Personality types and Self-actualization (Psychoanalyzing Leo)

[Himanshu]

I have been deeply interested in Personality Psychology in the past few years, and there are many insights that have stood out for me and I will be sharing them in this post.

I have been interested in Questions like:

• Why are the majority of people on the forum Introverted Intuitives? (INTP, INFP, INFJ and INTJ personality types make up 70% of the forum) 
• Why Leo has a very different way of teaching (stoic, seemingly detached from feelings, 'no nonsense' approach) from most other spiritual gurus? 
  • Why does he have no regard for stories that we tell ourselves (Mankind is the Bullshitting animal / Nobody wants the Truth)
• Why are Leo's teachings so appealing to some people and is utter blasphemy to others?
• Why TJ Reeves(ENTP) seems to have progressed so fast on the journey where Leo (INTP) is plowing deeper and deeper unconcerned about 'going ahead'?
• How can I model my self-actualization journey and map my growth?
• Why I find communicating with some people to easy and natural and a mutually frustrating experience with others? How can I be more open to perspectives?
• How can I communicate better with others?
• Etc.

A brief introduction to Type to those who have no idea what it is. Personality Type theory is based on the works of Carl Jung and it divides one's personality into a combination of 8 functions. Every Individual has different preferences of using these functions and the top 2 functions in the stack broadly define the person's way of looking at the World.

For most people, the Dominant and the Auxiliary functions are well-developed in most individuals by the age of 25. The Tertiary function develops until one is 50 and Inferior function until one dies.

The Four functions are Intuiting, Thinking, Feeling and Sensing. The four functions can be directed towards the outer world (Extroverted - concerned with the 'objective' world) or the inner world (Introverted - concerned with the 'subjective' world). People with dominant Extroverted function seek Breadth. On the other hand, people with dominant Introverted function seek Depth.

For Leo (a well-developed INTP), the most dominant function is Ti (Introverted Thinking) and on his relentless pursuit of Wisdom(and having the time and resources to do so), his growth is faster than most of us. An INTP type has the following preferences:

 

1. (Dominant) Introverted Thinking (Ti) - Analyzing, categorizing, and evaluating according to principles
   • Young atheist Leo with aversion for anything 'spiritual' seeking a 'purpose'
   • Drawing clear boundaries around concepts and equating them (Love = Truth)
   • An attempt to analyze and categorize all Personal Development material evident from the (unfinished) project of Personal Development Blueprint 
2. (Auxiliary) Extroverted Intuition (Ne) - Interpreting situations and relationships and pickup meanings and interconnections to other contexts
   • This is really the superpower Leo possesses. This is from where he is making his unique contribution.
     • The combination of Ti and Ne is where his Genius lies. One of the reasons behind his success is going ALL IN on these two functions.
3. (Tertiary) Introverted Sensing - Reviewing and recalling past experiences and seeking detailed data
   • In recent episodes, Leo has opened up about his past memories and how they related to his then-latent purpose
4. (Inferior) Extroverted Feeling - Connecting and considering others and the group
   • This forum
   • Moving to Patreon
   • Plans to have more in-person interactions with people

The 4 Shadow functions are the opposites of the four main functions:

5. Extroverted Thinking (Segmenting, organizing for efficiency, and systematizing)
6. Introverted Intuition (Foreseeing implications, transformations, and likely effects)
7. Extroverted Sensing (Experiencing and acting in the immediate context.)
8. Introverted Feeling (Valuing and considering importance, beliefs, and worth)

The journey towards greater fulfillment, maturity and wholeness can be defined as the full development of all of the functions and the ability to choose a function to engage in at will.

Type Development gives great insights into how one's psycho-spiritual development will occur with time, and how to supercharge it consciously. Roughly speaking, if you are a 25-year old INFJ (Ni > Fe > Ti > Se), the greatest opportunities for growth (also likely to be most uncomfortable) lie in developing your Introverted Thinking (refining arguments, logical consistency, etc.) and Extroverted Sensing (Hiking, Running, Meditation, etc. )

In case of Leo, in my understanding, he has a great opportunity for growth in organizing workshops and getting involved directly with people. Even starting live Q&A at Patreon will be a great move.  In directly getting involved with people is also where, I think, he will start to embody Turquoise on a much more deeper level. Speculating about it, I also wonder if developing and integrating his shadow functions (particularly 7th and 8th) will lead to developing into Stage Coral.

I have certainly simplified the model in order to explain it. If you come up with any questions while reading it, let me know.

I have been researching a lot about Introverted Intuition to aid my own growth and will be sharing those resources soon. 

@Emerald I am aware of your interest in MBTI. Would love to know your comments on this

Just to be clear, this is a model of preferences. While Jung claims that these preferences remain the same until we die, it is a potentially limiting worldview you do not want to adopt. Just being intellectually aware of your preferences gives you a greater control over it. Experientially knowing your preference to use certain function over others can free you to choose the most appropriate function for the situation. Know that this is a lifelong journey.

In the end, thank you @Leo Gura for your commitment to being authentic and making the best of who you are. You are a great case to study

[Hello from Russia]

He is getting involved directly in a sense on this forum. He is participating and answers questions here a lot. Nice analysis, though

Edited October 19, 2019 by Hello from Russia

[Emerald]

@Himanshu The 8 Cognitive Functions are a really interesting topic for sure. And MBTI-wise, I'm an INFJ.

And even though the type is quite rare as are the others you mentioned, the internet has a way of gravitating like-minds together toward the same content. So, there are a bunch of uncommon types here, and thus those types become common in this context. On the positive side, we get to actually interact with others like ourselves in ways that most people aren't... but there's still the trap of being an echo chamber.

Basically, in a nutshell, we're in Leo's target market.

My cognitive functions are as follows...

(Dominant) Introverted Intuition - Discovering intuition internally, and seeking to know one's self and emotions deeply

(Auxiliary) Extroverted Feeling - Reaching out to others and cultivating relationships and the ability to understand others' emotions.

(Tertiary) Introverted Thinking - Having the ability to put feelings into words and organize thoughts in a way the mind understands them internally

(Inferior) Extroverted Sensing - Being present with the sensory world.

Funny enough, I just found out about a week and a half ago, that the Dominant, Auxiliary, Tertiary, and Inferior functions have a time-scale. My biggest hang-up personally, has actually been on my Auxiliary function.

I've always been big on Introverted Intuition and Introverted Thinking, of which having my channel has really helped with my Introverted Thinking the most. But I have had some wounding relative to Extroverted Feeling, so I've been doing my best in recent years to really reach out which can be difficult. I used to make friends easily and invest in relationships easily, but now there is always kind of an arms-length wedge that I find between myself and connecting with others. 

As far as my inferior function of Extroverted Sensing, I definitely have some issues because I'm so internal with my focus. Intuition and thinking are both very internal, and I get caught up in a loop referred to as the Ni-Ti loop where I'm always trying to process my intuition and make thought-based meaning of it... but some things can't easily be processed that way or can't be processed that way period. Given that Jung was also an INFJ, I'm sure he was probably well aware of this loop, as his main hang-up was about finding meaning to communicate.

But it's all very internal, so it can be difficult to reach outside when there's so much going on internally.

As far as my Inferior function goes, in certain activities, like when I learned to paint realistically, it's really helped me get in touch with my Extroverted Sensing function. That said, it's difficult to have that meditative focus in a way that's ongoing and not just activity focused, so I still have a lot to integrate there. 

Also, all fo this is helpful to understand internally for yourself. But be careful in trying to map others, especially those who you just know from their public persona. They're only ever showing 1% of what's going on with them by nature of the medium.

For example, Robert Moore (the Jungian guru responsible for writing "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover") killed his wife. And with the insights he shared, which are solid, you can see that the public persona doesn't exactly capture the full depth and breadth of that person.

Heck, for all you know, I might have some bodies in the basement.  Just kidding... I keep them in the attic. There are no basements in Florida... Too much groundwater.

 

 

[Commodent]

The only problem is that nobody are able to see themselves accurately. People type themselves according to what they want to be perceived as and not how they actually are. For example, if you're a very controlling person you will remember very clearly all the times you were spontaneous and creative, because exercising your demon functions induces a spike in brain activity. But what you won't remember is how you have spent 99% of your life trying to control everything. You can't really see your 1st and 4th functions, but you will be relatively aware of your 2nd and 3rd function because there is this constant (conscious) battle between them.  So if you think you're Ti 1st and Fe 4th you're more likely Ti 2nd and Fe 3rd, or Fe 2nd and Ti 3rd. The 1st function is too ever-present to be noticed, and the 4th function you're probably not even aware exists.

Nobody types themselves correctly, and thus I'd say it's generally a waste of time. You also have the fact that about 50% of the population are jumpers. That is, the 3rd function is a savior function (instead of the 2nd). This fact alone makes it so that 50% of the population can't possibly type themselves correctly with MBTI, making the whole model flawed.

It's honed to make people feel unique and special, hence its popularity. It is entirely anecdotal and subjective, and thus inherently self-deceptive. If you really want to figure out your blind-spots, go ask your friends and family. Chances are, it will be rather underwhelming and not the kind of feel-good stereotypes you'd expect from the MBTI community. Knowing your actual personality type would probably have the same effect. "Oh, how unexciting..."

[Aeris]

relative, projection,

there is no types,

all observation is biased because of "being human",

all words point to organic self reflective meaning acquired through a biased experience ( doesn't mean it's a wrong one, means you can't )

as we are not machine, we cannot analyse anything rightly, we only cherry pick data that fuse with our expectation.

I don't believe in any mbti anymore.

 

[drmiller100]

Personality internet forums are rife with introverted intuitive thinkers.  The sensors are out in teh world and don't enjoy examining their navels that much, and the feelers already have their own world views to understand other people. 

MBTI is indeed a useful tool for me, as is Enneagram. 

I'm an ENTP 8w7.