Mahatma Gandhi

Nyuh-uh. Total INFP. Read these: http://infjorinfp.com/docs/gandhi.htm and http://infjorinfp.blogspot.com/2006/06/gandhi.html and my post on Bonhoeffer.

 

SAME. He will always be an INFJ to me. *bows and worships (exactly what he wouldn't want happen to him)*

 

Here's the correct link: I hope this one works! If not, then just go to infjorinfp.com and scroll down the pull-down menu to the entry "Gandhi." http://www.infjorinfp.com/docs/Gandhi.htm

But I'm not going to agrue the point any further. Why? Not only because we INFJs are so darned decided that changing our minds can be a herculean effort, but because everyone has their role models who we like to believe are like ourselves in some fundamental way. I think INFJs are particularly attached to that idea. And Gandhi's such a biggie: Giving him up would be like giving up that oft-quoted "we're rarest personality type" claim: Not gonna happen!

 

I lied. I'm not done yet. One more thing....

If someone could write out evidence of Gandhi preferring Introverted Intuition, Extraverted Feeling, Introverted Thinking, and Extraverted Sensing (yes, all of them!), I might be more convinced.

Anyone care to try?

I'll work on the same for the INFP code.

 

Nice link.

Always argue. Hasn't anyone ever told you the point of arguing is to lose? I was just kidding on my previous post. lol...

He does display many INFP qualities, but inferior Te doesn't fit him well.

We also must consider that he was very mature and is close to a balance. He displays strong willpower and sense of finality when he fasts and in other decisions he makes. That makes me think he is more J, but a lot of his quotes are quite INFP.

 

I agree! You know why? Because Introverted Feeling is....drumroll please....a judging function!Who says that INFPs can't have strong convictions to which they remain true? From what I've read, and from experience, that's very much an INFP trait. A "P" in a type code does not indicate "spineless wimp here!" Ever encounter an INFP with a cause? Their Fi becomes an inner pillar of steel.

And as for the Te, Gandhi was educated as a lawyer. Law is quite a Te career, isn't it? Yes, Te is INFP's inferior function, but "inferior" doesn't mean "cannot ever be accessed." It's also the aspirational function, something that, deep down, we really, really want to be good at. Example: My inferior/aspirational function is Extraverted Sensing. I've had an interest in the performing arts since I was very young. I was not only the first chair flute in my high school band, I was also the assistant conductor! I even went to an acting school for a while (and was in the same class as Scarlett Johansson...don't ask). If I can tap into my inferior function like that, why couldn't Gandhi?

Gandhi's law career had a very NF slant, of course. In "Please Understand Me II," David Keirsey recounts an incident in which Gandhi settled a bitter dispute between two businessmen, and quotes him as saying (paraphrasing here, can't find the book right now) that he was filled with joy at the outcome, because he had discovered the true purpose of law: To reconcile the hearts of men.

Reconcile the hearts of men. Reconciling. Healing. Keirsey calls the INFP the "Healer." Linda Berens and Dario Nardi call the INFP the "Harmonizer Clarifier."

As for the Ne/Si thing, here's a quote from Gandhi from another page on the website to which I linked:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS."

See what's happening here? He's pointing out a pattern. I've been reading Lenore Thomson lately, and she refers to Ne as a function that looks for patterns, not within, but in the world at large. Si, according to Berens and Nardi, is a function that "compar[es] and contrast the current situation with similar ones." And furthermore, "The process also involves reviewing the past to draw on the lessons of history, hindsight, and experience." That's just what Gandhi's doing there!


Okay...that's all I can manage for now. More thoughts later, if I have anymore Ni "A-ha" moments!

 

Great points. I'll concede and settle with INFp.

 

Holy Toledo! I've convinced other people of something! This is a happy day.

I agree about MLK - I can definitely see INFJ prefs there.

 

Nah ghandi was OBVIOUSLY an ENTP... Doesn't anybody remember his speech calling for genocide, mass slaughter of the weegily whumpers? and then Declaring war on the British before passing out in the street? To general acclaim of course.

 

i agree... no doubt about MLK

 

Gandhi was an INFP and deep down you all know it! So there!

 

Mahatma Gandhi was a pervert - according to his biographer

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/gandhis-sex-life-laid-bare-in-new-book-20100426-tn6t.html

other articles:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...the-truth-about-gandhis-sex-life-1937411.html

http://rupeenews.com/2007/12/25/six-stories-of-mohandas-gandhi-his-failures-sexual-perversion/

 

Indian INFJ here, Gandhi wasn't that good actually if you take close look at him. And few things about him just don't look INFJish. Like an INFJ feels guilt of their wrong doings very intensly and quickly but Gandhi, at times, kept doing wrong doing. And he was very devoted to his beliefs but an INFJ is more realistic and concerned with truth.
Regarding, his Te, let me tell you his father was a natural administrator so we can assume he was a Te user. This could have led Gandhi to learn Te ways (it happened to me, my father is entj).
But two things that still I can't explain about Gandhi being Non-INFJ is his plans and his autobiography. His plans were detailed along the lines of Big picture which gives an impression of Ni
And his biography, People praise Gandhi for being honest in his biography (I will admit I haven't read any of his books yet so this opinion is based on general thinking of public) but as INFJ I can see it is not actually a big thing. You can choose the bad things you would like to show to public. And of course there are two types of bad things- one that can be accepted by society (like theft) and one that cannot (incest, it's just an example by the way, I am implying nothing here). If I have done both in my life (theft and incest) I may write about theft in my autobiography but not incest. You see how easily it can be faked. You just have to add acceptable bad things in your autobiography to make it real. And in my personal opinion, a person should actually never tell all the dark truths about him, both for his sake and society's.
So, regarding his autobiography, I will say Gandhi was either dishonest or a fool