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funkymbtifiction · 7 years

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Hi I am an INTP n have often been dismissed as irrational when I speak. However, I feel my ideas or thoughts do make sense, but I hv great difficulty trying to explain them to others. Furthermore, I realise I sometimes speak too abstactly n end up looking like a fool when I cant seem to spell it out. I hv tried to share less of my ideas but cant help myself when I feel enthusiasic abt the topic, so I seem to have resigned to the fact that I am illogical now. Is there anything I can do about it?

It’s not that they see you as illogical, it’s that they don’t understand.

I have never seen a type more capable of what I call “high abstraction” than the INTP. This is because Ti is abstract in and of itself, and Ne is abstract also – so when put together, the NTP becomes capable of speaking without any tangible perimeters. I grew up in a house with an NTP brother, and I see him almost daily as an adult, and he still speaks on such an abstract and “vague” level even on simple things that it can throw people unfamiliar with his brain function and process for a loop.

He is often frustrated, both by his inability to articulate himself simply, and with other people’s inability to follow his complex train of thought. If they ask him for specific examples, he struggles to find them – because everything in his mind is an inner web of connected abstract ideas and possibilities. If you present him with a moral argument, he can construct, within five seconds, a made up scenario (without specifics, again) in which that moral truth becomes irrelevant or is challenged by circumstances. His annoyance with singular perspectives frequently conflicts with his own desire to FIND a moral truth from an objective perspective.

Most people cannot communicate on his level, and do not always grasp what he means; so his frustration intensifies, because he cannot make them understand what he is actually saying.

I have seen other NTPs, especially INTPs, take a very slow, repetitive, and methodical approach to explaining their ideas – with the belief that if they can achieve “correctness” and “precision,” they can somehow dampen their Ne and subdue it into a method others can easily understand; this sometimes works and sometimes does not, but can seem too repetitive (”You said that already… just with different words”) to other types. Ti tends to self-repeat, possibly out of an inner awareness that it may be misunderstood.

In short, what you experience is a normal frustration for the NTP types. NFPs experience some of this also, in that their thoughts are so scattered and fleeting that they too can struggle to grab hold of them and put them into words, but they have the benefit of Te-bluntness which allows them to bounce between Ne/Te and self-correct AS THEY SPEAK. NTPs don’t have that luxury and as a result, high abstract communication is a natural “problem” when it comes to communicating.

I asked my ENTP friend what he does about it, and he says talking to oneself helps refine communication. If he can sort out his thoughts and ideas alone before he tries to communicate them, he can often find greater precision and clarity, as well as consider all potential side arguments (Ne), which enables him to think them through and form alternative arguments (Ti) in advance, so he has less improvising to do once he breaches the subject.

You may also try writing your ideas down; seeing it on paper may enable you to find a better method in which to explain it simply. (This may or may not be useful; but I have seen a continual progress in my NTP brother over the years as he has taken to using writing as a communication method. His ideas and thoughts started out entangled, confused, and abstract; and now are much more straightforward and ‘with a purpose’ – practice has helped him refine his thoughts. I’ve also found greater clarity for Ne by writing things out. Seeing it on the page helps me organize it into a shape that makes sense, whereas in my head it’s a tangled mess of profound but incomplete thoughts :P)

- ENFP Mod

#question #intp #entp #infp #enfp #mbti

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