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Discussion Page: Point Six,
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The following discussions are organized according to the chief issues or characteristics of Point Six. These personal accounts illustrate how people of this type have experienced the main characteristics of the type. For a general description of the type, go to Point Six.
Common characteristics associated with Type Six:
Fear:
Fear is usually considered the primary underlying point of attention of the 6:
Paul (4): A Six's main concern is fear even though they may not admit it is fear. It must be a great relief to recognize that their fear is fixation based. I know a lady convinced she was a Four and in a constant state of Fourish anguish. When she finally recognized she was a Six, there was a dramatic change in her. She became much more relaxed and aware and alive than she had ever been under the assumption that she was a Four.
Dennis (6): To discover fear as a fixation rather than "something out there that was going to get me" gave me a tremendous experience of liberation.
What is counterphobic?
Dennis (6): As a six, I feel qualified to answer this one. When something gives rise to fear, I have a choice of fight or flight. If I choose to fight I may well find myself reacting counter phobically - a bit like the zebra attacking the lion. Counter phobic reaction is often over the top. If one is over-sensitised to fear, one can over-react in terms of "defending" oneself.
Ellen (4): By example: when my husband gets scared, he retreats, that is, his behavior is phobic. When I see something fear provoking, I poke the spider to see if it's alive. He sees a red light. I see a 'red flag' that says 'GO' -- 'get back on the horse'. That's counter-phobic.
Cowardice
Trust
Dennis (6): My understanding of being "thinking repressed" boils down to a trust issue - that is, trusting my own intellectual capacity. It's there, but we sixes tend to distance ourselves from it. I recall some years ago, discussing my poor perception of my own intellectual application in a retreat group that was exploring MBTI. The leader of the group, a person very widely accepted and known as a perceptive thinker and author in the wider community (note the 6 kowtowment to socially accepted authority) approached me after and said, "That's funny, I've always found your contributions to the group to be profound and clearly thought out!" Since then, I became more trusting of my thinking capacity, even though I still feel distant from it. Call this a six submission to authority other than one's own! I still find myself liable to jump to conclusions without going through any formal thinking process that I can retrospectively identify. This may be contrary to what I have disciplined myself to do through acquired methods and processes but only when I apply myself. Counter-phobically, I think I would go into a kind of denial, and trumpet my braininess from the roof-tops to cover the feeling of distance from the grey matter up top - come to think of it, there are circumstances where I have done this. Ooops! I've blown all us sixes' cover!
Authority
Marie (6): I think I may be a 6 because of my absolute need to obey authority / rules and laws and my great fear of disobeying, though as I've matured I've challenged my superiors on occasion when I felt that myself and my colleagues were being asked to serve above and beyond the call of duty. My parents would be included in those authority figures. My life experiences have taught me a lot and I think that my motivation has been coloured by them to the extent that I find it difficult to recognize what number I am. I have a great sense of duty and an associated load of guilt when ever I fail to do my "duty." My conscience was my ruler for a long time but I've learned to give it due recognition now and I am not as afflicted/conscience-stricken now when something goes wrong.
Safety
Dennis (6): For a six, it is much easier to repeat things by rote according to herd mentality than to think things through independently. This, I believe, is the crux of being "thinking-repressed."
I don't often get into DA [Devil's Advocate] mode, but when I do I'm like a terrier with a bone. My SOs [Significant Others] tell me I've always got to have the last say! The motivation? Primarily, sheer enjoyment! Perhaps, more deeply, the need to defend a position of balance. Order is important to us sixes!
Marc: In the cases where I've observed a six coming out with something radical, it seemed to have been that at some level the six knows s/he's conforming too much, and to compensate displays superficial anticonformism or seeks a group of "anticonformists" as peers.
Dennis (6): To a point I can agree with you, having been there, done that. Not all independently thinking sixes are simply over-reacting when they break out of their conservatism, however. There is the possibility of true liberation of mind when sixes discover they have one to be liberated! How to tell the difference? In my experience, we remain loyal to the herd while attempting to steer the herd in some new directions.
Vigilance
Paul (4): To speak specifically about Six, if they are out of touch with a deep or intuitive knowledge of how things are and how things develop, in compensation they will need to be very alert and try to use their imagination, scanning, etc to try to identify clues as to harm in the present or future. Fear and doubt are important aspects of this compensation.
Dennis (6): I posted, a little while ago, that as a 6, I resonate most with the zebra (another "pack" or "herd" animal). The zebra both flees and courts danger. It will keep a safe distance from a stalking predator, yet doesn't move so far away that it loses sight of the source of danger. It seems to be conflicted over avoiding and confronting danger/risk. Or maybe the zebra believes that, if it can at least see the danger, it doesn't have to keep guessing where it is!
Doubt
Ambivalence
Negativity
- Please
address any comments, suggestions, or contributions about Point Six
to the Point Six Editor, Dennis Ryle, dennisryle@classic.msn.com.
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