Posted by * (aka RoTtEn ApPlE) on January 03, 2001 at 16:40:34:
In Reply to: Re: RA's Saturday Fireside Chat for Type 5s posted by Maverick on January 03, 2001 at 09:08:43:
: : Pie,
No one ever wants to call me Rotten... how about calling me "*"?
: I am an INTJ and I believe that statement is pretty accurate: the first impression most people have of me is that I am a very cold hard sob. The reaction used tosurprise me when I was younger becasue Inside I am very wrm(i have signed Smileyfaces besdides my signature since I was 5 years old)and I care very much about people. People who know me well(very few)know this NOW but were initially astounded at the fact. The cold hard shell is the result of extraordinary rationality and detachment from one's feelings--in my case, I beleiev that my ciold detachedness evolved in part as the result of my caring so much:in order to get things done, you have to control your felings, not vice-versa or caring doesn't accomplish anything at all. People who know me more than most aqre still always surprised when I remain impassive or even get impatient when hearing those going on and on about some tragedy or another and the answer is presisely becasue there are so many tragedies. You have to detach yourself rom it all,look at it in the abstract--trasgedy as much as joy is a aprt of life--and make the pain a permanent part of you, a part of what drives you. It's a cliche, but it's dead on:crying isn't going to clean up spilled milk--it'll just allow the mess time to get mesier so get off your ass and clean it up pronto. In this way INTJ's are like star Treak's Vulcans:they recognize rationality as the ultimate strength and as such they strive to DETACH themselves from their emotions not ELIMINATE them. Without reason--just empotion--and we are nothing beyond what the animals are. But without emotion we would be nothing more than what machines are. It is thier bondage that create our Humanity.
: As for INTP's, I agree there tooMuch as INTJ's may adopt a cold outer shell to mask their inner warmth so to may INTP's adopt warm outer fronts to mask inner coldness.
: Happy new MIL ALL!
: Mav
Good response... classic INTJ philosophy I think. One question: why do we want to be anything beyond animals?