[INFJ] - Not sure if INFJ or not, but facts say I am? | INFJ Forum

[INFJ] Not sure if INFJ or not, but facts say I am?

Telzyn

One
Jan 16, 2016
1
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MBTI
INFJ
Well, as the Title says- I am INFJ, and there is no doubt.
Thing is, I find it difficult understanding the religious side of INFJ or the empathy with others,
even though I still have the Feeling side. (I obviously do, including being sensitive, and understanding other's feelings)

Does this still make me INFJ? or not?
Maybe this is common for INFJ but I have missed it?


Thanks in advance.
 
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There are a few ways of studying type, and the MBTI instrument is one of them (it has good statistical validation). The key is to never view any one thing as a "must" for the type, only things that are strong correlates.

INFJs aren't infrequent among the religious crowd, but there's plenty of INFJ atheists. The NF preference can give both the tendency to idealism in the sense of religion and in the sense of a more humanistic philosophy that prefers reason-based approaches centered on the value of human beings.
 
It's a tool for understanding your self that is external rather than internal to your self and you aren't required to conform to all the different stuff it says for it to be useful. So you treat it as useful to you rather than measuring yourself against it as a standard that you meet or do not meet, I think.

charlatan already expressed this well so I will just say what I think in my own words by way of agreement, and hope that I'm not messing it up too much. That I think that religion is one possible expression of idealistic faith but it may find other means of expression, such as believing in transforming the self or the world for the better through a field of professional endeavour (for example).
 
I realized it might also help if I add to my post that the "other" way of studying type is more or less through functions theories originating in Jung. The problem with that is it's not a finished theory nor will it necessarily ever be (it's more philosophy than science, and to some extent one endlessly can question what the truly best way of organizing the ideas is).

The MBTI is soft-scientific as an instrument, even if the attached functions theories (which you don't HAVE to use) are not even that level of empirically derived.
Instead they're derived based on plausible intuitions.
 
An important note: on the statistically validated part of the MBTI, aka the instrument itself, it makes little sense not to assume the possibility of being more an "x" on any scale than strongly preferring one side. Big 5 researchers, aka people responsible for the most academically popular psychometric instrument, have analyzed the MBTI, found it to be tapping into 4 of the 5 Big 5 dimensions, and concluded that like the Big 5, there's a large middle group on the MBTI scales.
Contrary to the nonsensical assertion which flies around that this implies one is a nebulous personality without individuality, the truth is even such a person often is very differentiated in other scales, not tested for by the MBTI---there's nothing "holy" about the MBTI scales that says you must be differentiated on them, as long as you're differentiated in SOME way.

As a very simple example, while T-F correlates with measures of rationality to an extent, it is more a cluster of related things than defined by any one thing. So eg it also involves dichotomies like tough-tender. Someone may be a VERY differentiated logic-based type, but be more tender than tough--this leads to being more in the middle as a possibility on the T-F scale which measures the shared variance of many related themes. But in another scale more 100% based on logic-focus, they may be highly differentiated.
The way to understand this is modern scales are constructed using major domains and facets which measure subportions of the domains. So eg the possibly highest regarded Big 5 inventory includes 6 facets of each domain-- someone "in the middle" on the big fat domain may have some very pronounced individual characteristics, such as being high in both emotionality and intellect, but being low on adventurousness (in the Openness scale).
 
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INFJs don't have to be religious. I'm a devout Daoist who is considering monastic life, but I wouldn't call myself religious by any means. Some of us are more philosophical. I think INFJs enjoy thinking about the "big picture" and that can take many forms, religion being one of many. Philosophy, art, science, religion, etc. all can be ways of exploring the larger questions in life.
 
I'm INFJ but not "religious". I would say I am agnostic about a creator God and only go into churches to support friends. I am however fascinated by studying other people's religions and things of a mystical nature (like reading runes, tarot cards, crystal balls etc), not so much because I believe in them all for myself personally but because they are an expression of how everyone relates uniquely to life. This fits well with my interest in ethics and philosophy as well. For my own spirituality I would describe myself as Buddhist.

So, there's no need to be religious to be INFJ. I know of INFJs who are atheists, even quite stance ones.
 
I don't think I'm an infj any more.
I think grief has turned me into an infp.
Or maybe I always have been an infp.
And my drive to succeed and complete degrees to achieve this turned me into an infj
And my profile name is infj1357.
I am having an existential crisis about this.
 
I don't think I'm an infj any more.
I think grief has turned me into an infp.
Or maybe I always have been an infp.
And my drive to succeed and complete degrees to achieve this turned me into an infj
And my profile name is infj1357.
I am having an existential crisis about this.

You are always yourself. As far as type goes, people have posited that type is fluid, but when you look at functions, INFP and INFJ have nothing in common. Fi Ne Si Te vs. Ni Fe Ti Se. Not a single one. Looking at type descriptions, an ISFJ has more in common with an INFJ, than an INFP.

A drive to succeed and complete degrees doesn't mean you're an INFJ... any other type, including INFPs, would be capable of doing this. I've known INFJs with zero degrees, and zero drive to complete them. I think that perhaps you are going through a rough time, but when you are going through a rough time, delving into a flawed personality theory is not the answer - you have to really look inwards, at yourself, beyond the limited scope of MBTI. When I think grief, I think human, not type.

Most of all, I just hope you're okay, pushing aside anything typology related. I just hope you're okay, and that hope has nothing to do with whatever type you might be. MBTI is not worth an existential crisis. Find and know yourself, but first, and most importantly, just... be well, no matter how long that takes.

I wish you the best, and do not hesitate to reach out if you need anything. Grief can do terrible things to us, but having someone there throughout it, can certainly help.
 
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You are always yourself. As far as type goes, people have posited that type is fluid, but when you look at functions, INFP and INFJ have nothing in common. Fi Ne Si Te vs. Ni Fe Ti Se. Not a single one. Looking at type descriptions, an ISFJ has more in common with an INFJ, than an INFP.

A drive to succeed and complete degrees doesn't mean you're an INFJ... any other type, including INFPs, would be capable of doing this. I've known INFJs with zero degrees, and zero drive to complete them. I think that perhaps you are going through a rough time, but when you are going through a rough time, delving into a flawed personality theory is not the answer - you have to really look inwards, at yourself, beyond the limited scope of MBTI. When I think grief, I think human, not type.

Most of all, I just hope you're okay, pushing aside anything typology related. I just hope you're okay, and that hope has nothing to do with whatever type you might be. MBTI is not worth an existential crisis. Find and know yourself, but first, and most importantly, just... be well, no matter how long that takes.

I wish you the best, and do not hesitate to reach out if you need anything. Grief can do terrible things to us, but having someone there throughout it, can certainly help.
Thank you @hush, especially for your offer of support. I have been getting through my grief with the support of this forum and RL support as well as allowing myself to feel the feelings associated with the process. It hasn't been an easy journey but I'm moving steadily through it. I'm doing ok on a day to day basis generally. Thank you:)