Author: Aushra Augusta
From On the Dual Nature of Humanity
Disclaimer: this translation does not include paragraphs related to visual identification.
Sensoric types of IM live by sensations in the fullest sense of the word: they have an aptitude for perceiving nature and art, for enjoying all that is visible, audible, palpable. They feel their physical self and its needs very precisely, and have a pronounced rhythm of life.
It is as though a sensoric type lives only for today. Everything that will happen tomorrow is a little bit unexpected for them. Due to undeveloped abstract thinking they lack a sense of foresight and rely only on their own strength and volition. When extraverted, they are too active and make their own life more difficult; when introverted, they are too passive, afraid of making mistakes, and unsure that they actually need to do things that seem to be necessary. Introverted sensoric types are afraid to overdo it – this would make them ridiculous in their own eyes, as well as in the eyes of all other introverts.
Sensations of intuitive types are not vivid enough, and these types are constantly absent-minded. They do not even perceive their physical self clearly. Often they are only certain of their materiality while they are looking in the mirror.
A sensoric type lives a different life: differently eats, differently breathes, differently feels nature and beauty. They perceive the fullness of life – a kind of fullness that becomes available to an intuitive type only next to a sensoric type who loves and respects them – in a different way. At the same time, friendship with an intuitive type allows a sensoric type to contemplate what is happening in a calmer manner, to trust the future, and to avoid unpredictability. An intuitive type happily adapts to the rhythm needed by a sensoric type, as long as this person fits the intuitive type’s criteria in other areas (intelligence, interests, culture). On their end, an intuitive type provides a sensoric type with a prospect for the future, enriching their life with an endless list of new possibilities and a feeling that every activity is relative.
Sensoric types are, in the fullest sense of the word, attentive to all their physical needs, considering them an integral part of their physical self. This is why, for them, attraction is an inalienable right to self-realization, and a means of influencing others. For an intuitive type, attraction (just like their concrete surroundings and their own self) is something unreliable, something they cannot fully sense. They are always unsure and doubtful – is it real or just a fantasy, a figment of their imagination? For this reason they do not take initiative, waiting for it from others. A sensoric type looks for an object of attraction and tries to achieve the physical realization of this attraction. An intuitive type feels the need to be this object, since it gives them an opportunity to become themself through acquiring the right to their needs and desires. For an intuitive type their partner’s attraction is a proof of their own materiality, a moment of psychological complementation, a means of making their own self material and concrete. For intuitive types attraction is needed, necessary, desirable, and, at the same time, dangerous. They are inevitably drawn into the life rhythm of their partner, as if it was a vortex they cannot escape on their own. This leads to caution and fear of falling into submission.
It follows that only sensoric types try to attract the object of their attention. They are also the ones to take the initiative and abandon the faded feelings if it turns out that their partner does not satisfy all their psychological needs and is not a true complement to their personality. A sensoric type needs their partner to be consistent, and to have a particular kind of dependence, tameness. This can only be provided by an intuitive type, who supports the initiative of a sensoric type, but cannot take this initiative into their own hands. An intuitive type quickly realizes that they are desired, but even after that they show no activity. Their own sexual activity is taboo for them. Not because of shyness and upbringing, although this creates additional difficulties, but because of the specifics of their sexual activity. If their activity exceeds their partner’s, they feel very bad, and their former positive set related to the partner turns into a negative one. Getting closer to someone is always difficult for an intuitive type, so they are more reserved, and usually not inclined to take advantage of sexual freedoms despite all the open-mindedness they often possess.
The role jealousy plays in the intuitive-sensoric relationship is interesting. An intuitive type knows that nothing will change from their partner’s random actions. A sensoric type judges by their own experience and is therefore the jealous one. A little bit of jealousy affects an intuitive type positively, increasing their value in their own eyes. It reminds them that they are needed, desired and irreplaceable, which is the most convincing proof of their value.
Every intuitive type is more successful in taking care of others than they are in taking care of themself. A sensoric type understands their own material interests and knows how to defend them. An intuitive type waits for what is left behind by others, or for others to take care of them.
An intuitive type’s “sensation” is normative: they strictly adhere to established aesthetic norms (for example, fashion), and are not ready to be radical in this area. However, if no sensoric type complements them, an intuitive type gets tired of these efforts, gets lost, and may reach the point of complete neglect and disorder in their domestic life. Usually they know a lot about aesthetics, but are not sure of their own aesthetic taste, nor are they sure of the aesthetics of their body, clothes, and movements. For this reason an intuitive type quite often looks clumsy – that is, of course, if there is no direction from the complementer. Otherwise intuitive types achieve perfection and outdo their sensoric “directors,” the latter being quite pleased with themselves.
The same norms apply to a sense of wellbeing. A sensoric type trusts their sensations and has no doubts of being healthy or sick: after all, they “feel” it. It is the doctor who must be subordinated to their concrete, real sensations, instead of them being subordinated to the doctor’s unfounded diagnoses. If one doctor “found nothing,” a sensoric type goes to another. To an intuitive type their own sensations seem less objective than the doctor’s diagnosis. The diagnosis is the “norm,” and they behave in accordance with the diagnosis, not in accordance with the way they themself feel.
A sensoric type has a normative “intuition,” so they are exceptionally careful when it comes to the use of their time, as well as the use of potential energy and the potentialities of objects, subjects, and phenomena. They certainly cannot be creative in this area. For this reason a sensoric type is a tactician, and an intuitive type is a strategist.
We said earlier that ethical types are unable to estimate the amount of their work. On the other hand, intuitive types are unable to assess its quality, which is why they also drown in endless tasks. They are simply not sure that the work is done well enough, so they cannot finish it.
Classic Socionics 