I once told my brother, an extravert, a good talker and communicator and an excellent thinker that, if he wants me to pick up the phone when he calls (we have caller ID) he has to agree to let me say when I have had enough of our conversation. This took him aback for a moment until I patiently explained that I enjoy talking with him on the phone but I have a limited capacity to sustain a conversation for the simple reason that I process at a slower rate than he, and talking about (to me) worldly subjects wears me out in short order. I told him not to take it personally. Once he understood where I was coming from it never came up again. He would just quit the conversation whenever I felt I needed to stop without the usual winding down of the average conversation.
I always have one foot in the realm of mythic intelligence. In other words, almost everything is both "real" and symbolic simultaneously. That felt a little like madness when I was younger, when I was trying to learn the ropes of the "real" world, before I realized that straddling realities is perfectly normal for me, and that there are millions of people like me trying to make a go of living in an extraverted materialistic culture. I went through a phase of being very superstitious in high school until I got a handle on my subjectively slanted universe. Once I accepted my introverted fate I began to enjoy myself, writing precocious poetry and becoming a better observer of life.
Just to put a plug in for introverts, we should never underestimate our contribution to society. Of course introverts give us novels, poetry and theater and healers, but if the power structure ever shifts in favor of introverts stepping into positions of leadership, we can expect a revamping of society from bottom up. Introverts value individuality over team-spirit and they are more heart-centered and conscientious than extraverts. They are more feeling oriented and would give us more humane, truly democratic institutions. But they are more than just sympathetic, they are empathetic. Kindness, tolerance of differences, a slower pace would be hallmarks of an introverted society.
To be continued. . .
(Article changed on January 31, 2019 at 16:52)
(Article changed on January 31, 2019 at 18:21)
(Article changed on February 1, 2019 at 01:19)
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