losingart asked:
i'm currently really interested in the mbti, but i'm not sure if that's a good thing. is personality typing ever useful or does it just encourage us to focus too much on the ego?
Personality typing may provide some temporary usefulness yet describing your personality will not lead you beyond it.
In western perspective, the personality is viewed as a character of the soul. In yoga philosophy, the individual is seen as being composed of tendencies and self-created freedom.
It can be useful to understand your tendencies but the emphasis is on self-created freedom.
To be self-created means to abide spontaneously as yourself. It is the activity of your naturalness. It has a distinctly child-like glimmer to it.
To put it simply, if you don’t waste energy propping up your personality, you are free to act, think, and experience in ways that your personality might ordinarily not permit. It is often counteracted by the need to be right, the need to reduce cognitive dissonance, and excessive self-cherishing.
This is uncovered through the practice of meditation as you begin to gain an experience of yourself that does not depend on the personality in order to be known.
apply for jobs you’re not qualified for! audit upper-level classes! get drunk with your TAs! see that poster advertising that lecture series? go there take notes and ask questions! thank the presenter for talking about this topic you love! if the class is full before you register, email the professor and ask if they can squeeze you in! RAISE YOUR HAND! tell the disability accomodation office to do their goddamn job! ask for help! file complaints! go to class in your pajamas and destroy the reading! you got this! you KNOW you got this! be arrogant enough to learn EVERYTHING! take your meds! punch a velociraptor in the dick! fear is useless and temporary! glory is forever! shed your skin and erupt angel wings! help out! spread your sun!
i had a really good morning! you deserve a really good morning! kill anyone who says you don’t and build a throne from their bones!
