#idealist primaries

[spe-rrow]

I JUST got into Sorting Hat Chats last week and I’ve been down the rabbit hole since. Guys I’m literal years late to the party is anyone still here… 💔

[reds-burrow]

You said Lions want to be reassured that they are right and whoa, this turned everything upside down for me. I was almost assured I am a Lion primary because I am impulsive and follow no one and so on but then I realized that even the whole world told I am right, I wouldn't think I am right if I saw a proof of me being wrong in the world. I don't even think it's possible to think and act in a right way, I feel like the world is too complex for that. In fact, my external discomfort with the state of world is what probably makes me so insecure: I noticed that no compliment or kind word can reassure me. I literally can't rest until the outer world, at least my own living situation, makes sense to me and no reassurance can fix that. It makes me a difficult person to console. A bird???

Yes, a Bird.

From the sound of it, a Bird that has lost trust in other people's opinions, meaning you trust your own judgement, what makes sense to you, before other people. That can look Lion on the surface. (For the record, my sister and I meant that young, learning Lions may hunger for recognition that they're right. Confident Lions can be driven to do what they feel is right even if everyone around them tells them they're wrong.) But that desire for things to line up in a logical way between objective evidence and your subjective thoughts? That the only way you can find comfort is through making sense of your world? That's a Bird.

I'd be curious, by the way, if that impulsivity you mentioned was really coming from your Primary or if it was a symptom of your Secondary. It could very well be part of your system—just something to consider.

[wisteria-lodge]

Could a very loud Primary ( all of them or only certains ? ) influence your Secondary to the point you can’t really tell what it is ?

Sure, that's pretty common. Idealists especially can have such *loud* primaries that sometimes it's not immediately clear what their problem solving methods even are.

[reds-burrow]

i remember seeing ask about an anon thinking on too large of a scale with trying to figure out their primary. that got me thinking that im probably doing the same thing. so what could be some lower stakes or day-to-day decisions that could separate the primaries? (more specifically idealists on gut feeling) thanks :D

Coincidentally, I just finished this post about gut instincts vs conscious thought (though it was mainly about the Secondaries). In it, I did note that the Idealists are divided by Lions trusting their gut instinct while Birds are guided by the conscious mind. Not to say most of us don't listen to both on occasion, but this is about which we trust and are more comfortable using as a guide over the other. Also, I should mention that some Bird Primaries build their system out of their feelings. They sort through theses feelings in a very conscious way, however, unlike Lions. Hold on, I think I have a quote of someone describing this...

My inner values and feelings are like a building, a structure of affections that inform my worldview. This involves an inner love for certain things, and an inner repulsion for other things. My values and feelings form “blocks” of varying hardness, depending on how strongly I feel about them; the stronger ones are more resilient…I constantly discover more about the structure as I go, and what I should change to make it better. For example, I didn’t have to factually discern a respect for human dignity; I simply found myself in situations where people did not respect human dignity, and it made me angry — I found out that I hate bullying.

(I actually found that when I was writing my SHC vs Cognitive Functions post, so technically it's about the Fi function. But I'm willing to bet you understand how it applies.)

But okay, to actually answer your question, I think with the current state of the world we have plenty of "big" decisions we have to make that are still easy to visualize. Like when it comes to COVID, what shaped your ideas about masks and vaccines? Or if you're of voting age in your country, how do you decide what/who to vote for? Even "smaller" than that though, have you ever been in an argument? How did you know your side was worth fighting for? Or if the other person changed your mind, how did they do it? What part of you did they appeal to, and how easy was it change your mind? (The trend is that Birds have an easier time changing their mind than Lions.) Have you ever been asked to two places at once? How did you decide which appointment to attend? Or if you have ever seen someone doing something you considered wrong, how did you know that it was wrong?

Based on what I’ve seen of their testimony, Bird Primaries generally have an easier time explaining these things because, for the most part, they’ve already thought it through. Lion Primaries may have a harder time putting their answers into words because in the past they simply felt something was right or wrong, and that was enough for them to base a decision on.