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By Ryan Smith The spiritual history of India can be divided into two main strands:  The Atman (self) and the Anatman (no-self) traditions. The self-doctrine draws its inspiration from the spiritual visions of the Vedic seers, as these were handed down to us in the Upanishads (ca. 1000 – 500 BCE) while the no-self doctrine[…] Continue Reading

By Eva Gregersen People often ask if it’s possible to change one’s type. The answer to this question is not as straightforward as it would appear. First, a lot of people are introduced to type by a psychologist or coach who tells them that type is inborn and cannot be changed. This is also what[…] Continue Reading

In his early work, Jung spent a great deal of energy exploring the nature of introversion and extroversion “in themselves,” i.e. as pure E and I. Ironically, though, most contemporary psychodynamic interpretations of Jung’s typology *do not* focus on E and I in this manner, but regard them as properties of the cognitive functions.  In[…] Continue Reading

By Sigurd Arild According to Zen legend, the Zen master Kobun Chino (who was also the teacher of Steve Jobs) was once leading a meditation session. Kobun was late, and everyone else in the room was already sitting in the cross-legged position when he entered the meditation hall. Nevertheless, Kobun walked in, looked around at[…] Continue Reading

By Sigurd Arild and Ryan Smith “…it is often very difficult to find out whether a person belongs to one type or the other…” – Jung: Psychological Types §3 A popular means of assertion to back up one’s own type assessments in an argument is to state that someone is “obviously” a certain type instead of producing[…] Continue Reading

“Gradually it has become clear to me what every great philosophy so far has been … the confession of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir…” – Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil §6 By Jesse Gerroir The inferior function remains, even when integrated, largely unconscious. We never become fully aware of its[…] Continue Reading

“Appellation ceases with the absence of the objects of thought: The absolute as the essence of all things is not born, nor does it cease to be.” – Nagarjuna: Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, XVIII.7 By Ryan Smith The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150-250 CE) is commonly held to be the most important philosopher in[…] Continue Reading

Michael Pierce is a contributing guest writer for CelebrityTypes. In this article, Pierce reaches back to Jung to explain the Jungian conception of extroversion and introversion. As with other guest writers on the site (such as Jesse Gerroir) we do not necessarily agree with Pierce on every point, but the general tenor of Pierce’s exposition[…] Continue Reading

By Sigurd Arild, Ryan Smith, and Eva Gregersen Regular readers know the drill by now: We have no affiliation with the MBTI; we just don’t like seeing lazy and uninformed critiques misguiding the public. The latest example of such a critique is the journalist Joseph Stromberg’s article: Why the Myers-Briggs test is totally meaningless, as featured in[…] Continue Reading

By Guilherme Varela and Ryan Smith Disclaimer: This article relies on a methodology that we usually caution our readers against, namely confounding mental processes (functions) with mental contents (specific positions and beliefs). Therefore, if someone were to protest the method employed here, we would immediately have to grant them the point. Nevertheless, in the absence[…] Continue Reading