Ever felt reluctant or closed off towards new information? It might be more than just a fear of spoilers. It might be fear of compromising your Master System.
Fear of information? Really? Well, have you ever hesitated to pick up a book or turned off the radio in the middle of a show without really knowing why? Perhaps you have a habit of inexplicably excusing yourself from conversations or finding yourself in constant search of shelter from the relentless storm of data that is the Information Age?
It might just be a worn out Fe, or perhaps more likely Se, having had it with all the impressions of the world around us. But also, it might not. It might not just be the exhaustion of a stroll through the mall, but an actual unwillingness to embrace the information part of whatever extraverted experiential mishmash we've gotten ourselves into. Identifying and accepting this kind of behaviour on part of oneself can be difficult and kind of puzzling to a person who knows they want to know, but taking a closer look at the INFJ functional stack in general and at the INFJ Jumper functional preference in particular (Ni-Ti over Ni-Fe), these seemingly contradictory tendencies might not strike you as all that surprising.
So, let’s look at the why.
Nr.1 - The House of Cards
Ti and Ni both seek truth. Truth of thought and truth of pattern. Problem is, the truths of Ni and Ti cannot stand alone. Every discrete truth must withstand the scrutinising trial of being vetted against every other truth in the great, elaborate systems these functions inevitably create for themselves.
“Systems you say”, you say. Yes, that’s how we chose to put it, but you’re right, it’s not right. Let’s clarify something here. We know that the cognitive functions can’t operate in isolation. There’s no observer without a decider. No Ni without Ti (be it through jumping or looping). And, thus, the notion of two separate systems is inherently flawed. There is but one great, intricate, ever-growing master system which is constantly evaluated, updated and, sometimes, rebuilt.
In early life this system is as unstable as a house of cards...
“What do you mean ‘Santa isn’t real’!?”
...but over time it gets more reliable and the bigger and more reliable it gets the more afraid you become of having to rebuild it. And this, of course, is one of the reasons you might think twice about that book, show, study group or whatever channel of information you are thinking of exposing yourself to.
OK, so we have a system. And it's great. Don't everyone? Well, no. Not really. Ni and Ti are finishers. They don't go wide, they go deep. They don't spread their seed around in constant exploration like Ne and Te, they plant one tree, the right one (hopefully) and makes damn sure it reaches its full height. Ni goes deep on the patterns and Ti goes deep on the thoughts and they aren't satisfied until they've reached an understanding. They aren't satisfied until the understanding that they've reached can be consolidated with every other understanding they have ever reached and their inner world view can perfectly explain the why's of everything that's going on around them (which, fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you choose to look at it, means they're never really satisfied).
The only comparable type (staying in the homely, abstract world we hold so dear) would be the ISTP Jumper which shares the preferred observer- and decider functions of the INFJ Jumper (albeit in reversed order). Most other types have at most one of these deep, system building functions amongst their saviors and might not be able to produce a world view as accurate and logically coherent as the INFJ Jumper.
Subjectivity
A word of warning here. Accuracy and logic and coherent world views all sound fine and dandy, but fact is that introverted cognitive functions are subjective. If you don't force them to check in with reality from time to time... well, let's just say results may vary.
Nr.2 - The Undoable Task
The second thing that makes the INFJ Jumper shut the door on information is the perpetual grind of the Ni-Ti post-processing machinery. As opposed to their extraverted counterparts Ni and Ti are not really in the moment. They’re not “real time”. As an INFJ Jumper, a significant part of your mental resources will be dedicated to conscious and unconscious data crunching, a task that never gets truly finished since there's always a good reason to go over the data one more time. And going over the data one more time is exactly the kind of behaviour that can be expected from an INFJ Jumper having sleep as their first animal.
The fact that the job of securing the integrity of the master system is an endeavour of seemingly perpetual proportions means that it might seem like taking in new information would be a bad idea. We already have a sh*tload of information. And we're never really done processing it. New information would just mean more information to process.
Confirmation Bias
It might be worth mentioning something here. Perhaps it's crossed your mind already. INFJ Jumpers are particularly prone to the cognitive bias we call "confirmation bias". This, of course, is because one way of getting around the problems described above is to actively choose which information we want to expose ourselves to. To place a filter between ourselves and the world, effectively only subscribing to safe information, the kind of tried and true information that's already been through the Ni-Ti customs, is guaranteed to conserve the stability of the system.
This, as you've probably guessed, is a bad idea.
And I'll tell you why. In the text down under.
Nr.3 - Time is Never on our Side
A third reason the INFJ Jumper might abstain from self-enlightenment is our disdain for leaving things half-done. Once we've opened that book we know we've signed a contract and obligated ourselves to finish it and if we feel as though time isn't on our side chances are we won't start at all.
Nr.4 - The Human Needs and the Ni Role in the Tribe
The fourth and final reason we'll mention here is a bit of a history lesson. Objective Personality sorts the cognitive functions into four categories of human needs.
IxxP Fi & Ti = Self
ExxP Se & Ne = Gather
IxxJ Si & Ni = Organise
ExxJ Fe & Te = Tribe
Ni falls into the category of organisation, which means that as Ni-dominants we prefer to stay in camp and organise, while leaving the gathering to someone else. We're simply not wired to actively, consciously look for new things, but to focus on the organisation of the ones we already have. There will be plenty of new things for us to organise without actively seeking them out ourselves. Historically we've been quite busy sorting out the ever growing mess created by the happy go lucky gatherers repeatedly dumping their findings on our doorstep like the newspaper-carrying dogs of TV.
What to do?
Most MBTI resources will tell you that what we have described here is the INFJ Ni-Ti-loop, and will go on to tell you how to get out of it. When the warm and cuddly INFJ turns cold, calculating and perhaps even depressed (see Frank James explain it in the clip below), isolating him- or herself from interaction with people and the outside world, the solution, of course, is to bring in good old Fe. Call a friend. Help somebody out. Get out there in the real world and interact. But, whatever you do, don't binge on Se!
As you probably know by know, I don't like the thought of the Ni-Ti preference as an altogether harmful and destructive loop. I like to look at it more as a kind of (biological) machine learning algorithm. As such it is indeed useless without input from the extraverted functions, but when continuously fed information (which it can then process, evaluate and keep or dismiss) it becomes a truly powerful tool for understanding the world. Thus my advice would be similar: don't bite the hand that feeds. No matter how scary it might be, you must risk rebuilding the house! Never cut off the exposure to new information or you will never build what could be the true superpower of the INFJ Jumper: the Ni-Ti master system!
Now, don't fret. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to become mister or miss spontaneous and do a bunch of socialising and smile at people, but you do need to interact with the world through your extraverted functions.
Expose yourself to new information and experiences, be it firsthand (travel, socialising, physical activities) or by proxy (literature, art, music). Sleep (the animal) is good, but don't forget to consume. If you don't let new information in, you loose the benefit of the master system. Use it’s network of universal truths as a platform from which to accomplish great things. But remember, with great power comes great responsibility!
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