Ni vs Ne - tangents and types of thought

justeccentricnotinsane

Community Member
MBTI
INFJ
Hi
I almost constantly speak in tangents, I can't keep focused on one line of thought. Well - it's the same line of thought - it's just that there's several lines all at once in like layers. I mean, I don't see anything in one line. I see it as like a circle, with lots of layers and everything dotted up ---- this is so hard to explain!

Erm...how do I explain this? Basically, sometimes it doesn't feel right when I'm talking not to include the context, because it seems to matter. I also extrapolate too much - explain things too thoroughly. But when someone says something inflammatory and I know how to answer back - how to explain why they're wrong, it's like a big gobstopper in my mind. I can see all of it - everything - as if it's a whole. And that's because it is a whole, really, but you can't tell everybody everything at once can you? It includes the basic formula or theory that explains the cause of an issue, that's right there in the middle, but then you've got the many million effects that tiny seed creates and how they effect people in different ways and then those effects join together to make almost a circle....yada yada yada....and then you've got how all of that is related to the way society is formed anyway....yada yada yada....

I know that sounds like nonsense, but I was trying to just give you an idea of what it looks like in my head, because it's very difficult to define. It's like I see everything all at once. I know it breaks down into separate bits and I can see those bits but they're so interconnected it takes me a while to try and organise it into speech, because I find it difficult to take the separate bits apart - because they're connected - so they don't exist on their own...oh this is so hard to explain!

If I'm speaking freely, it tends to sound like a lecture of the world and the universe. It's all about the same issue, but it's like - everything. I can't just give a succinct answer, I keep going off on tangents because I say something that sends a little DING in my brain and I think "Oh I absolutely must say this and use this example because it's important" or just "I must say this because this explains how the pattern envelopes so many other things than you would think it would...." So I talk in constant, constant, constant tangents. And I never stop talking because there's so many things to say about it. And when I'm not talking. That exact thing is happening in my brain (usually stopping me from sleeping).

Now, I had recently begun to wonder whether I was using Ne because although a lot of what I read of Ni seems to describe me exactly, sometimes I hear things about Ni being quite exact and efficient and - well - I'm not that. It takes me a while to organise myself. And yet, people always tell me I have a strong Ti function. (so huh?)

I've heard that Ne tends to talk and think in tangents and since this is such a massive part of my personality (that people get annoyed with because I can't just give them the simple answer! I have to give them the abstract one!) I thought I'd ask - if Ni did tangents would they be like this? Or is this plain and simple Ne?

Oh also, when somebody says something to me, asks a question, then my mind does leapfrogs before my mouth has opened and I'm kind of in an abstract place in my mind when I speak. If I'm comfortable around someone, this doesn't matter because I can think before I speak. If I'm nervous I just say the first thing that comes into my head. As I'm socially anxious, this makes people think I'm weird.

For example. Someone at work asks: "What's the difference between immigrants, emigrants and migrants?"

In my head:
1) Immigrants are coming in, emigrants are going out, migrants are moving between or within countries.
2) All of them are migrants and those that are migrating to other countries are both immigrants and emigrants.

What I say to the person asking (I'm nervous at this point and just say the first thing that comes into my head - i.e. the process above happens pretty much instantaneously, I don't much notice it)

"They're all the same people, the difference is conceptual, it depends where you're looking at them from".

Silence. I blush. Then, in a cracky voice - "I mean, immigrants are coming in to the country and emigrants are...." voice cracks up. Completely give up and let someone else explain!

So yeah - I just wanted to know - Ne or Ni?!

EDIT: Just worked out what I mean - everything is symbiotic. That's the word I'm looking for. This is why I had assumed I used Ni because words like symbiotic seem like Ni thing, and vertical thinking (I would describe my thinking as vertical not horizontal - but I think this might just be the way I personally see it in my mind) seems like an NI thing. But other people who use Ni seem to have some kind of efficiency going on that I don't! See I completely identify with the "loads of thoughts all the time" thing that they say about Ne. They're not unconnected, though. They're in layers. They're just loads of different layers of the same thing.
 
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Disclaimer: Sonyab is not an expert.

Sounds more like underdeveloped Ti coupled with strong Fe to me (hey that rhymes...now that's a tangent...um yea...nevermind)
 
Disclaimer: Sonyab is not an expert.

Sounds more like underdeveloped Ti coupled with strong Fe to me (hey that rhymes...now that's a tangent...um yea...nevermind)

Oh...now that's thrown me! I am now throwing out everything I thought I knew about MBTI theory. Where does Fe work in there?

And after having gone through months of people telling me I was a T-type because ... arm ... actually they never explained, I'm getting really quite absurdly confused now. I think people thought I was a T type because I like everything to "make sense" - everything does make sense, though. If it doesn't, there's something wrong. Erm...yeah.
 
Where you worry about what others may think (?)

If I'm comfortable around someone, this doesn't matter because I can think before I speak. If I'm nervous I just say the first thing that comes into my head. As I'm socially anxious, this makes people think I'm weird.

I was just saying the underdeveloped Ti may cause you to be anxious because you are not comfortable using your inner logical function or don't trust it--thus Fe becomes concerned about what others think.

Edit: I usually think that most questions involving functions are related more to secondary or inferior functions rather than your primary function. We may not be able to express Ni adequately but we understand it/accept it.
 
Where you worry about what others may think (?)

If I'm comfortable around someone, this doesn't matter because I can think before I speak. If I'm nervous I just say the first thing that comes into my head. As I'm socially anxious, this makes people think I'm weird.

I was just saying the underdeveloped Ti may cause you to be anxious because you are not comfortable using your inner logical function or don't trust it--thus Fe becomes concerned about what others think.

Edit: I usually think that most questions involving functions are related more to secondary or inferior functions rather than your primary function. We may not be able to express Ni adequately but we understand it/accept it.

Oh, I see. No, I didn't used to worry what people thought, my shyness is a relatively new thing. I worry how people will feel by what I say (I think that's Fe) but I know I won't say anything hurtful so it's not that. It's kind of a chicken and egg situation. I worry because I say things like I just said - the whole "migrants, immigrants and emigrants" are all the same thing, which makes people think I'm weird. It's the thought that everybody thinks I'm weird (which, frankly, they do, because I talk like that all the time!) I didn't used to be shy, though. That started around age 16 and it was because of external issues. Before then I was sort of the opposite. Still an introvert but sort of a bit of leader, if that makes sense. I was very confident so I kind of took charge but didn't realise I was doing it. So, yeah. I don't see social anxiety as part of my personality, basically, because it hasn't always been there. That's a dysfunction not a function (in my case anyway) :-)
 
This is literally the most accurate think ever. Thank you for even tackling and trying to put into words what our thought process might even be like on any given day! I completely applaud this, and will definitely show this to my friends when they wonder how I really think.

Hi
I almost constantly speak in tangents, I can't keep focused on one line of thought. Well - it's the same line of thought - it's just that there's several lines all at once in like layers. I mean, I don't see anything in one line. I see it as like a circle, with lots of layers and everything dotted up ---- this is so hard to explain!

Erm...how do I explain this? Basically, sometimes it doesn't feel right when I'm talking not to include the context, because it seems to matter. I also extrapolate too much - explain things too thoroughly. But when someone says something inflammatory and I know how to answer back - how to explain why they're wrong, it's like a big gobstopper in my mind. I can see all of it - everything - as if it's a whole. And that's because it is a whole, really, but you can't tell everybody everything at once can you? It includes the basic formula or theory that explains the cause of an issue, that's right there in the middle, but then you've got the many million effects that tiny seed creates and how they effect people in different ways and then those effects join together to make almost a circle....yada yada yada....and then you've got how all of that is related to the way society is formed anyway....yada yada yada....

I know that sounds like nonsense, but I was trying to just give you an idea of what it looks like in my head, because it's very difficult to define. It's like I see everything all at once. I know it breaks down into separate bits and I can see those bits but they're so interconnected it takes me a while to try and organise it into speech, because I find it difficult to take the separate bits apart - because they're connected - so they don't exist on their own...oh this is so hard to explain!

If I'm speaking freely, it tends to sound like a lecture of the world and the universe. It's all about the same issue, but it's like - everything. I can't just give a succinct answer, I keep going off on tangents because I say something that sends a little DING in my brain and I think "Oh I absolutely must say this and use this example because it's important" or just "I must say this because this explains how the pattern envelopes so many other things than you would think it would...." So I talk in constant, constant, constant tangents. And I never stop talking because there's so many things to say about it. And when I'm not talking. That exact thing is happening in my brain (usually stopping me from sleeping).

Now, I had recently begun to wonder whether I was using Ne because although a lot of what I read of Ni seems to describe me exactly, sometimes I hear things about Ni being quite exact and efficient and - well - I'm not that. It takes me a while to organise myself. And yet, people always tell me I have a strong Ti function. (so huh?)

I've heard that Ne tends to talk and think in tangents and since this is such a massive part of my personality (that people get annoyed with because I can't just give them the simple answer! I have to give them the abstract one!) I thought I'd ask - if Ni did tangents would they be like this? Or is this plain and simple Ne?

Oh also, when somebody says something to me, asks a question, then my mind does leapfrogs before my mouth has opened and I'm kind of in an abstract place in my mind when I speak. If I'm comfortable around someone, this doesn't matter because I can think before I speak. If I'm nervous I just say the first thing that comes into my head. As I'm socially anxious, this makes people think I'm weird.

For example. Someone at work asks: "What's the difference between immigrants, emigrants and migrants?"

In my head:
1) Immigrants are coming in, emigrants are going out, migrants are moving between or within countries.
2) All of them are migrants and those that are migrating to other countries are both immigrants and emigrants.

What I say to the person asking (I'm nervous at this point and just say the first thing that comes into my head - i.e. the process above happens pretty much instantaneously, I don't much notice it)

"They're all the same people, the difference is conceptual, it depends where you're looking at them from".

Silence. I blush. Then, in a cracky voice - "I mean, immigrants are coming in to the country and emigrants are...." voice cracks up. Completely give up and let someone else explain!

So yeah - I just wanted to know - Ne or Ni?!

EDIT: Just worked out what I mean - everything is symbiotic. That's the word I'm looking for. This is why I had assumed I used Ni because words like symbiotic seem like Ni thing, and vertical thinking (I would describe my thinking as vertical not horizontal - but I think this might just be the way I personally see it in my mind) seems like an NI thing. But other people who use Ni seem to have some kind of efficiency going on that I don't! See I completely identify with the "loads of thoughts all the time" thing that they say about Ne. They're not unconnected, though. They're in layers. They're just loads of different layers of the same thing.
 
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