Tuning in to the Radar: How to locate an INTJ mind in a world of noise?
INTJ... Where can I find you?
Your personality really intrigues me. Honestly, I've come to feel a deep admiration and an intense desire to meet an INTJ. It's as if they speak the same language, but they possess the sense of direction I often lack.
For as long as I can remember, the only person close to that profile I've known was a teacher in elementary school. I saw him again a while ago; I'm in college now, studying systems engineering, and I told him about it. He was surprised, because he thought I'd study something related to literature or journalism. The truth is, I did think about it a lot, and it touched me that he remembered.
In elementary school, I was always alone, in a corner, doing nothing. Not because I couldn't, but I hate this tendency of mine to only use my potential when something really interests me. That teacher was new: an older man, neat, organized. I liked the way he led the class. He used to play classical music and ask us to be quiet for activities.
I never cared about good grades, but then I noticed my average started to rise. I like to write. One day, when he asked us to write a poem, he focused his full attention on me. Then he asked me for reports, perspectives; he began to shed a lot of light on me (in an academic and respectful way, of course). I loved learning from him because he was able to correct me with precision and intention.
He never changed his vocabulary with me. He spoke to me as if he were talking to someone with the same intellectual vocabulary, while with other classmates he used simpler, more straightforward terms; and, obviously, I was the same age as them. So I would write down every word he used that I didn't understand and look it up, or I would ask him directly, and he would gladly explain it to me. But he never simplified the words, always using their full meaning.
He really encouraged me. He took me to competitions and exhibitions. He even once told me to write a report, a piece of writing about whatever I wanted, and he took me to the radio station. I couldn't believe I was in a studio, with some people listening, but without knowing who was speaking. I felt at home, I spoke with confidence, and he, proud, always represented me. I thoroughly enjoyed that "golden age," but as I grew older, I lost that connection and that essence. I went back to my old routine, although now I worried more about my grades. I wasn't interested in the class at all, but I got through it by being purely pragmatic, getting the best grades for a scholarship and to help my parents out.
I chose programming for the freedom and creativity of coding and creating variables; the structure is entirely up to you. But after seeing that professor again (who I'm sure is an INTJ), I felt a strange emptiness.
I started noticing everything. I already did; my mind never shuts off, but for no specific reason, this time I focused on it. People, in conversations, always tend to end up talking about themselves. I listen, I always listen. But I remember that day I saw the professor again: we talked a little about the past, yes, but not about us back then. We talked about meaning, place, concepts, possibilities. A conversation I thoroughly enjoyed, so intellectual, so enriching for me.
I couldn't remember the last time I spoke with someone like that. INTJs were just another personality type, but I researched them more and more... I found myself adoring these people, longing to meet one someday.
Where are they hiding? Where do I have to look? I tend to "turn off my hearing." For you (from what I've researched), your brain tries to process and organize everything that comes in, and if what comes in is junk or illogical, it creates immediate friction. I have a mental bunker; you have a radar that can't be turned off.
How can I tune my frequency to that radar? If you're out there, I'd like to understand how you filter the noise of the real world to build your own structures. In what areas—digital or physical—does an INTJ typically deploy their mental architecture without being interrupted? I'm interested to know if this emptiness I feel is due to a lack of data or simply that I'm searching on the wrong server.