Where Do Our Visitors Come From? Since the 'collected papers' section was first posted in late February of 1998 the three front pages of this site have been accessed nearly 20,000 times. With the advent of the 'Journal' in August, the number of visits increased dramatically. More recently we have added a section of the site devoted to personality type, organizational form, and the structure of consciousness. While still under development, it has nonetheless also begun to attract visitors. Approximately seventy individuals visit the three respective front pages of this suite of web-sites each day. Although we don't count the number of times the numerous other backpages at the site are directly accessed, our server report that some of these are amongst the most frequently accessed pages that they currently offer. During the past year individuals from sixty countries have visited 'The Enneagram and the MBTI' - Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Oman, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, South Africa, South Korea, Singapore, Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Trinidad and Tobago, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Venezuela.	What Kind of Communications Are Currently Taking Place at This Site? We receive approximately 500 emails per month generated by material presented at the site, and a half dozen hardcopy letters. In addition, there is correspondence that Ros and Walter handle on their own in the course of managing the 'Type Writer' page and the 'Community Forum'. The messages that we received regarding the written and visual works of art that are displayed in the Journal are not included here in the 'Letters to the Editor' column. Excerpts from visitor emails regarding these topics can be found in the respective sections devoted to these concerns - in the 'Typewriter' and 'Art and Personality' sections. We have also chosen not to include messages here that were posted at the Community Forum Message Board - because they continue to be DIRECTLY available there. In a brief overview of what has been happening at the board, Walter has summarized some of the topics that have been addressed there, and has eloquently described the kind of dialogue that has begun to occur there. As he mentions, it is impossible to include - either at the board or here - the numerous email conversations that have taken place as a result of some messages posted at the board, or some of the email exchanges that have led to postings. Nor have we included confidential conversations initiated by individuals interested in coming to a better understanding of their own Enneagram and MBTI types and the relationship between the two systems as they experience these manifesting within themselves. There is also little point in reproducing the requests that we receive for technical assistance, unless we feel that others will benefit from the answers. A few individuals each month seek assistance in downloading the condensed pdf file that contains the entire 'collected papers' site for off-line reading, make requests to be included on various mailing lists, and seek help with how to use the message board. We also continue to receive, on a daily basis, responses to the 33 question experimental indicator (FD33) that we put up in August. Over 1,000 individuals have taken the time to fill out the experimental 33-question preference order indicator since then. We treat the forms that they submit as confidential communications and will not share individual responses publicly, but will report further on our findings in the future (a preliminary report was posted in the Second Issue of the Journal). So what HAVE we included here in the 'Letters to the Editor' section? A number of messages that do not fit within the other communication formats that we offer - short messages that are left at the guestbook, ones emailed to us directly from the site, or hard-copy letters sent via the post office. When these initiate a two-party correspondence that may be beneficial to our readership at large, however, we try to include them in the 'Conversations' column - in this issue we have chosen to continue to run correspondence that took place between John and Pat Wyman in late 1998.
We Still Need Your Help in Designing Email 'Lists' and 'Chat Room Discussions'. To date, the chatroom facility has been most successfully used only for small (two or three person) meetings that require 'real time' responses - meetings, for instance, in which specific decisions need to be made, with simultaneous input required from various parties. We are, however, considering whether to schedule some get-togethers on specific topics at the chatroom and need to know what kind of groups you'd be interested in participating in. The Chat Room has other advantages over alternate forms of electronic communication - such meetings can be made 'private' at the Delphi facilities that we use, and a transcript of the discussion can be logged and emailed to participants - obviating the need for someone to 'take minutes' of the proceedings. And there is something nice about getting a response immediately, in 'real time'. We are also considering creating email 'lists' for those who would like to participate in email discussion groups on specific topics or issues, or individuals who may have an email account but limited internet access. If you have a topic related to the Enneagram and MBTI that you would like to form a discussion group around, either via email list or at the private chatroom, please let us know. We are compiling a list of topics, and the names of interested parties. So far, here are the ideas that some individuals have suggested - clergy members who use the Enneagram and MBTI for counseling purposes, writers with an interest in discussing personality type and the written word, and organizational development consultants who want to explore the relationship between personality type and organizational forms. Chatroom meetings and/or email 'lists' are often most productive when attended by a SMALL number of participants with similar interests. Email us if you have a topic that you'd be interested in discussing in one of these formats, or if you are interested in leading a discussion on a particular topic.

Messages/Letters (received since last issue):
John, Re: Your article, "Keirsey Stratagem". In "I'm Not Crazy, I'm Just Not You", the authors also use different combinations of attitudes and functions to describe different aspects of personality. For example, they say our first impression on others is determined by whether we are IP, IJ, EP, or EJ. They don't come up with different temperaments or types of course. I reviewed the book at http://www.mbtypeguide.com/Type/1998archive.html#11091998ImNotCrazy Just a short note. Your article was interesting. Mary Hoerr hoerrs@midplains.net Myers-Briggs® Personality Type on the Web at http://www.mbtypeguide.com/Type/index.html Thanks, Mary. I wasn't aware of that book. Enjoyed your review.
02/01/99 Dear Editors, Do I need a group registration code to participate in chat rooms (mbti-related)? is there anything other than the registering I've already completed to do also? T.S. Dear T.S., No, that's all you need to participate in the EMBTI board and chat rooms at Delphi - the registration code 'EMBTI' (without parentheses). But the chat rooms have been idle recently. Do you have specific subjects you want to discuss? Perhaps you could advertise your interest or ideas about chat topics on the board at Delphi, or, better yet, at our easy access board at - "http://tap3x.net/wwwboard/wwwboard.html" Please let us know if we can be of any further help.
01/28/99 Dear Editors, As an INFJ I am very interested in this topic. I just received my first issue of the NF JOURNAL with reference to your article "Toward a Diversity of Psychological Type in Organization ". I look forward to more articles from you. Karen Lamb Donehoo Dear Karen, There are a few more articles posted at that site, and a few more that we hope to be able to post in the future.	01/28/99 Dear Editors, Your site on 'Personality Type, Organizational Form, and the Structure of Human Consciousness' is good, interesting and informative. Lakshmi Krishnan Dear Lakshmi, Thanks!
01/20/99 Dear Editors, What a great idea to provide written material and the opportunity to guess the writer's type! On "TYPE WRITER: personality type and the written word - December, 1998" , the personality types of featured writers are revealed. Even though it was for a prior issue, and the submitted guesses have been officially tabulated, I'd like to enjoy the challenge too, just for myself. Would you please provide a page where the type is not revealed so we who are arriving on your site for the first time can read & quess, too, just for ourselves, for the fun of it? THEN we can click on over to learn the actual type. Or don't reveal it right at the top of the page. I averted my eyes and actually left the page without reading it, in the hope that I can still somehow access the stories first. I realize this may be an on-going feature, but I don't want to miss any the opportunity to practice! Such a waste! I make guesses every day about real people, but never get the chance to compare it to real results! Thanks! AO Dear AO, We're glad you enjoy this feature! And thank you for the feedback. At the top of the 'Type Writer' page, there is a tab which reads 'skip to new pieces'. If you click on that you will be taken directly to the end of Ros's article, where the new works are presented. In this way you can avoid having the Types of previous writers revealed to you before you have had a chance to guess them. If you are interested in the 'Type Writer' page in previous issues, these are available in the archive , which contains back issues of the Journal, and is readily accessible from the Journal's front page. As you seem to be interested in guessing the Types of individuals, you might also want to visit the 'Art and Personality' section of the Journal.
01/15/98 John and Pat, My scores on your experimental FD33 instrument were extremely lopsided (N=19, S=5, F=5, T=8) and consequently helpful in developing a personal growth strategy. Very simply, I pause throughout the day to check what I'm sensing (S), and in particular when/if I'm upset. This has been effective in alleviating a general muscle tension (my "baseline") and more realistic reactions to what's occurring in my world. It would be helpful to me as a therapist to have scoring instructions, in order to tailor interventions (based on the four functions) for clients. So, John and Patricia, how 'bout it? JB Dear JB, Its an excellent idea to work with one's inferior and less developed functions in the way you suggest, because these are the ones that are most likely to get you into trouble. In order to know which functions are in fact inferior or underdeveloped, it is helpful to have an assessment tool. But ours is still in an experimental stage, and there are other instruments available to do this - the MBTI, and Keirsey's to mention the most obvious alternatives. Marie-Louise Von Franz also has very good descriptions of how each of the four functions manifests when it is inferior and steeped in the unconscious. Our purpose in designing the FD33 was to explore methods for DIRECTLY identifying the individual's 'functional preference order', instead of making an INFERENCE about the individual's preference order on the basis of how he/she scores on the J/P scale - which is what the MBTI does. We felt that this was important to do because we believe that the J/P designation is overly limiting, by virtue of its design; it does not permit individuals who have an Ni-Fe-Ti-Se preference order to score as a 'P', for instance. This combination, which Pat and I have been calling the 'iNfp', is excluded BY DEFINITION in the MBTI; the iNfp (who has an Ni-Fe-Ti-Se order) will thus mistakenly be identified by the MBTI as an INFP (who has an Fi-Ne-Si-Te). If this is the case, than a certain amount of 'noise' will be created in demographic studies seeking to correlate MBTI type and Enneagram type, and one can legitimately ask 'Are some of the individuals who score as INFP/4 (E4s who are Fi-Ne-Si-Te) actually be iNfp/4 (E4s who are Ni-Fe-Ti-Se), and hence more closely fit the INFJ profile that one expects in E4?' Needless to say, we have designed the FD33 accordingly - in such a way that it doesn't preclude such non-traditional combinations of preference with J and/or P. But there are other principles that we incorporated into its design - related to our understanding of the four functions as 'developmental' in nature. These are fairly complex matters, that we are really not in a position to discuss at this point in time, and feel that we must first put our efforts into analysing the data that we receive from our ongoing on-line experiment (once we have received an adequate number of responses to do this) and in discovering what might be inferred from it - which will hopefully teach us how to perfect our scoring process. For the time being, we are interested mainly in whether the indicator, in combination with the individuals MBTI 'J/P' score, can actually be helpful in flagging those who have the non-traditional preference order and J/P combinations that we are interested in as a result of our MBTI-Enneagram correlation work. Before designing the instrument we came in contact with a number of individuals who indeed appear to exemplify these non-traditional combinations, but realized that we needed a better method for contacting and flagging such individuals. As we knew of no tool available that would meet our needs in this respect, we decided to create one. So we are not, any time soon, going to make the instrument available other than at our site. But thanks for asking, and please know that we are happy to learn that you are interested in using it, and that it has prompted you to work on your inferior sensing function. John and Pat 01/15/99 John and Pat, I was thinking about you just last Friday when the announcement came overhead reminding employees of the stress management presentation occurring during lunch(!). This was in one of the best social/mental health organizations in [a large city in the U.S.]. While it was highly recommended and every employee received an email about it, its scheduling cries out its priority rating in the organization. I'll be (gently) bringing this up to management. JB JB is referring to the 'exercise' that we presented in a paper in last month's issue of the Journal, "On 'Typing' Organizations, Theories, and Other Non-human Entities - 'Nested Frames' Versus 'Functional Preference Orders". In the exercise we presented an organizational scenario that we asked readers to 'type' (using the MBTI). The scenario involved a situation in which the 'F' activities offered by the organization were being relegated to a marginal place in the schedule of activities - to the lunch period, in fact! In presenting the exercise we offered people the opportunity to email us their remarks before reading our analysis of scenario, according to our 'frame based' analysis. JB submitted the following off-the-cuff analysis, which was excellent - "1. Sally is ordered to the meeting in hierarchical fashion. 2. She and all other employees have been involved in similar activities for the past year (more orders). a.) one specific activity was compiling comparative salary statistics (external facts) b.) focus group including consumers to critique services 3. New activity is Futures Search, includes employees, administrative staff, board members, selected consumers. Structured activity imagining change in ten years 4. Optional activity (feeling oriented) over lunch (yeah, right) The year-long activity is ordered by management. There is external, sensing information-gathering, and assessment of services (necessarily past-oriented). There is a facade of open activities, but they are ordered. I imagine the *selected* consumers are chosen carefully by management. The potentially intuitive "what if in ten years" exercise is another ordered activity and very structured. Seems to me it's merely a ruse for the hierarchical org. to continue business as usual, much as the last two nonprofits I worked for incorporated "Quality" language and standards, which meant we were merely ordered to produce the paperwork which "demonstrated" consumer orientation. Seems like the typical ESTJ org. you discuss in several of your papers."
01/14/99 Excellent information, since I am a qualified MBTI instructor trying to include enneagram information into the mix. K.M.
01/09/99 Dear Editors, This is the way the 'net's supposed to be used! -- sharing information, providing sources and resources, clean design -- super! Your site, the javascript tool, and the availability of the documents in pdf format are a truly elegant use of the 'net. I'd love to know when pdf version of the 'Organizational Form, Personality Type, and Structure of Consciousness' site is available. Thank you very much. J.B. Dear J.B. You're welcome. We've put a lot of thought, time and energy into how to use the net to its best benefit, and we are happy when this is appreciated. Comparatively few visitors remark on this. Are you in the website business yourself in some capacity?
01/06/99 Dear Editors, This site was really excellent, informative. I have been searching for a while, and this is BY FAR the best i've seen. Excellent work..I'm going to continue browsing it now :) Thanks, Brian Dear Brian, Your welcome; thanks for the feedback!
12/24/98 Hi, John, Thanks so much for the article. With your busy schedule, I never dreamed I'd get an original offering. I certainly understand "negative hallucinations." A while ago I was dropping off my daughter's playmate on my way to take my daughter to school and me to work. Even though I had been to the playmate's house many times, I not only missed the turn but continued an additional five minutes on my way to work before I noticed my error! That's one of the reasons I find M-B so interesting. I'm trying to understand the alternate ways of perceiving and judging. Frankly, I find it much easier to understand sensing than feeling judgement-- surprise ;-) It was being introduced to the concept of the inferior function that finally got it through to me that my idea of what feeling judgement is is very immature. In fact, looking at your five developmental levels, I would say I stayed at Level 1 well through college. I would say I'm at level 2 now, and I can at least understand what level 3 is. Your other 2 levels are still gibberish to me, but that's because I need to print your descriptions out and study them. Your descriptions make more sense than many other F descriptions, though, because I think other F descriptions have tended to be too "F" for me. I've taken it on faith that F judgement is rational. I'm only just starting to understand *how* that can be so. Again, thanks for the article. It will be published Sunday evening, Dec 27 or early Monday morning, Dec 28. If you have a preference for which category your article should be filed under after its week run, please let me know. Mary hoerrs@midplains.net Myers-Briggs Personality Type on the Web at http://www.mbtypeguide.com/Type/index.html
12/20/98 Hi, I found your site comparing the two personality systems very interesting. I am an astrologer and find the enneagram particulalry pertinent as it seems to follow a similar philosophy. The MBTI on the otherhand does not strike a chord with me at all. So it is fascinating to see you line them up so decisively. Have you done a statistical test to see whether or not enneagram personalities actually do follow the same pattern as you have hypothesised? I see a test in Helen Palmer's "The Enneagram- Understandng yourself and others." p.383. The sample population looks rather biased to me, but it is interesting to see that enneagram points did not correspond directly with MBTI. I agree in your theoretical approach to definitions of comparison. I am unclear of my MBTI profile but believe it to be ENT(?)P. According to my riso-hudson enneagram test I am a 7 or 8 enneagram number. Looking at my astrology chart I would say I am 8 with a 7 wing, because my chart appears to contain what I beleive are astrological combinations that correspond to the numbers 7,8,5 and 2. I would be happy with this conclusion if I had not seen that you consider an 8 to be an ENTJ!!!! I'm not sure I like that idea, but I suppose it might be accurate. Palmer notes an 8 as an ENTP, which I see as more probable for myself. Anyway, it is a very interesting subject to chat about, I am yet to be convinced of the usefulness of the MBTI though, as I do not like the idea of inferior functions, and I think if you are going to detail people beyond a small number of basic categories you may as well go all the way and divide them up in to every possible combination of MBTI that you can, rather then using a superior and inferior function heirarchy. Well, I hope this email finds you in good Christmas spirits. Happy New Year to you as well, 1999 wil be a very significant one. R.T. Dear R., Thank you. We're glad you found the material interesting. We are aware of the study that Palmer cites and took this into consideration at the time we formulated our original theory in 1996, in a paper called "The Enneagram and the MBTI: In Search of Common Ground". The empirical evidence that supports our theory was generated by the EM survey on MBTI and Enneagram types and is available on our site, at "http://tap3x.net/EMBTI/charts.html#CHART3B". Subsequent studies generated data very similar to the EM survey, as you can see from our review of these, at "http://tap3x.net/EMBTI/page0.html". As you will see when you look at the charts in the first paper cited above, although the ENTJ and ESTJ (the Jungian 'extraverted thinking type') has the highest concentration in E8 (with I=4.6 and I=3.7 respectively), ENTPs and ENFPs also show up in E8 at frequencies greater than would be expected if distribution were random (I=1.0). When Pat and I identified the E_TJ as 'prototypical' of E8, we did not mean to imply that other types will not identify as E8, but simply that the concerns and issues of the E8 most closely parallel those of the E_TJ. Others with similar issues are likely to gravitate toward E8. Since the time we wrote our above-mentioned first paper on the relationship between the two systems, we have speculated that the ENTPs that test as E8s may very well be what we call enTps - that is, extraverted types with a T-N-S-F preference order who are 'Ps' (don't seek closure). This combination is not permitted by the MBTI assumption, one that we believe to be faulty, which dictates that 'P-ness' in extraverts must NECESSARILY have dominant N or S. The J/P designation at the end of every MBTI type-name specifies two things which can be separated out but are not either in MBTI theory or testing practice - - the individual's functional preference order, and the individual's inclination toward closure. What we therefore need is a test that identifies 'preference order' INDEPENDENTLY from the MBTI - which is how we came up with the FD33, with which we are experimenting. In other words - lets say you are an ENTP, as you speculate. Our Enneagram-MBTI theory treats the 'classical' ENTP (eNtp) - who is E/N-T-F-S - as 'prototypical' of E7. But perhaps you are not an eNtp but enTp - who is E/T-N-S-F (a configuration identical to the ENTJ's). How can we determine if this is the case? It would help to know how you score on the FD33 and also your precise scores on the RHETI and the MBTI (or Keirsey's test), as these might provide additional information about your MBTI and Enneagram types. I realize that you are not particularly interested in the MBTI, and that's okay. But if you have further questions about any of this, I'd be glad to continue the conversation. John
12/19/98 Dear John, You sent me an email suggesting I check out this site ['Type, Organization, and the Structure of Consciousness'] after I commented on your MBTI-Enneagram site. Hurry up and get those papers posted! I'm dying to read the one on the five developmental levels. You are absolutely right on the importance of understanding the level of development. It wasn't until I learned about the inferior or shadow function that I realized that I had been assuming all my life that "feeling" meant someone using an inferior function, because that is what it is for me (INTP). M.H.
12/15/98 Hello. You probably don't have access to many INFJ's (since we're 1% of the population). However, your information about us is accurate. As a F, it's easy to subjectively say that the link between INFJ's and type 4's is obvious, but it's reassuring to see that it's been objectively proven. I have always believed that there is a strong corrolation between the two personality systems. This is especially true for the self-knowing IN types. If you ever need volunteers for further studies, or if you just want to know more about my type(s), I would happily volunteer. Thank you. Thank you very much for the kind offer! Have you taken the preference order indicator that we posted on the front page of the Journal? I'm always interested how people who know both their MBTI and Enneagram types score on that.
12/15/98 Hello, John. I took your preference your test. The results: n=19 s=0 t=10 f=9. I continually get disconnected after l get the results (b/c my computer's a piece of shit) so l don't know if there's a part 2. l'm happily reassured that my dominant function is N, but l'm confused about the t/f part. l hope that you requested gender for statistical purposes (and it wouldn't influence the results). Your idea about preference order (explained before the test) is very innovative. l haven't done enough research to agree, but l admire that kind of non-restrictive thinking. l know you have an N in your type! What are the other 3 letters? No, there's no Part Two yet. The test is experimental and may not be fine enough to discriminate correctly between a preference for F and T if these are close. So I wouldn't worry about it. But it does seem to indicate that you would have a N-F-T-S or N-T-F-S preference order, and a rather strong N bias. If I knew which questions you answered which way I might be able to say more. Sorry about the disconnect. I don't know why that happens, and nobody else has complained about it to me yet. When you took the MBTI, how close was your F and T? Yes, we requested gender for statistical purposes. Thanks for the kind words regarding the innovative nature of our work. I am an iNtuitive, just like you guessed - in fact, I'm an INFJ, just like you. John
12/15/98 Greetings, i just returned from a week of mbti qualifiying workshop, and the entire reading/discussion of dominant/auxillary/tertiary/inferior functions throughout the workshop left me disagreeing with the theory. i'm an infp. if my natural preference is for perceiving, and my "perceiving" function is intuition, why would my "dominant" function be feeling? my intuition feels more dominant to me. (furthermore, if i'm an introvert, why would i want to extrovert my perceiving function?) it was refreshing to discover your site, and on your instrument i did indeed score as N-F-T-S, or an iNfp. i look forward to following the rest of your study. regards, bonnie Dear Bonnie, Yes, in 1993 Pat and I came to the conclusion that there was something fishy with the 'J/P' designation in MBTI theory - which doesn't mean, of course, that it is not nevertheless a tremendously useful system! That last letter in the spelling of the type-name - whether it be 'J' or 'P' - is ambiguous. It has two senses, which sometimes CAN act at cross-purposes. When you separate out the two senses of the word by using the nomenclature that we arrived at, then the 'j' or 'p' is reserved for meaning that the individual is respectively either the kind of person who 'seeks closure' or tends toward 'spontaneity', and the capitalized letter indicates which is the dominant function. Hence, one could be an iNfp or an inFp, an iNfj or an inFj. Another way of putting this is that the iNfp is an introvert with an 'N-F-T-S' preference order (ie, I/N-F-T-S) but with an inclination toward 'P' - a configuration which SHOULD be possible but is ruled out by the assumptions on which the MBTI is built (since according to the MBTI if one is an I/N-F-T-S, one must necessarily be a 'J'). Since this could explain why some INFPs (the iNfps, in particular) score as Enneagram 4s (where, because of the definition of the E4 as a 'Romantic' we would expect introverted intuitives to concentrate most heavily), we decided to try to get some additional independent information from individuals regarding their preference order, and designed the FD33 to accomplish this. Using this instrument we have located individuals who indeed do appear to be iNfps, inFjs, and so on. Its very interesting that you should have independently arrived at the idea of being an INFP with dominant N function, connected this with concerns about the 'J/P' theory, and tested as an N-F-T-S using our instrument!!! You're not alone, by the way - others fit the same description. Thanks for your note, and if we can be of any further help let me know. John
12/12/98 Dear Editors, Are there any books by Geldart about his 5th function, as I really want to understand it more. My E-mail is ....@aol.com. Thanks. PS, could you also suggest a book which best describes Jung's 4 types and a book for Ouspenky's 4 types. Yours Hopefully, P.R. Dear P.R., I assume that you saw the paper at the site entitled, "Geldart's 'Fifth' Function: an Ingenious Strategy for Reconciling the Enneagram and the MBTI". If not, its at - "http://tap3x.net/EMBTI/jfifth.html" At the end of that paper the following two books, helpful in understanding Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's 'four functions', are referenced - Gurdjieff, G. I. (1973) Views from the Real World: Early Talks of G. I. Gurdjieff. New York: Penguin Books. Ouspensky, P.D. (1971) The Fourth Way: a Record of Talks and Answers to Questions Based on the Teachings of G.I.Gurdjieff. New York: Vintage Books. Jung's Psychological Types is the obvious 'direct' source when it comes to how he defined the four functions. There are many secondary sources, incuding Von Franz's work on Jungian type, and the easier to understand Gifts Differing by Myers and Myers. Although Walter does not yet have a book, he is working on one, and I'm sure he would be more than willing to discuss his concept of the 'fifth' function with you via email. He can be reached directly at wjgeldart&worldnet.att.net. If I can be of any further help, please let me know. John
12/12/98 Dear Editors, Hi, one question; do you have a good FAQ on what MBTI is? i have never heard of that term, so please e-mail me att: ..... L.O. Dear L.O., No, we don't have a FAQ. But we do have a paper that is fairly basic, and goes through the assumptions underlying the MBTI. It is at - "http://tap3x.net/EMBTI/page2.html" We did not create a FAQ because there are so many good books on this subject that are readily available, and there is little purpose in putting time and effort into replicating what has been done well in the first place. You might want to try Gifts Differing, by Myers and Myers, to start out with. John	12/12/98 Dear Editors, Hi my name is ....., on line I go by eaglehawk. Thanks for sending me your msg re pickup of newsletter. Unfortunately, the link provided to pick up the news letter show it to be in error. Can you assist me? Thanks in advance: Eaglehawk. Dear Eaglehawk, There is no newsletter. But if you mean the pdf file for the 'collected papers' section (it contains all of the papers there, and can be read off-line), it can be accessed by clicking here, where you will also be told how to get the free adobe 'reader', which you will need to read the pdf file. We do not yet have pdf versions of the other papers (at the Journal or the Organization site).
12/6/98 Dear Editors, My MBTI Preferences are E,N,T, & J, and I'm an Enneagram Type One. I am certified to use the MBTI. I have read more than 50 books on psychological type and am currently interested in the Enneagram, having read 7 books on this personality system in the last two weeks. Your papers look like fascinating reading. Thank you for making this site available. C.P. Dear C.P., You're welcome. Would love to hear what your thoughts are on any of the topics presented here! John, Thanks for a quick acknowledgement. I printed a bunch of your papers. It will take me a while to plow through it, but I will definitely get back to you. I know a lot about type. I had been buying enneagram books every time I saw one at the used book store. I saw an issue of the "Type Reporter" on type and the enneagram and I was off and running. Usually, when confronted with a new theory or model about people, I am able to correlate it quickly to the psych type model. One of the attractions of the enneagram for me is that those connections are not clearly evident. There is enough obvious connections to tease you (e.g., Se-7, Ti-5, and Inferior Ne of ISFJ-6), but some don't make sense at this point in my understanding. Although, if the memory of a quick perusal of your papers serves me, you were correlating Ne to 7, but modified that based on the concept of 'S-N Blindness'? It looks like a lot of your work will make the connections clearer for me. Most of the literature on type puts it solidly in the nature camp in the great nature versus nurture debate, and the literature I've seen to date on the enneagram puts it solidly on the side of nurture. Perhaps its not an either/or question? I also am looking forward to reading/contemplating your ideas about type diversity in the work place. I find myself climbing up on my 'soap box' in my workshops about this subject a lot. I thought I read in one of the papers that you were looking for correlations between the Riso Hudson instrument and the MBTI. I have taken both (version 2.0 of the RHTI), as well as being a participant in the Richards-Flautt research. C.P.
12/5/98 Dear John, Your article, " The Five Levels of the Feeling Function: a Phenomenological Description", was referred to me by an online friend who participates in an online psychological type discussion group I've been participating in for years. I've studied a great deal about type, and have found your article to be one of the most meaningful discussions of the development of the feeling function I've ever encountered. (Frankly, much of what I've read on F has been impenetrable to me, for reasons which will soon I suspect become clear.) I'm INTJ -- very NT. I don't much gravitate towards the enneagram, but I tend to come out as either analyst or perfectionist (5, 1). My friend gave me your URL to help me with an interpersonal conflict I am experiencing with the other leaders of my Zen group. Exacerbating the problem is that the group is independent of a teacher, and has no formal structure. Leadership is implicit, so what's going on here is as much a power struggle as it is a personality conflict. She also thought that it would be useful for me to contact you, due to the connection on Buddhism and psychological type. My conflict is basically along type lines, Ts versus the Fs. I have always considered F to be my very weakest function. Based on your article I'd assign myself to level 2, although I could make arguments that I could be level 3 or level 1 -- or maybe 3 on good days and 1 on bad days. I do have the problems noted with inferior S, but they seem to be infrequent, and to seldom cause me any significant problems in life. F is what always gives me problems. My observation is that most of the other members of my group have much more developed F than I do, and significantly less developed T, leading to -- in hindsight -- predictable conflicts. Do you have any suggestions on resources for learning how to manage such conflicts, or how to develop the feeling function? INTJ Zennie This letter led to an extended conversation that cannot be adequately summarized here. Suffice it to say that there are many methods for 'educating' the feeling function. Jungian analyst James Hillman, for instance, has described psychotherapy as one of the methods for accomplishing this goal. Hillman even goes so far as to say that perhaps it is "not so preposterous to claim that the profession of psychotherapy owes its existence to the inadequate and undeveloped state of the feeling function [in our culture]." Indeed, in articulating our 'five levels' of the feeling function Pat and I borrowed from the work of another psychotherapist - Carl Rogers - who discerned 7 stages through which the feeling function could develop in the course of successful therapy. There are various other approaches that individuals who interested in developing the feeling function can use. I won't go into them here. But I do want to mention that these approaches can generally be classified into groups each of which can be primarily associated with one of the five levels of development of the feeling function. It stands to reason that the methods that are likely to be most useful in helping the individual to develop feeling will depend on the level of development that the individual has already achieved. People who deny the very existence of 'feelings' within themselves will need an approach that is quite different from someone who is in constant communication with his or her feeling states, and has learned to tap into the subtle feedback and guidance that they provide. Or someone who can passively empathize with the feeling states of others, but has not refined this skill to the point where he or she can accomplish a reciprocal interactive 'resonance' with the other person. For individuals in a serious meditation practice, there is also a need to find a method for educating the feeling function that does not undermine the practice. As Jung noted, meditation is the quintessential introverted intuitive project. And most 'spiritual' or 'mystical' systems utilize some form of meditation as a methodology for more profoundly exploring the intuitive function. At some some stage (usually an early one) these systems characteristically downplay all three of the dimensions of human experience related to the remaining functions (the cognitive dimension, the sensory dimension, and the affective dimension). This is because the intuitive dimension proper is elusive, and until one can experience it in a way that is more or less unadulterated, one may have difficulty distinguishing that which intuition ultimately puts us in touch from the objects of the other three functions - and we thus remain unable to experience the 'transcendence' that these systems aim at achieving as a requisite preliminary accomplishment. When we are not careful, the emphasis that we put on 'feeling' when we seriously try to educate it can inadvertently undermine the effectiveness of those projects that seek to introduce us to more profound 'spiritual' experiences. And vice versa. This is not the appropriate place to further pursue this interesting problem, and its many ramifications. But I did want to at least raise the issue at this point. John
12/4/98 Dear Pat and John, ... I found your papers very interesting, and believe our readers would as well. However, as ours is not an academic journal, we would not want to reprint entire articles. Therefore, with your permission, we would like to publish the abstracts of the four parts of "Toward a Diversity of Psychological Type in Organization," and include your Web address for the complete articles. This way, readers who have a deeper interest (particularly Type professionals) can explore your ideas fully. Please advise if we may print the abstracts, with your names and Web site address. Thank you again for the information. Mary Twillman Mary & Brian Twillman Publishers, The NF Journal “Creating a Global Community of Compassionate Communicators” http://www.nfjournal.com Dear Mary, Please do. As NFs in an ST world Pat and I find solace in reading your Journal and hope that your readers will enjoy our papers.