Four types inside you
The four sides of the mind
A test gives you one type. CS Joseph's model says every mind holds four: the one you live in, and three others you visit, aspire to, or fall into.
Four types in one mind
CS Joseph built on Beebe's eight seats and went one step further. Since every person has all eight functions, and each group of four can be read as a type, he describes four "sides" of the mind, each one a full type with its own way of seeing the world. In his words, your test result is just your ego.
This explains why people sometimes act in ways their type cannot explain: not because their letters changed, but because another side of their mind took the lead for a while.
CS JosephFor an INFJ: the ego is INFJ, the subconscious ESTP, the unconscious ENFP and the superego ISTJ. Pick a type to see its four sides.
The four sides
The ego
Your four main functions, seats 1 to 4: the Hero, the Parent, the Child and the Inferior. The side where your mind lives most of the time, and the one a test measures.
The subconscious
The same four functions in reverse order: your Inferior becomes its Hero. It is reached through your Inferior, and CS Joseph describes it both as where you aspire to be and as your polar opposite. His example: an INTP who quietly does the host's dishes at a party is acting from their ESFJ subconscious.
The unconscious
Your four shadow functions, seats 5 to 8: the Opposing Personality, the Senex or Witch, the Trickster and the Demon. This is Beebe's shadow, read as a type. His example: an INTP who takes charge of a family crisis is acting from their ENTJ unconscious.
The superego
Your shadow functions in reverse order, reached through your Demon. CS Joseph calls it the most misunderstood and least talked about of the four sides: the farthest from who you think you are.
How to find them
CS Joseph shows the sides through examples. From them we can read a simple rule on the letters, which gives every side he names:
- Subconscious: change all four letters. INFJ becomes ESTP.
- Unconscious: change the first and the last letter. INFJ becomes ENFP.
- Superego: change the two middle letters. INFJ becomes ISTJ.
Beebe and CS Joseph
The ego and the unconscious are Beebe's light and shadow, the eight seats split in two. The subconscious and the superego are CS Joseph's own addition: the same functions, read in reverse order, as if each half of the mind could stand on its head.
The four sides also meet us in other people. The type of your unconscious is your golden pair; the type of your subconscious is your duality pair. Pairs between types tells what happens when they meet.
BeebeCS JosephIn the journey
Seen with Campbell, the four sides are four regions of one map: the ego is the home you leave, the unconscious is the shadow land of the ordeal, and the subconscious is the place you long for, reached through the same door as the call to adventure, your Inferior. The hero's journey within follows the road through them.
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