Acquired (Ti Ne) vs inherited / automatic functions (Si Fe) ?

[DIALECTIC]

It seems to me that my first 2 functions (Ti Ne) are ACQUIRED therefore they consciously develop over time as i take an immense pleasure both in thinking and intuiting...

While my 2 last functions (Si Fe) are pretty much INHERITED (maybe during my first few years as a child and through the inforcement / reinforcement of the strengths and weaknesses of my parents/familly/direct environment's ??)... I take a lot less pleasure sensing and feeling but yet i do those things pretty much automatically / instinctively / unconsciously: i just can't help it...

The best example being that when i am depressed or extremely stressed i seem to "forget" all what i have acquired (Ti and Ne) over years, therefore my thinking gets super poor and i get hopeless about potential outcomes...

Instead i start relying more on sensing (and perceive too many meaningless details) and start feeling in excess... It's awful.

It seems to me that when i get depressed / too stress, my personal compass i usually am so dependant on just goes crazy and all my functions get inversed as a result ! The North (Intuition) becomes South (Sensing) and West (Thinking) becomes East (Feeling)... Which leads to catastrophic decisions, regrets of the past, terror about the future, emotional suffering and hopeless thinking altogether !

Therefore, my compass becomes useless as i can no longer read my personal existencial map i have worked so hard to construct over years of trial and error... That's why it seems i start then relying on others (emotional and psychological dependance) to orient / help me, when i usually am so independant (after all, when everything goes great for me i have my own map and compass; why should i need society and its own superficial map ?!).

I would like to know if others feel the same too about the ACQUIRED vs INHERITED functions etc ? And if you have any remedy to go back to balance...?

 

[Architect]

I don't see any basis for that. In observing children I've known since birth I see that the dominant function is there from birth to varying degrees, and it just strengthens and develops over time. You might possibly have an argument if you said that the second two functions are acquired, because they are simply necessary counterbalances to the first two. Saying the first two are acquired doesn't make sense experimentally or theoretically.

 

[DIALECTIC]

You might possibly have an argument if you said that the second two functions are acquired, because they are simply necessary counterbalances to the first two. Saying the first two are acquired doesn't make sense experimentally or theoretically.

I mean acquired over time (therefore consciously developping and getting more accurate) for Ti and Ne... And "inherited" (as not really developping as such) for Si and Fe...

 

[Architect]

I mean acquired over time (therefore consciously developping and getting more accurate) for Ti and Ne... And "inherited" (as not really developping as such) for Si and Fe...

Confusing terminology ... OK so you say the first two functions are consciously developed, which I agree with, and the second two aren't. I can live with that.

 

[DIALECTIC]

Confusing terminology ... OK so you say the first two functions are consciously developed, which I agree with, and the second two aren't. I can live with that.

English is not my mother tongue; therefore my terminology (semantics) here might not be the most appropriate but pragmatically i would say it is:

ac·quired (Ti and Ne)


/əˈkwī(ə)r/
Verb

• Buy or obtain (an asset or object) for oneself.
• Learn or develop (a skill, habit, or quality).

in·her·ited (Si and Fe)


/inˈherit/
Verb

• Receive (money, property, or a title) as an heir at the death of the previous holder.
• Derive (a quality, characteristic, or predisposition) genetically from one's parents or ancestors

Yes, what i mean is the first 2 functions being culturally / consciously developped, hence why i guess it takes most people many years to acquire good / better conscience (funnily enough the FRENCH word both for consciousness and conscience is "CONSCIENCE": do you get my drift ?); it surely took me so !

The second 2 functions being naturally / arbitrarily / unconsciously attributed / allocated (from our early age through our closest environment) and there is little we can do about it it, besides obviously counterbalancing them with the first 2, which takes time and experience, as we know... So it's once again the old duality between culture (consciousness / ethics) VS nature (unconsciousness / instincts) and the process of life is all about finding balance between the tow...


Interestingly:

- My mum is a very strong ISFJ (Si Te Fi Ne),

- My dad who was pretty much absent when i was a child, is a weak INFP (Fi Ne Si Te) yet testing nowadays as a "fake" strong ESTJ (Te Si Ne Fi), no doubt due to the strong influence from his wife and her father...

- my maternal grand father (which was like a dad to me) was a very strong ESTJ (Te Si Ne Fi),

- my maternal grand mother is a very strong ESFJ (Fe Si Ne Ti) and was like a mum to me.

- I had very little contact with my paternal grand parents...


As you can see, the Si was strong (i felt like i couldn't breathe !) in my close environment when i was a child...
Hence my "theory" about tertiary and inferior functions being ingrained in us from our earliest years, therefore, in a way, they get us out of the shitter (i know they did with me several times !) as much as they put us in it as they are used "automatically" in the appropriate situations...

In other words, it seems to me that our 1st and 2nd functions are more like a SOFTWARE that can be infinitely (re)programmed, while our 3rd and 4th function are more like a FIRMWARE that is finite and can't be altered, just worked around / made the most of ?

Also, in my case and in the past, neurosis ("automatisms") seemed to have come only from my 3rd and 4th functions, never from 1st and 2nd...
Often and even if i hated such neurosis at the time, looking back nowadays, they did force me to put me back on the right track through horrible body / internal sensations (Si) and emotional suffering (Fe)...


“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”
Sigmund Freud

Therefore are our 3rd and 4th functions really that "weak" compared to our 1st and 2nd functions which are supposed to make our very strength ? I guess it depends which side we look from: the conscious who, unbalanced, will strive for egocentrism, or the unconscious who is there as a counterbalance for the ego / conscious, and whose goals are totally unknown to us...

Because, objectively it seems that the tertiary and inferior functions might be there to bring us closer to a purpose that is way beyond us... Certainly it's been my case so far...


Can you also relate ? Or maybe those idiosyncrasies are just mine ?