This might be my most important contribution to the Typology field, even ahead of the counterbalancing framework. Actually, scratch that, this may be the single most important contribution to the Human story I make in my lifetime.
I was working on a theory to expand the "Cognitive Functions" beyond even the broad patterns I picked up by studying them via the history of Philosophy, something that could finally explain why they felt so... "primordial" - as my peer so eloquently put it when I was explaining it to him. Anyway, so as I was working on this deeper understanding, something from within me called for me to revisit Daoism. Lo and behold, the pieces of the puzzle I was missing revealed themselves.
See, it all came down to Duality. And what is the most defined and omnipresent understanding of duality in our human history? The Yin-Yang, of course! My counterbalance system is built on duality, so naturally these two ideas coalesce very well, but there's much greater importance to Daoism and the "Cognitive Functions". And you will soon understand why I keep putting an air of disavowal around that term.
Using the formula of Duality inherent in the "Cognitive Functions" that highlights why they exist in the first place on the level of Human consciousness:
The term Introverted takes on multiple qualities
Internal
Reducing
Subjective
Separate
While Extraverted takes on the opposite qualities
External
Expanding
Objective
Whole
Now, once you include Jung's initial profound categorisation of the Human experience to Sensing, Intuition, Thinking and Feeling, it becomes, essentially, simple mathematics to arrive at the eight "Cognitive Functions" as they are known today. All superficial traits commonly associated with each function become a logical descent as a result. I put this at the very beginning of each dedicated function page, but I'll provide examples here as well:
What makes the scientific method Te?
Te = Extraverted + Thinking (logic),
Extraverted = looking for a greater amount (expanding), doing so by observing/interacting with surroundings (external) and with a focus outside of self-perception (objective) which is then adopted collectively (whole).
External + Expanding + Objective + Thinking = That which is demonstrated by external phenomena and can provide the same conclusion on repeated testing (expanding + objective = volume of logic), is therefore "correct" thinking. This process is adopted by the scientific community (whole).
To offer a multi-dimensional view of Te that explains why it is also a process of action rather than just thought, let's look at management as another example:
Why is 'management' a Te-focused occupation?
Management is an enforcement role, and what it enforces is a set of boundaries and regulations that have been proven by replicability to be efficient and productive (external + objective). Productivity itself is the act of gaining more of something than you previously had (expanding). Managers act as the unifier of many separate parts for a common goal (whole).
BUT
If we take these same parameters - the same formulas - and change the focus from mere Human consciousness to say, oh, I dunno... the foundations of reality itself... Where might the conclusions lead?
And this is where Daoism comes in.
What is Daoism, then? One of the three main religions of China, alongside Confucianism and Buddhism, Daoism is a philosophy defined by 'allowing'. It is where the concept of Yin-Yang originates. But it all begins with the Dao itself. The key figures in Daoism are Laozi (pronounced Lao-tsuh) and Zhuangzi (pronounced Ju-aung-tsuh).
The Dao (literally meaning "the way") is best described as the conditions that allow all things to be in the first place. Laozi said it best: "Mold clay into a bowl, the empty space makes it useful". What he is saying is that since the conditions now exist for something to be placed in that bowl, you could now potentially place whatever you want in there - water, cereal (better not be at the same time you cretin), decorative pebbles, un-decorative pebbles, a single unpeeled raw potato, a small photograph of your grandmother, the blood of your enemies! The freshly-collected tears of their widows! ... Y'know... Anything (that'll fit in a bowl).
The Dao is, among many other things, the empty bowl that houses all things. It is also self-contradicting, impossibly complicated and according to Laozi, cannot be understood by us mere Humans. Our words are incapable of beholding such a primeval force.
Well, sure. Words may not be enough to explain the Dao. And we should really give Laozi his dues for a truly admirable attempt, considering such a handicap. 'Global Laozi Day' on his birthday, perhaps. But what are words anyway? Language is designed to communicate concepts. Could concepts accurately convey the Dao? Or at least far better than anything else we have at our disposal... You may have caught on to where I'm going, but before I get to that, I'm going to expand on Daoism just a bit more. Laozi goes on to say:
"The Dao gives birth to the One;
The One gives birth to Two;
The Two gives birth to Three;
And Three give birth to all things.
All beings support the Yin and embrace the Yang;
And through the blending of qi they create harmony."
What is he saying here? He refers to the One as 'Primeval Qi', and refers to both matter and the metaphysical 'essence' of being. It is the 'something' born from the emptiness of the Dao. All of the something.
The Two is the Yin-Yang. It is the very concept of Duality itself. Another primeval principle (and therefore another aspect of the Dao, in-and-of-itself, also).
The Three is the principle of Ambiguity; that two opposites can hold equal truth at once. Equal merit. The dualistic nature of all that is born of the Dao by its nature embodies functionality, not conflict. In other words, Balance. This can be seen in the Taiji symbol (the famous Yin-Yang image).
Later scholars of Daoism would add to this concept something called the Ba Gua or "eight trigrams". I find it completely non-coincidental that it happens to be "eight". The Ba Gua is the next step in the process after Laozi's 'the Three'. But I propose another variant of eight descending from the Three.
Now obviously you ought to know what I mean if you are at all familiar with Typology, but otherwise, the "Cognitive Functions" also happen to number eight in total. Four introverted, four extraverted. Four Yin, four Yang.
Before I tie it all together, I want to bring up the notion in theology that we were "made in God's image". Well, what if that unknowingly referred to the way primeval principles of 'God' manifest through us because they are so fundamental that any form of complex existence is subservient to them by default?
The very nature of the "functions" themselves is derived from the Two (Duality) and Three (Ambiguity/Balance). But, at the primeval level, there is no duality. They are the Dao, and the One as well. The primeval functions operate in perfect symbiosis.
'Extraverted Intution' is the most pure form of the Dao manifesting itself through the One. Everything that ever could exist is in a state of infinite possibility, ready to become a something when the conditions are met.
Primeval Introverted Intuition is the reducing of the possibilities into actuality, or if you want to be poetic about it: 'the collapsing of the infinite into conception'. Once a something comes into being, it takes on an individual trajectory, a destiny if you will. It could exist for a thousand years or be destroyed and return to the One tomorrow. All the same, it has a destination by virtue of becoming a something.
Primeval 'Extraverted Sensing' is the flow and the force that flow sometimes embodies. When a volcano erupts and destroys its surroundings, that is force, and when the chaos settles and that force gives way for fertile ground, for renewal and the cycle ongoing, that is flow.
'Introverted Sensing' is the stillness, then. The individual details that compose the flow, that maintain the harmony. It is the periods inbetween when things are relatively uneventful. It is, cosmically speaking, the period we Humans have been able to continue existing without something forceful yet returning us to the One.
'Extraverted Feeling' is the embodiment of the One. The 'essence' of being that we are all one. The shared traits that connect all things back to the One.
'Introverted Feeling' is the celebration of the individual's disconnection from the One. And though we can never be truly disconnected from the One, it is the little separations that make that which comes into being, unique. "Every frame a painting."
'Extraverted Thinking' is the laws of reality themselves. The laws of physics, of matter, and of metaphysics; the very nature of the very principles that comprise the system I am describing right now. It is Duality, it is Ambiguity and Balance. It is the absoluteness of these things.
'Introverted Thinking' is 'Extraverted Thinking' broken down. The construction of the laws, the details of the system that I am describing right now. It is the very nature of the individual's ability to categorise and systematise that which is absolute. And the means to understand it.
There are no "Cognitive Functions" that come from within us. We mimic them because they are literally the foundations of reality.
Very interesting article, this is the way!