The Unbound Affirmer

The four axes

The four letters of PKIE are answers to four questions. Each question has two possible answers, and the combinations give the 16 types. The Unbound Affirmer answers P, K, I, E.

1. What convinces you?

   LLogicLogos

   Convinced when the reasoning holds together

   PEmpathyPathos

   Convinced when it feels right

2. What do you build your thinking on?

   AEssenceArchē

   Thinks from a foundation that does not change

   KChangeKinesis

   Thinks in motion, while things are moving

3. What matters most to you?

   TWholeTelos

   Rules and purposes that apply to everyone

   IIndividualIdion

   What belongs to one person and one moment, and cannot be replaced

4. How do you approach something new?

   SSkepticismSkepsis

   Doubts first, accepts after checking

   EOpennessEros

   Gets interested first, accepts it, then goes deeper

About The Unbound Affirmer

The Unbound Affirmer makes living itself the question. Before good and evil, before gain and loss, the basic question is “Is this life worth living?” And they want the answer to be yes. Could they say they would live this life again exactly as it is, with all its pain, boredom and failure? That is their final test.

Nietzsche's “eternal recurrence” was less a theory than a provocation. If this life repeated forever in exactly the same form, could you bear it? Could you not only bear it but rejoice in it? Being able to say yes to that question is the highest achievement for the Unbound Affirmer.

What others notice

• Strength

  Can honestly say “But it was interesting” about painful experiences or failures. It isn't bravado; they have the strength to affirm the experience itself.

• Both sides

  Doesn't regret life choices. Can say flatly, “I'd do the same thing again.” But to others they can seem unreflective.

• Watch out for

  Chooses intensity over endurance. Rather than sticking with one thing, seeks one rich experience after another.

In everyday life

Work

They struggle to simply follow the standards they are given. They look at ready-made values like “promotion,” “salary” and “stability” with a certain coolness. Instead, they pour an unconventional degree of passion into what they feel truly matters. Others may see them as extreme, but to them, “living halfway” is far more frightening.

Relationships

They hate boredom more than anything. They want strong relationships in which both people change each other, rather than shallow, predictable ones. They are not always comfortable to be around, but being with them is never boring. They are like a catalyst that wakes up “a self you have never seen” sleeping inside the other person.

Decisions

Their standard is “can I affirm this with my whole being?” rather than “is it right?” They choose the option that stirs their sense of being alive over the logically optimal one. They sometimes regret it, but they are ready to take on the regret as well. For them, failing to choose out of fear of regret is the fatal mistake.

Biases to watch for

1. Optimism bias

   “Affirming life” turns into “ignoring pain.”

Read how to counter themPersonal Guide

Interpreter

They leave their affirmation of life behind in stories and books. Nietzsche gave it the form of a parable in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Intervener

They confront the people around them with their affirmation of life, through how they live and how they express themselves. Kierkegaard broke off an engagement, fought public disputes with the Church, and posed the question through a way of living.

• 

  Interpreter

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  “Was that life? Well then! Once more!” (Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra)

• 

  Intervener

  Søren Kierkegaard

  “Despair is the sickness unto death.” (Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death)

A first book

Thus Spoke ZarathustraNietzsche

The question “Would you live this life again?” is this type's own question.

All 16 types