story itself is first. The responses to the question immediately follow....
Broadly grouped, the respondents are Jews and Christians, primarily. There are two Buddhist respondents and one Chinese respondent who makes no reference to religion though his response is in keeping with Buddhist thinking. Within these broad categories respondents reflect on different facets of the experience Wiesenthal describes and facets of their faith and life experiences and knowledge to make a response.

(From Amazon.com)

Author Simon Weisenthal recalls his demoralizing life in a concentration camp and his envy of the dead Germans who have sunflowers marking their graves. At the time he assumed his grave would be a mass one, unmarked and forgotten. Then, one day, a dying Nazi soldier asks Weisenthal for forgiveness for his crimes against the Jews. What would you do? This important book and the provocative question it poses is birthing debates, symposiums, and college courses. The Dalai Lama, Harry Wu, Primo Levi, and others who have witnessed genocide and human tyranny answer Wiesenthal's ultimate question on forgiveness.

Faced with the choice between compassion and justice, silence and truth, Wiesenthal said nothing. But even years after the war had ended, he wondered: Had he done the right thing? What would you have done in his place?

 

[mlittrell]

anythign by chuck pallaniuk (<-- sp?)