Motes and Beams: A Neo-Jungian Theory of Personality

by Michael Pierce

This book is the fruit of seven years' research, thought, and debate. We do not understand ourselves because we do not understand each other; and we do not understand each other because we do not understand ourselves. As the world becomes more and more connected through media and technology, the consequences of such ignorance become more and more clear. This book is a humble, though earnest, contribution to the task of understanding ourselves and each other. This task is not as easy as many people seem to think. For, we each are born with deep, philosophical assumptions and cognitive tendencies through which we make sense of the world. To understand these assumptions is to face a measure of existential threat, because they are not the same for every person. This book offers a way to categorize these assumptions into a number of distinct "types," in order to help us wrap our heads around them.This approach to personality is derived from the works of Carl Jung (creator of analytic psychology) and Isabel Myers (creator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). It also draws from the wisdom of Socionics theory, and from a vast internet community of modern "neo-Jungian" theorists and enthusiasts. Along the way, many other topics outside of personality are touched on in a "Jungian" spirit of holistic inquiry, from philosophy, to history, mythology, science, sociology, spirituality, sexuality, and world literature.Its author, Michael Pierce, is known in the "neo-Jungian" community for his popular YouTube videos on the 16 Myers-Briggs types, as well as videos on Jungian theory and philosophy. His YouTube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmDc...

Genres: Psychology

271 pages, Paperback

Published May 21, 2020

About the author

There is more than one author with this name. For the author of Lorne Vault series, see Michael Pierce

Reviews

[Darling Farthing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t say I cared much for the chapter on femininity and masculinity + the many references to more esoteric, mystical symbols, but I suppose it might simply be the Ni-Fe way to go “omg look at how all these philosophies all over the world (Fe) actually say the same thing (Ni)”! Not sure if I really buy the integration of the Socionics framework into MBTI either (like the justification for PoLR seemed rooted in that one mythical story lol). Ig I’m just generally not a Socionics fan so I wasn’t going wild over the parts that tried to integrate both theories though I do appreciate the various MBTI!Quadra descriptions. Frankly I did feel quite repulsed by the description of the quadra that doesn’t value either of my axes so mission accomplished ig?

No like overall it’s good like I still feel as if the Te-Fi/Fe-Ti divide is the one that’s most valuable to me personally but a lot of the book’s content is very interesting probably moreso to a more learned man than myself. If I were more intimately familiar [;)] with Kierkegaard, for instance, perhaps I’d truly be like “ahh yes this describes my man perfectly!” Also it was nice to see excerpts that demonstrated that some people actually experience Ni bc I myself could not imagine such a thing ngl.

Random musings:
- consider that Ni is statistically the rarest dom/aux function simply bc we all have low self esteem /jk
- I realised that the entire NFP/STJ quadra was highlighted as being individuals that fundamentally felt screwed over by the world around them. Which? Mood.
- Se and showmanship isn’t a connection I’ve made in the past though to be fair Naranjo did do that 3 and ESTP correlation thing. I suppose it makes sense.
- hierarchy of types based on these descriptions bc my Fi says so, just for fun: ESTJ/ESFP, INTJ, ISTJ, ENTJ, ISFP, ESTP, ENTP, INFP, ENFP, ENFJ, ISFJ, INFJ, ISTP, INTP (god when I read this description I felt so annoyed at the imaginary person I envisioned), ESFJ (lmao when pierce said that they could be literal sheeple)
- ok wow I put ti doms rly Low maybe pierce had a point about PoLR
- I just have a strong bias towards the Fi-Te axis lmao like I think generally I have great admiration for the certainty and strength of an NTJ/SFP type.

[Charity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of MBTI books over the years and this is one of the better ones. Michael goes into each function individually and then into the type where it is dominant and points out both the mental focus it has and how it attempts to 'suppress' the function under it. Which is exceptional knowledge not easily accessed in most other books. I did feel like at times he delve unnecessarily into unrelated topics (assigning each an earth symbol, etc) but his brief analysis of each type is interesting and memorable and I really liked his one-line assessment of each type -- for ENFP (mine) it was that personal sentiments will never prevent someone from a fair trial, which is so true. Feelings should never get in the way of a balanced inspection of the situation. That's my life's mantra. Well done.

[Christy Moormann · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a book takes me away from reality and into a land where thoughts paint pictures of things I've never seen, I know it's a good one. I've appreciated Michael's perspectives on personality and was eager to dive into a written account of these things. I went in with no strong opinions, only looking to plant yet another set of ideas in my thought garden. The book did not disappoint. Yes, I was saddened once again by where I fall on the personality spectrum (my feet are solidly grounded in a world I apparently don't trust), but I've learned to look at these things through a wide-angle lens. This book contains no "how-tos", no tests, no prescriptions, just beautiful and well-crafted parallels drawn between the mystical and the less mystical. I love being surprised by a book. I love walking in with no expectations and finding myself full of things to mentally chew on after I'm done. I love a lack of conclusions on topics such as this one and, while I'm not saying that no conclusions are drawn, there's a sense that there are no hard boundaries to the varying personality types. I love not agreeing with everything I read but then challenging myself as to why I feel that way. Thank you Michael for gifting the world with this book.

[Anita Ashland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the comparison of the eight functions to the eight I Ching trigrams. This is the first I've seen someone link the I Ching to type outside of Human Design.

Pierce's profiles of the 16 personality types are excellent and more nuanced than what is out there on the internet. He understands that each type can't be viewed in isolation and is part of a mosaic of the other types.

His comparisons of each function to its opposite were also thought-provoking.

I like that Pierces uses an eight function model and I look forward to exploring how I can incorporate elements of his model, such as the I Ching archetypes, with John Beebe's eight function model.

I normally only read type books written by Jungian analysts and found this to be a worthy addition to my library that I will refer to regularly. This book helps cross the bridge between popular online typology and Jungian typology.

[Matheus Veras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Pearce basicamente transcende toda a compreensão e interpretação das teorias tipológicas existentes, utilizando recursos de analogias com várias culturas e principalmente conceitos bíblicos.
Tais exemplos e demonstração ajudam a tirar vários dos nossos "Ciscos e Traves", da forma que muitas vezes não entendemos o porquê a outra pessoa age diferente da gente, ou do porquê a gente faz o mesmo. O livro é curto, simples, direto e também muito rico para quem quiser aprender melhor sobre tipologia. Recomendo!