Disciple Up # 145 Two Kinds of People
By Louie Marsh, 2-5-2020
I’ve read a lot of articles, jokes, etc that start with the line, “There are two kinds of people…” Today I’m adding my own ideas to this mix, whether it’s wanted, needed and helpful or not!
Based on my 52 years of experience, I think that there are two kinds of people in the world, those who are introspective and those who aren’t.
These two kinds of people aren’t easy to tell apart at first, and they get along well most of the time. But they look at the world, and especially themselves, in very different ways.
The non-introspective person tends to slide through life dealing with whatever comes his or her way without wondering too much about what it all means, and why they do what they do. You rarely find them wondering about their motives, and when they do they tend to quickly come up with an answer – often humorous – that pushes those thoughts away so they don’t have to bother with them anymore.
When you talk to people like this you often hear them say that they go through life as smoothly as possible, and they don’t like being put in a position of trying to figure out why they do what they do or think or feel they way they do. They tend to dodge as much of that as they can, and if asked why often reply, “All that stuff’s just a waste of time!”
They want to move on, get the job done, or just enjoy the moment, laugh and have fun, or just watch TV. What you see is what you get could be their life slogan or goal. They don’t want to sweat what they see as “the small stuff” of their personal motives, feelings, doubts, etc. In fact, these kinds of people will often tell you they never doubt – or at least do so very rarely.
Strong, solid and reliable, they are usually great people to work with and can be a lot of fun. They are not the kind of people who are going to give you a long, detailed conversation or debate about philosophical or theological or – God Forbid! – psychological issues!
This of course frustrates the second kind of person to no end – which is why I suppose introspectives tend to marry non-introspectives.
The second kind of person is the Introspective. This kind of person approaches life and self from the polar opposite position of the non-introspective. He or she is constantly asking a lot of questions, and their interior dialogue tends to be filled with a lot of questions like:
Why did I do that?
What does that mean?
How do I know that’s true or false?
Am I really fulfilling God’s plan for my life – and what the heck is it anyway?
I could go on but you get the idea.
This kind of person not only wants to deal all these personal issues and more besides, they need too! You could even say they have too. To not pursue these questions would ultimately result in total, screaming insanity!
Introspectives face the temptation of thinking they are deeper than non introspectives, though whether or not they are is actually an open question. They certainly spend more time thinking about things, but that opens them up to becoming overly introspective, and far too subjective.
Let me close this post with a question and some hints at where I might be going with it.
I’d like to know which one of these you think you are – let me know in the comments! I’ll tell you where I see myself in all this – although if you know me you already know this I’m sure – in my next post.
Some of the questions I want to explore in later posts on this topic include but are not limited to:
Why the difference?
How does this affect our spirituality? Is it easer for one type to grow spiritually than another?
Do these differences make any difference in the end?
Is it better to be introspective or non introspective?
Is there anything you can do about it?
To start with let me set the record straight and say that I am definitely in the Introspective category, as if you couldn’t tell. If you know me you probably know that, and if you don’t you probably guessed that anyway. After all if I was an introspective I wouldn’t be asking these kinds of questions in the first place!
I’ve been this way as long as I can remember. Early on I was an odd mixture of skeptical and naïve. I would tend to believe what I was told if the person doing the telling seemed nice and sincere. On the other hand I also found myself asking questions that other kids didn’t seem to be asking. I got into a lot of trouble that way!
By the time I was in High School two things happened. One – I became a Christian. Two – my faith clashed head on with what I had been taught about the world, and the culture at large which was in the throes of rapid change.
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