INFJ. The Visionary

If you're an INFJ, the underlying meaning of life is more important and more real than the details of physical reality that immediately present themselves. You may see things differently than other people. A flower is not just a flower. More importantly it's a symbolic reference pointing to an archetype of some kind: an opening, growth, transcendence. Nothing is actually as it appears. You look deeper and find the juice of life there.

Just as the present is symbolic, the future is also naturally compelling. It's where your visions come together. The organizing force of life converges into futures that are seeable, not with your eyes but through visions and hunches. The universe nudges you and sometimes whacks you in the face with marching orders so you can participate now in the coming future. These types of assignments are far more important than one given by any authority figure. You must see it through.

You care about people and are very perceptive to what they are going through. You might feel like you are too perceptive.

If you're lucky you have friends or family that understand you. However, it's likely that it might be embarrassing or plainly not safe to share how you know what you know. You just know it, and most of the time you're right. The proof is in the outcome.

The physical world with it's noises, motions, lights, and physical dangers is heightened for you. You may tend to be overwhelmed or irritated by every-day stimulus more than others.

You have a desire to improve the lives of others and often you have a program for how that might be done. Sometimes you really do know what's best for others and you're willing to bet on it. You are a natural guide, with your strong intuition and caring heart. You want to help others on their journey. It can be easy to get lost in their needs and forget yours. Life balance might include significant alone time so you can restore your inner world.

Under the surface, and sometimes subconsciously, you are piecing the puzzle together in a logical and holistic way. What puzzle? It depends on your mission. But it will usually involve people and their future.

Many INFJs have a very soothing and moving way of speaking to people. They can use their underlying logic to create writings and monologues that leave people inspired and spellbound.

INFJ types are only about 1% of the population, making them the rarest of the 16 types. It's easy to feel misunderstood by those around you, but thankfully there are a lot of online opportunities to know other INFJs. INFJ discussion forums on Reddit, Quora, and Facebook are typically very lively. Due to your rarity and fears of being misunderstood, you may feel the need to be like a chameleon and fit yourself into a social context that doesn’t allow your true colors to shine forth.

Since you are so future focused, traditional ideas may be lost on you unless the seem logical to you, or are compelling from an intuitive standpoint. Doing things just because they were done in the past does not make sense for you. Sometimes brainstorming can be a frustrating exercise because you tend to already have a strong vision for the way forward. Why toss around ideas that don't make sense when you have the right idea already?

INFJ Quotes

“It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards” - Lewis Carroll (author of Alice in Wonderland)

“At the moment of vision, the eyes see nothing.” – William Golding

“Words are not the truth; they indicate the way to go, but you need to go alone, in silence. Symbols have a language that kills the words.” – Alejandro Jodorowsky

“I don’t do drugs, I am drugs” - Salvador Dali

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." - Mahatma Gandhi