[NT] The INTP / ENTP Need for Mystery: Mysticism, Theism, & Pantheism

[Doctor Cringelord]

"'Pleasure disappoints, possibility never.'"

The INTP / ENTP Need for Mystery: Mysticism, Theism, & Pantheism

To sustain an attitude of mystery toward the universe, NTPs commonly resist theories that explain life or its evolution in terms of pure mechanism / physicalism. As I observed in The INTP Quest, “Viewing the world as a conglomeration of cold, lifeless, and predictable mechanisms is off-putting to both Ne and Fe.” Pure mechanism leaves little room for the sense of mystery that moves and inspires NTPs

Charles Darwin, for instance. It was not enough to simply catalog and categorize the various species of birds, plants and other animals he encountered. It was the possibilities and implications those categorizations led him to consider that likely energized him to write The Origin Of Species and took him beyond mere Linneanesque cataloging.

 

[brightflashes]

Interesting observation. Would it be possible that this might be a human thing rather than an NTP thing, though? Whatever one doesn't understand becomes what is considered mystical? Or, whatever that elusive aspect of reality which one is less acquainted with then becomes something which holds mystery? I mention because I have recently wondered if being inferior Se might be why I'm attracted to nature-based religions, or practices which honor nature and the earth. I don't mean anything extra new-agey or nonsensical. I just mean being mindful of the Earth's natural cycles, the agricultural year, spending contemplative time in nature as means for restoration, etc...

Perhaps closer to your original intent with the post, I think that things which don't tend to fit into systems that I create for myself, those outliers, are actually irritants rather than anything I regard with positivity. However, I hold an inherent respect for those things which science and a person's tiny mind cannot fathom an explanation for.

 

[Zeego]

I was surprised by how much this rang true for me. The resistance of physicalism fits, since I do prefer free will to determinism. I also find pantheism more interesting than monotheism (although I don't actively practice any religion), and now I'm wondering if this would be different if I were ENTP instead of INTP. I also sometimes experience the oscillation between rationality and mystery that was mentioned here. INTPs are usually described as purely logical (which I don't relate to), so it was nice to see an alternate take for once.

 

[Zeego]

I have recently wondered if being inferior Se might be why I'm attracted to nature-based religions, or practices which honor nature and the earth. I don't mean anything extra new-agey or nonsensical. I just mean being mindful of the Earth's natural cycles, the agricultural year, spending contemplative time in nature as means for restoration, etc...

Perhaps INTx in general gravitate towards these kinds of non-Christian religions, and ENTx gravitate more towards Christianity.