5. Investigator Imprinting

If we are doing the Investigator expression at the imprinting level, we believe that our ability to conceptualize and analyze makes us stand out from the crowd. We love using logic to wake others up to their inconsistencies. Our desire for knowledge pushes us to show others how much they do not know. When other people need us for information, we feel great. We often try to impress people with our intelligence by the way we answer their questions. We believe that the more intellectual content we create, the less likely others will dispute our findings. We collect large libraries to reassure ourselves that we can put our hands on information whenever we need it. We also believe in constant on-going learning and respect academics for their depth and specialization. We demonstrate our superiority by not arguing with inferior minds. Unfortunately, it does not matter how much information we collect if we cannot apply it wisely. It is recommended that Investigator imprinted individuals not choose positions where they get lost in the information.

Level One Investigator Imprinting (Society’s Social Imprinting Process)

Level One Investigator imprinting has to do with being seen as having the information at our fingertips. When others acknowledge our expertise we feel acknowledged and valued even if we know on a deeper level that it is all a façade. We fall in love with the structure of knowledge and use our deductive and logical skills to appear to be more intellectually developed than we are. This is identified by needing to tell others what we know just because we know it. Over time this becomes irritating to others as it takes time and expression better used elsewhere. Many times Investigator imprinting can be defined by being able to access the information we want at our fingertips. For this reason, we collect libraries and stacks of magazines, believing that the information we read will eventually be used in some way. At this level of Investigator imprinting individuals have the appearance of being Investigators by the way we analyze things externally and our ability to index all the things we know about.

Level Two Investigator Imprinting (Keeping Others From Being Right)

Level Two Investigator imprinting can be identified by our intellectual mistrust of others. At this level, we doubt the validity of the ideas of others, looking for weaknesses in their ability to access the information we want at our fingertips. For this reason, we collect libraries and stacks of magazines, believing that the information we read will eventually be used in some way. At this level of Investigator imprinting, individuals have the appearance of being Investigators by the way we analyze things externally and our ability to index all the things we know about. 

Level Three Investigator Imprinting (Lost in Our Imprinting)

Finally, Level Three Investigator imprinted individuals who are unwilling to be questioned about our thoughts represent the deepest level of imprinting. In these circumstances, some of us become attached to our thoughts, believing that these will provide a sense of safety and security, not realizing that our thoughts are expressions of our creativity and not the creativity itself. When any of our thoughts are beyond self-examination and personal questioning, it indicates that we possess no freedom or inner creativity in this area. Typically, Investigators with this deep intellectual imprint live a life that is defined by the thoughts we have. Many times in this situation, the thoughts of others become our refuge, and our belief in them connects us with the people we idolize. Unfortunately, we become trapped in these thoughts, forcing others to use them to reach us. As a result many give up on us, believing the effort is not worth the pain we experience when others are not present. The way we know that it is imprinting is that no matter how much we do it, we don’t get the attention we seek. People do not trust us for what we know even though we continually prove to them that we know a great many things.

Anti-Investigator Beliefs

1. “Information organizers” and librarians become Information clutterers and contrasters. We discount the purveyors of information as a way of discounting our own ability to move anything forward. Individuals who hate the power of information to establish a framework of thinking, challenge the notion that anything can be known through information. We become agents for chaos as we seek to free others from the tyranny of thought processes. Because we hate regimented thinking the most, we feel compelled to throw a monkey wrench into the situation whenever things are getting too clear or too focused. This is our way of expressing our resentment that people are too predictable. We also typically attack people who are organizers as being unemotional robots who have the mind of an elephant. They never forget, but they never do anything about what they know.


2. “Constantly questioning another’s thoughts” becomes Accepting only the common sense of the masses. Believing that the common truth of society is more valid than our own truth sets us up to deny others in order to not deny ourselves. The challenge is that by denying others we do not allow any growth in ourselves. This is similar to the fact that by judging others we invite them to judge us. By denying the growth of others we are unconsciously denying our own growth. This has to do with the fact that to deny others effectively we have to be denying ourselves inwardly in the same way. The more we cut ourselves off from others, the harder it is for us to identify what works for us. While autonomy is where we honor our own truth, the paradox is that it requires us to honor the truth of others for it to work. Although we feel made wrong by others, this should not be an excuse to make them wrong, for two wrongs don’t make a right. The result of this process is confusion because we do not really want to define ourselves either in opposition to others or in acceptance of others. The tragedy is that we cannot have any constructive dialogue.


3. “Lost in our thinking” becomes Lost in our doing. When we think others are thinking more deeply than we are, we try to find some way to be better than they are through our doing. When they become identified with their thoughts, we become identified with our actions, believing that someone who can’t implement their plan, even though they thought it through, is worthless. In this way we can attack all the eggheads in the world because we believe that they are impractical dreamers or stodgy academics that wouldn’t know life if it bit them.