Quote Originally Posted by snowyc
Ah, the eternal conflict between doing what one believes to be "right" versus the compassion of the others who want you to do something "wrong".

I have to admit, INTj's are terrible at doing a few "wrong" things. I have missed many opportunites to do some "wrong" things because i'm adamant towards what is ethical and thus "right" from my arrogant high-horse INTj perspective on things thus maintaining the "nice sweet guy" image even when a drunk (probably Artisan) girly comes over in a club and literally gives an offer of sex and i'm in total self-denial and habitually not wanting to deal with that aspect of life.

For me, naughty things like casual sex have become like the job I can't get because I had "gaps on your CV" and "no references" and the only way to get a foot back on the ladder even if it's against my sense of what is "right" is to be more like an Artisan who might "perform" to get what they want.

Honesty is always the best policy but we can't help the fact that some of us will use what ever tactic to get where they want. Depending on temperament we could then say who's more likely/unlikely to it.

A trouble with being an INTj is knowing too much OR perhaps more accurate, thinking and talking like it to the point of self-paralysis. In essence, we create our own problems just through habitual action or inaction!!

Maybe that's why Freud implied that psychological problems stem from sex - the lack of or misappropriate use of. God damn, i'm too damn ethical, can't have casual sex because it's just another form of "escapism" in my mind although like alcohol it would provide a short term BUZZ and most of us do live in the land of "instant happiness". I think as an INTj, having a holistic approach to life, always seeking long-term strategies for "success", "happiness" and "love" and don't forget that "hidden agenda" of being healthy hence a notorious honest nature that keeps me virtuous and frustrated with mental masturbations** galore when i fail to get results in the here-and-now.

-- that ends another fruitless rationalization of mine

**intellectual jerking off i.e. rationalizing to comfort one's self
How do you fight the ensuing depression that results in letting yourself go? It is very very easy to live a life in which your brain disregards the consequences of your actions, in which you disavow the concept of living up to some ethical ideal. However, I know that I have done something very similar and consequently, an explicable feeling of emptiness develops and even though I can surpress it, it will bother me from time to time. It is as if you begin to question the meaning of existence itself and the feeling of "what's the point?" constantly bothers you. It is as if you realize that there is nothing else in the world except that which physical sensations such as happiness and sadness, and you wonder whether that is all there is to existence. It is as if you realize that you are just some mindless drone in some elaborate play directed by the laws of Physics. It is as if you begin to feel that you are trap in some world like the Matrix where all there is to existence is your physical sensations. Though, I cannot fully explain why, these views make my life feel so empty and meaningless, and that puts me in depression. You sound as if you have been through this phase and have risen above it. How do you do it?

What I have done to fight of this emptiness is by choosing to pursue a life that does not make me happy but makes me satisfied and pleased. This also means that I do not pursue a life in which I let myself go because there is no satisfaction in that, just emptiness.