'The  fact that you are aware of your darkside and can observe it, can ultimately set you free of it.  That is my experience anyway, after exploring my dark side for many years and plummeting it's...|||Very fearful - run by our survival instincts which often results in us being deluded.  I believe however, we do have an 'essence/soul' that has been buried deep within us.|||Ahh, love ghost stories - I have never seen an actual ghost, but oddly the paranormal manifests to me by way of smells.......  I used to think I was imagining them, and over a lengthy period of...|||Yes, I get this a lot.  I guess it is a fear reaction to feeling attacked - flight or fight.  And, it does feel like a physical pain.|||Yes, I suppose it was a feeling of being dismissed, disrespected.   Being condescended to - as though I what I said was stupid or irrational.  If they had simply acknowledged my pov, added a...|||I am guilty of trying to control some situations; only when I have felt fearful and anxious though.  I think it is a natural human tendency and arises out of fear - I guess when we feel secure and...|||My 78 year old INTJ neighbour is grooming me to care for her in her old age.  she's being too nice and caring........I can see through it!|||I grew up in the 1950's and experienced the feminism of the 60's.  It needed to be extreme and radical then to make a point and it has achieved it's purpose and of course we still need to refine...|||Yes, I have felt bullied by Nt's. even if the intent was not malicious.  However, now the NT's I associate with are 40+ and have  discovered that developing empathy does get better results,...|||It's part of the job description for mothers....  My kids wouldn't have emotionally survived childhood if I didn't listen to them venting and ranting every day.  They both had strong Fi so that...|||I've always done a lot of research on spirituality and am currently reading lots of 'dark night of the soul stuff' that is very relevant for me.  Have had a few of these transformative experiences....|||Have you researched this historical period?  The harsh reality is, and sorry to burst your bubble, many died before 40, disease was rampant, the infant mortality rate was high and the average...|||The majority could not read.  If you research the historical timeframe, life was only about survival and death was imminent.|||I am not a Christian but, like Orangeappled, have spiritual views and also believe that our  failure as human beings is our disconnect from our source/divine/God - and that we are doomed to continue...|||Thank you so much for all these stimulating ideas.  I am tired of pondering questions alone, and feel starved for these type of discussions.  What everyone contributed has shed light on what I...|||Sending vulnerable people out into the community without proper support was not the best of ideas.  We need a vision for the future of what to do with those with mental disorders/illness - what...|||I don't know, but from what I've read the reality was much different to the romanticised version of life then.  Many died before 40, children did not have a childhood as they had to work long house...|||Considering that before 1760, the majority lived in rural areas on farms and there was no public education available for the average peasant - how would an infp living under these circumstances...|||Had it many times over the years - the underlying message you're not as perfect as I'd like.  I feel strange saying this, but I was considered very attractive by average standards and had the...|||I know I'm not enfp but I'm close to the border and so I feel I can chime in and say that I'd had depression for most of my life and had tried dozens of 'cures'.  This might  sound hokey and...|||I have an intj friend who is 78.  She's a tough old bird and when we first met we had a blazing row and didn't speak again for some months.  As we slowly developed more of a respect for each...|||I appreciate the OP's self-honesty and relate somewhat.  I think this is a very common thing that many unconsciously do.........and I suspect that this behaviour stems from our own unresolved...|||What got me started researching this information was the fact that there were far more women in these asylums than men.  Conventional wisdom had it that their hormonal state could cause them to be ...|||I'm not being very original here, but the one thing that has helped me beyong anything is simply, appreciation.  I was always focusing on what was missing, what I didn't have and overlooking what...|||When you  feel insane......|||Yes, that is true and I wasn't honing in on you in particular, but others that had a tone of superiority. Anyway, why not let the OP vent;   haven't we all done it.   When younger, like many I was...|||No, you did make sense, I must have misinterpreted what you said|||To be honest, I don't  get your point. Perhaps you misunderstood what I meant.  I think people are over-reacting to the OP - ok, he's generalising and using strong words; just view it as a vent. ...|||I find it amusing that those who criticise the OP are being so self-righteous, as if to imply that they are above such things.|||I don't know what to think, but I get very strong familiar sensations when encountering anything from the latter part of the 19th century.  It' very eerie, almost like I'm back there and it wasn't...|||It can be a tormenting tension.  I found that in the context of raising children, it was absolutely necessary in a respectful way.  If I hadn't entered into conflict with my kids, they could...|||I think it's only human and natural to say some things we might regret.  I think everyone does it to varying degrees and I've done plenty.   Some have been worth apologising over.  I think it's...|||It sounds as though you think you are superior to him and he needs to improve.  Perhaps a little more respect of who he is would help.|||I think true intelligence is being fun and light-hearted much of the time.  I am middle-aged and the older I get, the more fun and child-like I feel; it's like letting go of all the illusions and...|||I went through a similiar situation with my ex-husband many years ago and I know how absolutely agonising it can be.  I'm so glad I followed my own heart and got out before my spirit was totally...|||Yes, I like viewing it in the context you have expressed; it's not based on being a 'spiritual experience', but simply a  transformative period of growth, necessary for our evolution.|||This term Dark night of the Soul can mean different things to different people, but from my own personal experience, it feels like spiritual growth, like an  expansion, like a lessening of...|||I have been through many phases of which you speak; it's tricky finding that right balance.  I used to feel guilty if I had too much 'fun', now I use it as therapy.|||Apparently they believed that the mentally ill were 'possessed by the devil', so in their mind, they were justified in purging them of this 'devil'.  I  do wonder though, how frequently intuitive...|||From what I've read and researched on these asylums, I get the impression that the type of creativity these patients had was not so much of the artistic kind, but more of the intellectual kind;  ...|||You guys need to try tantric sex, no need for kinky then.|||I have a fascination with the history of Asylums (must be the part of me that is intrigued by the dark side!), in particular those who were deemed mentally ill.   In te 1800's one could be 'put...|||I have done it, but communal style which may not be your thing.  Would do it again if I found the right place with the right people.|||My ISTJ mother is in her 80's and now when I interact with her, I feel as though I am talking with another INFP.  It certainly wasn't this way when I was growing up; in fact we never really got on...|||Apparently she is an INFJ.......and claims she is Indigo.  Profound words on the link between our self-worth and making mistakes.|||I have an isfp daughter who is in her late 20's and has developed her 3rd function Ni to the extent that it's difficult to tell her apart from intuitors.  When younger, she said that she felt...|||There's nothing casual about sex.........|||Someone gave me the book:  Why does he do that? by Lundy Bancroft  It saved my life, and is the best book I've read on abusive relationships.|||The male infp's I have known have a more developed Te or Ti than me.  Perhaps they felt it necessary to develop, or it could be simply nature.|||When in my teens and twenties I would have appeared to have been on the autism spectrum.  I suspect now that it was my very under-developed Si and Te, and now that I use both reasonably well, I...'