Am I an INFJ or an INTP?

I had that dilemma, too, and what helped me was digging into my core self and finding that ONE, single most important, higher purpose of my life. From there on, I started to read about the functions again and saw that I used Ni without doubt, and loads of Ti, while the Fe was heavily suppressed. My life wish or purpose, however, clearly implies helping HUMAN BEINGS, being with HUMAN BEINGS and spreading the wisdom I get through Ni so that humanity can be a happier place to live in

My INTP friend is concerned about humanity as well, but more in a "why are they so freakin retarded?" kind of way, he wants them to be more rational, honest etc. He doesn't want to dedicate his life to "serve" humanity, though.

Hope that helped a little!

Aquarian said:

@TreasureTower, I just can't shake the sense that it's Ti and not Ni as your dominant. I mean, you know yourself way better than I do, so of course you're the best one to type yourself in the end.

Words get in the way, unfortunately. I wish I could really pin down in function-specific words why I get this sense. But I can't, the words seem slippery somehow. So I have to say it this way if I'm going to say it at all: INFJs have this feel to me, it's kind of a minor chord dark-ish resonance (Ni-Fe). Your feel is different. Yours is lighter, cleaner, clearer. It's not INFP, their feel/lightness is more more summer-sun-like (Fi-Ne). Yours, while similar in that it is about light, is more like a cool clarity of light (Ti-Ne?).

I don't know if this information will be useful for you. It's pretty vague and I wish I could actually link it directly to descriptions of Ni and Ti. But like I said, for me the words get in the way at that layer.

Anyway, as I said, you know yourself way better than I do, so take it with a grain of salt.

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That's plain amazing!!! I heard of people sensing other's types through video footage, but not yet written text. I can definitely see what you mean with "dark-ishness", that's Ni. I only recently learned more about the Jungian concept of personal and collective shadow, and I understood at once why I have always been able to sense and sometimes clearly see all that vast, endless darkness in myself. Ni allows you to do that by way of detachment, even from yourself. It's awesome.

@TreasureTower
Are darkness and mystery an integral part of your being??

Aquarian said:

But why is Ni dark/minor chords like that? What is the relevance of personal and/or collective shadow to it?

I feel like I have the actual perception quite clearly, but not the cognitive/analytical understanding.

PS Also: Is it just Ni? Seems like INTJs ... well, I actually don't know, does Te compensate or ... I haven't attended to whether I do or don't get this feel from INTJs.

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maybe because Ni as a perception power directed inwardly sees deeper into the unconscious? and the nearer you come to the unknown, the more your Ti wants to understand and classify your perceptions. you walk deeper and deeper, and it is no wonder that sooner or later you are confronted with the bare, crude darkness that is part of each of us. if you dare go deeper, you will learn more about it and accept it as a legitimate part of yourself. NOT DENYING that darkness that everyone carries deep inside but actually seeing beauty in it makes us appear "dark and mysterious" I guess.

Aquarian said:

But anyway, for sure I perceive beauty in that minor chord/darkness resonance - not like some sort of emotional beauty but perceptual beauty, like hearing music.

...

And it isn't like some sort of goth-dark individual emotional thing for me at all. I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to describe the experience of having material resonate in or through me that other people seem to feel would floor them in terms of pain or intensity ...

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I know exactly what you mean, it isn't about emotions but about the blissful experience of beauty in all its forms. I've learned so far from experience with people in my life that seeing beauty where others see "negativity", "sadness", "darkness" etc is sth one has to constantly defend and explain if your loved ones fail to accept it. For example, I love the night more than the day, I love the absence of people on the streets, the silence in their homes etc, whereas my parents say I am deranged and "possessed" because of it. I, in turn, cannot understand how they can fail to notice the serene, spiritual and mysterious side of it.

Another example, I love love love cello and ambient music that speaks the Ni language, but what reactions do I get? "You always listen to that horribly DEPRESSING music" etc. No, it is not sad or depressing, it simply IS.

Wearing dark clothes has been an ever ongoing topic of criticism as well. I just LOVE black, and I am neither sad not depressive nor mourning, nor am I any of the terms they throw around (like emo, goth, metaler etc) it just feels good to wear it! I feel protected and comfortable in it. But so far no one has been understanding. To the people I know black = death.

Have you had similar experiences?

TreasureTower said:

The additional reasons that I posted your quotes from this thread is that - despite scanning that entire thread for that elusive quote - I was sadly unable to locate it. I know I read it but at the moment; the thread where you posted it in, escapes me.

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http://personalitycafe.com/cognitive-functions/151459-ti-vs-ni.html

ain't that the one? post #4?

Sweetish said:

Enneagram 5 typically seems like a Ti-dom due to the innate qualities of ennea 5's.

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I agree with you on this point, this has been the cause for my mistyping as well. However, I also see how it can be very difficult to understand yourself when you are torn between reason/logic and just knowing, being detached/cool and HIGHLY empathetic... It's a Ti/Fe issue.

TreasureTower said:

Yes, this! Finally, someone has totally nailed down my dilemma.

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In my experience Ti-doms don't seem to be tormented by this dichotomy, Ti is a very chilled out, cool function, whereas Fe is FIRE and PASSION and (not in the sexual sense lol) When Ni dominates the rest of the psyche, Fe is cooled down a bit (as compared to Fe-doms).

I can literally feel myself being filled up with energy every time I touch on my passions - understanding and helping human beings.

sworm09 said:

On the other hand it's very easy for an INFJ to jump to conclusions with little info to back it up. For example if someone gives me a funny look my Ni will jump to the conclusion that that person hates me and then to the conclusion that I'm socially inept. That raises emotional problems and mood swings.

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oh yes... this paranoia is certainly part of who I am, although I usually dismiss such "signs" because it is a huge burden to take them all so seriously and ponder... and ponder... It has only been a year, I guess, that I finally learned what many others took for granted, namely that "haters gonna hate", and that it is their problem, not mine. They are the ones projecting their own insecurities on others, I only happen to be on the receiving end of such projections because I represent some kind of concept that they repress or dislike in themselves. Always had people to hate me for no reason, just from looking at me the very first time, and I don't necessarily look like a murderer

Sweetish said:

Plenty of people have the capability within their human brain to recognize and even emulate the other JCF which aren't their primary 4; INFJ are quite good at that. I'm sure there are people who would believe I utilize Ne, not realizing that the reason why I can emulate it when I want to is because I was in a serious relationship with an INFP for half my life (it's much easier to do with caffeine, sugar, and sleep deprivation, but w/e).

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LOTS of sugar :laughing:

@TreasureTower

maybe you're a mysterious creature from the deep blue ocean??

Anyways, I figured out my type in the similar situation by understanding what my life goal is (I told you this already), and that is was humanity-related. The INTP I know really well would much rather have a fulfilling job and live comfortably. I don't mean to generalize here, but in my experience these life goals are very very different.

Sweetish said:

As a smart kid, I was accused of brown nosing or being "teacher's pet" so I learned to not raise my hand even when I knew the answer 100%. I didn't want that negative attention or false accusations. I simply loved learning. Getting a teacher's approval was not my goal. The other kids didn't understand this about me. I conformed only enough to get by but it meant slowly dying inside. It caused me a lot of pain because, again, I'm not a social variant enneagram. I was forcing myself to attempt to be what others wanted me to be, but quickly gave up. I just couldn't. It hurt too much. Instead, I withdrew from people whenever possible because disappointing them -after not being able to be myself or be accepted as myself, after that strenuous effort of sacrifice- was too much to bear.

I wanted to adapt, but I couldn't, which made my chronic depression even more severe.

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I know, right!? And then you get bad grades (at least here in Europe) just because you don't "participate" in class. I learned in my teen years to do imperfect homework so that the teacher would stop humiliating me before the whole class, showing them "how it should be done". Also, when we got our test results back I could never show any enthusiasm about a good grade, just learned to look at it and file the paper away. It puzzles me how teachers fail to see something SO OBVIOUS! The more you praise a student before a group, the more the group hates him/her. Have they never been in school before?

notmonday said:

speak for yourself

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:tongue: I should have formulated that differently

In these Free Hugs videos on youtube I felt so bad for the less attractive person if the huggers operated in pairs or small groups, because basically people automatically approached the good looking huggers.

That's so unfair, although it is likely that I would have done the same thing myself xD You know, instincts...

Why is life so complicated? I wish we could all just sit down for a lovely tea party and eat chocolate cake, while watching the sun disappear into the Mediterranean sea, together with our worries, fears and insecurities.

<3