The terms 'introvert' and 'extrovert' were coined by the psychologist C.G. Jung in
the early 20th century. I've always been sorry that he chose those words.
When we talk of introverts and extroverts, we refer to the part of human
psychology that comes into play during social inter-action. Does my neighbor like
me or not like me? Will she/he have sex with me? Should I try to dominate
him/her? Should I let him/her dominate me? Will this person hire me/fire me?
Promote me/demote me? Do I fit in? Am I an accepted part of the team?
Introverts shy away from all that, extroverts eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
To social humans – to the extroverts and the introverts who are trying to be
extroverts (and some real in-between hybrids) – human interaction is what
matters. To them the forests and the fields, the sky, the mountains, the stars at
night and the open sea, are just scenery, props on the stage, backgrounds for
the human show.
Charles Darwin, the principal architect of the theory of evolution, was a classic
introvert, shy and reclusive all his life. Yet he didn't shy away from the universe
around him. He had an unbounded interest in the non-human world. He spent five
years sailing around the world on the Beagle, investigating every part of it, fas-
cinated by it all. And he never tired of it. He spent his whole adult life investigat-
ing and writing about the non-human world. Just before he died he was still
carrying on experiments with plants and earthworms in his garden.
The sciences are full of men and women like that. The arts have a lot of them too.
To solitary/shy men and women, the trees, fields, sky and sea, are the real world.
From their perspective, the human world is not the universe, but something
lesser contained within it.
Do you see what I mean? Most extroverts are too busy communicating with each
other to pay much attention to rocks, stars, vegetables or earthworms. They are
the ones who are 'turned inward', who are focused on the complexities of life
inside the herd, confined to that smaller, more limited world. It's the introvert who
is most open to the universe.
If Jung had to use the words 'introvert' and 'extrovert', he should have reversed
them.
Alan Conrad
2009
the early 20th century. I've always been sorry that he chose those words.
When we talk of introverts and extroverts, we refer to the part of human
psychology that comes into play during social inter-action. Does my neighbor like
me or not like me? Will she/he have sex with me? Should I try to dominate
him/her? Should I let him/her dominate me? Will this person hire me/fire me?
Promote me/demote me? Do I fit in? Am I an accepted part of the team?
Introverts shy away from all that, extroverts eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
To social humans – to the extroverts and the introverts who are trying to be
extroverts (and some real in-between hybrids) – human interaction is what
matters. To them the forests and the fields, the sky, the mountains, the stars at
night and the open sea, are just scenery, props on the stage, backgrounds for
the human show.
Charles Darwin, the principal architect of the theory of evolution, was a classic
introvert, shy and reclusive all his life. Yet he didn't shy away from the universe
around him. He had an unbounded interest in the non-human world. He spent five
years sailing around the world on the Beagle, investigating every part of it, fas-
cinated by it all. And he never tired of it. He spent his whole adult life investigat-
ing and writing about the non-human world. Just before he died he was still
carrying on experiments with plants and earthworms in his garden.
The sciences are full of men and women like that. The arts have a lot of them too.
To solitary/shy men and women, the trees, fields, sky and sea, are the real world.
From their perspective, the human world is not the universe, but something
lesser contained within it.
Do you see what I mean? Most extroverts are too busy communicating with each
other to pay much attention to rocks, stars, vegetables or earthworms. They are
the ones who are 'turned inward', who are focused on the complexities of life
inside the herd, confined to that smaller, more limited world. It's the introvert who
is most open to the universe.
If Jung had to use the words 'introvert' and 'extrovert', he should have reversed
them.
Alan Conrad
2009
Introvert or Extrovert?
Copyright - Alan Conrad, 2009
PDF Version
Copyright - Alan Conrad, 2009
PDF Version
