- MBTI
- INFJ again
- Enneagram
- 4w5
http://greenlightwiki.com/lenore-exegesis/Tertiary_Temptation
my view
Lenore describes the behavior of every function according to their positionin your personality type: dominant, secondary, tertiare and inferior. Every position has its own purpose and influence on how a function behaves.
So the dominant function is your main function and it is oriented inwards (introverted) or outwards (extraverted)
when your ominant function has pushed you to far out of balance in an extraverted or introverted way, the opposite or inferior function comes in with motives and dissatisfactions that have no place in the dominant sense of self. The callings of the inferior function cannot be satisfied directly becuase they are too far opposed to a person's current investments. trying to steer through life by your inferior function does lead to a sacrifice of self: dishonorable, out-of-control, even infantile behavior.
when you get stuck in life that way, solutions come quickly when you turn to your secondary function. The secondary function calls you to broaden and extend your very sense of who you are and what is important and it will satisfy your inferior function. Your secundary function is oposite to your dominant function in orientation (introverted <-> extraverted). For an introverted dominant, the secundary function opens the person up for the world while for an extraverted dominant, the secondary function stimutates a person to get more depth and grounding. So your secondary function leads you to unknown regions of your potential as a human being - unknown but accessible
when we are pressured from our inferior function we should turn to our secondary function for help. There seems to be a distrust towards our secondary function because it pushes us into unknown directions. Therefore we turn to our tertiary function which is in any way the oposite of the secondary. The tertiary function is our defense system and it provides justification for maintaining the same approach since it has the same orientation as the dominant function.
for example:
Tertiary Si (INxP): "I can't possibly go along with this, I don't have any reliable concepts or map to anchor myself with: it's all arbitrary and untrustworthy and meaningless. I'd be diving in without any orientation; I'd be tripped up or harmed from any random direction, and my efforts wouldn't be cumulative. I just won't budge. I'll build myself some barricades and wait for the storm to blow over." The Secondary Function (Ne) would say: "Look around, shake up the pot, see what new arises, and deal with it imaginatively; there must be better alternatives available than being stuck here." (My secondary Ne says something more in the lines of "Pay attention to your surroundings and do the thing that will have the most interesting results. Don't be dumb just because you don't have any experience.")
my view
Lenore describes the behavior of every function according to their positionin your personality type: dominant, secondary, tertiare and inferior. Every position has its own purpose and influence on how a function behaves.
So the dominant function is your main function and it is oriented inwards (introverted) or outwards (extraverted)
when your ominant function has pushed you to far out of balance in an extraverted or introverted way, the opposite or inferior function comes in with motives and dissatisfactions that have no place in the dominant sense of self. The callings of the inferior function cannot be satisfied directly becuase they are too far opposed to a person's current investments. trying to steer through life by your inferior function does lead to a sacrifice of self: dishonorable, out-of-control, even infantile behavior.
when you get stuck in life that way, solutions come quickly when you turn to your secondary function. The secondary function calls you to broaden and extend your very sense of who you are and what is important and it will satisfy your inferior function. Your secundary function is oposite to your dominant function in orientation (introverted <-> extraverted). For an introverted dominant, the secundary function opens the person up for the world while for an extraverted dominant, the secondary function stimutates a person to get more depth and grounding. So your secondary function leads you to unknown regions of your potential as a human being - unknown but accessible
when we are pressured from our inferior function we should turn to our secondary function for help. There seems to be a distrust towards our secondary function because it pushes us into unknown directions. Therefore we turn to our tertiary function which is in any way the oposite of the secondary. The tertiary function is our defense system and it provides justification for maintaining the same approach since it has the same orientation as the dominant function.
for example:
Tertiary Si (INxP): "I can't possibly go along with this, I don't have any reliable concepts or map to anchor myself with: it's all arbitrary and untrustworthy and meaningless. I'd be diving in without any orientation; I'd be tripped up or harmed from any random direction, and my efforts wouldn't be cumulative. I just won't budge. I'll build myself some barricades and wait for the storm to blow over." The Secondary Function (Ne) would say: "Look around, shake up the pot, see what new arises, and deal with it imaginatively; there must be better alternatives available than being stuck here." (My secondary Ne says something more in the lines of "Pay attention to your surroundings and do the thing that will have the most interesting results. Don't be dumb just because you don't have any experience.")