Beebe's new book Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type gives good snaphots of Jung's teachings on the subject:
In describing the Ni-Si tandem, we get some good descriptions of Ni. It “trusts one’s own interpretation of what is real, fundamental, and of lasting importance over what others may see and thinkâ€. He quotes from Henderson on the difference between the two functions: “Introverted intuition perceives the variety and the possibility for development of the inner images, whereas introverted sensing perceives the specific image which defines the psychic activity that needs immediate attentionâ€. (emphasis added). Extraverted intuition is shortly afterward described as spotting “the still unrealized possibilities in thingsâ€
Ne/Ni difference: “seeing possibilities in what was consciously shared with me that others might never have imaginedâ€.
“Look[ing] at the big picture of the unconscious where the gestalts that moved nations, religions and epochs lay, even in the midst of apparently individual experience†(p.31)
“unconscious images acquire the dignity of things†(Jung). It naturally “apprehends the images rising from the a priori inherited foundations of the unconscious†(where Ne’s images arise from looking at objects), and thus rather than thinking about, experimentally comparing, or feeling the archetype that arises in relation to a situation, Ni “becomes directly aware of the archetype as an image, as if ‘seeing’ itâ€. Later, (p.184, citing Jung) it “peers behind the scenes, quickly perceiving the inner imageâ€, and is “directed to the inner imageâ€, and observes “how the picture changes, unfolds and finally fades†(and is the consciousness most consistently devalued in contemporary Western culture).
It also helps to take this in context of what he says about introversion in general:
(Beebe citing Psychological Types): dependence “on the idea, which shields him from external reality and gives him the feeling of inner freedomâ€. The term “idea†is used to “express the meaning of a primordial image, that is to say, an archetype. An introverted function, therefore, is one that has turned away from the object and toward the archetypal ‘idea’ that the object might be closely matched to.
This archetypal idea, residing in the inner world, can be understood as a profound thought, a value, a metaphorical image, or a model of realityâ€.
To translate: an 'image' of “true/false†(T), “good/bad†(F), an image itself (N; i.e. “an image of an image“, and there we see Ni’s “meta-perspectiveâ€!), or “what is†(S).
When orienting something external, “it is in the end, the comparison to the archetype, not the stimulating object of situation itself, [this will be what Ne is driven by] that finally commands the attention of the function".