Ok so sensing is information that emerges from the five senses, sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste.
All human beings do this. All human beings also possess intuition which allows them to think about concepts not based on direct experience. This is an evolutionarily fascinating trait in humans that they do not have to use direct experience in order to make decisions.
Intuition, therefore, is something that diverges from sensory experience. In other words, one using intuition places doubt on their own sensory experiences.
I like to compare Si and Ni this way which are completely different attitudes in my opinion. One who is a sensor and Si-dominant (SJ) TRUSTS his or her experiences based on the five senses. NJs, or Ni-dominants, do the exact opposite. They do NOT TRUST their own experiences because direct experience is only one frame of reference. So because of this behavior, an intuitor, especially an Ni dominant as mentioned naturally diverges from his or her experiences as opposed to converging on them like an Si-dominant would.
This concept fascinates me because I have a completely different mindset with Ne and Si when it comes to comparing myself to Ni-dominants like INFJs that have the mindset of Se and Ni. When it comes to intuition or divergent thinking, it all starts based on my concrete experiences and observations of the tangible world.
The divergent thinking begins when I see how my own direct experiences could be turned into something different and novel that I have yet to experience. These idealizations of what my experiences could become can be either good or bad depending on the situation. Sometimes they are the source of my stress and indecisiveness, other times, they give me hope and inspiration to do something awesome!
So in the previous paragraph, I explained how introverted sensing or converging reflection as I like to now call it also leads to diverging the objective world as we know it
(extroverted intuition). In the case of Ni, we now have diverging reflection meaning that one is taking all different sorts of standpoints based on his or her experience. After this reflection occurs, the divergent thinking power of Ni, when switching to the outer, objective world, sees convergence. I imagine Ni-dominants are like people who aspire to be puppeteers, pulling strings behind the scenes so that the objective reality falls into place as they predicted.
If I'm not mistaken, Ni-Se is an attitude that easily understands the concept of multiple realities existing at once. As one with Si and Ne, it's harder to grasp because I have a converging frame of reference on one particular reality that I know and trust well.
So in a nutshell:
Sensing = Convergent thinking. ...or "My experiences and/or observations of my surroundings have truth."
Intuition = Divergent thinking. ...or "My experiences and/or observations of my surroundings are only one way of looking at something which is limiting.
No matter what type you are, you do BOTH convergent AND divergent thinking.
All human beings do this. All human beings also possess intuition which allows them to think about concepts not based on direct experience. This is an evolutionarily fascinating trait in humans that they do not have to use direct experience in order to make decisions.
Intuition, therefore, is something that diverges from sensory experience. In other words, one using intuition places doubt on their own sensory experiences.
I like to compare Si and Ni this way which are completely different attitudes in my opinion. One who is a sensor and Si-dominant (SJ) TRUSTS his or her experiences based on the five senses. NJs, or Ni-dominants, do the exact opposite. They do NOT TRUST their own experiences because direct experience is only one frame of reference. So because of this behavior, an intuitor, especially an Ni dominant as mentioned naturally diverges from his or her experiences as opposed to converging on them like an Si-dominant would.
This concept fascinates me because I have a completely different mindset with Ne and Si when it comes to comparing myself to Ni-dominants like INFJs that have the mindset of Se and Ni. When it comes to intuition or divergent thinking, it all starts based on my concrete experiences and observations of the tangible world.
The divergent thinking begins when I see how my own direct experiences could be turned into something different and novel that I have yet to experience. These idealizations of what my experiences could become can be either good or bad depending on the situation. Sometimes they are the source of my stress and indecisiveness, other times, they give me hope and inspiration to do something awesome!
So in the previous paragraph, I explained how introverted sensing or converging reflection as I like to now call it also leads to diverging the objective world as we know it
(extroverted intuition). In the case of Ni, we now have diverging reflection meaning that one is taking all different sorts of standpoints based on his or her experience. After this reflection occurs, the divergent thinking power of Ni, when switching to the outer, objective world, sees convergence. I imagine Ni-dominants are like people who aspire to be puppeteers, pulling strings behind the scenes so that the objective reality falls into place as they predicted.
If I'm not mistaken, Ni-Se is an attitude that easily understands the concept of multiple realities existing at once. As one with Si and Ne, it's harder to grasp because I have a converging frame of reference on one particular reality that I know and trust well.
So in a nutshell:
Sensing = Convergent thinking. ...or "My experiences and/or observations of my surroundings have truth."
Intuition = Divergent thinking. ...or "My experiences and/or observations of my surroundings are only one way of looking at something which is limiting.
No matter what type you are, you do BOTH convergent AND divergent thinking.