Chapter I. Following The Nuance Flow
Carl Jung’s approach was genuinely flexible and profound in that he never attempted to force all psychological functions into a rigid, closed model, as many later derivative schools would do. Modern systems tend to “box” human beings into stacks, hierarchies, and fixed positions, thereby narrowing the richness and complexity of psychological life. Once a theory is reduced into mechanical classificatory schemes or behavior-based models, debates about right and wrong become meaningless, because what we are arguing over are already copies far removed from the original essence. To confine an individual’s psyche within sixteen predetermined templates is, in effect, to impose a limitation on one’s own capacity for a rich and living experience.
In my view, stopping at the identification of the dominant energy axis is already sufficient and elegant. The remaining parts of the psyche – the absent or underrepresented cognitive regions – are not merely “weaker tools in need of improvement,” as MBTI tends to soften them into, but rather unconscious mechanisms through which we confront and work through each form of suffering encountered in life.
The core issue is that many people rush to assign a single “label” and run into difficulty precisely because of this haste. A more accurate approach is through sensing one’s temperament – that which emanates naturally from a person’s thinking, speech, and actions. This temperament is the reflection of the current dominant energy region. And the most reliable way to perceive it is to ask those around the person: what do they perceive this individual to be lacking?
Human beings are quick to notice deficiencies: they weigh a single mistake more heavily than dozens of strengths, and they are drawn to drama because it is stimulating—triggering dopamine, soothing feelings of inferiority, inflating the ego, and making them feel “better than others.” I apologize if this touches anyone, but this is a universal psychological tendency.
■ IDENTIFYING THE DOMINANT ENERGY REGION
›Step 1. Identifying the Nuance
A person’s area of deficiency is precisely their blind spot – the region of the psyche that becomes unconsciously numbed or behaves strangely under stress. This aspect is largely absent; and when it is forced to surface, it tends to appear in a distorted or unnatural form, often perceived as inauthentic or misaligned with the person as a whole. For this reason, it is usually easy to notice, both for the surrounding social environment and for those closest to the individual. So, let us begin with the question:
B. Technical / Reasoned analysis
C. Conceptual / Interpretive form
D. Experiential / Direct description
The counterbalancing principle: within the cognitive structure, a stable absence of one nuance (a blind spot) is often the result of energy being concentrated toward its opposing pole. Use the observed deficiency as a compass to locate where the person’s psychic energy is most heavily invested:
Note that a person may exhibit more than one blind spot. This usually indicates that their energy is extremely concentrated in a single region, or invested in a paired configuration. For those capable of self-observation: attend not to the list of skills you believe you are not good at, but to the area your mind instinctively resists or finds most unfamiliar.
›Step 2. Examining Energy Orientation
We can intuitively sense that every object contains flows of energy. Smaller currents converge into a larger stream. Human beings are no different. The energy that constitutes a person does not operate in isolation. It merges into an overall flow, and this flow always has a predominant direction.
This direction of flow functions as the hidden driver of perception. When a situation arises, we recognize it almost instantly in our own characteristic way. This may appear as a shiver, a sense of unease, sudden clarity, an idea surfacing, curiosity, or a feeling of realness. Perception does not select at random. It is drawn toward the direction in which this energy is already moving.
Attention therefore adheres to that direction. It repeats and reinforces it, gradually causing whatever lies along that flow to acquire value. This is not a conscious choice. It is the inertia of an energy flow already in motion. That inertia is what we refer to as energy orientation.
When the frame of reference is placed at the subject, all directions of flow can be reduced to two fundamental orientations. One projects outward from the subject, and the other draws inward toward the subject. Jung was the first to name these two orientations Extraversion and Introversion. Before proceeding, it is essential to grasp the nature of this energy orientation and to discard behavioral stereotypes.
Extraversion (Jungian) is not: being talkative, enjoying crowds, being lively or entertaining, socially outgoing, quick to open up, socially adept, or drawn to noise and stimulation.
Introversion (Jungian) is not: being shy, quiet, withdrawn, artistically introverted, disliking communication, socially anxious, passive, or avoiding conversation.
In essence, the direction of energy flow shapes how a person perceives and judges. At the level of basic orientation, introversion is governed by subjectivity: the inner world shapes the outer world. Conversely, extraversion is governed by objectivity: the outer world shapes the inner world.
Once the energy orientation is clearly understood within the framework of Jung’s theory, we can turn to the psychological functions. Each function operates as a distinct psychological question.
- Technical It (Ti): “Does this hold up under my inquiry?”
- Affective If (Fi): “According to my conscience, what is right and what is wrong?”
- Experiential Is (Si): “What kind of inner sensation is this reality producing in me?”
- Conceptual In (Ni): “What is the underlying essence behind this?”
- Technical At (Te): “Which objective tools can I use for this?”
- Affective Af (Fe): “According to social ethics, what is fair?”
- Experiential As (Se): “What is objectively happening in reality?”
- Conceptual An (Ne): “What other forms could this subject possibly become?”
I align with Jung’s core principle, and through personal observation, I see the mind as operating through pure cognitive functions, while energy orientation functions as an active axis of direction. One may imagine this orientation as the helmsman: it decides where psychic energy is projected and how it flows. It is this specific combination that gives rise to what we commonly refer to as the “dominant function.”
The labels In, As, It, and so forth are presented alongside the more familiar notations (Ni, Se, Ti…) to aid recognition. However, caution is essential. If you approach this text through fixed definitions or behavior-based interpretations inherited from derivative systems, you will entirely miss the nature of the flow itself. To truly apprehend the subtle quality of temperament, you must clear away prior assumptions and be willing to observe the psyche as a living, dynamic stream of energy.
■ Identifying Energy Orientation Through Perspective
Energy direction reveals itself in whether they instinctively respond from inner-value reference or from external-value reference.
What is the real reason, the genuine motive, driving what they say and what they do?
This motive, even when left unspoken, inevitably surfaces through the baseline standards they implicitly assume as right or wrong.
Where do they anchor themselves: in inner integrity, or in objective order?
It is crucial not to overlook the factor of time.
Judgments made from brief snapshots are highly prone to error.
This is a fundamentally “statistical” process—one that requires observing consistency across many different situations over time.
For example, the Introverted Experiential force Is (Si) typically drives repeated reflection upon experiences that are personal and subjective—focusing on sensations, impressions, or newly formed internal traces. This is especially noticeable when an individual is sensitive to bodily states or health conditions, and simultaneously tends to share these experiences, as their attention is strongly oriented toward internal “imprints.”
By contrast, the Extraverted Experiential force As (Se) propels sustained and vivid attention toward what is unfolding directly in front of the person. When paired with strong memory and a tendency to share, this force becomes apparent through their enthusiastic and detail-rich descriptions of events. In cases where memory is weaker, it is precisely this tight anchoring to the present—moment-by-moment perception—that makes the As axis stand out clearly.
The remainder – with all its diversity and psychological complexity – depends on each person’s developmental journey.
In the next section, prepare to follow me into deeper waters of theory. I will present it in the most concise and original form possible – like a steel framework – so that you have a firm point of support before we move on to observe the vivid, lived stories of the Ego that follow.