Second function
❚ All abbreviated characteristics of the Second function: "river", Process-oriented, Normative, Dialogue-oriented, Flexible, Pitiful, Fearless, Confident, Compromising.
1❚ The Second function is NORMATIVE.
• And like any norm, it is difficult to describe. It is unlikely that a person will find more than two words, undertaking to talk about his health, if it is normal: colors, epithets, images are found only when there is a need to list sores. So it is with the Second Function, it is difficult to describe, and like good health, you do not feel it.
2❚ If the First Function is best compared to a “hammer”, then the Second to a “river”.
3❚ The Second function is our gift to others and the best side of a person.
• “It’s just as strong. But besides the strength, it has qualities unknown to the First: breadth, wealth, naturalness and flexibility. The source of all these virtues lies in the fact that in the Second, strength is connected with orientation to process, i.e. it's a force charged for constant dialogue, constant interaction. Returning to the comparison of the First and Second, we can say that if the First is our gift to ourselves, then the Second is our gift to others. Therefore, it is the Second function that is the best side of a person.”
4❚ The second function is extremely rich in hues and has an enormous range.
• In order not to go far, I will give an example of the same 2nd Emotion: one researcher calculated that Tolstoy described 85 shades of expression in the eyes and 97 shades of a smile.
5❚ Another characteristic of the Second function, due to orientation to process: the completeness of its implementation is possible only if there is a partner, an audience.
• This characteristic is difficult to see, but one woman with the 2nd Emotion admitted to me that, although life circumstances forced her to do so, she was never comfortable with crying completely alone.
6❚ The combination of strength and orientation to process of the Second Function endows it with such an unusually valuable quality as pity. In fact, pity is not a monopoly of the Second, but one of the aspects of being oriented to process.
The specificity of the Second’s pity lies precisely in the fact that it pities from the position of strength, confidence and experience of the richly gifted side of human nature.
• There is nothing better for the sick, the disabled, the elderly, than to be under the care of the 2nd Physics. The boundlessness of her compassion, constant care, precision, speed and caution of movements are able to provide maximum comfort to any weak person.
7❚ Another characteristic feature of the Second Function is that it's fearless.
Moreover, a person experiences a kind of pleasure, putting it to the test often in dubious and even obviously uncomfortable situations. And this behavior is easy to explain: The Second one is not only strong, but also flexible, so attacks to it do not hurt, but only give direction to work on its further improvement.