Sometimes I think that there is a huge growing edge for the INFJ where one can switch out from applying Fe that is directly in the service of Ni (which is more of what we naturally/instinctively do) and can switch into a more pure Fe mode. 

To simply engage with other people in a way that isn’t tethered to analysis, prediction, or anything intellectual in its quality, but to simply be here now with others and to connect with them as they are….in the moment … without going overboard and overly caretaking and/or advising them in overprotective ways. 

This is definitely our type’s growing edge when it comes to hitting the sweet spot of utilizing Fe.

As an INFJ, when I receive an Ni insight, it is generally of a non-verbal, symbolic nature.  It is often very right-brained and it gives me this gestalt insight. It is as if this insight comes to me in this large block or chunk.  It is highly raw and often gets right to the point. But even as it gets to the point, it is still very holistic and is often hard to break down.  By its nature, it is very symbolic and taps into some very intuitive archetypes that can often come from the collective unconscious. It may have a narrative that I cannot fully articulate, but that I can feel quite viscerally.  

It is my Ti that aims to put language to my insights.  And to do that, it often feels like I am taking an axe and chopping away at that block of insight until I can find just the right words to articulate my thoughts.  Since my Ti is my tertiary function, which simply doesn’t have the same adeptness level as my dominant Ni, there are times when I will struggle to find the proper articulations necessary to verbalize the idea.  It is often a hit or miss proposition.

When I can capture a certain truth, using primarily Ni with a backup of Ti, it usually is something non-verbal that I can just so readily vibe that it is in alignment with something either true, good, or beautiful.  Ni simply knows the essence of these three qualities, and when something external taps into these states, something inside me simply goes ‘Uh Huh!’ with this sense of inner rightness. While Ti certainly taps into this assessment of the truth, especially when something makes logical sense, it is Ni that simply reaches a state of unwavering gnosis.  So when I am learning something and arrive at a point where I just GET IT, it is Ni that is involved with this process. However, because of this, Ni feels amorphous. What makes this really challenging is that it is very hard to justify the rightness of an Ni-derived truth. It is hard to take truth and to thin-slice it in a way that is fully explainable or articulable to the outside world.  To people who want all truths and all data to be verifiable, this can be a daunting task because it involves chopping up that Ni chunk after all.

As a result of everything that I’ve just described, I strongly suspect that Ni-dominants can sometimes become stuck with the innate challenge of explaining, justifying, or articulating a deep symbolic truth.  To other types, they may be able to attain the language to do this. Even to Ni-doms, ever so often, they can succeed at articulating these ideas. However, at other times, they are at a loss for words, since thin-slicing gestalts is not always attainable.  I tend to think that many Ni dominants will lean more towards writing than speaking, because in writing, they have the advantage of having time on their side to hopefully find some novel context (or canvass) by which they can create some mode of explaining their insights.  But even then, it can sometimes take months to years to fully describe a vision in all its splendid details (in ways that Si users might be more able to encapsulate).

With all this being said, Ni is likely the cognitive function most interested in addressing some of the most panoramic and big-picture archetypal themes that exist.  It is the pleasure of the Ni user to deal in paradigm-changing domains and to influence these areas in notable ways. So because these types will often think about grand concepts and themes, it is not uncommon for the grandness of these themes to be quite challenging to language in a highly detailed way.  This might appear frustrating at times for such an individual, as I’m sure that they would love to be able to concretely explain every archetypal and symbolic understanding that they encounter. However, undoubtedly, this pales in comparison to the Ni-user abandoning the complex for the sake of only dealing with highly routinized or simplified objects.  They want and crave to grapple with the complexities of life. To do so carries the utmost sense of meaning and purpose. For this sake, with all its payoffs and drawbacks, Ni-users would gladly say that grappling with the complex is well worth it!

In typology there can tend to be a bias towards thinking over feeling and intuition over sensing, and so on.

It’s helpful to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the functions in a more neutral way instead.

In a recent TWFP video, ‘Host Eric’ Strauss talked about how there are four basic skill sets in optimization of a human being: joy, intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom.He subdivides the eight cognitive functions into these four distinct categorizations. These four descriptors can tap into profound archetypes of the soul’s character, and allow distinct manifestations of each type to come alive.  While every one of the 16 Jungian types has a distinct flavor or specialization of two of these archetypes, the psyche will naturally consist of all four of them In (at varying levels).  

Starting with the perceiving functions….

Si and Ni he referred to as being functions of ‘knowledge’, where the individual can access a vast body of information that has been either accumulated via past experience (Si) or conceptual insight (Ni).  The primary distinction between these two sources of knowledge is the following:

A prerequisite of Si-driven knowledge is that the individual directly experiences this knowledge in order that it can be referred back as a precedent that provides the Si user with an intrinsic foundation.  

Likewise, a prerequisite of Ni-driven knowledge is that the individual captures core essential qualities as derived from its wider context. As a result, we have two distinct forms of knowledge, where one form requires direct interaction and experience with the information at hand and will be somewhat hesitant to form broader speculations, while the other aims to grasp a more holistic, conceptual understanding of phenomena but does not necessarily require any precedent in order to generate speculative hypotheses about it.  

As we will see, the knowledge derived from Si and Ni will be quite distinct from the remaining cognitive functions (that serve completely distinct purposes).

In contrast to its introverted counterparts, Se and Ne are not directly aiming to attain knowledge.  Rather, their focus is to attain a sense of spontaneous joy as they live directly in the moment. However, their means towards attaining that joy will be somewhat distinct.  

Se is all about taking direct action towards acquiring experiences that matter to them. Contrastingly, Ne is not as much about the action that is taken, but rather, it is all about finding joy in spontaneously ideating novel, enticing possibilities.  The spontaneous joy of Se will be more about directly interacting with all aspects of one’s environment, including the distinct sensory stimuli involved in performing the action.

The spontaneous joy of Ne, on the other hand, will be activated by their novel ideations that they create and generate in the moment.  As a result, the fulfillment of these two functions originate from distinct sources and motivations.

Switching gears to the judging functions, Ti and Fi are considered to be functions of ‘intelligence.’  The reason for this is because both Ti and Fi represent internal frameworks by which we can assess the legitimacy of an action or scenario.

 Ti represents an impersonal, logical framework by which one can gauge accuracy (or lack thereof). In contrast, Fi supplies a framework that is primarily values driven and is highly personal in its nature.  Both Ti and Fi are deliberative functions in the sense that their purpose (irrespective of which one is predominantly used) is to deliberate in an inward manner as to the logical or ethical validity of a given action, word, or deed.  To apply this assessment successfully can serve as a mark of ‘intelligence’ in the sense of having this capacity to apply some modality/framework of ‘reasoning’ (logical or ethical) towards any given scenario. It is in the direct utilization of such reasoning modalities that an individual’s capacity to intelligently deliberate over life’s core philosophical questions fully emerges.

In contrast to the implicit logical and/or personal frameworks that formulate Ti and Fi, their extroverted judging counterparts, Te and Fe, are considered functions that pertain more towards a broader sense of ‘wisdom’.  Both of these functions are considered interfacing functions, which are all about handling and approaching dynamic changes on the fly for a given emerging situation.

Te entails approaching a dynamic, logistical, and impersonal operation in a way that ensures that its final outcome is handled smoothly and effectively.  Likewise, Fe is all about handing a dynamic interpersonal situation in a manner that actively considers and adapts to the needs and priorities of those directly involved.

The reason why these two cognitive functions are associated with ‘wisdom’ is based on their complex and multifaceted manner of approaching each situation in real-time.  Handling them effectively requires an approach that is able to discriminate wisely between those areas that require immediate attention versus other areas that might not be as pivotal. This is certainly non-trivial and requires top-notch logistical and/or interpersonal instincts.

Ideally the typology community will continue to evolve a language like this for cognitive functions that will help eliminate cognitive bias.

Within the INFJ, the function of ‘introverted feeling’ (Fi) plays this highly unique role.  On one hand, it is not one of this type’s four conscious/valued functions. On the other hand, as an ‘intuitive feeler’, INFJ will not exactly have a foreign relationship to it (to say the least).  Given its strong, yet unvalued role within the psyche of the INFJ, it would be wise for them to tap into the energy of Fi, because throughout the course of the INFJ’s life, they are bound to have intimate interactions with it.

The best way to understand how Fi fits within the context of an INFJ is to contrast this function with Fe and Ni, two functions that INFJs will naturally use quite often.  In fact, it would even be perceivable for INFJ’s understanding of Fi to serve as a growing edge for them in terms of how the feeling function can be optimally utilized when interacting with others.

Fi in contrast to Fe

An appropriate initial focal point in terms of viewing INFJ’s relationship to Fi is in contrast to its corresponding relationship to Fe.  As the auxiliary/tool function, INFJs have a tendency to care very much about how they are perceived by others in terms of the impacts that they make in the outside world.  They are typically friendly, caring and sociable individuals when they tap into their Fe. They will tend to be very attentive to others’ needs and agendas and may have a tendency to at times view their own direct needs as somewhat of a blind spot.  

The Fi cognitive function cares very much about being attentive and receptive to their own internal values and priorities. As a result, it takes a highly specific psychological state for the INFJ’s unconscious Fi to become illuminated to such an extent where they have to pay attention to their own values and priorities above their natural proclivity to turn towards Fe.  Often, this comes at times when they feel like an outsider by virtue of being isolated, left out or shut out, rejected, or betrayed. At times like those, while they may want to reflexively seek the approval of others, they may feel a greater need to fend for themselves and to provide a sense of inner support. However, because of this tendency to watch how they are perceived by the people close to them, they feel torn in their capacity to assert or defend themselves.  As a result, the usage of Fi by the INFJ is often fraught with a sense of deep melancholy and sadness. How they can choose to convert this state into a growing edge will be discussed below.

Fi in contrast to Ni

Another function to compare to in terms of understanding what Fi means to the INFJ would be to compare it to their dominant function of Ni.  The Ni of INFJs is all about distilling the essential, emergent truth in a manner that is observant of the events around them and is able to appropriately ‘fill in the blanks’ based on the signals and data (whether overt or hidden) that they are able to read and interpret.  

While emotional content can at times mix into the emergent outcomes that Ni identifies, this cognitive function at its core does not necessarily have its roots within the emotional realm.

In contrast, Fi explores and excavates the emotional content of the self in order to tap into one’s core values and internal feelings. To this end, INFJs will not tend (as much as other types) to tap into their internal feeling states.  In fact, they often serve as a blind spot. Rather, as Ni types, in more of a neutral, observational sense, they will tend to watch the trajectory of their own thought processes as a means towards capturing a wider sense of truth.

However, there are times in the INFJ’s life when they simply have to excavate into the deep recesses of their internal feelings and emotional content. This often needs to happen during states of loneliness, sadness, vulnerability, and other challenging states for INFJs to be immersed in.  Thus, even when they feel like they will not need to directly access their Fi, life will sometimes grant them a harsh reality that forces them to encounter this function.

INFJ’s in an Fi state and the growth that can emerge

In order for INFJs to properly access their Fi, they will have to encounter many raw truths about themselves.  They can come to the realization that others’ approval will not always save them from times of intense despair.  They also will need to realize that at times, they will have to build strong boundaries for themselves so that others will not harm them in significant ways.  At times like these, simply relying on their Fe function will not do them any good, since at these times, it will be more important to preserve their own self value and integrity, which Fi can naturally do quite effectively.  In addition, the INFJ will likely be in a state of Fi-driven vulnerability and sadness, which makes it quite challenging for the individual to adequately navigate through. At the same time, coping with ways to deal with these Fi vulnerabilities may very well serve the INFJ well over the long term.

While in this state, it is of paramount importance that the INFJ respects themselves and has intense self compassion.  After all, to handle these particular times well, an acceptance of their emotional and psychological state is pivotal. Also, it is important for them to be content regarding situations where they may need to extricate themselves from responding to or being around people who may expect them to respond in an Fe manner.  If their Ni is guiding them that they are being overwhelmed by a given interpersonal situation, that is an important warning signal that is likely in their best interest to heed.

It is important in these vulnerable periods that they do not act or respond too impulsively in a way that overcompensates for their deep desire to temporarily separate from the given situation.  It is likely better to ride out the storm by going inward and to take substantial time to try to regain their sense of equanimity, and to do this with a lot of self acceptance and self love. Then, once they feel a bit more ready to return to an outward Fe-driven state, they can do this in a graceful manner.

By having INFJs tap into their Fi function, they can access their sense of internal self worth.  It basically allows them to put greater emphasis on putting themselves first, which (by having Fe valued and Fi not as valued) can come quite difficulty for these individuals.  

By learning and growing in these seemingly vulnerable, yet transformative situations, they learn how to adapt their natural Fe to exhibit acceptable interpersonal boundaries.  By successfully accomplishing this, they will be able to discriminate more effectively between people and situations that are beneficial for everyone involved and those that simply are not.  In a nutshell, using Fi awareness to allow the INFJ to take the time to care for their own needs, priorities, and values will naturally facilitate an important shift towards greater empowerment in their lives.