# Potential difference between Ne and Ni



## TyranAmiros (Jul 7, 2014)

I imagined it as upward motion--that time itself is static but we, the observers, are pushing ourselves through it, like in a swimming pool or a communist propaganda poster. 

The timeline bit is exactly what I do. The Lenore Thompson essay is interesting because I definitely imagine moving something "back" as "further away from me"--i.e. "backwards". But like the swimming pool, I imagine time as fairly relative to start with.


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## Jippa Jonken (Jul 20, 2015)

No need to figure out a difference. The only similarity is the letter N, really, and that's just nomenclature.

Ne opposes tradition in favor of new promising solutions or perspectives. Ni opposes the illusory fullness and pertinence of particulars in favor of extrapolated cosmic reality.


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## KillingTroubleShooter (Mar 25, 2015)

Jippa Jonken said:


> Ne opposes tradition in favor of new promising solutions or perspectives. Ni opposes the illusory fullness and pertinence of particulars in favor of extrapolated cosmic reality.


I like these definitions.


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## Convex (Jan 5, 2015)

While imagining it, I pictured a timeline in front of me; though when I realized you were asking me to actually act it out, I put myself in the present form with the future in front of me and the past behind me.

What have I learned from this? I learned a new way to look like a moron on the bus.


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## Acadia (Mar 20, 2014)

as an SP I read this and thought, at first, "What's the point? Time is transitory anyway--it's constantly moving, why should I have to try and decide where it is?" 

But then I did actually think that the future was in front of me, that everything I currently occupy is the present--I just stumbled about where to put the past. It's nothing I can access now. 

Basically, I took it all very literally


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## MindArtisan (Jan 8, 2014)

I'm an INTJ. I visualised time like an NP but I am confused by "move up" and "move back" expressions like an NJ. In fact, I cannot make out which direction they mean, exactly. To me, "back" is in the past (spatially located at bottom left), and "up" makes no sense at all because it is outside of all time (i.e., above my head). Future is at upper right and present is at arm's length in front of me. So there is no time behind my back, under my feet, far in front of me or exactly where I am either. Are you confused yet?


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## Baldur (Jun 30, 2011)

I imagined myself standing in the present with the past below me, and the future above me, with me fleeting upward through it. But the normal NJ way kind of makes sense too. 

I can't relate to the NP way. Standing there like some kind of observer, outside the flow of time, seems super weird to me.


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## Lucyyy (Sep 24, 2015)

AdroElectro said:


> Stand up and visualize time as a continuum flowing from future to past. Spatially indicate with your hands where the future, present, and past are, respectively, in relation to yourself. Try to actually FEEL where they are around you by touching them with your hands. After you have done so (for real! -- not just in your head!), read this.
> 
> 
> Do this exercise and then post in the comments below how you did it. Feel free to post any other thoughts on the matter as well. I'm interested to see if this really is a difference between Ne vs Ni. It was originally meant to show a difference between NPs and NJs, but I think it will be cool to see how SPs and SJs respond as well.


:shocked:
I've been an NP all along and I had no idea?  :bored:


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## O_o (Oct 22, 2011)

I think it's interesting that the future is portrayed as being on the right and past on the left. Liked due to how we read in the western cultures (left to right : hence timelines are also written left to right and etc) I wonder if this sequence may differ among asian or middle eastern counties (with arabic and hebrew). 

Anyways. I see it as a large open field. Past on the far left. Present ahead of me. Future on the far right. But I can see everything. There is nothing really hidden. Pretty clear, open field. But I'm not apart of it.

Picturing myself "in" it makes me uncomfortable. I like looking at it from a distance so I can see present, past and future at the same time. If I were in the center, I wouldn't be able to do that. The idea of something being "behind" me makes me feel vulnerable, like I'm missing a perspective. 

I still "move" with it, but not through it, rather "besides it", watching all 3 sides.

I'm thinking more about that now though. The past being "behind" somebody or essentially out of immediate view. A sort of "walked and seen already" mentality? I'm constantly still revising the past, looking at it over, seeing whether it's been interpreted right. My past feels like it's in constant revision based on the present and possible future. So I feel like they're all "remolding" each other which is why I have difficulty seeing the past as "behind me".


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## s2theizay (Nov 12, 2014)

Interesting. It sort of worked for me. The past is in front of me off to the left and the future was behind me off to the right. I forgot to think about the present. I've always visualized time as something I'm falling through.


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## BlackFandango (Apr 4, 2014)

NJ

I pictured time almost as a beam going through me, the past behind me, the future ahead.


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## UraniaIsis (Nov 26, 2014)

Crud, I think I am an NP in denial. :frustrating:

It was if I was looking down on a timeline right in front of me with the past starting on my left going through the present in front of me while working it's way to my right as the timeline moved into the future. I often feel detached and removed from time as if I'm just observing it from a distance while still interacting inside it simultaneously.

The "move up" and "move back" expressions also make me raise my eyebrows. I really have to draw out that scenario in order for it to make sense to me. "Move forward" and "move backward" would make more sense to me when I'm looking at a calendar. Forward will meet the past faster and backward makes me think of a back burner. Personally, I use "sooner" or "later" when communicating time. Spatial references don't substitute well as chronological references for me.


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## counterintuitive (Apr 8, 2011)

I put the future above my head and in front of me - like I was looking up at it at a 45 degree angle. The past was under my feet, the ground/floor. I forgot to place the present, oops.

"Move up" = moving it closer, i.e. moving a future event closer to the present time

"Move back" or more commonly I've heard people use "push back" = moving it further away, i.e. moving a future event further into the future

I wanted to post this before reading too much, to avoid bias, but I'll go back and read now.


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## RK LK (Sep 19, 2013)

What if everything is just mixed up in front of me?


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## Blue Soul (Mar 14, 2015)

Caneaster said:


> Well, I did it the NJ way but I initially tried it the NP way and ended up changing because it was very uncomfortable. I also experience the same frustration as the writer of the blog.





BlackFandango said:


> NJ
> 
> I pictured time almost as a beam going through me, the past behind me, the future ahead.


I did the exact same thing.


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## ScientiaOmnisEst (Oct 2, 2013)

Curi said:


> I imagined it around me without me being in it.
> 
> Not an intuitive though


This.


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## peter pettishrooms (Apr 20, 2015)

NJ. The NP view makes me dizzy and uncomfortable.


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