the Creative function as pseudo-dual-seeking
I've been realizing something about my Creative function lately, and that is that it almost seems like another Dual-Seeking function, in a way.
Case One:I truly value Fi, and I am also strong in Fi. I value my relationships, and I can put a good deal of effort into initiating a new friendship. But, once that friendship is secured, I often find myself starting to take advantage of the fact that X and I are friends, and I forget to make a conscious effort to maintain that friendship.
Like, when I was in school I would see my friends at school and we would all hang out together at lunch and recess and such. But unless one of them suggested getting together to do something outside of school, I rarely saw them otherwise.
I am still the same way. Oh, once in a while I'll actually manage to invite a friend or two to an event that I have planned. But usually, I just find myself responding to their plans, yk? idk, it's almost like I just don't want to appear too...needy by constantly asking my friends to do things with me. Also, I am a busy mother of two little boys; and most of friends are busy mothers as well.
I am a terrible correspondent. When I graduated from high school, I parted from my friends with good intentions to keep in touch, but it didn't last more than a year. Now every time I go back to visit my hometown, I try to get back together with at least one old friend. But, I can't be pushy about it, so sometimes it doesn't happen.
But, I strongly admire people like my mom (ESI) and my mother-in-law (EII), both Fi-Base types, who make it seem so effortless to maintain all their various friendships, and to keep up with all the news of "what's new" in people's lives, while I am often clueless on these things until I learn it from someone else. But neither of them is a "busybody," either; they obviously genuinely care about people.
Case Two:
It is screamingly clear to me that my son (SLE), requires a lot of consistency. This makes sense, since his Creative function is Ti, and without consitency in his life he cannot feel truly liberated to exercise his Base Se-- or at least, he will not be able to do so constructively. This has been a big struggle for me, since Ti-Consistency is obviously not my strong suit. But I try.
Case Three:
My ILI husband is Creative Te. Much of the time, this is manifested by him wanting to constantly learn more about things; he is a perpetual student at heart. He researches endlessly before he comes to any major decision; this also has something to do with his Base Ni, I think, wanting to make sure he can see clearly beforehand how a certain path will unfold.
But in order for him to be able to spend more time with Ni, wouldn't it be handy for him to have someone else available to do all the research? Even though he is perfectly good at and capable of doing it himself.
In Summation:
This is why Supervisors love their Supervisees, whose Base function is the Supervisor's Creative function. But of course, the Supervisor does not provide the same for the Supervisee, which is how the Supervisee eventually comes to feel like they're being taken advantage of without receiving anything in return.
This is why a Mirror relationship is so much healthier, and advantageous to both parties. But also why a Mirror realtion is less satisfactory in the long run than Dual, because each partner's true dual-seeking functions are largely neglected.