Inner Work for Outer Change
Your personality is like no other. And it’s powerful in ways you have not yet imagined.
You can harness the power of your personality when you integrate its polarities. The polarities of thinking – feeling, sensing – intuiting, introversion – extraversion are meant to balance each other.
Carl Jung taught that we can get unstuck when we recognize and harmonize these parts of ourselves.
Learn more in our free introduction to Jungian typology:
The Power of Polarities
“Life is born only of the spark of opposites.”
Carl Jung
The Polarity Institute is dedicated to human growth and performance through the practical application of Carl Jung’s theory of the personality, or in short: Jungian Typology.
vision
We imagine a world where people live inside-out, discover the truths that give them life and find their purpose and place in the social world.
MISSION
We achieve this through the practical application of Jungian Typology and the foundational principles of Jung’s psychological polarities.
WHAT YOU CAN FIND HERE
At Polarity Institute you can take courses at every level, participate in research, and learn how to apply this learning in all aspects of personal and professional life. Start with our free personality test.
You can also participate in transformative workshops and more. Check our online events.
the power of Polarities
Discover the Spine of the Personality
Polarities are real and they are everywhere: Night-Day, High-Low, In-Out, Rest-Movement, Ebb-Flow, the list is endless.
The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung discovered the polarities in the personality.
There is in the world an illusion of power. The illusion is that one pole is better than the other. One is good, the other bad. One is weak, the other strong. One is right, the other wrong.
One of the great paradoxes of life is that the purpose of polarities is not to polarize but to harmonize.
True and authentic power is found by holding the tension between the poles of polarities so that they become balanced, integrated, and dynamic.
Life is a quest to find the power of polarities within and without.
The Polarity Institute is dedicated to the practical application of Carl Jung’s theory of the personality, or in short: Jungian Typology.
Specifically, we focus on developing the “Spine of the Personality”.
This is the relationship between the most conscious and light parts of our personality and the unconscious and shadow aspects of our personality.
Your vision will become clear only
When you can look into your own heart.
Outside, everything seems discordant.
Only within does it coalesce into unity.
Who looks outside dreams;
Who looks inside awakes.
*
Carl Jung, Letters Volume 1, p. 33
A Better PERSONALITY Test
Jungian Typology, improved
Most of us are familiar with the terms “introvert” and “extravert.” But did you know that these terms were first coined by Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung in 1921? He described three polarities, or pairs of opposites, in the personality:
INTROVERSION – EXTRAVERSION
Attitude or Orientation
Purpose: Connect the inner and outer world through reflection (Introversion) and interaction (Extraversion).
THINKING – FEELING
Judging Polarity
Purpose: Make decisions. Either with the heart (Feeling) or with the head (Thinking).
SENSATION – INTUITION
Perceiving Polarity
Purpose: Gather information. Discovering facts using the 5 senses (Sensation), or possibilities using the imagination (Intuition).
The Polarity Personality Type Indicator (PPTI) was developed by the Polarity Institute’s founder John van der Steur. It improves upon and corrects the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
The PPTI acts like a compass on your journey to becoming who you are meant to be. From the PPTI, you can learn to identify your dominant and inferior functions. Then you can learn to harness their power by holding the tension between them.
we learn better together
Come Join our Masterclass Community
We believe in the practice of asking questions and finding the answers together.
We offer a Hero’s Journey and Certification Masterclass in an online community setting where you will:
- Experience exclusive content and conversations you can’t find anywhere else.
- Meet people who share your interests, who live near you, who do the same things, or who care about the same topics.
- Make better, more well-informed decisions about the things that are most important to you.
- Swap stories, experiences, and ideas (not necessarily advice) around our shared mission.
- Find a little inspiration, thought-provoking conversations, and expert perspective each and every day.
