Myers Briggs and the 4 spiritual paths (Jesus, moral, Earth, tradition)

[lilithu]

I mentioned in another thread that I had taken a workshop last weekend on Myers Briggs Personality Types and how they relate to spirituality. Specifically, the premise was that depending on your type, you might approach spirituality differently and even have different needs.

standing_alone asked me to start separate thread on this, so here it is.

For anyone unfamiliar with Myers Briggs, see this thread:
Myers Briggs Type Inventory

Also, for a little bit of background, the Myers Briggs Personality Inventory was created by two women, a mother-daughter team, Myers and Briggs. They were followers of Jungian psychology and sought to put theory into use by coming up with this inventory (it's been drilled into me not to call it a "test" because there is no right or wrong).

Myers Briggs assesses your personality along four different dimensions:

1. Introvert v. Extrovert - and this has nothing to do with whether or not you're shy. It has to do with where your attention lies - internal or external.

2. iNtuitive v. Sensory - this is how you process information - do you think in concrete terms or do you think abstractly? Another way to put it is that S's tend to deal with "what is" while N's tend to think of "what could be."

3. Thinking v. Feeling - this is how you make decisions - for T's it's rational, analytical, objective and for F's it's relational, personal, subjective. Let me stress that both T's and F's are interested in fairness, they just approach it differently. T's think we attain fairness by treating everyone equally, whereas F's think we attain fairness by relating to each person as a person.

4. Judging v. Perceiving - judging has nothing to do with moral judgments, it's more about wanting things to be well defined. Whereas P's want to hold off on committing to something for as long as possible. It's how you orient to the outer world.

So... given four dimensions with two possibilities each, there are 16 possible Myers Briggs types. And these different dimensions interact with each other, so that two Feelers may express themselves very differently because one is intuitive and one is sensory.

Out of the four dimensions, it has been long noted that the two middle dimensions, N-S and T-F are what drive one's personality the most. So that collapses the 16 possible combinations into four: NT, NF, ST, and SF. It's these four types that we're going to be talking about in terms of spirituality.

ST (sensing-thinking) characteristics:
realists
in touch with the facts
linear reasoning
practical and concrete
careful and accurate
service to organizations

SF (sensing-feeling) characteristics:
practical/down-to-earth
sensitive, loyal, caring
helpful
responsible
devoted service to others
interpersonal considerations
attention to details
focus on task at hand

NT (intuiting-thinking) characteristics:
vision/the big picture
analysis/problem solving
engaging the mind
competency
intellectual clarity
organizing principles
relationships

NF (intuiting-feeling) characteristics:
visionary
focus on possibilities
ways to make life better
idealists
symbolic/metaphors
ongoing personal becoming
inspire others to grow
meaning and values

So what can we say about these four types with respect to spirituality?

Let's start with the S's. S's prefer the concrete and tangible. They tend to stick to the present moment.
T's like rules or guiding principles whereas F's like interpersonal relationships, so... spiritually speaking...

An ST would be more interested in doctrine, identity, righteousness. Someone who spends his time defining who is or is not included, and what is or is not considered orthodox, right or wrong.

An SF would be more interested in personal experience of the divine (or whatever has meaning to you), spiritual practice, devotion. (I'm thinking Gracie. Tho she reports as an NF, which also makes sense.)

On to the N's. N's prefer the conceptual and big picture/patterns. They tend to dream up what could be.
T's like rules or guiding principles whereas F's like interpersonal relationships, so... spiritually speaking...

An NT would be more interested in understanding underlying principles, truth, justice. Someone who tries to pull together seemingly disparate concepts and reconcile them.

An NF would be more interested in harmony, process, healing, gratitude, a quest for self-realization.

As our workshop facilitator was describing these four types, I remarked to him that they reminded me of the three or four (depending on who you ask) spiritual paths in Hinduism: karma marga, bhakti marga, jnana marga, and sometimes a fourth one that I never quite understood, raja marga.

In Hinduism, there is the recognition that people are different, and that what works as a spiritual path for one person might not work for the next. So there are the 3-4 recognized valid paths: jnana marga (the path of wisdom), bhakti marga (the path of devotion), and karma marga (the path of action). (I have spoken about them before in an article about the Powerpuff Girls. I compared Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup to Head, Heart, and Hands, or Jnana, Bhakti, and Karma respectively.)

It seemed to me from the descriptions of the types that NT's would be drawn to the path of wisdom, SF's would be drawn to the path of devotion, and STs would be drawn to the path of action. The only one that I couldn't easily place was NF. But since the only marga left is raja marga, we decide that would be it. Raja marga would be translated as the journey of harmony. And I don't really understand it except as a combination of the other three. An attempt to harmonize all three? Not that the others don't try to do that. I certainly do. It's just that we have our tendencies.


Anyway, standing_alone. I'm not sure how much this would help someone who is atheist. Not because it doesn't apply. I believe it still does. But it would need to be "translated" into non-religious language, if that makes sense. I am open to discussing it.

[Feathers in Hair]

This was a wonderful way of approaching the subject- I found it very helpful! Thank you for posting it!

[Quagmire]

Interesting Lilithu.

Was wonderring what catagory(s) you would expect some of the traditional/historical religious figures--the Buddha, Jesus, Mohamad---to fall into?

[Aqualung]

Your description puts me as an NT or a ST. Which is good, since I'm an NT.

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

Interesting Lilithu.

Was wonderring what catagory(s) you would expect some of the traditional/historical religious figures--the Buddha, Jesus, Mohamad---to fall into?

Hmmm...

Well, the Buddha looked for underlying principles and was rather objective, so I would say he was an NT (wisdom).

Jesus, imo, was all about the interpersonal relationships - relationships with Abba (Father), relationships with his followers - so definitely an F. My guess would be NF (harmony).

And Mohammed was a by the rules, righteousness-oriented, kind of person, so I would say ST (action/works).

That said, it's fun to guess on these things but that's all it is.

[Sunstone]

The inventory is absolutely ridiculous, Lilithu! Everyone knows there is only one spiritual path. Just as there is only one kind of shoe. Or one shape of nose. Or one eye color. I'm shocked at the liberal fantasy of diversity in human nature that you are trying to promulgate here! Shocked!

[standing_alone]

Originally Posted by lilithu

Anyway, standing_alone. I'm not sure how much this would help someone who is atheist. Not because it doesn't apply. I believe it still does. But it would need to be "translated" into non-religious language, if that makes sense. I am open to discussing it.

Wow, that was quite interesting. Quite a bit to digest this early in the morning, too.

I wonder, when approaching nontheism, if personality-type has anything to do with favoring either strong atheism, weak atheism, agnosticism, etc.? Like maybe secular humanism has an appeal to me (an NF) because it has some "idealistic tendencies" (for lack of a better way of putting it), in my opinion. *shrugs*

Regardless, quite interesting.

[eudaimonia]

I've had somewhat similar ideas regarding Myers-Briggs and spiritual paths. (Though I never attempted to relate them to the various yogas.)

The Fellowship of Reason is definitely weighted to NT personality types, which should be no surprise with its focus on philosophy. Though I hope that it will broaden to encompass the other personality types with time. I'm a strong NT, myself.


eudaimonia,

Mark