George, Martin, Joseph and Myers-Briggs

The things being said by political candidates these days are almost more than I can take. (Since when is a "baby" a punishment? ...ETC) I'll keep it safe and move on to, what else...personality!

One request that I had was to consider the pesonality of George Washington. Well, I did by doing a google search on George Washington and the Myers-Briggs personality test. I found two sites that claim he's an ISTJ and two that claim he was an ESFJ. Hmm...how do they assess it anyway without his input? I've always wondered how reliable that is. I mean we can make a guess considering his and others writings but the questions on the personality evaluation are really something rather personal. Some could be answered by others quite accurately who know you, but I find that some are pretty close personal to the way we feel or think inside--something that may not be so evident to those on the outside. Besides that, there isn't anyone who knew George Washington.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an INFJ according to the google search (several sites said so anyway) and Joseph Smith was maybe (according to one I found) an ESFP. Great leaders, those with vision, those who are brave and stand for something come in all personalities. What a mess if that weren't the case.

Personality Tests and Interests

I went to a 3 hour class this week on the Neurophysics of Human Behavior. It was taught by a cognitive neuroscientist. This is a new field of Science: came on the horizon around 1999. Absolutely fascinating! I'm not always a big talker but when I got home I couldn't contain myself. I went on and on about what I had learned to my husband for what probably seemed to him like 3 hours. It is a topic he is able to listen to for awhile, but barely interested in. On the other hand he can be quite the talker when it comes to utility transformers, switchgear, remote meter reading, the yard, the car, the house being built down the street..."things."

Do personality tests determine our interests? Not really. Most teachers are SJ's, but there are quite a few NF's and some of the other types that become teachers. Actors can be just about any personality type but an NF is the one that will actually "become" (for awhile) the person they're portraying. Many personality tests are used as a basis for determining the right profession for you. Certain personality types do gravitate more to one thing than another but you can usually find at least a little of every personality in most professions. That's probably a really good thing if you think about it.

Each personality has strengths that add to any arena. It could become a real "us against them" mentality if "like" people always flocked together. There couldn't be much progress if we didn't have some that are great leaders, and some that are great followers in the different areas of life. So where do our interests come from? Maybe I'll get closer to that answer as I dig deeper into the neurophysics of human behavior!

Personality Test That Says Your Love is Worth It

Your love is worth it, is what the Persogenics for couples claims. Persogenics is a type of personality test that explains our personality differences in terms of communication styles: dominant, expressive, amiable or analytical. Again, like all personality tests I've run into, these ways of being are with us from the beginning and stick throughout our lives.

What persogenics seeks to do is establish a common language between couples. This depersonalizes conflicts and focusses discussion on actions and words rather than on us. "The heart of Persogenics for Couples is modification, understanding and temporarily modifying behavior to communicate to others without diminishing the self," so says Michael Cheney developer of Persogenics for Couples.

Once you understand your partners communication pattern you can modify your behavior in relation to it. This understanding of how I see things and therefore communicate vs. how my partner does is VERY enlightening and helpful.

Those personality tests that help me understand others better and increase someone's understanding of me are terrific tools. Life would really stink without at least a few close relationships and understanding is the key.

Easter and Personality Tests

Personality tests and Easter don't seem to have a lot to do with each other. To me Easter is a wonderful celebration of LIFE! I live in a place where there are four seasons. One good thing about experiencing a cold winter each year is watching the earth come to life again each spring, year after year. This is all symbolic of the Creator's greatest gift of life to us. Not only did God give us our physical lives, but he saved our spiritual lives from darkness by paying the ultimate price--through suffering and death he paid the price for our sins. Some people believe it, some don't. But truth is never based on numbers. It just is.

Because of my interest in personality, I have given thought to the personality of God. No surprise: I don't know...I can't explain what His personality is. Obviously, it must be perfect because so is He. I imagine that perhaps that means that God incorporates all the attributes and temperaments we have, but uses the positive strengths of each of them at any given moment, calling upon that attribute that is best fitting for the situation. So on the Myers Briggs
personality test would he give the exact same weight to all letters and not favor any certain assessment over another? On the color test would he be a little (or a lot) of all of them? On others would he just be a harmonious blend of dominant, amiable, anyalytical and expressive?

Or maybe God has none of the tendencies toward temperaments that we have that often cause us to handle situations less than perfectly. Maybe He had attributes and temperaments while living here on earth and now all tendencies toward weakness have been overcome so personality becomes a mute point. Like I said, I don't know. But it's an interesting exercise in thought and wonderment.

Bottom line is, it doesn't matter. Maybe personality tests are just a way for mere mortals to understand themselves and life a little better. Nothing that applies to God. Perhaps each question on a personality test would be too shallow to render anything significant if a perfect being were to take it.

I'm grateful that I know that in sunshine and shadow He is there to assure and smile upon us.

Personality Test and "Obamanations"

They've been called Obamanations: these mis-steps of Barack Obama in supporting an extremely controversial preacher for 20 years, a website that carries new black panther party endorsement, etc. There's plenty in his personality type that may be revealing (according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, MBTI). Consider this:

According to David Keirsey in Please Understand Me II, a book which explores the MBTI personality test, Obama (an ENFP) "consider(s) intense emotional experiences as being vital to a full life." Whew, everyone's heard clips by his pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Obama must feel his life is full!

Keirsey goes on to say, "ENFP'S are the (most) keen and penetrating observers of the people around them, and are capable of intense concentration on another individual. Their attention is never passive or casual, never wandering, but always directed. .. seeing life as an exciting drama, preganant with possibilities for both good and evil....[W]hat might be is always more fascinating than what is."

Did you ask someone to perform your marriage and baptize your children that you had serious reservations about? Maybe, but I doubt it even if you're one of the far less observant types, but it's hard for me to believe that Obama would ever do such a thing. There's something of great concern here if you ask me. Obama's support of his reverend says a lot!