When we’re making major life decisions, good self-assessment tools can be valuable. If we know who we are and have a sense of what we’re good at, it’s much easier to make education and career choices, for example.
Being what PrinciplesYou calls a Growth Seeker archetype, I’m naturally fascinated by self-assessment tools.
Back in the 80’s, I did a comprehensive set of tests, studying interests, aptitudes for those interests, intelligence, dexterity, values, and more. It gave me a lot of insight when I needed it.
One of the granddaddies of assessment is Myers Briggs. It was developed by a mother-daughter team, extending the archetyping Carl Jung had developed.
In the 90’s I took a workshop that was then the full Myers Briggs process. Not only did this include testing, but grouping people by each of the four polarities and comparing those who were the same and those opposite. It was striking.
One of the better free online MB-type tests is with 16 Personalities. They explain the model straightforwardly too.
There’s a tendency to moderate on each polarity as we age. I used to be more introverted, for example, but I’ve stayed strongly intuitive.
I also took an entrepreneurial style test that was developed based on MB.
Of course, we can’t take any of this as absolute. These are pointers to self-understanding. An identified mind will tend to use the information to build identity. This is natural. But our inclinations will change as we evolve.
I’ve also written on Chapman’s 5 Love Languages and the related Apology Languages.
Recently, I’ve run into a couple of other career self-assessment tools. Both are archetype-oriented but each frame it differently. Different perspectives can bring different insights.
The first is the somewhat awkwardly named PrinciplesYou. It’s career oriented. The basic test is free. Just create an account to save and pdf your results.
The other is Sparketype, also free.
For me, PrinciplesYou was slightly more on point, but I got insights from both.
Happy self-exploration.
Davidya
About The Myers-Briggs test, which is based on Jung’s work: Jung used astrology as a starting point for his personality types.
He based his model on an introverted and extroverted version of the four elements in astrology, fire, air, water and earth. So Jung ended up with eight main personality types.
In my view, it is better to go directly to the source and explore one’s own horoscope. To look for life directions (like job choice and what kind of personal qualities it is important for the person to develop), the Sun’s position in sign and house, The MC and the Northern lunar node (Rahu) are among the most important factors. I have found that it is best to use Western and not Vedic astrology here.
On MBTI, I agree Lars. But self-assessment would require a lot of skill before astrology would be personally useful. For myself, I found Vedic more accurate but it would depend on the skill of the astrologer, the accuracy of the birth time, and how close some things are to changing signs.
In my own case, the S node Ketu is also key as it’s in the 10th. The atmakaraka can be important too, the planet with the highest degree.
Thanks David – As a long time MBTI instructor I’ve seen many hundreds of people get a lot out of the indicator, especially in a workplace setting. One of the “ah-ha’s” is realizing others are not imperfect versions of oneself. Another indicator I’ve found helpful is the Enneagram and its nine types or fixations and three subtypes. Taken together MBTI and the Enneagram can deeply enliven awareness of self and others. EQi is another indicator that measures emotional intelligence and provides useful insight into how we show up and relate to others. What our community needs is an indicator that assesses the degree of realization of unbounded pure awareness versus the limited personal-ego-self. Perhaps, sking the mind to assess its own degree of unreality is unrealistic (smiles). But it’s an interesting thought.
Thanks, Harrison. I’m not as familiar with Enneagram but have looked at it.
The tricky part of such a test is that people’s clarity varies. Maharishi indicated there would be a scientific way to verify the stages. But so far, only witnessing sleep can be confirmed, and that may or may not indicate Self Realization.
My original plan for my PhD research was to survey peoples experience for markers of each stage. The tricky part is seeing the progression. People can have very fancy experiences that come and go. The key is the sustained experience where the door opens and says open.
Yet people can confuse that with memory, conflating their progress. Or inversely, doubt their experience and have trouble accepting they’re awake.
As a note there, EEG can indicate witnessing sleep, as can breath stoppage due to transcending (not apnea). All this, even if we don’t recognize alertness in sleep. This is why I point to continuity. The ego sleeps when the mind sleeps at night. The Self does not, so that sense of never ending is a valid pointer.
Hi David!
About verifying stages …. that is done in still active ancient indoor traditions. Having had contact to members of such traditions i was taught that saying “i woke up to true nature ” would be met with ridicule.
They seem to have knowledge that is not public which goes like this (very simplyfied): every shift in our sense of self needs to be fully embodied. That full embodiment of a shift produces a pattern of change within the physiology that is objectivly measuable. If that change in the physiology is not there yet the shift has not fully happened as the body HAS TO show the signs of it.
With that full embodiment comes a full understanding of a certain level of creation and with that siddhis (not as a product of wanting them but as a result of the full embodiment of the shift).
The physiological changes + the siddhis are both checked.
With love
Ah interesting, Michael.
Yes, and embodiment takes time. The denser the level, the slower.
I was shown certain levels of creation before there was any real embodiment – just witnessing. So yes, a combination would be needed.
Maharishi described using the siddhis to verify development but was general about it. Now, many seem to think you should be able to fly with the Unity or Brahman shift. This distinction isn’t understood.