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The Wisdom of Truth & Knowledge
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
Socrates
Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.
Bob Marley
Knowledge and Being: A Psychological Examination of Truth through Personality Functioning
In exploring Socrates’s quote, I cannot help but divert to Shakespeare’s infamous exploration of being. He examines the nature of truth and wisdom, when he asks whether “’tis nobler in mind to suffer… or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them. To die-to sleep.” Does not the nature of knowledge itself create a paradox? While a noble aim, it lets one explore and hopefully answer the nature of one’s being. It also creates a host of troubles, so common to the root of suffering. While the paradox is confusing, it is also how we find truth.
Got Wisdom? Got Truth?
To know, or not to know? Socrates was onto something great. Here, I ponder something of great importance, at least philosophically. How many learned would ever commit to such an ideal as truth-seeking itself? It takes grit and patience. Yet, it is an act of absurdity. Truth is subjective. As we know, the discipline of science is supposed to be based on objectivity only. While it is important to be objective, I must ask this. Can we ever remove ourselves from our inner subjectivity? While we must be objective, can we ever truly detach from our own subjectivity? If we cannot, can we ever surely know the truth?
What does it mean to know everything there is to know about nothing? Maybe that is the answer to the philosopher’s riddle. In admitting our shortcomings, we remove the ego ideals so commonly looked up to within the social spectrum. By not knowing, we open the door to creative potential, the needed ingredient to compose personal meaning. This is a positive skill for personal development. However, it remains outside the tenets of scientific scrutiny. When we remove the allure that external validation has on the individual ego, we create room for an inner sanctum. This room allows for something truly unique to impregnate the psyche towards new beginnings. It is in this space that the essence of truth becomes soul-shaking in its capacity to foster personal development.
It’s not that the internal versus or the external locus is right or wrong. As we will see, they are just two different ways to interact with the environment. Internal and external loci are personality entities that mirror extraversion and introversion, yet they need to find rounding out to create adaptable traits if one becomes problematic.
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was onto this facet when he explored the attitudes and functions of personality. He showed two attitudes, Introversion and Extraversion, and four personality functions: Thinking, Feeling, Sensation, and Perception. Each function and attitude represents a personality trait, when rounded out to allow one’s dominant strength to overcome functional limitations, allows one to realize an individuated state of consciousness. Embracing one’s truth is key to this balance.
Got Attitude? The Psychology of Extroversion and Introversion
The Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung developed two attitudes to explain how people adapt their internal psychology to the environment. He delineated these into two attitude types. These types (introversion and extroversion) are still used to this day to explain how one adapts to their environment. Let us explore common traits to each attitude.
Extroversion and the Nature of External Wisdom and Truth
Our attitude towards the world tells us whether we gravitate towards an internal or external locus of control. Extroverts have an external focus while Introverts have an internal orientation. Each has their positive traits. Each element of personality also has a shadow side.
Extroversion
For extroverts, the positive traits include their natural energy to engage the world and find truth in social interactions. They also actively engage people, surroundings, and activities as part of their sociability. Oftentimes, the are seen as the life of the party. Yet, because they primarily lean on outside factors, extroverts can lack self-understanding. This self-understanding is needed to find grounding in times of solitude.
For anyone to find internal comfort, they must learn to self-reflect. Enjoy the silence, and go within, by doing this, one learns to grow in solitude. Extroverts can also lack listening skills, as they often feel the compulsive need to keep the conversation going. This shows a general lack towards empathy response. They can also show impatient traits, especially when faced with task that are solitary or need quiet reflection. And lastly, they tend to over-commit themselves, which can lead to frequent bouts of stress related burnout.
Introversion
The positive traits of introversion include their high capacity to being focused on the depths of their inner world. They present as reflective, thoughtful, and imaginative. They think before they speak, are introspective, analytical, and enjoy the richness of depths their imagination and creative capacities offer. Because of these traits, they are often highly self-aware, knowing the nature of their strengths, weaknesses, and emotions. And while they are highly independent, they concurrently are highly loyal and devoted companions to true friends or intimate partners, forming deep and lifelong connections.
While introverts tends towards an inner focus and solitude as a means to recharge, they can oftentimes be standoffish. Their reserved nature is independent. They are selective with whom the develop close and meaningful relationships, and this can place them at odds. Oftentimes, they are viewed from the perspective of being an outsider looking in on the party at large. Tending to prefer quiet environments, overstimulation or noisy environments can often overwhelm the introvert.
Filtering the Truth through Wisdom and Personality Development
Do we ever truly experience the truth? Or do we experience pseudo-truths? Has our experience hyper-tuned our senses to pick up only those environmental aspects that can cause danger? Or are they somehow attuned to create truth?
When I go to a party, I can tell who are the extroverts and introverts in the room. Just look for the life of attention versus the person on the outside looking into the crowd. When I talk with people, I can also see glimpses of these phenomena. However, wisdom guides me to know that truth may not necessarily be present in that space.
There are likely many underlying and unseen forces at play in those interpersonal interactions. This is true whether the interactions occur in a large crowd or a small group. Nerves, past experiences, shyness, or its opposite, plain arrogance can create dissonance. This division arises between the intent and reception of external experiences. Yet, it is ultimately up to us to filter the information we receive. From this information, we must judge its relative safety. It is ultimately our responsibility to create our reality from these bytes of information.
Introversion and extroversion are real psychological phenomena of personality. They represent how we filter and interact with the world. Both represent a lens as depicted above. That lens, as shown can flip the reality of what is perceived. Yet, in that very act of flipping, we actively engage in the work needed to create truth.
Flipping the Lens of Wisdom and Truth
We filter truth through our subjective cognitive lens. Introversion and extroversion are two personality attitudes. They are further governed by four personality functions in Jung’s theoretical orientation of personality.
To know the truth, we must create an understanding of the lesser attitude. For the introvert, they must traverse the realm of the social. This is necessary to round out those more shadowy aspects of their inferior function. The same is true for the extrovert. They must traverse the inner grounds of the Self, so that they may more evenly round out the ego. When either side creates a balance between both attitudes, they develop the ability to move more freely between both states. They learn to unite the ego/self with the higher Self-construct, which is more indicative of the truth.
Can we ever truly know? I don’t know, and I am proud to say that? If I had the answer, I wonder what would be next to pursue. Pondering this boredom, I can’t help but think, what would life be like, if we truly had the truth? With blessings my friends. Let truth and wisdom find you along your journey to advance confidently in the direction of your dreams.
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