Survival of the fittest. Only the strong survive. Everything is up for grabs. All is for sale. Got the money? Got the resources? Got the strength to take it from me? That is the basic mentality of extraverted sensation. Especially, the male of the species.
In this article I will discuss the role of the extraverted sensation function in more depth, beginning with an outline of the four main areas that this function is concerned with, and in following this, will begin to present each of the four main issues of extraverted sensation in contrast to the introverted intuitive reaction to them.
INFJ and INTJ have extraverted sensation as an inferior function, which is described in the first article of this series as being the primary dilemma for their type. This article will begin to illustrate this primary dilemma of extraverted sensation as the INFJ and INTJ types experience it.
In following, is a brief outline of the core concerns of extraverted sensation as a dominant reference point:
Action
- Strength/Will.
- Making things happen.
- Referencing all actions to the basic principle of Strength and/or Will. “Do I or someone else have the strength to perform this action?”
- Instinct (acting upon it). Look to natural world of animals.
- Concept of the predator. Predator mentality and consciousness.
Appearance (World of)
- In natural world this is related to mating behaviors. Female is usually desirable because of beauty.
- Acceptance of things as they are.
- Evaluation of things from a strictly surface point-of-view.
Eternal Present Moment (The Now)
- Immediate discharge and satisfaction of impulses.
- The implications for a consciousness that experiences all as now (very important).
- Lack of sense of the passage of time and a lack of intuitional possibilities = a great mystery to introverted intuition.
- Enjoyment of the world. Hedonistic pleasure.
- Readiness and poise for whatever may come as distinct from pondering and imagining all the possibilities of what may come (“The readiness is all.” Hamlet’s realization).
Territoriality (Possession of material space or objects)
- Money.
- The sense that things belong to someone or can.
- Look to natural world for instances of this behavior. Most animal exhibit the behavior of claiming territory for themselves and turf wars. This extends into human history and the war for territory and resources. Related to natural animal instinct.
Strength and Will
Extraverted sensation as a dominant mentality references all its behaviors back to a simple precept:
“Do I have the strength to do this particular thing that I desire to do?”
If answer = yes, then do it.
If answer = no, then don’t. Or maybe, try to do it anyway. Take a risk.
Extraverted sensation wants to act at all costs. It wants to exercise its will. And not necessarily for any reason on earth, besides the fact that it feels good to exercise one’s strength. People that are strong like to use their strength. Simple as that.
Now, to an introverted intuitive it doesn’t matter whether they have the strength to will something or not, but what matters more is whether that willing has some innate purpose. And see, this is where from the very get-go Ni starts to exhibit its typical sense of delay and forestalling in action. Basically, Ni questions this most basic quality of all nature. It says, “Yes, you may able to accomplish x, y, or z with whatever strengths you have to exercise, but to what end?”
To Se, this is an absurdity. It does not compute. “What do you mean to what end? Just because you can do it. And you want to. What more is there?”
Well, as it turns out, to the introverted intuitive there is a lot more. The first thing they will ask is why you are doing x thing in particular. What are the other possibilities? Ni wants to know all the other possibilities first. Then, perhaps it may have a grounds for action.
Extraverted sensation simply says, “Because this is an action that is immediately available now and my instincts are telling me to go for it.”
Instinct
Well, this is the very word to capture the referencing of Se. What is instinct? No one really knows. Why do birds fly south for the winter? Because of instinct. What is instinct? It is the thing that causes birds to fly south for the winter because it is summer in the south. Warmer climate. Hibernation is for the bears.
Instinct is an acquired species behavior that is automatic and referenced to that species historical experience of biological adaptation to the environment that they found themselves in. Instincts can’t be questioned by animals. They simply have to obey their instincts. There are no birds flying south who are saying, “Why are we doing this again?” Nope, they just go where their instincts tell them to. It is kind of like intuition in a way. In and of itself, it is inexplicable.
But, extraverted sensation has less concern with the simple preservation of its life than it has with strengthening the life it already has. It is that instinct in nature to conquer. Introverted sensation has more to do with the will to preserve its life at all costs. Extraverted sensation is willing to take risks in order to become a stronger center of willing. So, extraverted sensation is the basic principle of the struggle in nature, not to merely survive, but to reign supreme. To improve one’s position. To acquire more territory. To reproduce with the fittest mates. What does it take to do these sort of things?
The Predator
A predator mentality is what it takes.
Predator instinct. Killer instinct. The will to kill. This is a basic law of nature. Kill or be killed. Guess which side extraverted sensors are on.
That’s right. Always the fucking killers. Lady killers. People killers. Killer killers. Doesn’t matter. Just gotta be killing something so they can sleep right at night.
Now, in steps the INFJ and INTJ onto this bloodbath of a killing field. And here comes their first thought(s) about this whole affair:
“What the fuck is all this shit? What is that carcass doing over there? What is this head that has just rolled down the steps of midnight? How are you fucking killers capable of doing all this bloody fucking killing? What is killing? What does it mean to take life? Where do all these dead things go when they die? Do we have to kill? What are the other options? Do I have to be a killer too? Is this the only way to glory and victory?”
And so on and so forth forever until the end of time.
Now, it is not necessarily true that an INFJ or INTJ has a problem with killing, you know, a moral problem. They certainly can. But, that is more to do with other functions that they have besides their dominant Ni function. Introverted intuition is not moral. And neither is extraverted sensation as is quite obvious from the foregoing. But, with the INFJ and the INTJ it is less obvious that this is so because they often express a hesitation about participating in the world of natural impulses. But, it is not really a moral reservation or objection that they are expressing. It is more that they just aren’t sure either way.
This lack of certainty about extraverted sensation type actions can later become the basis for some moral tirade against extraverted sensation bloodlust, but it is not at all certain that this will be their final decision at the outset. They may in fact decide that killing is necessary and an unavoidable principle of nature. At any rate, this decision will come from a judging function and not from their dominant introverted intuition function, which passes no judgment on the actions of these predators. Rather, Ni is more interested in observing their actions, simply to see what they are doing.
“What are those killers up to today? Let’s take a look.”
Blue balls
So, I will leave off here for now and hope that your predator instincts may kick in so that you may drive yourselves into a ravenous frenzy to see the next part of this article, where I will be discussing the second item on the outline above of the Se issue of Appearance. This is related more to the female of the species and so should be quite hard to wait a long time to see. If you don’t want to wait a long time to see the breathtaking scope of the Se female of the species, then make sure you donate today. When I have $50 in my Paypal account following the release of this article, I will release the female beast of the species into the maze for your viewing pleasure.
Enjoy your blue balls!
That includes the ladies too.
And thanks to everyone who donated following my request in the last installment of this article. I received $25 in total. If you want me to take the time to produce articles of this nature, then I need to be at $50. That’s just the economics of the situation from my viewpoint. If it is worth it to you, then donate. If not, then don’t. Simple, isn’t it?
O, how very extraverted sensation of me. If you want something, then pay for it.
Bye now.
Previous Article in Series:
Extraverted Sensation in INFJ and INTJ: Part 1
Next Article in Series:
Extraverted Sensation in INFJ and INTJ: Part 3
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