MBTI: House Yew

Bagan, Myanmar

[Photo by Jon Bower National Geographic]

 “The Cenobites”
Functions: Fe/Ti + Se/Ni
(INFJ ENFJ ISTP ESTP)

Home: the Monastery
Patron: Badb Catha
Quadra: Beta
Vice: Truculence
Virtue: Conviction


If the Philosophers are the mind - the spirit - of the MBTI then the Cenobites are it’s soul. Michael Pierce calls the members of House Yew the “Saints,” I chose the term “cenobite” which means members of a monastic order, both male and female. In the monastery we have have both the stereotypically “saintly” types, such as the INFJs and ENFJs, as well as types less commonly thought of as religious, such as the ISTPs and ESTPs; the Cenobites understand that the sacred isn’t separate from the body or the world but is an integral part of it, and vice-versa. All cenobites are warriors at heart; ESTPs and ISTPs love testing themselves, and ENFJs and INFJs are crusaders.

Harmonizing attitude, tries to align with an outside standard of some kind. Se/Ni is a magnifying or intensifying attitude; directly experiences objects but associatively experiences their impressions of objects. Se/Ni is a black hole; it sucks objects into itself and crushes them into a singularity. Unifying and intensifying; intensive, direct, and focused; dedicated or committed to certain points of view therefore tending to appear dogmatic sometimes. Thinking in terms of a greater good or separate standard they are trying to subject themselves to.

ISTP: Mastering. Analyze reality, figure out it’s logical structure, then try to copy or align themselves with that structure. A warrior monk.

ESTP: Even though wouldn’t think of them as spiritual, ESTPs still think in terms of living according to an outside standard, which is in their personal philosophy and their concern with communicating properly with others. Epicurus; secluded himself in a garden with his friends and imposed on himself rules and laws of practical hedonism (do what feels good; eating healthily feels good so eat that way, etc.) Rules by which one can have a more satisfying experience of reality.

ENFJ: An outspoken saint; a preacher or evangelist who is concerned with communicating a vision, or persuading others to unite for a greater good or cause.

INFJ: A less outspoken and more contemplating saint; the monk who spends a great deal of time thinking or teaching in intimate settings, developing a holistic or idealistic theory of what humanity must do to be happy.

- Michael Pierce, “Function Axes Categories”  (YouTube)


Socionics: Beta Quadra

Cenobites tend to prefer situations where the power structure is clearly defined… where the rules are consistent and there are no ambiguities. They’re inclined to look for general rules that explain people, politics, etc., which can be applied generally, rather than making decisions on a case by case basis. They tend to attribute traits previously observed in members of a particular group to any new individual of the same group that they may meet. Tend to feel energy by being with others who share their beliefs and express them enthusiastically. They’re often concerned with social issues and believe that apathy is a major cause of society’s ills and will fight against it.

They generally don’t enjoy discussions of personal experiences when the focus is on their inner feelings, especially when described in a subdued way. They tend to be skeptical of people’s potential for personal growth and generally dislike being the subject of such discussions. Tend to prefer vision and leadership to dealing with mundane details.

In groups Cenobites prefer group participation rather than focusing on any one individual, preferring instead to discuss topics that everyone can contribute to. Unexplained inside jokes are considered rude because they exclude others. Jokes are loud and general, often about stereotypes. Cenobites try to draw others into the group activity and will be confused and dismayed if rebuffed. Atmosphere is more important than the actual activity; they exchange fun, often loud stories to feed the energy and will only usually interrupt someone to try to help them keep the positive vibes going.

They tend to find quieter gatherings, where small groups break off and start intimate conversations, to be boring, although they do sometimes enjoy more serious, subdued conversations about meaningful topics; politics, etc. In this situation personal experiences are discussed from the point of view of their external impact, with strongly expressed views. They strongly avoid talking about personal matters in a group and can feel betrayed when someone retells in public that which was spoken in private, or when someone discusses them or criticizes them in front of the group. They also dislike it when people tell long, slow stories, though they will generally try to be polite and listen.

Close relationships are characterized by emotional intensity - relationships are felt to be lacking if not accompanied by intense demonstrations of emotions. Cenobites tend to be the most emotionally intense of all the quadras, which is probably why they so dislike exposing their inner feelings in public.


How Cenobites see other houses:

Alpha (Ash): Cenobites tend to find Philosophers to be fun and creative - pleasant company - but also goofy, lacking focus and ambition, and too concerned with refining ideas and having fun. They see them as needing to be led. Groups of Philosophers and Cenobites generally get along better than individuals as Fe activates; Cenobites start telling loud stories, and Philosophers make goofy suggestions for entertainment.

Gamma (Oak): Can find Aristocrats to be stand-offish, judgmental, morally stiff and emotionally hostile. They often feel that Aristocrats are unable to see the big picture, whether at work or in politics and society at large; kind of socially boring, unable to take a joke, and vindictive. They often don’t do well in groups: Cenobites enjoy making general jokes, while Aristocrats tend to make extremely sharp, personal jokes. Cenobites want to stay together, Aristocrats want everyone to take care of their own needs as they move from group to group, leaving Cenobites feeling that the Aristocrats are trying to break up the fun group. On an individual level, however, they often get along very well; they both see general trends and enjoy comparing predictions.

Delta (Rowan): Cenobites tend to find Explorers to be noncommittal and unwilling to support goals decided in a group, lacking drive and ethics. Explorers prefer not to get involved in group efforts, instead preferring to work on personal projects that are meaningful to them.


How other houses see Cenobites:

Ash: They tend to find Cenobites to be fun, but with a bit of an edge, and inclined to be a bit bossy. They usually give in to Cenobites because they feel the Cenobites care more. They can find Cenobites to be overly rigid and single-minded.

Oak: Find Cenobites to be driven, ambitious people with a sense of purpose, and who get things done. Aristocrats often find the Cenobites’ strong views to be ideological and lacking factual support. They may also feel that they’re are overly concerned with social status and sometimes disingenuous when pursuing their goals.

Rowan: Explorers tend to see Cenobites as people who dream big, and always want to turn everything into a grandiose undertaking, even though they struggle to manage their day-to-day affairs. They tend to dislike what they see as a mean-streak resulting from the Cenobites unwillingness to consider other points of views on topics they feel strongly about.


Yew

Transference, Passage, Illusion

The yew tree is the symbol of immortality and everlasting life; rebirth, changes; regeneration after difficult times; and protection. It’s very strong making it a preferred wood for crafting into bows, spears, and other items. It’s a potent symbol of vitality; its branches grow into the ground so that when the trunk dies the Yew is able to continue living.

It’s quite toxic, often being called the “death tree;” every part of it, except for the red membrane surrounding the seeds, is poisonous. The alkaloid causes effects ranging from vivid hallucinations to death, although this death is viewed as a transformation and rebirth into the other world. The Yew represents both death as well as eternal life. It's imbued with qualities such as power, honor, mystery, strength, and leadership, but also milder traits such as silence, illusion, holiness, and introspection.

The tree is associated with the goddess Badb Catha, goddess of life, enlightenment, wisdom, and inspiration, as well as the goddess of war. The dark, sagacious crow is her animal; Badb Catha means "Battle Crow." She and her two sisters fought on the side of the Tuatha De Danann, the gods of light, against the monstrous Fomorians, turning the tide with her fearful, terrifying magic. In battle she often takes her crow shape, screaming, striking fear into her enemies. Following the Fomorians defeat, instead of predicting doom Badb sang a prophecy of peace:

Peace up to heaven.
Heaven down to earth.
Earth beneath heaven,
Strength in each,
A cup very full,
Full of honey;
Mead in abundance.
Summer in winter.


Enduring realities and legacies as well as that which abides unchanged; the lessons of experience. The union of body and spirit. Age in youth and youth in age; death in birth and rebirth in death. Yin and Yang. Love and death. The wisdom of knowing when to hold on and when to let go. On the deepest level, the Cenobites’ task in the world is to explore the most profound mysteries of the universe, and then, when they find their ideals, fight righteously for them.

In the monastery the ISTP is practicing swordsmanship and writing down techniques and strategies; in the inner gardens are the ESTP and their followers, making a pleasurable and simple life for themselves; in front of the monastery’s doors the ENFJ is speaking to a large gathering of people to hear persuasions to the monastery’s ultimate cause; within the monastery is the INFJ, teaching classes and individuals, but more often taking long, silent, solitary walks to ponder ideas before presenting them.

- Michael Pierce, “Function Axes Categories”  (YouTube)



Posts

The Houses
House Ash
House Oak
House Rowan
Jungian MBTI

MBTI: House Ash

”The School of Athens,”  Raphael

[Image from Greek Reporter]

“The Philosophers”
Fe/Ti + Si/Ne
(ENTP INTP ESFJ ISFJ)

Home: the Academy
Patron: Gwydion
Quadra: Alpha
Vice: Complacency
Virtue: Wisdom

Ash is the home of the philosophers, whether they’re your typical intellectuals like the INTPs and ENTPs, or your more earthy, practical seekers of wisdom, like the ISFJs and the ESFJs. Here we are at the academy, a place of learning, both for its own sake but also to make the world a better place for all beings.

Like the Saints [Cenobites], the Philosophers judge by aligning with a standard. They’re seeking an outside truth. Unlike the Saints, though, the Philosophers, rather than being intense, committed, and dogmatic are exploratory, multi-faceted, and non-committal. Ne doesn’t commit to any viewpoint because it wants to see more, while Si doesn’t want to commit to a viewpoint because it’s unsure of how the future will unfold; it wants to be ready for anything. Si/Ne is a wormhole, as opposed to Se/Ni’s black hole; while a black hole sucks everything into one singularity, the wormhole provides a short-cut between perspectives, figuring things out quickly and cleverly. Search for truth (with an emphasis on the search), the inquiry, and the non-committal analysis. SFJs are more philosopher farmers, like Odysseus from the Illiad; wise, practical, caring, stern, “focused on the important, real things in life,” but, despite how they may appear, are actually exceptionally thoughtful.

ESFJ: A kindly, warm-hearted philosopher, helpful and cheerful, but not simply as a result of tradition but of their own Socratic inquiry. They have thought about this and find their way of life more desirable in comparison to other ways of life.

ISFJ: Same as the ESFJ, more stubborn than the ESFJ though, and has a strong motivation to carry out their ideals and convictions. The image of the philosopher-farmer is closer to what the ISFJs really are than a motherly nurturer.

ENTP: This type is best represented by Socrates himself; interested in the inquiry into truth from many angles.

INTP: Similar to ENTP, but the focus is on the organization of the truth within themselves; the development of logical principles over finding them.

- Michael Pierce, “Function Axes Categories”  (YouTube)


Socionics: Alpha Quadra

The Socionics term for this house is the Alpha Quadra. I don’t find a lot of Socionics to be useful or accurate, mainly because they don’t seem to understand the deep, underlying structure of the MBTI, and also because a lot of it seems to be overly intellectual wandering about in the weeds. I understand this well because this is a very NTP thing to do; we INTPs and ENTPs love think and use our minds for bullshit that’s completely untethered from reality. This is also a problem I have with a lot of philosophy. But they are aware of the functions and they seem to have gathered a rather massive quantity of data so many of their observations are useful, even if their theories are a bit dubious sometimes.

According to Socionics this quadra (house) tends to enjoy theoretical discussions for fun rather than for a practical purposes. They value logically consistent beliefs and ideas, and morally consistent behavior. They enjoy positive environments that are pleasing to the senses. They tend to show affection by performing small services or giving small gifts.

They tend to avoid controversial subjects that could lead to unpleasant confrontations and are inclined to be tolerant of past misdeed by others, preferring reconciliation so as to maintain a positive environment. They tend to avoid things that require intensive, long term commitment and upkeep, preferring short term investments of energy that offer a reliable outcome with minimal effort. They prefer experience to advice and often perceive those who try to give such advice as pedantic.

They generally strive to create comfortable, pleasant environments; an ideal situation is the exchange of light-hearted jokes while discussing imaginative ideas over a delicious meal. Games are less about winning or losing and at least as much if not more about the fun they have during them. They generally dislike heaviness, especially confrontation or anything else that could bring the mood down.

Discussions tend to go off on tangents, in whatever directions seems the most interesting at the moment. If they share the same observations about something they’ll usually agree emphatically so as to increase rapport. If a problem is encountered they’ll dive into it and develop it until some kind of satisfactory conclusion is reached.

Alphas are egalitarian and tend to avoid distinctions between insiders and outsiders, easily drawing people in. They generally find formal speech and dress to be pretentious, unnecessarily limiting, and ridiculous.


How Philosophers see other houses:

Beta (Yew): They tend to find Cenobites to be fun, but with a bit of an edge, and inclined to be a bit bossy. They usually give in to Cenobites because they feel the Cenobites care more. They can find them to be overly rigid and single-minded.

Gamma (Oak): They tend to view Aristocrats as standoffish and cold, even hostile, especially in work situations. They also dislike Aristorats’ tendency to play favorites, which is offensive to the fair-minded, egalitarian Philosophers. They can find Aristocrats to be overly harsh, unimaginative, boring, overly concerned about the future, as well as having a mean-streak of unforgivingness and vindictiveness.

Delta (Rowan): Philosophers tend to find Explorers to be kind and creative, if a bit too serious about their ideals and principles and too demanding that others feel and act just as they do about those ideals.


How other houses see Philosophers:

Yew: Cenobites tend to find Philosophers to be fun and creative - pleasant company - but also goofy, lacking focus and ambition, and too concerned with refining ideas and having fun. They often see them as needing to be led. Groups of Philosophers and Cenobites generally get along better in groups than as individuals; as Fe activates Cenobites start telling loud stories, and Philosophers make goofy suggestions for entertainment.

Oak: Initially Aristocrats find Philosophers to be friendly, creative, well-meaning, pleasant people. Later, however, they tend to see them as unambitious and overly concerned with comfort and physical pleasure. They also find them to be oversensitive while, at the same time, failing to make an effort to focus on the deeper feelings involved.

Rowan: Explorers tend to find Philosophers to be fun and interesting people to discuss ideas and prospects with, but also naive and inconsistent in their personal and business affairs. They feel Philosophers are overly idealistic and lacking in common sense, failing to turn their fun ideas into something productive.


Ash

Connection, Wisdom, Surrender

Ash stretches from the underworld to the heavens, uniting the three realms; present, past, and future. The balance between the physical and spiritual realms; balance is the key to strength and wisdom. The Ash is used for spells requiring focus and strength of purpose, linking the inner and outer worlds. Placing ash leaves on one’s pillow is said to stimulate psychic dreams. The seeds resemble keys and have the power to unlock the future.

The Ash is associated with magician, hero, and trickster Gwydion.

A cunning and skilled magician, Gwydion was able to use magic to enhance his own abilities and change the forms of others. While his chief attribute was his deft mind, he was also a capable warrior strong enough to defeat one of Wales’ most powerful lords in single combat. According to medieval Welsh poetry, his magic could create women out of flowers…

Though he was a trickster, Gwydion possessed a strong sense of loyalty to certain members of his family, most notably his nephew Lleu.” [Lleu eventually becomes High King, and Gwydion his advisor. This is an archetypal relationship; the trickster magician and the king.]

- Gregory Wright, "Gwydion fab Don, Celtic Trickster Deity" (Mythopedia)

Gwydion is a kind of mischievous Celtic Merlin; think of a combination of an impish Hermes and wise Merlin. In one legend he started a war with his uncle King Math's rival, Pryderi. His brother was in love with their uncle's foot-holder (Math needed to keep his feet on the lap of a beautiful virgin). He started the war by stealing the rival king's divine pigs through clever trickery, but he ended it by physically defeating him in single combat. In this way Gwydion's foolish chicanery wound up leading to the dramatic expansion of his liege's kingdom. These kinds of fortuitous accidents are quite common with trickster figures like Gwydion fab Don.

Gwydion is a powerful sorceror and master of illusion. He delights in trickery and is thought to have originated April Fools' Day when he conjured the armies to trick Aranrhod into arming Lleu. He is a lover of poetry and the art of the bards, and is the druid of the gods. He is persistent in his ventures and learns from experience. He is both subtle and devious, yet open and honest in his dealings with others. He takes responsibility in his actions and in the actions of his people.

- "The Legend of Gwydion"


I chose Ash to represent the Philosophers as it expresses the central dichotomies of these types; that is, the tension and unity of heart and mind, precious tradition and future possibilities. The sacred task of House Ash is to discover the true, eternal principles for a good life. Ash teaches us that all of us - in fact, every thing - is connected. All of the houses, at their best, bring forth their own special form of wisdom, but Sophia - the wisdom that connects the world together in truth which is love - is the special gift that the dwellers of this house are tasked to bring into the world.

In the academy, we have the ESFJ, greeting all the people in a friendly way, giving advice to those who need help; the ISFJ, quietly working on discourses concerning how to live a good life; in the center is the ENTP, asking fellow philosophers difficult questions, listening carefully to their answers; then there’s the INTP, separate, like the ISFJ, working out their own theories of the universe and it’s nature.

- Michael Pierce, “Function Axes Categories”  (YouTube)


Posts

The Houses

House Yew

House Oak
House Rowan
Jungian MBTI

MBTI: The Houses

[Image from Reveal]


There are several different ways to organize the types - look up socionics to see them - but there are two that, in my opinion, are the most important for personal growth. Let’s look at the first one, a type of grouping that I’ve come to call “houses;" socionics calls them “quadras." I’m including some socionics in these posts even though I don’t agree with a lot of it because there are some useful things to be learned, mainly thanks to their extensive observations of the types.

A house is made up of the types that share the same four conscious functions. There are four houses, with four types in each, and they are as follows:

The first house (socionics' "Alpha Quadra") is made up of the four types with the Fe/Ti and Si/Ne functions. These types are ENTP, INTP, ESFJ, and ISFJ. I’ve named this house Ash.

The second ("Beta Quadra”) is made up of the types with Fe/Ti and Se/Ni functions; the ENFJ, INFJ, ESTP, and ISTP types. This house is Yew.

The third (“Gamma Quadra”) is made up of the types with Fi/Te and Se/Ni functions; the ENTJ, INTJ, ESFP, and ISFP types. This house is Oak.

The fourth (“Delta Quadra”) is made up of the types with Fi/Te and Si/Ne functions; the ENFP, INFP, ESTJ, and ISTJ types. This house is Rowan.

I decided to name the groups after trees because I was looking for something fairly neutral; I didn’t want to run into the same problem that we have with the MBTI types where everyone uses their own terms (e.g. ISFP is called the Architect, Adventurer, Composer, Artist, or Peacemaker depending on who you ask). I also didn’t want to go with socionics’ naming convention which, although it’s descriptively neutral, is hierarchical (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta). Using different terms also avoids any association with incel nonsense as well, an added bonus. Also, I really like the idea of naming one grouping, this one, after trees and the other one after animals (which will be a later post.) Trees and animals are both fairly neutral and much more memorable than numbers or letters. Maybe someone else can come up with a better naming convention but for now this is what I’m going with. It’s been a lot of fun to research, too!

We can think of a house as our home, our tribe so to speak. People of the same house understand each other; even when they appear to be very different they all “speak the same language.” Take the fourth house, for example, House Rowan. The types in Rowan are: ESTJ, ISTJ, ENFP, and INFP, four very different types. ESTJ may be similar to ISTJ, as they share the same two top and bottom functions – same with the ENFPs and INFPs – but what could they all possibly have in common? The answer is, they share the same functions (Si, Ne, Fi, and Te). This means they think, feel, sense, and intuit in the same ways. So, even though each one has a different strength and weakness they all share a similar worldview and value system, and this makes them similar on a deep level. The same obviously goes for all the houses.

This underlying commonality especially holds true for types which are opposite each other; even though they may seem to have nothing in common they’re actually united on a deep level. In Rowan the two paired types are ESTJ/INFP and ISTJ/ENFP. One way this union shows itself is how we more and more value and more and more express characteristics of our opposite as we mature (if we mature that is). For example, “dreamy” INFPs are, in my experience, some of the most practical, down-to-earth people I’ve ever met. Their ESTJ shadow makes them concerned with safety and security, and to value and seek to bring about meaningful, practical change in the world. An INFP friend of mine – a woman who’s been an activist for her entire life – always says that if you’re not doing something concrete with your ideals, what use are they? Each type, if they’re able to successfully integrate their opposite, brings the best qualities of their opposite into their conscious personality, enlarging it and making it more complete.

One way to figure out the type opposite ours is simply by reversing each letter in the type: E↔I, S↔N, F↔T, and J↔P. Let’s take ISTP as an example:

The opposite of I (introversion) is E (extroversion)
The opposite of S (sensation) is N (intuition)
The opposite of T (thinking) is F (feeling)
The opposite of P (perception) is J (judging)

Therefore, the opposite of ISTP (Introverted Sensation Thinking Perceiver) is ENFJ (Extroverted iNtuitive Feeling Judger). Go here if you're interested in learning about these four dichotomies. If you're more visual I've made an easy graphic below; find your type and look to the opposite side of the wheel for its opposite. For example, you can see that ISTP's opposite is ENFJ.

People often reject the MBTI because they feel that it’s too shallow and restrictive which, if you’re limiting yourself to mainstream MBTI theory, is true. Our psyches are much more complex than just one type. An understanding of these opposites shows one facet of the many that exist in all of us.

The following are short description of the each of the four houses. I’ll be posting more in-depth explorations of them quite soon. Below is an alphabetical list of types and their houses for easy reference:

Ash

Connection, Wisdom, Surrender

[Image by Marguerite Dabaie]

The members of Ash are the types with the Fe/Ti and Si/Ne functions (ENTP, INTP, ESFJ, and ISFJ). My name for the people of this house is the Philosophers, and their home is the Academy. House Ash’s patron is the great magician and trickster hero Gwydion. In socionics this the Alpha quadra. The philosophers are characterized by a drive to discover the truth for the good of humanity, along with a cheerful curiosity. They know that truth is truth, it can be understood, and ought to be used to make the world a better place for all. The gift of Ash is Wisdom

All things have spirit. We are not separate, but perhaps are part of something bigger and more unfathomable than we could ever imagine.

- Shanon Sinn, Nuin (Ash) (Living Library)



Yew

Transference, Passage, Illusion

[Image by Marguerite Dabaie]

The members of Yew are the types with the Fe/Ti and Se/Ni functions (INFJ, ENFJ, ISTP, and, ESTP). I call the people of this house the Cenobites, which means members of a religious order, female or male. The home of the Cenobites is the Monastery. The patron of House Yew is Badb Catha, goddess of life, enlightenment, wisdom, and inspiration. In socionics this is the Beta quadra. They have a conscientious, harmonizing attitude along with a drive to understand the world at its deepest level. The cenobites, similar to the philosophers, are also concerned with wisdom but specifically with the great questions of life and its meaning. The gift of this house is Conviction.

The yew bark holds ages of the trees history and character, all concealed behind an aloof and impassive posture. It exudes serenity and inspires deep and insightful thinking in all that encounter it and channel its energy.

- Leah M. Bostwick, Yew Tree Symbolism (Sun Signs)



Oak

Strength, Stability, Nobility

[Image by Marguerite Dabaie]

The members of Oak are those types with the Fi/Te and Se/Ni functions (INTJ, ENTJ, ISFP, and ESFP). I call these people the Aristocrats, and their home is the Castle. House Oak’s patron is Taranis, the kingly god of Thunder (basically Celtic Zeus). House Oak is characterized by the search for a personal, subjective standard along with a deep commitment to goals. The aristocrats have the power and conviction to reshape the world into one which aligns with their noble vision. The gift of House Oak is Honor.

Duir promises us the strength to speak the truth, to hold our ground, and to live a life braided with courage and honour. Oak is the tree of kings and queens.

- Shanon Sinn, Duir (Oak) (Living Library)



Rowan

Protection, Expression, Connection

[Image by Marguerite Dabaie]

House Rowan is made up of the types with the Fi/Te and Si/Ne functions (ENFP, INFP, ESTJ, and ISTJ). I call these types the Explorers, and their home is the wide, wild World. Their patron is the goddess Brigantia; the fire of creativity, the joy of summer, the flower of the land. Explorers have the same sense of individuality as Aristocrats but with the Philosophers’ questing spirit. They seek to experience and show others the beauty of this blessed world we live in. The gift of this house is Joy.

Rowan is able to flourish higher up on the mountains than most other trees. Closer to the sun and divine inspiration in this extreme environment, it yet retains its grace of form and its potential for healing. Exposed to the elements on solitary crags, it still produces blossom and berries to delight the eye and heal the body, bringing vibrant color and birdsong to the hills.

- Rowan (The Goddess Tree)


So these are the four houses of the MBTI along with some short descriptions - I’ll be doing deep dives into each of the houses in later posts. Each of the houses is a home, the four members of the house forming a kind of family that may look different on the surface but share values and ways of looking at the world. And each has a special, sacred task that they’re asked by the universe to fulfill.



Posts

House Ash
House Yew
House Oak
House Rowan
Meyers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Jungian MBTI


MBTI

The Cognitive Functions
The Function Roles
The Core Complexes
The Sodalities
How to type
Working with the MBTI
My MBTI story


For further reading

The Goddess Tree
Living Library
Michael Pierce
The Present Tree
Sociotype.com

In particular, I recommend checking out Michael Pierce's excellent videos on YouTube, whose work forms the basis of my understanding of the houses. Michael is one of my favorite MBTI people, along with CS Joseph, as the two of them have some of the most insightful understandings of the types I’ve come across. I don’t agree with everything they say but the truths in their videos by far outweighs my minor disagreements. Even with those disagreements they are, in my opinion, far and away the two best, most accurate, and comprehensive resources for this subject that I have yet to find. These men have done tremendous work.

“Right” and “wrong”

(Image from Drake University)


In Jungian psychology there is no right or wrong, it’s always “what’s right for you?” Honesty can be a good thing for someone else, but maybe you need to learn protective deception. Being goal oriented can be a good thing but maybe you need to learn to relax and let go. Or vice versa.

Marie-Louise von Franz said that, in fairy tales, there are no consistent rules. Sometimes you must lie, and sometimes you get punished for lying. Sometimes the hard worker gets rewarded, and sometimes it’s the village idiot who does nothing but sit around scratching his butt. (There’s only one rule in fairy tales: never harm the helpful animal.)

This is a symbolic reflection of life; everyone is different so everyone needs to balance themselves in different ways. Maybe a workaholic needs to relax, but a lazy person probably needs to get to work. What’s medicine for one person is poison for another. So, what is the goal of Jungian analysis? The short answer is: individuation. That is, recovering our lost parts and integrating them into our conscious selves.

Jungian psychology says that our conscious selves, our egos, are in relation to just a small fraction of the totality of who we are. Most of “us” is actually in the unconscious, like an iceberg submerged in the ocean. Our task is to bring as much of that iceberg above the waterline as we can. So, in Jungian psychology “good” is consciousness, and “bad” is unconsciousness.

This actually gives Jungian psychology a very clear, though individualistic, parameter. If you do things that increase consciousness, you are doing the right thing. If, on the other hand, you’re doing things that increase unconsciousness you are doing “bad.” If you lash out at someone with your Demon function, or attack them with your Critic, you are increasing unconsciousness. If, on the other hand, you accept your weakness in the form of your Animus, or go into your Nemesis consciously to balance out your ego’s weakness, you increase consciousness.

If we do something that we think is “getting over someone” – passive aggressive behavior, cheating, unloading our anger on someone – we will increase unconsciousness in ourselves. This is bad for us. We’re not “getting over” anyone; the person we’re cheating, and hurting, most is us. And, at the same time, we’re also making the world a worse place, increasing unconsciousness in everyone around us, unless they are strong enough to avoid getting caught up in our bullshit. The world and everyone around us end up worse because of our existence.

This is the crux of the moral question: do I do the hard, painful, and not fun thing required of me to increase consciousness? Or do I do the easy, fun thing that increases unconsciousness? One of Marie-Louise von Franz’s analysands wanted to use active imagination to beat, stab, and kill someone she didn’t like (in her head, not IRL). MLvF immediately told her that this was a terrible idea; it wasn’t active imagination, it was black magic (misusing the unconscious for selfish and harmful purposes). It would not only have halted growth, this analysand would have gone backwards, i.e. they would have become even more neurotic, as neuroticism is basically psychology-speak for unconsciousness.

Another example is an ESFP I know who likes playing mind games with people who he feels deserve it. Unconscious ESFPs and ENFPs, thanks to their Fe Critic, have this problem where they tend to judge the people around them to be immoral. This, they feel, gives them license to be completely immoral themselves. The irony of their Fe Critic is that it can lead them to being some of the most immoral people of all the types, but every type does something similar, thanks to our hypocritical, sanctimonious Critic function. The problem is, this ESFP is hurting himself far more than he’s hurting anyone else, because he’s making himself more unconscious.

All of us have a similar tendency, all of us need to be vigilant and moral in our own lives. To do any less is cheating… and the only person we’re really cheating… is ourselves.


See also
The 8 function model

Power corrupts

Jesus washing the disciples feet, 16th century

(Image from Wikipedia)

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.

~ Lord Acton

The effect of power and publicity on all men is the aggravation of self, a sort of tumor that ends by killing the victim's sympathies.

~ Henry Adams


So, lately I’ve been obsessed with podcasts about con artists, cult leaders, and serial killers. They all seem to share the same basic qualities – basically, psychopathy – and I keep seeing similarities in corporations and those who run them. I think I’m compelled to explore this side of humanity because I’m trying to work some shit out re: the negative animus and the dark side of the Self, or Evil.

One key that recently fell into my lap was the fact that power itself changes the brain, killing empathy. This explains a LOT. One thing I’ve noticed in many of the podcasts I’ve been listening to is that, even when the cult leader or whatever isn’t a psychopath or a narcissist in the beginning, and even though may have had the best of intentions, as soon as they get power everything changes.

Last year, I worked with a senior executive — let’s call him Steve — who had received feedback from his boss that he was wearing the power of his new title in an off-putting way. Steve’s boss told him that he had developed a subtle way of being right in meetings that sucked all the oxygen out of the room.  No one wanted to offer ideas once Steve had declared the right answer.  Since his promotion, Steve had become less of a team player and more of a superior who knew better than others.  In short, he had lost his empathy.”

“Why does this sort of shift in behavior happen to so many people when they’re promoted to the ranks of management?  Research shows that personal power actually interferes with our ability to empathize…. [P]eople who have power suffer deficits in empathy, the ability to read emotions, and the ability to adapt behaviors to other people. In fact, power can actually change how the brain functions…

- Lou Solomon, "Becoming Powerful Makes You Less Empathetic"

Power literally rewires the brain:

Subjects under the influence of power, he found in studies spanning two decades, acted as if they had suffered a traumatic brain injury—becoming more impulsive, less risk-aware, and, crucially, less adept at seeing things from other people’s point of view… [W]hen he put the heads of the powerful and the not-so-powerful under a transcranial-magnetic-stimulation machine, he found that power, in fact, impairs a specific neural process, “mirroring,” that may be a cornerstone of empathy. Which gives a neurological basis to what Keltner has termed the “power paradox”: Once we have power, we lose some of the capacities we needed to gain it in the first place.

- Jerry Useem, "Power Causes Brain Damage"


I suspect what’s going on is possession of the ego by the archetype of the Self. The ego (the center of the conscious personality) is already a miniature version of the Self (the center the entire psyche, conscious and unconscious). The Self is the archetype of wholeness, completion, and the carrier of the sacred. Because of this the ego always tries to push itself and it’s agenda forward, at the expense of the rest of the personality, the way that a person with an inflated ego tries to push themselves and their agenda forward at the expense of everyone around them. The cure for inflation, for the possession of our ego by the Self, is service and humility, or humiliation, the deflation of the ego.

I've seen abuse of power happen, and experienced the lure of power myself despite my strong efforts to resist. Other people treated me as special and I began to believe it… One thing I notice in hindsight is that I stopped wanting to hear any criticism from people I perceived as not supporting me. Now I see that my very resistance to the criticism was an indication that there was a problem that deserved close examination. My emotions - anger, fear, pride - got in the way of my willingness to engage in self-examination, even through a 360! Today I remember what Spiderman says: "With great power comes great responsibility." I focus more now on how I can serve others, rather than what I can achieve [emphasis mine].

- Julie Erickson, commenter in "Becoming Powerful Makes You Less Empathetic"


The above bolded sentence is the cure for the mental disorder caused by power. I think it’s interesting that the shadow ego of the ENTJ, the type with the greatest tendency towards traits we think of as pychopathic (lack of empathy, drive to succeed regardless of their effect on others) is the service oriented ESFJ. I don’t think this coincidence. Here is a short description of ESFJs:

ESFJs who have had the benefit of being raised and surrounded by a strong value system that is ethical and centered around genuine goodness will most likely be the kindest, most generous souls who will gladly give you the shirt off of their back without a second thought. For these individuals, the selfless quality of their personality type is genuine and pure.

- Personality Page, ESFJ


ESFJs are powerful and love structure, just like ENTJs, but they are service oriented. This focus on how I can serve others, rather than what I can achieve is a key to not losing our damn minds when we get a little power. The other and related key is humility. By putting ourselves lower rather than above others – by stressing the service element of leadership – we not only rescue ourselves from possession, our power actually serves to make the world a better place.

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end… He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded… Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

- John 13:1



References

Corporation as Psychopath, Martin Brueckner
The Corporation (the full movie on YouTube)
21 percent of CEOs are psychopaths. Only 21 percent?, Gene Marks
Becoming Powerful Makes You Less Empathetic, Lou Solomon
Power Causes Brain Damage, Jerry Useem
Foot washing, Wikipedia

Reference: Becoming Powerful Makes You Less Empathetic

Last year, I worked with a senior executive — let’s call him Steve — who had received feedback from his boss that he was wearing the power of his new title in an off-putting way. Steve’s boss told him that he had developed a subtle way of being right in meetings that sucked all the oxygen out of the room.  No one wanted to offer ideas once Steve had declared the right answer.  Since his promotion, Steve had become less of a team player and more of a superior who knew better than others.  In short, he had lost his empathy.

Why does this sort of shift in behavior happen to so many people when they’re promoted to the ranks of management?  Research shows that personal power actually interferes with our ability to empathize. Dacher Keltner, an author and social psychologist at University of California, Berkeley, has conducted empirical studies showing that people who have power suffer deficits in empathy, the ability to read emotions, and the ability to adapt behaviors to other people. In fact, power can actually change how the brain functions, according to research from Sukhvinder Obhi, a neuroscientist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada.

The most common leadership failures don’t involve fraud, the embezzlement of funds, or even sex scandals.  It’s more common to see leaders fail in the area of every day self-management — and the use power in a way that is motivated by ego and self-interest.

How does it happen?  Slowly, and then suddenly.  It happens with bad mini-choices, made perhaps on an unconscious level.  It might show up as the subtle act of throwing one’s weight around.  Demands for special treatment; isolated decision-making; and getting one’s way. Leaders who are pulled over by the police for speeding or driving drunk become indignant and rail, “Do you know who I am?!” Suddenly the story hits social media and we change our minds about the once-revered personality.

The recent story about NBC’s disgraced Brian Williams points to a bigger story about power and fame.  How do people start out in pursuit of a dream and wind up aggrandizing themselves instead?  They reach a choke point, where they cross over from being generous with their power to using their power for their own benefit.

Take the case of former Charlotte, North Carolina, mayor Patrick Cannon. Cannon came from nothing.  He overcame poverty and the violent loss of his father at the age of 5.  He earned a degree from North Carolina A&T State University and entered public service at the age of 26 — becoming the youngest council member in Charlotte history. He was known for being completely committed to serving the public, and generous with the time he spent as a role model for young people.

But last year, Cannon, 47, pleaded guilty to accepting $50,000 in bribes while in office.  As he entered the city’s federal courthouse last June, he tripped and fell. The media was there to capture the fall, which was symbolic of the much bigger fall of an elected leader and small business owner who once embodied the very essence of personal achievement against staggering odds.  Cannon now has the distinction of being the first mayor in the city’s history to be sent to prison. Insiders say he was a good man, but all too human, and seemed vulnerable as he became isolated in his decision-making.  And while a local minister argued that Cannon’s one lapse in judgment should not define the man and his career of exceptional public service, he is now judged only by his weakness — his dramatic move from humility and generosity to corruption. And that image of Cannon tripping on his way into court is now the image that people associate with him.

What can leaders do if they fear that they might be toeing the line where power turns to abuse of power? First, you must invite other people in. You must be willing to risk vulnerability and ask for feedback. A good executive coach can help you return to a state of empathy and value-driven decisions. However, be sure to ask for feedback from a wide variety of people. Dispense with the softball questions (How am I doing?) and ask the tough ones (How does my style and focus affect my employees?).

Preventive maintenance begins with self-awareness and a daring self-inventory:

• Do you have a support network of friends, family, colleagues who care about you without the title and can help you stay down to earth?
• Do you have an executive coach, mentor, or confidant?
• What feedback have you gotten about not walking the talk?
• Do you demand privileges?
• Are you keeping the small, inconvenient promises that fall outside of the spotlight?
• Do you invite others into the spotlight?
• Do you isolate yourself in the decision-making process? Do the decisions you’re making reflect what you truly value?
• Do you admit your mistakes?
• Are you the same person at work, at home and in the spotlight?
• Do you tell yourself there are exceptions or different rules for people like you?

If a leader earns our trust, we hold them to non-negotiable standards. Nothing will blow up so much as a failure in walking the talk, or the selfish abuse of power. We all want our leaders to be highly competent, visionary, take-charge people. However, empathy, authenticity and generosity are what distinguish competence and greatness. The most self-aware leaders recognize the signals of abuse of power and correct course before it’s too late.

COMMENTS:

Julie Erickson 4 years ago
I've seen abuse of power happen, and experienced the lure of power myself despite my strong efforts to resist. Other people treated me as special and I began to believe it. The process is subtle, and even my executive coach didn't spot it. As I read the questions here, I realized they would have been quite helpful for me to see what was happening to me. One thing I notice in hindsight is that I stopped wanting to hear any criticism from people I perceived as not supporting me. Now I see that my very resistance to the criticism was an indication that there was a problem that deserved close examination. My emotions - anger, fear, pride - got in the way of my willingness to engage in self-examination, even through a 360! Today I remember what Spiderman says: "With great power comes great responsibility." I focus more now on how I can serve others, rather than what I can achieve.

Sai Bhupalam 5 years ago
Lack of empathy and compassion along with an increase in hubris are commonplace for people in power. In my experience, group-think and inner circle politics are what enable autocratic attitudes which in turn deplete empathy and compassion. It is similar to corruption. The people who offer bribes to get their work done through a shortcut are the ones who are actually corrupting the officers in charge and so it is in management/leadership. Those who want to fawn the leaders to protect their own vested interests also contribute to this malaise. Great article - I am curious about the related neuroscience on this - thank you for the link and the article.

Václav Dekanovský 5 years ago
Hello. It reminds me what British author David Gemmell wrote in his books. Evil doesn't walk the world having horns and spitting fire around. It creeps in one small step at a time.
Great advise to keep some friends and advisers around. It's worth even without being in power.

Lou Solomon, "Becoming Powerful Makes You Less Empathetic" (Harvard Business Review, April 21, 2015)

Reference: Power Causes Brain Damage

If power were a prescription drug, it would come with a long list of known side effects. It can intoxicate. It can corrupt. It can even make Henry Kissinger believe that he’s sexually magnetic. But can it cause brain damage?

When various lawmakers lit into John Stumpf at a congressional hearing last fall, each seemed to find a fresh way to flay the now-former CEO of Wells Fargo for failing to stop some 5,000 employees from setting up phony accounts for customers. But it was Stumpf’s performance that stood out. Here was a man who had risen to the top of the world’s most valuable bank, yet he seemed utterly unable to read a room. Although he apologized, he didn’t appear chastened or remorseful. Nor did he seem defiant or smug or even insincere. He looked disoriented, like a jet-lagged space traveler just arrived from Planet Stumpf, where deference to him is a natural law and 5,000 a commendably small number. Even the most direct barbs—“You have got to be kidding me” (Sean Duffy of Wisconsin); “I can’t believe some of what I’m hearing here” (Gregory Meeks of New York)—failed to shake him awake.

What was going through Stumpf’s head? New research suggests that the better question may be: What wasn’t going through it?

The historian Henry Adams was being metaphorical, not medical, when he described power as “a sort of tumor that ends by killing the victim’s sympathies.” But that’s not far from where Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley, ended up after years of lab and field experiments. Subjects under the influence of power, he found in studies spanning two decades, acted as if they had suffered a traumatic brain injury—becoming more impulsive, less risk-aware, and, crucially, less adept at seeing things from other people’s point of view.

Sukhvinder Obhi, a neuroscientist at McMaster University, in Ontario, recently described something similar. Unlike Keltner, who studies behaviors, Obhi studies brains. And when he put the heads of the powerful and the not-so-powerful under a transcranial-magnetic-stimulation machine, he found that power, in fact, impairs a specific neural process, “mirroring,” that may be a cornerstone of empathy. Which gives a neurological basis to what Keltner has termed the “power paradox”: Once we have power, we lose some of the capacities we needed to gain it in the first place.

That loss in capacity has been demonstrated in various creative ways. A 2006 study asked participants to draw the letter E on their forehead for others to view—a task that requires seeing yourself from an observer’s vantage point. Those feeling powerful were three times more likely to draw the E the right way to themselves—and backwards to everyone else (which calls to mind George W. Bush, who memorably held up the American flag backwards at the 2008 Olympics). Other experiments have shown that powerful people do worse at identifying what someone in a picture is feeling, or guessing how a colleague might interpret a remark.

The fact that people tend to mimic the expressions and body language of their superiors can aggravate this problem: Subordinates provide few reliable cues to the powerful. But more important, Keltner says, is the fact that the powerful stop mimicking others. Laughing when others laugh or tensing when others tense does more than ingratiate. It helps trigger the same feelings those others are experiencing and provides a window into where they are coming from. Powerful people “stop simulating the experience of others,” Keltner says, which leads to what he calls an “empathy deficit.”

Mirroring is a subtler kind of mimicry that goes on entirely within our heads, and without our awareness. When we watch someone perform an action, the part of the brain we would use to do that same thing lights up in sympathetic response. It might be best understood as vicarious experience. It’s what Obhi and his team were trying to activate when they had their subjects watch a video of someone’s hand squeezing a rubber ball.

For nonpowerful participants, mirroring worked fine: The neural pathways they would use to squeeze the ball themselves fired strongly. But the powerful group’s? Less so.

Was the mirroring response broken? More like anesthetized. None of the participants possessed permanent power. They were college students who had been “primed” to feel potent by recounting an experience in which they had been in charge. The anesthetic would presumably wear off when the feeling did—their brains weren’t structurally damaged after an afternoon in the lab. But if the effect had been long-lasting—say, by dint of having Wall Street analysts whispering their greatness quarter after quarter, board members offering them extra helpings of pay, and Forbes praising them for “doing well while doing good”—they may have what in medicine is known as “functional” changes to the brain.

I wondered whether the powerful might simply stop trying to put themselves in others’ shoes, without losing the ability to do so. As it happened, Obhi ran a subsequent study that may help answer that question. This time, subjects were told what mirroring was and asked to make a conscious effort to increase or decrease their response. “Our results,” he and his co-author, Katherine Naish, wrote, “showed no difference.” Effort didn’t help.

This is a depressing finding. Knowledge is supposed to be power. But what good is knowing that power deprives you of knowledge?

The sunniest possible spin, it seems, is that these changes are only sometimes harmful. Power, the research says, primes our brain to screen out peripheral information. In most situations, this provides a helpful efficiency boost. In social ones, it has the unfortunate side effect of making us more obtuse. Even that is not necessarily bad for the prospects of the powerful, or the groups they lead. As Susan Fiske, a Princeton psychology professor, has persuasively argued, power lessens the need for a nuanced read of people, since it gives us command of resources we once had to cajole from others. But of course, in a modern organization, the maintenance of that command relies on some level of organizational support. And the sheer number of examples of executive hubris that bristle from the headlines suggests that many leaders cross the line into counterproductive folly.

Less able to make out people’s individuating traits, they rely more heavily on stereotype. And the less they’re able to see, other research suggests, the more they rely on a personal “vision” for navigation. John Stumpf saw a Wells Fargo where every customer had eight separate accounts. (As he’d often noted to employees, eight rhymes with great.) “Cross-selling,” he told Congress, “is shorthand for deepening relationships.”

Is there nothing to be done?

No and yes. It’s difficult to stop power’s tendency to affect your brain. What’s easier—from time to time, at least—is to stop feeling powerful.

Insofar as it affects the way we think, power, Keltner reminded me, is not a post or a position but a mental state. Recount a time you did not feel powerful, his experiments suggest, and your brain can commune with reality.

Recalling an early experience of powerlessness seems to work for some people—and experiences that were searing enough may provide a sort of permanent protection. An incredible study published in The Journal of Finance last February found that CEOs who as children had lived through a natural disaster that produced significant fatalities were much less risk-seeking than CEOs who hadn’t. (The one problem, says Raghavendra Rau, a co-author of the study and a Cambridge University professor, is that CEOs who had lived through disasters without significant fatalities were more risk-seeking.)

But tornadoes, volcanoes, and tsunamis aren’t the only hubris-restraining forces out there. PepsiCo CEO and Chairman Indra Nooyi sometimes tells the story of the day she got the news of her appointment to the company’s board, in 2001. She arrived home percolating in her own sense of importance and vitality, when her mother asked whether, before she delivered her “great news,” she would go out and get some milk. Fuming, Nooyi went out and got it. “Leave that damn crown in the garage” was her mother’s advice when she returned.

The point of the story, really, is that Nooyi tells it. It serves as a useful reminder about ordinary obligation and the need to stay grounded. Nooyi’s mother, in the story, serves as a “toe holder,” a term once used by the political adviser Louis Howe to describe his relationship with the four-term President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom Howe never stopped calling Franklin.

For Winston Churchill, the person who filled that role was his wife, Clementine, who had the courage to write, “My Darling Winston. I must confess that I have noticed a deterioration in your manner; & you are not as kind as you used to be.” Written on the day Hitler entered Paris, torn up, then sent anyway, the letter was not a complaint but an alert: Someone had confided to her, she wrote, that Churchill had been acting “so contemptuous” toward subordinates in meetings that “no ideas, good or bad, will be forthcoming”—with the attendant danger that “you won’t get the best results.”

Lord David Owen—a British neurologist turned parliamentarian who served as the foreign secretary before becoming a baron—recounts both Howe’s story and Clementine Churchill’s in his 2008 book, In Sickness and in Power, an inquiry into the various maladies that had affected the performance of British prime ministers and American presidents since 1900. While some suffered from strokes (Woodrow Wilson), substance abuse (Anthony Eden), or possibly bipolar disorder (Lyndon B. Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt), at least four others acquired a disorder that the medical literature doesn’t recognize but, Owen argues, should.

“Hubris syndrome,” as he and a co-author, Jonathan Davidson, defined it in a 2009 article published in Brain, “is a disorder of the possession of power, particularly power which has been associated with overwhelming success, held for a period of years and with minimal constraint on the leader.” Its 14 clinical features include: manifest contempt for others, loss of contact with reality, restless or reckless actions, and displays of incompetence. In May, the Royal Society of Medicine co-hosted a conference of the Daedalus Trust—an organization that Owen founded for the study and prevention of hubris.

I asked Owen, who admits to a healthy predisposition to hubris himself, whether anything helps keep him tethered to reality, something that other truly powerful figures might emulate. He shared a few strategies: thinking back on hubris-dispelling episodes from his past; watching documentaries about ordinary people; making a habit of reading constituents’ letters.

But I surmised that the greatest check on Owen’s hubris today might stem from his recent research endeavors. Businesses, he complained to me, had shown next to no appetite for research on hubris. Business schools were not much better. The undercurrent of frustration in his voice attested to a certain powerlessness. Whatever the salutary effect on Owen, it suggests that a malady seen too commonly in boardrooms and executive suites is unlikely to soon find a cure.

Jerry Useem, Power Causes Brain Damage (The Atlantic, August 2017)