Myers Briggs Types and Religious Preferences

My passion is personality and spirituality. I did a short research project once to determine if there was a correlation between Mystical Spirituality and Myers Briggs intuitor types. There is. All mystics are either NF or NT types, which explains why, when you peruse the psychology of religion literature on key word, "mysticism" you quickly run into "mystical intuition." Intuition brings the inner perspective. Its a sort of built in memory for patterns and large picture explanations. And if you add Feeling to that, the individual's experience of reality is further enhanced by the body's emotional memory.

For a mystic, everything is sacred, God, Allah, Brahman are without and within all that can be perceived and beyond that. All reality is holy creation. Everything that can be objectified by outer sensing and thinking is only a fraction of its true reality. This is because the spiritual or essential or energetic is as real to the mystic as the material/conceptual; maybe even more real, because it precedes everything of concept. Even physicists agree that all matter is energy, all form is formless.

Everything we read in ancient scriptures was thought of and written by a human mind, translated by another human mind and is read by all kinds of human minds, each with their unique styles of perceiving and judging. And this makes all the difference as to how those texts can be interpreted. The final interpreter is you, through the lens of your own perception and decision-making mechanisms; psychological preferences you inherited and cultivated through your cultural and social experiences in this life and in the lives of your ancestors.

Myers Briggs Personality Typing simplifies our  psychological biases down to 16 types, which can be further simplified to 4 essential perceiving-judging styles. The perceiving styles (or functions) are sensing and intuiting, the judging styles are thinking and feeling. Sensing and thinking deal with objectifiable concepts like matter and analysis. Intuiting and feeling deal with memory (insight) and emotion. Sensor-biased folk prefer outward perception and are often detail oriented; they are good at reductionist perceiving. People with an intuitor-bias are inwardly sensitive and see "beyond" details to patterns and large picture ideas. People with thinking - bias make decisions (judge) by concept and analysis. People with feeler bias prioritize decisions based on relationship. Remember that this is broad stroke categorizing and that we ALL use all these functions on occasion. Myers Briggs types simply tell us which we prefer to use.

For this post, I want to share a humorous article I found by Stephen De Grasse on Personality Cafe. Its not meant to be serious, yet it does contain some elements of truth. It's certainly accurate for me! Enjoy!

Religion and Type - An MBTI Perspective

by Stephen DeGrace

Introduction

In the decades since its inception, Myers Briggs personality typing has revolutionised many areas of our lives due to its ability to comprehensively explain human behaviour and interaction. Today, the Myers Briggs-savvy amongst us are using the MBTI to pick the perfect career for them, and the perfect mate. The applications of Myers Briggs typing are truly far-reaching and transformative.

This has naturally been a smashing success. You might think that with all this progress we have tapped out the MBTI for new applications. You would be wrong. Not only can the MBTI pick the perfect job and the perfect mate for you, scientifically performing vital tasks that used to be a matter of brute trial and error, it can offer critical guidance in other areas of your life as well. One such area which has not been sufficiently explored until now is the matter of choosing the right religion for you. In the past, people used to select their faith based on unscientific criteria such as their parents' religion, or if you're an NF which cult all your hippie friends thought was "groovy" that week. This has obvious drawbacks.

Not all religions are suitable for all people. In fact, just as with careers, particular types are best suited to particular religions. And particular religions are best suited to certain types. The result of the present state of affairs is that millions languish in religions that don't suit them, like square pegs in round holes. Similarly, churches are filled with dozens of people who don't fit in and just make trouble.

As a Myers Briggs type expert I am here to fill in this important void and publish a guide that will revolutionise society and contribute to human happiness by helping people avoid wasting years of their lives in religions that aren't right for them. The final draft is not ready yet, but as a service to society I am publishing a quick summary.

Religions by Type

Artisans (SP)

Artisans all have ADHD, and so should select religions which are dramatic, colourful and fun. Something a bit kooky and extreme would be a bonus. Es should select something that they can throw their energy and flair into without having to engage in any discipline and study. Charismatic Protestantism is an excellent example. I's can select something more involved.

ISTP: Select something hardcore, preferably where you get to smite the enemies of God. Extremist Fundamentalist Islam is currently a popular choice.

ISFP: Select a religion based on whether its art or music appeals to you. High Episcopalianism or Catholocism are good for theatre and classical music. Avoid anything tacky.

ESFP: Pentacostalism.

ESTP: You are hellbound anyway, so don't bother. Just sleep in.

Guardians (SJ)

Guardians want to live dry, regimented lives. Guardians should select regimented, controlling religions with lots of rules that they seek to impose on others. The ideal choice would be a religion that is illogical and inconsistent yet impossible to argue down due to the sheer energy and stubbornness of their proponents. In selecting a religion, Guardians should temper the ideal choice for their type by the fact that for Guardians, Mom and Dad's religion is ideal, provided it is a good Guardian religion.

ISTJ: Methodism, or some other form of Protestant Christianity, as long as it is dry.

ISFJ: Judaism, Conservative or Orthodox

ESFJ: Catholocism

ESTJ: Islam, mainstream

Rationals (NT)

These types are basically Godless and evil. Their choice of "faith" should reflect that.

INTP: INTPs are always right, therefore they should skip right to atheism, with an option on immortality as a simulation in a computer of unimaginable complexity at the end of time as proven by the laws of physics.

INTJ: Objectivism. Ayn Rand is your gal.

ENTP: You are also always right, yet like all EPs lack an attention span. Try agnosticism, and try not thinking about it too much.

ENTJ: Religion has its uses. Money, power and easy access to willing sex partners leap immediately to mind. Try starting your own cult. The exact type of cult should be determined by your background and aesthetic tastes, and by the exploitable pre-existing inclinations of the pathetic sheep-people who surround you.

Idealists (NF)

The correct religions for NFs are flakey "spiritual" ones, such as Wicca or Zen. If you are an NF, you should select the proper religion for you from the list below. If for some reason the correct choice for your type is not practical for you, try and compromise by wearing funky clothes, eschewing deodorant, and keeping lots of magic shit around your appartment, like Tarot cards. Smoking lots of weed is a nice touch as well.

INFP: Wicca, especially Celtic paganism. Also possibly Druidism, but not Asatru.

INFJ: Zen Buddhism.

ENFP: "Ecclectic paganism." No one expects you to have an attention span, so just go with the "smoking weed and buying magic crystals" option.

ENFJ: Hare Krishna

May you find meaningful joy and peace in your day, according to your very own style!

_/\_Peggy @ Ecumenicus and Ecumenicus FB