I remember thinking for the longest time that it was likely that I was Type 4 possibly with more of a 5 wing.
Somehow at a later stage I also found myself relating a bit to things posted regarding Type 9 but something always seemed off.
In the following thread if you scroll down to post #13 by @silke you will see where she has quoted me in regards to a little I wrote about relating to a picture she posted about Type 9:
http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin...76#post1062376
Concerning Type 4 my difficulty was in understanding what is written about their weakness of envy as I don't think this applies to myself and husband agrees.
What are your thoughts on this - can you be Type 4 without any envy issues?
When I came across the envy issue of Type 4, I was low-key shocked. Because I had prided myself on never being jealous!
It took me a little while to come to terms with my envy. It was very repressed in me, because I had learned that being envious is not a good thing.
And I still guard my envy a lot. I don't think anyone really knows when I am being envious or not, or whether I am actually an envious person at all.
I try to ignore or overcome my envy whenever it arises.
It also depends on your first instinct when it comes to what your envy is like and what it is about. For example, SX 4 will be envious about someone being more attractive or looking more like they wished the looked themselves, or other people finding it easier to be in/find happy romantic relationships ("What is wrong about me, and right about them that makes them able to find love and be loved, and not me??")
I've found that for most people, typing themselves according to their "Vice" or "Virtue" is not really helpful, because it is often repressed and/or too unconscious.
Instead, it is much more helpful to type your coping mechanism/behaviorism(s), because that is the reaction to your Vice.
Type 9s will act calm, pleasant, "not rock the boat", peaceful – while actually being asleep to their own needs.
Type 4s will be very introspective and try to delve into their feelings and impressions, and/or be melancholic, easily dissatisfied, feel cast out; long for some elusive ideal and/or person; try to be unique – while on the search for their own personal identity and significance.
It is highly likely you have both types in your tritype.
I am leaning towards 4 for you, just because Type 9s feel connected to both of their parents (in their childhood), while it is Type 4 who is disconnected from both their parents and feels like an outcast.
Thanks for your response. You have got me thinking that maybe my 'envy' is shown through my 'dissatisfaction' that I have not succeeded in life as I would have wished and think others around me have, leading me to always think something is wrong with myself and I am faulty.
I shall take your advice and go back and have a further look at the coping mechanism/behaviourism(s) of the Type, more so than the 'vice' or 'virtue'.
And yes I was disconnected from both parents in my childhood leaving me with those negative feelings mentioned in post # 11 of this thread.
The association of envy with type e4 is something I have seen a couple of times, both in IEI's.
In one case, a female IEI was engaged to and living with a very successful LSE. He had a 1930's house which cost $600k in Dayton, Ohio, which means it was pretty nice. Fabulously, nice, actually. But on her instagram page, she only posted pictures of the $1.5M house across the street, as if that were what she really wanted. When I saw this, I thought she might be a social climber, but in contact with her, I saw that she was extremely nice to everyone, high and low on the social scale. She gave me the impression that she felt she was missing out on something, but wasn't sure what that was. I suppose that could look like envy, but she kept that pretty well hidden.
In another case, my favorite cousin (also IEI and a real "people" person) was living with her parents during her senior year of high school, and when they went on a two-week vacation, she sold all their living room furniture. This was so out of character for her that I simply refused to believe it when my LSE mother gleefully told this to me, as evidence of her obviously bad character. For years, I thought I had dreamed the incident. But my sister recently confirmed it. I can only assume she did it as an attempt to get what she was missing from her life, and mistook what was missing for the furniture which furnished her parent's house.
I love my cousin, and like to spend time with her whenever I can, but to this day, I can sense an undertone from her that she is outside a department store window, looking in, and wishing she had all the things displayed inside.
Both seem to be examples of Sp/Sx E4.
Personally, I cannot relate to the specifics.
I don't care about furniture and houses, and have never envied someone's living arrangement before.
Sp blindspot does not care.
As I said, the instinctual stacking influences what kind of things the E4 will be envious of.
Who says what I say must be untrue, and what you say must be true, hm?
P.S: To be fair, I have noticed SP blindspot individuals with Si in their Ego (mostly SFs) will still sort of care for such things.
P.P.S: I bet you'll just say I am wrong again and she is not SF, right? It is getting predictable.
P.P.P.S: Neither one of us can prove our position, so we all have to take it with a grain of salt, I suppose.
I have an e4 friend who always comments how she can't understand how she got born to a family where everybody is so different than her. She sees herself as misunderstood from all other family members, an alien, but also better than them.
I otoh see myself as fitting in and being accepted by my family. It makes sense that I turned out as I did . I'm spoiled by my dad, but I'm even closer with my mom, she's like a second bff who i tell everything to. People comment how I'm "a younger version of her" and I can defenitely see the similarity and feel strong attachment.