Random musings on Jung's cognitive function 'Introverted Thinking' or Ti

Q: What sets apart INTPs from INTJs?

A: “Aim, aim, aim…

     Aim, check, fire.”

One of the most popular, widely loved jokes among those interested in Jungian typology.

People miss everything that’s hidden behind the ellipses in the first line. Do INTPs simply “aim” forever, only to lose every wonderful shot they could possibly take after finely calibrating their system of understanding? Jung’s Introverted Thinking or Ti’s ‘rational precision and accuracy’ is drastically different from the function called Extroverted Thinking or Te, even when the latter is more ‘efficient and quick’.

Or does an INTP genius surprise people at the very end with the finest shot a person can take?

Today is my grandfather’s birthday. My mother has always described him as “deeply benevolent and gracious,” “very loving,” “gifted with an ability to be a true safe space” but also “extremely hard to get to know,” “withdrawn,” "fearless," and “very passionate about his personal business endeavors- probably more than anything in his life- spending time at his office way beyond the late hours of 11pm.”

The highlight was always- “a man you could spend hours with and not really be able to tell what was running in his exceptionally sharp mind.” On one hand, he was seen as one of the sweetest souls somebody could come across, a person known for his extraordinary mastery over his temper and other emotions and for never having raised his voice at anyone, and on the other hand, he was also seen as a very deep and complex man who gained international recognition for his exceptional scientific inventions that he spent countless hours working on.

He invented an extraordinary, highly complex scientific instrument that he shared over telegram with Russian scientists in the late 1900s. The scientists immediately reached out, expressing an ardent desire to work closely with him. He was sometimes laughed upon by relatives for working on his scientific inventions on his rooftop for hours, ones that received massive accolades from the world when he took care to finally share them.

He also used to frequent a lawyer every Sunday for his small share in an estate, as it was gifted to him by his grandfather with whom he shared a very intimate, meaningful relationship with. His relatives tried to rob him of his share, but he calmly pursued the lawsuit till he won his share. That huge property is now owned by his direct descendants, along with many of his successful businesses.

His interest in fair shares in inheritances and his genuine passion for business was truly characteristic of him. Business was his one true love, and yet he was never interested in a life of hedonistic, materialistic pleasures. It was perhaps the joy of building something very carefully, of understanding the rational workings behind something successful, something that yields constant profits, that kept an intelligent mind like his busy for days, weeks, months, and years.

We have had many deep, wonderful conversations, and as a type 5, highly cerebral INFP, I often score very high on Ti or Introverted Thinking and am mistyped as an INTP often. Ti is about asking the finest (often unasked) questions to understand any rational system with perfect precision and accuracy. It gets into details extroverted thinking or Te views as unproductive to spend so much time ‘refining.’ If you know any INTJ who is married to an INTP, they will tell you with a laugh that their INTP partner spends a few weeks to research the “best toaster” before they finally purchase it. INTJs are also very thorough with their research but they generally do not spend two weeks researching a toaster before they purchase it. That is why INTJs with a sense of humor, who have long-term experience cohabiting with an INTP, will say it is a very rare, special experience to experience an INTP’s precision in analyzing something down to its smallest details.

Whenever I have become impatient with my grandfather “finely calibrating his rational understanding of a system,” he has smiled at me and assured me, “I won’t miss my shot, I promise you that.” As a 548 tritype INFP who has been typed as an INTP or ENTP as my Fi is derived from Ti or introverted thinking, my grandfather has always told me, “You are not someone to make an emotional decision, no matter what the circumstance may be. I may know you a little more than you know yourself."

It is very important for rational thinkers to be aware of their disposition so others cannot use that against them. Only the biggest fools in the world think that someone’s rational disposition cannot be used against them- no intelligent individual will ever succumb to such a generalized notion. It is like an immature thinker (whose lower functions are undeveloped) who says, “I am so annoyed by emotional people,” completely missing the fact that “annoyance” is actually an emotional response to something, not a rational response, so their reactivity to someone’s emotional disposition may be a reflection of their own lack of rational mastery. My closest friends in life have always been INTJs, sparsely INTPs, simply because our shared Fi-Te axis just "gets" each other for our shared emotional intensity and personal convictions.

I have sometimes asked my grandfather questions that he kept silent about. But he promised me answers from him in right time. When I asked him of my interaction with someone, I remember he told me, “I am not an INFP like you, so I make my decisions a little differently. I may choose an unusual route when it comes to sharing the truth with you. Every absurd metaphor of mine will make sense someday in the future.” I replied, "You are a very interesting man, and I wonder if I will ever have the opportunity to get to know you deeper than other people in your life, if you will ever gift me a chance to know you a little more intimately."