TenebrousReflection
New member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2007
- Messages
- 449
- MBTI Type
- INFp
- Enneagram
- 4w5
- Instinctual Variant
- sx/sp
Naturally, I find myself associating things in very direct, "logical" associations; when my impression of an idea or its relationship varies from others' view, I find it usually results from either a lack of information (in metaphorical terms, the interconnect had a few hops between them that I couldn't see until I was provided with new information), or the other person was simply using the opposite form of Ji to reach their end result (I do find this sort of phenomenon happens frequently when I view an FP type's point of view). In the latter case, I often find myself at an impasse and unable to natively comprehend their viewpoint, trying instead to reformulate it in my own way, but always ending up with something that sounds systematic and "logical." I love it when one of my INFP friends tells me (paraphrased) "you're thinking too scientifically, it's not like that... you have to feel it." My first impression is "uh, riiight. what's that joint doing in your mouth?" but in part thanks to my knowledge of MBTI and the functions, I know better than to dismiss such things as hogwash.
I'm still reading from the beginning of this thread, so this may have been touched on, but I wanted to write this while it was still in my head. (my current inclination is to think I'm an INF_ and thinking more about this seems to support that)
In an effort to better understand how i was using Si, I tried to look back at memories and found one thing to be consistent. When I try to remember things, thinking about the person I associate with the memory, then the location, then sometimes the time (but most of the time, just the person an location are enough for recall). When I do recall the memory, its the feeling, location and subject matter of the event that I recall most clearly and this also includes the feelings and concepts that lead up to the even that I remember. For example, I can think of one friend and the location a conversation took place and then the memory of what we were talking about, how it made me feel, and usually a fairly clear picture of the location are what I recall, but I don't recall exact words, and very seldom have more than a blurry image of any people in it (sometimes its as if the location was abandoned and I'm looking at the place it took place and reliving the feelings and concepts, but no words or people involved). If I continue to focus on the memory, I can move backward and forward in time to think of the events that led up to it and the ones that followed it, and sometimes jump to the next significant memory I have with that person even if it was months or years later. This is very different form how I dream/envision when I'm trying to imagine new things or events. When I'm trying to imagine scenarios that have not occurred, its almost the opposite, the conversations, faces and feelings are what are clear, but the environment and any concept of what led to the conversation is fuzzy at best most of the time. The only constant in both those cases is that there is a strong tie to either what I felt or what I think I might feel in an imagined conversation or situation.
When I'm thinking about things that don't involve people, its just images and/or concepts that are recalled (I can't remember what a book said, but I'll probably remember what significance I took from it). When I try to envision a new project, it will be like a workbench in my mind. I'll just add and subtract things from it and test them in my mind until I get an image of what I want it to be. It can often be difficult for me to turn those visions into something that actually resembles the final image I had in my mind. When I actually start to try to create stuff, I think of new tweaks and adjustments as I go that were not in my original vision or sometimes have to remove stuff that seemed simple but turned out to be a lot more complicated than expected.
Other times, I'll just have stuff pop into my head (these are the stereotypical "sometimes they just know things and know they are right" type of stuff) and if its something complex, I'll need to try to reverse engineer or backtrack to make sense of it (usually its pretty clear and straightforward stuff). Most of those are either stuff thats in my mind when I wake up (sometimes unnaturally in the middle of the night) or pop into my head when something triggers them. Some of those types of vision are feeling based (and when they are its a VERY strong feeling) but most of those type of visions are to do something that I'd likely have never thought to do without something prompting me. The way I describe them is more as compulsions. Things I "know" I'll regret if I don't follow through on.