Writing, for all its benefits, is rather impersonal. Even biographies, though they describe the events of a person’s life, often fall short of truly introducing us to that person. I know many facts about Clive Staples Lewis, but I would never venture to profess that I know the man. Having those facts does not necessarily help me better connect to him through his writing. Despite the impersonality of much writing, I am endeavoring to write, rather routinely, to you. And if I shall be writing to you, I shall first labor to introduce myself to you; hopefully less so with a listing of facts and more with a hand toward helping you come to know the physical, the intellectual, and the spiritual context from which I will be writing.
More than simply a body, I am a living soul. That is, I possess a mind or soul as does, I believe, every other human being on the planet. There is a component to every person that is immaterial; something that is just as much you (if not more so) as your body is but cannot be interacted with via the five senses of taste, touch, smell, sight, or hearing. Perhaps the one exception to this is hearing since your soul can be heard, but only by vocalizing its thoughts using your larynx, tongue and mouth, but I digress. When seeking to introduce you to my distinct soul, I would describe myself as introverted, social, and logical.
If you are unfamiliar with the term or idea of introversion popularized by Carl Jung, what I mean to say about myself is that I am energized when I am alone or in a very small group of intimates, and I am more concerned about the inner life of my mind than the outer world of others.1 While I am not afraid of people or shy, I can spend a lot of time in my own head, even when I’m in a group or should be more socially engaging (much to the chagrin of my wife). Unlike most people, I do not think it is bad or awkward to share silence with another person; so much of our society (the West) is compelled to fill space with noise, and I find, in a universe of noise, that silence is golden. However, as stated, I do not fear people or socializing; in fact, I am quite social.
I thoroughly enjoy the company of other people, and I probably have a stronger and longer-lasting social battery than most introverts. I find one-on-one social engagements stimulating, particularly when the conversation is one that is meaningful or intimate; I have very little bandwidth for chatting about the weather, sports, or engaging superficially about something important. While it may be nerve-wracking to others, I love to dive right in about deep matters of the heart and life—even with strangers! This delight in discussing deep things contributes to my resolve in large groups, whether I’m involved in discussion or find myself engaged in some sort of public speaking. Coincidentally, according to Kathryn Soule, Ph.D., the fear of public speaking (glossophobia) is still the number one fear in America.2
I do not know whether I am an introverted socializer because I am logical, or if I am logical because I am social introvert, or if these personality traits even beget one another in that way. Regardless of the precise dynamics, I perceive the world and make decisions based on reason and facts rather than on feelings and experiences; I am a strong believer in absolute truth and reject the idea of relative truth, because if two relative truths contradict each other, that means they cannot both claim to be true. Please understand that I am not attempting to say, implicitly or explicitly, that logical thinking is superior to emotional thinking (or that introversion is superior to extroversion, for that matter); I am merely seeking to describe that I find merit or strength in ideas and beliefs that are rooted in evidence and reasoning, and more often than not, I will choose to do something, or not to do something, based on reasoning as opposed to my feelings on the matter.
This is Marcus, the soul: I am a fact-driven, introverted socializer. I spend much of my time in introspection, mulling over truths and facts and how they interact with and inform small and great aspects of reality. Having taken time to think about these things, I then enjoy talking about them with another, or even with a group. I’m not even afraid to share my thoughts publicly with a crowd. While I think that we all should be thinking and discussing more about the deep and serious things of the world, I can appreciate that not all people wish to do so, or at least, not do so often. There is also the question of what should be considered “deep” and “serious.” I will answer the question of what I consider to be the most important thing(s) of this world as I consider another aspect of who I am immaterially.
To be continued…
For basic reading on the psychological idea of introversion, see: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/introversion