#visual aphorisms

Ni is a function that expands the registration of an object to include its temporal totality (Pi), which is the larger episode or theme to which it belongs. It then associates this episode to all historical instances of episodes that are isomorphic to it (N), transforming the definition of the object into a thematic story that is disconnected from any particular place or time. The object is then understood as something transcending the present, as something translocal, and not following a linear, chronological path from the past while still being temporal.

Metaphors & Visual Aphorisms

The Ni function compels the individual to live a slowly paced, hands-off life of observation and reflection on the information structures of the world. First, they are data synthesizers that formulate image-encoded schemas from unconsciously woven patterns in reality. The Ni user will be very graphic in their consciousness, thinking in visuals and representing the world through visual metaphors. These dynamic but geometric relationships are registered as essential to reality's functioning and are eventually superimposed onto other life domains in a proverbial form. "A tree's branches can only grow as far up as its roots go down," "flowing water never goes stale," or "every light casts a shadow" are examples of the graphical aphorisms that may develop from this information synthesizing process. For the Ni user, the world is not comprehended through words or axioms; it is through these visual relationships that words help convey to others. Due to the abundance of symmetry observed in life, these relations are often symmetrical --as embodied in concepts like the Taoist yin-yang symbol. An elaborate worldview is inescapably developed predicated on these abstracted relationships, aimed to give life predictability and continuity of narrative. The Ni user never sees the world straightforwardly, as reality is formed from representative structures --not rational absolutes. To the Ni user, knowledge is the net awareness gained by superimposing layers of these representations on reality and mapping its landscape as far and wide as possible.

The Mind & Panpsychism

Moreover, because they view reality as representation, the Ni user will constantly experience life as a perceptual sphere built from the interactions of mind and material. The world appears as a tapestry woven together by higher forces that underpin every object and substance – causing the objects to feel like the outer shells or totems of fundamental forces. Moreover, a sense will often exist – as explored in phenomenology – that consciousness is the essential thing. In some form or another, the Ni user will come to embody the philosophy that the psyche has a degree of priority over the material. One way to imagine this is to say the world constellates itself to the Ni user as being built equally of "psyche" and of matter. Still, every Ni user will synthesize this felt sense in slightly different ways, with some believing that consciousness is the prime constituent of reality and others feeling we are co-creators of reality by our active participation in how it appears to us and how we ascribe meaning to the contents within it, which can lead magnetically to a type of panpsychism, where the Ni user views the contents of the mind seriously as entities, forces, energies and contours as perceivable as literal objects are to other people. These psychological images and forces will not only be present but will also be persistent. To them, the psyche has a steady yet fluid shape, an image, and a terrain to be explored through vision and internal perception. Moreover, while other types may arrive at similar philosophies through rationality, for the Ni user, this sensation is not something deduced but simply uncovered, as it represents the default state of their experience. This proclivity naturally leads to an interest in meditation, eastern thought, and spirituality, which emphasizes these same psychic aspects and presents a philosophy of consciousness more natively aligned to their phenomenological experience.

Narrowness & Convergence

However, for all their openness towards surreal ideas about consciousness, the Ni user is not random or unstructured in their views. They are scarcely persuaded of most things and are instead highly cautious of ideas. The Ni user will have a keen eye for identifying the improbability of things and will not be prone to jump on board with things unless their inner imagery already maps out an inescapable trajectory in that direction. The Ni user is not an inciter or generator of novel things, nor is their specialty a spontaneous creativity. Instead, it is the holistic assimilation of trends over time and a convergence of perspectives along the most reinforced trendlines. They generally see only one or a few trajectories stemming from a given situation and are magnetically drawn to the likeliest interpretations. Thus, the ideas the Ni user arrives at are not things they create but things they discover to be already "the case," often sourcing from an inside-out evaluation of being but just as well from a panoramic evaluation of society. In this way, the Ni user is a sort of investigator or excavator of the primordial imagery in themselves and society. More than any other type, the Ni user receives a linear and direct feed of the imagery of the unconscious, and because of this convergence of focus, many Ni users across time continue to re-discover and re-articulate the same things as they unearth the same territory. As Ni users from all ages inquire into questions of being, their convergent intuition guides them to parallel answers and to convey those understandings in imagery --since image is the primary means by which that information is discovered and encoded. A canonical historical archive, therefore, has developed over time in the form of symbology, the encrypted patterns and representative structures that underpin reality, as collectively uncovered over time.

Symbology

In this sense, the Ni user may often find camaraderie in the symbology laid down by previous pioneers for its capacity to articulate that felt inner content. Strange as it may seem to others to believe or seriously consider such archaic and outdated emblems, the Ni user is drawn to these old images like the Si user is drawn to information encoded in the old earth. The Ni user may not wish to be a mystic and, when not fully individuated, may shrink away from this imagery for fear of academic reprimand. Still, they may feel that their awareness style drafts them inescapably into these ideas. They emerge out of themselves when any intense investigation is done or even when no investigation is done. The realm of alchemical symbolism, the Tarot, ayurvedic medicine, and Astrology may be studied intently for their capacity to superimpose a representation of life. Shapes also contain a powerful influence over them, and they may be drawn to sacred geometry and mandalas. Numerology may also be investigated. Over time, by studying these emblems to discover their true meanings, they are slowly transformed into the likeness of those who built them. As they unearth the contents of this domain, they often become affiliated with the taxonomies used by their predecessors to try to express this underworld. However, their dabbling in these ideas may earn them a reputation as a mystic and confuse family and friends who may not understand the significance of such concepts.

Archetypes & Stereotypes

These observations form a vast archive of typicalities as the Ni user matures into their worldview. Each pattern of life is epitomized in the psyche as a general rule or process, which leads quite inescapably to the formation of stereotypes at the local level and archetypes at the universal level --both of which are used to map reality by providing a sense of predictability. In the positive sense, this stereotyping tendency makes life an iconic series of interactions between previously indexed forces and entities. The Ni user will overlay their schema onto the world and see iterations of the same substances everywhere. From this vantage point, certain social or political interactions will appear to them as clockwork, a series of eventualities stemming from two or more colliding forces. The interactions in a neighborhood may be seen through the same light, as categories are applied to each class of person, and their collisions cause transformations through a sort of necessary chemistry. However, as often captured by the negative sense of the word stereotype, this can lead to errors in perception where a pattern or schema is superimposed over a situation too prematurely. A person is anticipated to be a given way due to the symbol they represent while turning out to be quite different. Moreover, at the archetypal level, the same simplification may occur where the Ni user reduces the global situation as something emergent from a conflict between the light and dark, the masculine and feminine, an interaction of four or five elements or some other schema which neglects certain subtleties and details, which may be infuriating to those who live with the Ni user as they may feel the Ni user is oversimplifying them, or worse that they are pigeonholing people into their categories --whether of culture, class, race or gender. Many may scoff at the Ni user for depending on what they feel are outdated prejudices and not seeing things at the individual level. However, the Ni user cannot ignore what larger pattern someone or something generally belongs to and will tend to incidentally synthesize life from that lens without any actual investment or commitment to any dogma or belief system.

Synchronicity & Parapsychology

Another effect often emerging from the Ni function is a belief in synchronicity. Because of how Ni registers life through a delicate tracking of "significance" --not by the rigidity of causal chains-- the Ni user will instinctively see the value in data associations that converge in theme and motif, even when the cause is unknown. As is often the case for both intuitive processes, the pattern is recognized first without needing to have the sensory points explicitly traced, and neither does the absence of a sequential explanation make the information alignments vanish. Moreover, when Ni is especially strong, seemingly disconnected layers of existence are woven together through an entangled point, compelling many Ni users to contend with the possible existence of the acausal. Certain events or datasets may be felt as crossing different planes of reality and inexorably related even when a surface examination would see no trace between them. They may be struck by compelling evidence for the existence of extra-sensory perception or remote viewing, which allows us to see through the eyes of others or predict their thoughts. For some, relationships may be intuited to exist between oneself and previous lives. Areas of the body may be associated with certain psychic energies through emotional tapping, chakras, iridology, or palmistry. Certain recurring numbers may be felt as omens of blessings or catastrophes. If these intimations persist, they can become highly suspicious and feel that certain events will shortly happen when a given number, detail, or sign suggests a strong karmic force is at play.

-Behaviors Under Stress

Conspiracy Theories

When the Ni user falls out of mental health, their suspicions degrade further into superstitions, death omens, and a persistent state of anxiety. Life becomes chaotic and unpredictable. The world will feel utterly uncertain to them, and they will be unable to see the cause of their suffering or that of society. As they struggle to intuit their situation through perceptual projection, the misfortunes they experience are not interpreted as localized occurrences but are instead epitomized as emerging from some extra-personal force looming over all things. They will start to perceive a woven network of intentions behind everything, pulling the strings of society at large. Here, we see the Ni user fabricate conspiracy theories: extraterrestrial hypotheses, occult government sects, the imminent rise of a new world order, and the like. A sense exists that something unseen is making all this happen, and for once, the Ni user loses their non-committal nature and becomes utterly fixated on certain interpretations of life, which will cause them great difficulty in their daily lives as the Ni user may be quickly ostracized from society for their bizarre premonitions. More than a few distressed Ni users throughout history have been branded as local lunatics, eventually growing morose and resentful for what they feel is the lack of foresight and idiocy of the common person.

Apocalyptic Visions