THE NATURE OF INTROVERTS AND EXTROVERTS

To be an introvert really means that you, as a thinking personality, are always looking in to your inner feeling and thought life.

The introvert is one whose soul force is too strong for the forces of the personality to handle. It is far easier for the introvert to pursue the path to the inner worlds of desire-emotion, of mental activity and of spiritual vision as it is the line of least resistance; s/he finds the outer world expression of the personality difficult to manage as the ‘pull’ of the soul offsets the outer ‘pull’. Due to a lack of understanding of the prevailing inner condition the physical plane expression often suffers as a result.

To be an extrovert really means that you, as a thinking personality, are always looking out to the outer world of feeling and thought.

This reverse condition is also true. There is the pure extrovert whose personality force is focussed upon the outer world and the influence of the soul is offset, the personality activity is outward bound into the material world and not inward into the world of the soul. Where the personality forces of the extrovert are focussed we find either an obsessive expression of egotism, or a highly motivated personality manifesting some form of creative desire through a well-integrated physical, emotional and mental set-up. The introverted personality is more prone to an inferiority complex, while the extrovert demonstrates frequently as a superiority complex.

There are instances where an extrovert may develop a tendency towards introversion, with the consequences of soul knowledge and intuitional development; and where an introvert may develop a greater capacity for outer expression. In these rarer cases we have then a great balancing of forces and the birth of true leaders among men. With hearts open to heaven and to earth, the focus of attention is from a steady point within and from that point they look in two directions: outward at the personality upon the physical plane and inward at the soul.

There are many characters in our history books who demonstrate in varying degrees this last category of balanced introversion and extroversion. F D Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Henry George, and a number of poets, artists and musicians, politicians and economists, and some men and women today in all fields of endeavour who demonstrate these qualities of inner soul communion combined with creative personality expression. We would do well to look out for the introverts and extroverts among us and to observe ourselves more closely that we may catch a glimpse perhaps of where we stand in this regard.

There is need for deeper understanding of what makes an individual – in any one lifetime – more of an introvert or an extrovert, but if we ignore the very real presence of the soul’s influence on the personality we will not understand. Introversion is a pull from within; it is the ‘pull’ of the soul for the purpose of brooding and reflection. When this is carried too far we find the introvert. Extroversion is the stronger ‘pull’ of the personality towards outer expression. Both are very necessary alternatives in our repeated life experiences on the long evolutionary journey towards enlightenment.

In time and after long experience, we learn to live more ‘subjectively’ so that the focus of consciousness centres within and from that point we look in two directions: outward at the personality upon the physical plane and inward at the soul.