Saviors and Demons

Introduction to OPS: Part 2

In the previous article, we talked about a scientific approach to personality typing. We explained how we get objective data to escape our subjective points of view.

But what is it that we actually track?

Well, we apply our objective method of typing independently to track subjective emotional states.

Yes, that's the weird joke at the core of the system. We try to observe and agree on the emotional viewpoints of the people we type.

More specifically, we ask: what does someone frame as positive, and what does someone frame as negative? What are their consistent emotional patterns?

We call the emotional states we're looking for Saviors and Demons.

That's what the game of typing is all about, recognizing when someone is in a Savior state, and when they’re in a Demon state.

Everything we track comes in the form of a binary coin. The binary coin describes a spectrum with the two sides of the coin at each end. One side is the Savior, the other is the Demon.

It's not merely that one side is preferred over the other. But for every coin, one side is regarded as the default positive, while the other side is framed as the default negative.

This insight is the key to tracking people's personalities objectively, looking for Saviors and Demons, default positives and default negatives.

What does that look like?

For example, one of the binary coins that we track is Organize-Gather. It’s important to keep in mind that everybody does everything. Everybody organises and everybody gathers.

The question is: how do they do it?

Everybody has the default tendency to regard Organize either as the Savior or the Demon - and regard Gather as the opposite. This subjective view informs how they organise and how they gather.

A positive view of Organize would be order or structure, while control would be a negative one. The positive one for Gather would be variety, while the negative one would be chaos.

We try to figure out which is which.

The nuances of typing

We don’t simply take someone’s words at face value, we instead look for consistent patterns of behaviour. Recognizing these patterns is a very tricky and nuanced thing.

What is a Savior?

A Savior is what someone regards as their obvious responsibility. It's their obligation, and it's what they see as “given,” it’s what they automatically do.

It's not what they merely talk about, it’s what they actually do. But they might not be aware of it because it's so automatic. They might not even like it if you ask them directly.

But it's also what they consistently overdo. All recurring problems come from overdoing their Saviors. It's what they literally frame as a Savior, for their personal life or the world at large.

“You know what we need: more order!”

What is a Demon?

Demons are the opposite. It's what people blame and avoid doing by default. It’s what they need to force themselves to do and what they do awkwardly.

It's what they don't regard as the obvious responsibility or as flat-out not their responsibility. It's a void that they leave for others to take care of.

All their reoccurring problems come from neglecting their Demons. It’s what they frame as the bad guy.

“You know what’s the problem: too much control!”

Recognising states

Recognising Saviors and Demons is a very tricky subject. Saviors are usually done calmly and largely on autopilot. You often just do your Saviors without bringing attention to them.

Demons are the opposite. It’s what you actually noticed yourself doing because it takes so much effort. It triggers an emotional spike and wakes up your brain. You suddenly pay attention and you want others to pay attention too.

You show off and present the difficult thing you did with pride. Difficult, according to your subjective perception. This is what we call peacocking.

You mistake this for the real you, but it’s not what you do for most of the day while you’re not paying attention. It might be what you dream about and desire, and what you would like to do someday.

This is why it's impossible to type someone based on their words. You need to actually know their consistent patterns. Unfortunately, people often don’t see themselves and peacock without being aware of it.

It’s even more tricky when you have someone who has a certain level of maturity and responsibility. They might not just claim to do their demons, they might actually do them. But still, when they talk about their Demons, it’s not the obvious responsibility, it’s their discovery.

Learning to Type

Learning to type is about recognizing someone else's Saviors and Demons while you filter them through your own Saviors and Demons.

You assume they view the world in the same way you do, which is simply not true. You need to be able to see past that and recognize how other people actually view the world.

If you want to learn objective typing, you need to become aware of your own default mindset. You need to use the objective process to set traps for your mind until you learn to control it.

It’s a process of submission and ego death. That’s what we’re doing and still struggling with.

In the following articles, we'll explain the binary coins one by one, introduce the common terminology and describe what Saviors and Demons look like for the individual coins.