Posted by Celeste on January 29, 2000 at 09:15:16:
In Reply to: Questions Regarding MBTI posted by Jason on January 28, 2000 at 19:05:48:
Hi, Jason,
Personally, I found the MBTI an invaluable way to help me to understand myself and others. The same goes for the Enneagram. They are two very different systems with different origins. Both of them are complex and deep, not just sets of descriptions. I think to really understand MBTI, we should look a bit deeper into Carl Jung's theory. Just like if we want to understand the Enneagram, we need to discover the meanings of wings, integration and disintegration, etc...
There are 4 pairs:
Extraversion / Introversion
iNtuition / Sensing
Feeling / Thinking
Judging / Perceiving
So this gives us a 4-letter combination. If a person is an INFJ, his most developed function is introverted intuition. (in Jung's terms, this most developed function tends to be the ego, persona or mask of that person). The least developed function of him is the extraverted sensation. (This is the shadow, anima of that person, the function we most repressed). This least developed function is also the least unconscious aspects of that person. He tends to use this function inappropriately and tends to project this onto another person.
We need to integrate the repressed and the less unconscious into our conscious personality. And we need to have more awareness that how our ego personality or persona is trapping us and keeping us out of touch with our true self. And all these lead to Wholeness, the emergence of Self, the emergence of the Essence, whatever you call it.
I don't know whether it's true, but as far as I understand, to reconcile the two ends of the paradox is what the MBTI is trying to help us. In dream analysis, you may see these different levels of functions represented by different characters, it's quite interesting. :)
Celeste :)