MBTI Type: ISTP

ISTPs are highly intelligent, analytical, and adaptive to their environment, but also struggle with emotional detachment (in the eyes of other types). They are men of decisive action, formed by logic – and there’s no better example of this than when Simon finds the demon-possessed man and confronts him. The man begs Simon to kill him and put him out of his misery, but Simon says that since he is lucid, he still has a measure of control over the demons – he can hold them back, but if he were to kill this man, the demons would be “free to wander, and possess someone else, who might have less control.” Though it might be merciful to end his life, it would be irrational – because this man serves as a vessel to contain the demons. It feels callous to the man, that he should suffer, but it shows a rational conclusion by Simon, who later only attacks him because the demons attempt to hurt Mary and her companions. Simon earns much praise among the Zealots, because of his unique planning abilities – he looks for unexpected opportunities and builds a plan he intends to carry out around them (Ti/Ni), but is also ready and willing to take immediate action. When Andrew gets upset that John the Baptist has been arrested, Simon says, “Why don’t we just break him out?” He also thinks it would be good to act on Jesus’ behalf and rescue him, suggesting that him telling them to stay behind perhaps was a secret code to come for him instead. He was about to knife a man in the chest, when he noticed his brother walking for the first time in twenty-five years – and immediately abandoned him to pursue a new path. Emotionally, he isn’t responsive; he wants to be part of something larger than himself, but finds his feelings hard to locate. He deeply loves his brother, but avoids him for a long time, not realizing the emotional affect his abandonment would have on him.

Enneagram: 6w5 so/sp

Counter-phobic 6s are a lot like 8s in that they believe in direct action, by reacting against their fears, but they are different in that 6s are looking to “belong” – to something larger than themselves, in the interests of everyone involved. As such, they will submit to authority, where 8s will not. Simon Peter is an 8, and he reacts against things, but Simon the Zealot is a 6, who found his “tribe” within becoming a Zealot. He chose to join a group forged to fight for the freedom of the Judean nation from Rome, that required him to go through years and years of intensive training, preparation, learning their creeds, and falling in line, obedient to the cause. And he was all about that, until he saw his brother walk… and followed Jesus instead. But he still wants to belong, to make things happen, and believes that Jesus, as his new authority figure, is going to make big waves. Though a serious man, he also has avoidance issues. He knew for years that his brother was at the pool, waiting to be healed in the heathen waters… and never once went to visit him, until he thought he might die in an attempt on a Roman’s life. He avoided what gave him pain, and ran away from it.

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