Cognition is the result of where you naturally focus your attention, your desires, and your interests. Regardless of what your momentary desires or interests may be, each of us has certain deep, secret hopes that mean more to us than anything. While moods and opinions may change, these deepest desires are such a pure reflection of who we really are. In a world where there is so much to do, so much to experience, so much need and so many discoveries waiting to be found, we each inadvertently focus the most on some things over others. The things that we focus on most of all reflect what we want most out of life, deep down. This comes out through cognition, as the unique specialization of your cognitive type.
As the INFJ Paladin, perhaps nothing is more important to you than learning to understand the universal principles of how life works and how it doesn’t; you secretly look up into the fathomless reaches of infinity, in order to apply its rules here and now in your daily life. Cognitively, you focus on the potential meaning (NF) that life can have on a worldwide scale (IJ). This causes you to think of everything in terms of how it applies to theoretical people, to the lives of the human race overall. What matters most to you, deep down, is learning and living according to the complex and eternal rules of reality, and showing the world that life just works so much better as you do.
This gives Paladins a powerfully zoomed-out perspective, in fact the most zoomed-out of all the cognitive types. With IJ’s scope of universal principles combined with NF’s timeless focus on conceptual meaning, INFJs casually take in the panorama of all the cosmos; they may even have trouble realizing that not everyone thinks that way. The arcanely ancient past, the most enigmatic future, and all the intricacies of the present world are all one in the mind of a Paladin, who sees them all as simply recurring reflections of the same everlasting principles. That dizzying infinity, which you may at times feel guilty for exploring, becomes a mighty Excalibur in your accustomed hands, cutting through the most baffling difficulties of life with long-term perspective that others might not understand until they see how well it works.
None of this means that your specialization of applying principles in daily life comes easy for you; that massive sword won’t lift itself! You have to work at it, just as much as anyone else would. The difference between you and other types is that you care to work at this, above all else. Some may say that it’s just easier for you to take a long view, to stand for what’s right, and to not equivocate on your ideals amid the dangers of life. They may even call you dramatic, as if universal principles somehow don’t apply to real life. But none of that’s true. You simply care enough about learning how to live each normal day according to universal principles, that you’re willing to work much harder at it.
No cognitive type has it easy; every type has to work just as hard at their specialization as anyone else would have to. And every type has to deal with social pressure that tries to make them feel ashamed or embarrassed of their unique specialization. This pressure results in unhappiness and deep, internal conflict, as people feel tempted to ignore their specialization in an effort to not stand out, rock the boat, or look foolish or make anyone else uncomfortable. When we try to ignore our own deepest desires, the reflection of who we really are and really can be, we feel torn, frustrated, and unfulfilled.
This is why understanding our own cognition is so important! As we come to understand what we already wanted in the first place, we learn how to get out of our own way. We learn to let ourselves shine, rather than hiding our light. The world needs what each of us can uniquely offer. We need all the strengths of all the types; each is special at the same time, because each is special in a different way. You don’t do anyone any good when you hide your unique strength, even if you’re afraid it will make others feel uncomfortable. Let yourself be the Paladin you are, wield your mighty sword with finesse and deliberate power, and do it in your own personal way. As you do, you’ll implicitly give others permission to break past the limits of cynical surrender and see just how effective universal principles really are against their own troubles in their own lives.
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