Fuck MBTI, what's your essence?

[xNTP]

Lets go beyond your type. What's your essence? By this, I'm hoping we can look past the reductionist MBTI scheme and see how our interests, experiences, inspirations, and drives have molded us into a certain character. Call it your personality if it makes you more comfortable, but try and ascertain where the deep deep drives are pointing toward. Are you a teacher? An observer? A psychologist? A mother? A doctor? An analyst? A politician? An investigator?

I recently made a new friend. When I was talking to her, I figured that she's essentially a Preservationist. She collects and preserves all sorts of things like books, letters, pictures, memories, etc. Preservation is her drive, it's at her core, and she's made it into her career. Lucky her.

At my core, I believe I'm a Naturalist. I love watching people, watching animals, trying to find connections and understand the way we work. Psychology (one of my major passions) is a means to Naturalism. Nothing gives me more pleasure than zooming out and seeing myself in my environment.

I'm gonna go ahead and do one more: Seahorse, one of my favorite members here (seriously). At his essence, I think this guy is an Thought Coder. He seems to be driven towards understanding his thoughts (more than other parts of his experience) through coding everything and organizing it into sequences, charts, and tables. It might be obvious, but it's also his essence.

It's a hard exercise to do, but it's interesting. If you want, try and pin down other people you feel you know very well. Family members, favorite authors, friends, whatever.

[outmywindow]

Herbal.

No really, this is an interesting approach. I don't want to cop out and say I'm an Observer, but it's my first inclination. Barring that, I'd say I'm a Searcher. Searching for what? I don't know, but there's a drive to find something(s) which will satisfy the incessant need to keep looking. I'd say the searching and observing go hand-in-hand, since I'm not only trying to divine what I'm searching for in the first place through observation and self-analysis, but I've also got to find it once I know what it is. Searching for knowledge, searching for a sense of self, searching for contentment, searching for understanding, searching for the place where I can happily stop searching, etc.

[bluebell]

This is a revolting word but I couldn't think of a better one off the top of my head: Understander. I want to understand the world, the universe, society, the natural world, physics, technology, international and domestic governance, psychology - you name it, I want to understand how it works - and I've been like this ever since I can remember. I'd like to be able to say that my goal in life is to make the world a better place, and supposedly, that is why I have the job that I have. But really, that's just a cover for my overriding goal in life - to understand everything.

[Shades of Gray]

Originally Posted by bluebell

This is a revolting word but I couldn't think of a better one off the top of my head: Understander. I want to understand the world, the universe, society, the natural world, physics, technology, international and domestic governance, psychology - you name it, I want to understand how it works - and I've been like this ever since I can remember. I'd like to be able to say that my goal in life is to make the world a better place, and supposedly, that is why I have the job that I have. But really, that's just a cover for my overriding goal in life - to understand everything.

100% agreed. I've called myself and advisor before, but only because society expects some form of action. Simply Understanding everything would be my essence as well.

[MacGuffin]

Originally Posted by outmywindow

No really, this is an interesting approach. I don't want to cop out and say I'm an Observer, but it's my first inclination. Barring that, I'd say I'm a Searcher. Searching for what? I don't know, but there's a drive to find something(s) which will satisfy the incessant need to keep looking. I'd say the searching and observing go hand-in-hand, since I'm not only trying to divine what I'm searching for in the first place through observation and self-analysis, but I've also got to find it once I know what it is. Searching for knowledge, searching for a sense of self, searching for contentment, searching for understanding, searching for the place where I can happily stop searching, etc.

I was about to write something similar to this. What the hell am I looking for anyway?

I'm gonna change my name to Johnny Quest.

[booyalab]

Originally Posted by MacGuffin

I was about to write something similar to this. What the hell am I looking for anyway?

I'm gonna change my name to Johnny Quest.

ooh ooh, I'm Race Bannon




(after the operation....that turns me into a cartoon)

[phenol]

I'd say I'm a Romanticist.

Everything I do, everything I feel, feels so important - spiritual or grandiose to me.

Chemistry is intimate, lovers are souls touching, art is an extension of the creator's very existence, destiny and living are a wheel, a cycle.

[xNTP]

Originally Posted by phenol

I'd say I'm a Romanticist.

Everything I do, everything I feel, feels so important - spiritual or grandiose to me.

Chemistry is intimate, lovers are souls touching, art is an extension of the creator's very existence, destiny and living are a wheel, a cycle.

Sounds like you're a Beauty Hunter. Same thing, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe maybe.

[Katzchen]

Originally Posted by Edahn

Sounds like you're a Beauty Hunter. Same thing, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe maybe.

My INFJ friend is definitely that. All he ever talks about is trying to find beauty in everything. He smokes pot all the time because it makes everything pretty. He only hangs out with pretty girls when he can. He spends all day listening to music and searching for better music because it's pretty. He chose a college because it was pretty and left to go somewhere else that was prettier. (Hunter is a good word too, intentional or not. He can be ruthless.)

Also, I might say my ENFP friend is a Romanticist. She searches not for beauty but for romance in everything. She's always looking for love, writing about love, watching romantic movies, reading romantic books. etc.

I don't know exactly what word would describe me, but it isn't searcher or observer or anything. I don't necessarily want to know everything, but I want to know how everything that I do know fits. I'm obsessed with finding things people don't understand because I want to know why they exist. That extends to ideas as well as people as well as like, a random and seemingly insignificant part of a piece of art. I want to know the meaning for everything, I guess. What would be a good word for that?

[phenol]

Originally Posted by Edahn

Sounds like you're a Beauty Hunter. Same thing, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe maybe.

Beauty Hunter fits

Whether it's the same as Romanticist I suppose depends on how you define romance