Ego Orientation

Hypothesis: What Lenore means by "type" is the Semiotic Attitudes by which a person consciously orients himself. "I" follow this path, navigating by these signs, which "I" interpret in this way.

We can take any function attitude we like, but a function attitude that we follow to create a sense of self is to some considerable extent creating us. It's defining our conscious perspective, our understanding of who "I" am and what "I" care about and why "I" am doing what I'm doing.

Te: What are my goals, my criteria of progress and success? How shall I constrain affairs to ensure that those goals come about?

Ti: I must understand for myself based on reasoning that I grasp first-hand. I will have to play around with it myself so that the way it makes sense becomes clear to my mind.

Fe: What network of obligations am I bound into? How will this affect or define my relationships with other people?

Fi: What is alive here and what are its needs, and what does unconditional moral principle call upon me to do about it? What will make my soul pure?

Se: What is my gut reaction right now, regardless of past, future, or faraway circumstances? What impulse do I feel like following right this second? What image shall I create (what gut reaction shall I produce in others)?

Si: What enduring things and concerns am I anchored to, regardless of changing circumstances? What can I always find by knowing to look for it? What can I depend on in a world that is mostly unknown and changing?

Ne: How can I change the game? How can I open up the unknown and thereby change our understanding of what's before us right now?

Ni: What is my own way of seeing things, independent of influences such as other people's ideas, other people's expectations, my culture, my language, or reality itself?

Relentlessly asking and answering these questions, we form an ego. We eventually believe that the "I" of one of these sentences is what we are, and any other "I" is a threat to our very integrity as a person.

Learning about function attitudes widens our conscious perspective so that we no longer understand ourselves solely in terms of one of these. When different function attitudes no longer seem like a threat, we can call widely upon our talents and still maintain personal integrity.