lilithu
The Devil's Advocate
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:
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39115
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.
standing_alone asked me to start separate thread on this, so here it is.
For anyone unfamiliar with Myers Briggs, see this thread:
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39115
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.