The 8 archetypes of Introverted Intuition (Ni)

Introverted intuition (Ni) plays one of eight different archetypal roles, depending on which of the 16 personality types you have. This is per Jungian analyst John Beebe’s 8 function personality type model.

First we’ll take a look at intuition and Ni in general terms.

As Jung described in Psychological Types, Intuition, like sensation, is a perceiving function:

“The primary function of intuition, however, is simply to transmit images, or perceptions of relations between things, which could not be transmitted by the other functions or only in a very limited way.”

According to J. Newman: “While sensation is intimately tied to bodily experience (and emotions), intuition is predominantly a mental function, allowing for the perception, not of physical realities, but of symbolic images, ideas and abstractions. These contents of the intuitive process form the basis of mental experience. Intuition is, thus, an “intellectual” process.”

Regarding Ni specifically, Jung said: “It does not concern itself with external possibilities but with what the external object has released within.” And: “introverted intuition perceives all the background processes of consciousness with almost the same distinctness as extraverted sensation registers external objects. For intuition, therefore, unconscious images acquire the dignity of things. But, because intuition excludes the co-operation of sensation . . . . the images appear as though detached from the subject, as though existing in themselves without any relation to him.”

Now let us consider the archetypes of Ni. Below is my distillation of John Beebe’s descriptions

These archetypes are just sketches and aren’t meant to be literal. They depict complexes, so therefore are qualitative.

No function ever acts separately from the other functions. Jung said we al most never see a pure form of a function. We consider a function in order to better understand the whole of the personality.

This is part 4 of 8 in the series. Part five will be about Extroverted Feeling (Fe). Stay tuned!

My other articles in the series:

The 8 archetypes of Extroverted Sensation

The 8 archetypes of Introverted Sensation

The 8 archetypes of Extroverted Intuition

The 8 archetypes of Extroverted Feeling

Continue ReadingThe 8 archetypes of Introverted Intuition (Ni)

The Abstract Emptiness of Personality Types

“I have become identified with what is not unique … so I seem to have no specific shape that can be grasped individually … Persons in bins can only resemble one another in their communality … within every typological system there lurks abstract emptiness in which we lose our uniqueness.” – James Hillman

You won’t find a more eloquent criticism of personality typology than James Hillman’s essay in From Types to Images.

What makes it even more striking is that he helped found the Jung Institute in Zurich and gave a brilliant lecture about the feeling function. That lecture was first published in 1971, along with Marie von Franz’s lecture on the inferior function, in the book Lectures on Jung’s Typology.

But then in 1980 he published an essay in which he criticized the misuse of typology. Hillman is, above all, known for his writings about soul-making and calling. In that light, typology can seem very much at odds with calling and one’s unique destiny.

Hillman says: “The problem of perceiving the unique is at the heart of therapy. The desire to see and the need to be seen cannot be overestimated. Analysts struggle to see a particular and different self in each patient.”

He also said the problem of human relations is “the experiencing of each other as selves, as individual persons with distinct natures; each person the embodiment of an individual destiny.”

This is where he says we’ve gone wrong in understanding Jung’s Psychological Types book: “His Types was conceived to elaborate differences, variety. Yet it has become an instrument of psychological egalitarianism by means of typical categories into which persons can be fit. The book has … become an instrument of the egalitarianism it is expressly designed to ward off.”

Ouch. I can’t say I disagree. The internet has only exacerbated the problem. The conversations and content about typology are so often about type parts. “I see Ti in how you said that!” And so on. Very little about soul-making and calling.

Hillman again: “Don’t we tend to turn to them [types] when we are most self-occupied, neurasthenic, narcisstically depressed? When we need ego-support? Typologies fascinate and convince because they are methods of mirroring what we most look for – self-perception recognition of our individual image. And the more we gain this insight into our uniqueness and present ourselves as an individual image, the less fascinating and convincing typology: we say, ‘we no longer fit in.'”

This is why type is merely a starting point. When we no longer feel we fit into our particular personality type, perhaps it is because we are seeing our calling all the more clearly.

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Personality Types and the Creative Process

This archetypal circle, when imagined as moving in a counterclockwise direction, is a metaphor for how the creative process uses every aspect of typology.

Note how the process both begins and ends with ST. ST is often maligned in modern typology, and therefore might not be what first comes to mind when thinking about creativity. Yet here it is the cornerstone.

Here are the questions each of the four quadrants asks, according to Mary McCaulley, the psychologist who helped Isabel Myers bring MBTI to fruition:

ST asks “what is it?”

SF asks “what matters?”

NF asks “what might be?”

NT asks “how might it all fit?”

ST kicks off the process. SF is the incubator, followed by the breakthrough in the NF dimension of the soul. Then the NT magician brings the vision to fruition, and hands it back to ST for the practical application.

All four of these quadrants can be at work within one person. Jungian analyst John Giannini said “We must all have our own inner archetypal ideal as King or Queen, our own inner Magician as mentor, our own inner Warrior as a stimulus to achievement, and our own inner Lover as a teacher of intimacy.”

The quadrant opposite your type will be the most challenging. For example, NT will have the most difficulty with SF.

Sometimes the creative process will involve multiple people or a partnership, and can help keep us from remaining mired and spinning our wheels in our quadrant. Awareness of which of the four quadrants the other people fall in will make the process flow more smoothly.

Giannini said dream work also proceeds in this circular direction: “Life poses a question, we sleep on it, then the answer emerges as a spontaneous and emotionally filled ream image in the NF quadrant. In waking life, we are then challenged to integrate the dream into a large NT vision.”

As I said in a previous post, typology these days emphasizes a linear view of the cognitive functions. But for Jung they were a circle. We can’t be rigid in how we view the creative potential of the Soul, yet, as Giannini said, “its counterclockwise direction seems to be a necessary containing requisite.”

Source: Compass of the Soul: an archetypal guide to a fuller life by John L. Giannini, chapter 6.

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Symptoms of Calling: Eleanor Roosevelt

Have you ever noticed how a child’s symptoms, when viewed in retrospect, were an indication of his or her calling?

In the book The Soul’s Code, Hillman offers Eleanor Rooselvelt as one of many examples. She served as First Lady for 12 years during the Great Depression and WWII. Yet she said “I grew up with a fear of insanity.”

In addition to the difficult traits listed in the above quote, her nickname was Granny because she was old-fashioned. She lost both her parents before the age of 9. She described her childhood as a series of “gray days.”

What sustained her was a fantasy she indulged in for many years after her father died. She imagined she lived with her father, ran his household, and was his travel companion. “I carried on a day-by-day story, which was the realest thing in my life.”

In today’s culture symptoms usually mean something “bad.” So today Eleanor would be sent to therapy, given an IEP, and almost certainly prescribed medication. Her fantasies might be dismissed as compensation for her dreary childhood. Or viewed as bordering on delusion.

Hillman has a different take on her fantasies: “Their caring and managerial content was purposeful, preparation for the dutiful life she would later live. The fantasies were invented by her calling and were indeed more realistic in their orientation than her daily reality.”

“Imagination acted as teacher, giving instruction for the … tasks of caring for the welfare of a complex family, of a crippled husband, of the state of New York as the governor’s wife, the United States as its first lady, and even of the United Nations. Her fantasies of attending to ‘Father’ were a preliminary praxis into which she could put her call, her huge devotion to the welfare of others.”

When you exchange the word “abnormal” for “extraordinary” it offers a fresh perspective on our lives. And suggests that each child is a gifted child.

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A Reflection on the Day of the Dead

“When you see people through the eyes of death you see them very differently. The beauty of the other person is then more visible.” That’s a rather remarkable thing to ponder, isn’t it? It also seems to be in keeping with the spirit of the Day of the Dead.

Another thing this day helps us remember is that the grieving process doesn’t tend to be linear. It’s more like it’s circular. Which reminds me that I recently watched the movie Arrival, which attempts to show what it would be like if we could conceive of time as circular, with no beginning and no end. Throughout the movie the main character remembers a future (past? present?) death of another character and it is moving to watch.

Hillman again: “After a person’s dead, his faults, his or her unbearable qualities, become clarified, and you remember them as virtues.”

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In Which I Commence a Gentle Madness

When I lived in Massachusetts 30 years ago, I found myself drawn to books about Robert F. Kennedy, because I was fascinated with the transformation he made after his brother was assassinated. He went from being a bully who went after Communists (among other misdeeds) to becoming a champion of the underrepresented. The quote “make gentle the life of the world” made a permanent impression on me. He said this during the late 1960’s, which was pretty much the last time the working class was a main focus of the Democratic party.

It isn’t enough to be gentle; one must also make gentle. But what does “make gentle” mean? I like to envision it as soul-making, a term coined by the poet John Keats, who said: “Call the world, if you please, the vale of soul-making. Then you will find out the use of the world.” Soul-making became the focus of the work of archetypal psychologist James Hillman, who was nominated for a Pulitzer prize in 1975 for his book on the topic.

Making soul out of life. Finding connections between life and soul. Slowing down and deepening one’s interiority. It isn’t a heroic psychology and isn’t about developing a strong ego. Rather, soul makes the ego feel uncertain and uncomfortable.

Which brings me to madness. Hillman says one should let a little bit of madness in every day, so that one doesn’t go literally mad.  He said for some people that means having a drink after work every day. For him it was expressing iconoclastic ideas. He also said that psychotherapy should help one “discover one’s madness, one’s unique spirit.”

The phrase “a gentle madness” popped into my head recently as I contemplated blowing the dust off my Facebook timeline and finally posting on it somewhat regularly as a way to let in my own madness. The phrase sounded familiar. I googled and was reminded this is the title of a book from 1995 about book collecting. My gentle madness isn’t about that, but collecting the insights I read in books is part of it. 


By the way, I like the irony of posting this today, the first day of Mercury retrograde (and Halloween, no less), which will continue for the next few weeks. Even people who don’t know what their moon and rising signs are often know about Mercury retrograde and the communication breakdowns that can accompany it. Hopefully that will add to the madness. 

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The #1 Thing Needed for Personality Typing

It’s pretty much a given that personality tests aren’t consistently reliable.

Yet figuring your type out on your own isn’t so easy either. When Jung created the psychological types, he didn’t use a test. He and the first generation Jungian analysts worked with their clients one-on-one; an analysis typically takes several years.

Jungian analyst Daryl Sharp highlighted some of the problems with type tests in his book Personality Types: Jung’s Model of Typology:

“Type tests do not show the extent to which one’s type may have been falsified or perverted by familial and environmental factors; they say nothing about the way in which one’s usual way of functioning may be determined by complexes; and they do not reflect the ever-present compensating attitude of the unconscious. Typically, it is the persona that takes the test. In addition, the person taking the test may be using one of the secondary or auxiliary functions to answer the questions—or indeed, responding out of the shadow or persona. Above all, type tests do not take into account the experiential reality that a person’s typological preferences can change over time.”

Above all, there should be one thing central to the typing process: prolonged self-reflection. Or, as Jung called it, “self-communing:”

Not everyone has the opportunity to work with a Jungian analyst or a typologist. So here are some questions Sharp suggests that one reflect upon:

What do I habitually do most?

What is my greatest cross?

From what do I suffer the most?

Where is it in life that I always knock my head against the wall and feel foolish?

Sharp says: ” The answers to such questions generally lead to the inferior attitude and function, which then, with some determination and a good deal of patience, may perhaps be brought to a degree of consciousness.”

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The Pooh bear (and Stoic) approach to personality types

It’s refreshing to take a break from modern forms of personality types for a bit, with their pesky cognitive functions and whatnot, and look at things from the perspective of ancient philosophies. With Pooh thrown in for good measure, of course, so we don’t take things too seriously.

Plato in the fourth century BCE came up with the four elements theory. Around 300 BCE the Stoics embraced this theory. First century philosopher Seneca described Stoic temperament theory as follows:

“There are four elements – fire, water, air, and earth – with matching properties – hot, cold, dry, and moist. […] The same distinctions are valid for animals and humans: it makes a difference how much moisture and heat each individual has within him; the element that predominates in him will determine his characteristic behaviors.”

He said that fiery people are prone to anger, whereas wet, dry, or cold temperaments can be panicky and contrarian.

I also added Hippocrates’ terms of melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, and choleric to the infographic.

But let’s get to Pooh. Which Pooh character best represents your personality? By the way, Pooh is in the middle because he represents all four types. Pooh is fully actualized!

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The compass of the personality

Carl Jung had a circular view of the personality, as you can see from his drawing below of the four functions as a compass:

That’s because Taoism strongly influenced the development of Jung’s typology. The Chinese concept of the Tao is based on polar opposites and is the “reconciler of all opposites.” It has a circular and polar view of the soul, as did Jung.

Jung was also a Judeo-Christian. There was no conflict between his Western spirituality and his Eastern spirituality. As a scientist he wanted to explore all options available for healing his patients.He regarded spirituality as the primary underlying principle in psychology.

He discovered Taoism while recovering from his break with Freud. As he developed typology, it was with an emphasis on understanding the differences between people. He wanted to find the unity that compensated for the wide diversity in people, to both accept and transcend opposites, which led him to the Tao.

A Taoist approach to typology differs from the linear view of growth we tend to have when working with typology. We “work” on our inferior function. But as Jungian analyst John Giannini wrote, the Taoist approach “means surrendering some aspects of a dominant function or coupling, and learning to value the other types in your personal compass of the Soul…Like Taoism, typology challenges us to live a full life in which conscious success must be balanced by a ‘rekindling of humility in the face of the Self.”

Here is what Jung said about the compass:

“The four functions are somewhat like the four points of the compass; they are just as arbitrary and just as indispensable. Nothing prevents our shifting the cardinal points as many degrees as we like in one direction or the other, or giving them different names. It is merely a question of convention and intelligibility. But one thing I must confess: I would not for anything dispense with this compass on my psychological voyages of discovery.”

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The 8 archetypes of Extroverted Intuition (Ne)

As with all the cognitive functions. extroverted intuition (Ne), plays one of eight different roles in the personality depending on which of the 16 personality types you have. This is per Jungian analyst John Beebe’s 8 function personality type model.

First we’ll take a look at Ne in general terms.

Intuition is like a sixth sense and can see aspects of the world beneath the surface and is a perception by the way of the unconscious per Carl Jung. Extroverted intuition sees through the outer layer. It lives in the world of ideas.

Carl Jung said the following about Ne in Psychological Types:

Because extraverted intuition is oriented by the object, there is a marked dependence on external situations, but it is altogether different from the dependence of the sensation type. The intuitive is never to be found in the world of accepted reality-values, but he has a keen nose for anything new and in the making. Because he is always seeking out new possibilities, stable conditions suffocate him …. So long as a new possibility is in the offing, the intuitive is bound to it with the shackles of fate.

Below is the infographic I made that describes all 8 archetypal roles of Ne. All personality types have Ne and it behaves differently depending where it is. Half of the 16 personalities have it in the top four functions where it is more conscious. The other half have it in shadow: :

These archetypes descriptions are just sketches and aren’t meant to be literal. The shadow functions in particular are highly qualitative.

Remember that no function ever acts separately from the other functions. Jung said we almost never see a pure form of a function. We consider a function only in order to better understand the whole of the personality.

This is part 3 of 8 in the series. Part four is about Introverted Intuition (Ni).

My other articles in this series:

The 8 archetypes of Extroverted Sensation

The 8 archetypes of Introverted Sensation

The 8 archetypes of Extroverted Intuition (Ne)

The 8 archetypes of Extroverted Feeling (Fe)

Continue ReadingThe 8 archetypes of Extroverted Intuition (Ne)