Enneagram Type One, sometimes called the Perfectionist, belongs to the Body Triad. People of this Enneatype tend to have a strong inner critic that judges everything they (and other people) do based on norms, ideals and right precedures or methods. Ultimately, Ones derive a sense of justification for their existence in the world by adhering to standards and ideas of how things ‘ought to’ go. They often feel that they have a duty to uphold these standards and to put them into practice in the world around them.

Enneatype One Grows: Move to Seven

Ones’ sense of duty is part of their subconscious deal with themselves, which states that they are okay and are allowed to take up space in the world only if they do it the right way, usually by asserting an ideal or implementing or upholding certain standards.

It is always hard for anyone to accept the world as it is, but especially for Ones. They tend to see the world as if it were in a fallen state and needed to be amended. There is nothing wrong with changing what needs to be changed, but doing so in order to obey a harsh inner critic who will latch on to anything to demand improvement is a recipe for unhappiness, both for the One and for those around them. Remember that history is full of visionaries who tried to reform the world and ended up making it worse.

As Ones learn to let go of the resentment they feel toward the world and toward themselves for not being the perfect mirror image of an ideal, Ones move toward point Seven on the Enneagram. Sevens are a mundane type. They love finding always new ways of enjoying the world and the variety it has to offer. Even average Ones can sometimes display this childlike curiosity and sense of adventure in their best moment.

The great gift that Ones can develop by developing this sevenish side is that they learn to improve the world around them by developing its inherent promises from moment to moment rather than by trying to impose foreign ideals onto it. No longer angry at themselves and at the world, Ones learn to accept different opinions and different ways of acting, and their behavior becomes less reactive.

Enneagram One Under Stress: Move to Four

I said that average Ones see the world as if it were in a fallen state. It makes sense that, under stress, Ones move to Four, the type that more than any other feels like a fallen being.

Ones have considerable faith in their ideals and in the fact that their way of doing things is the right one. They can keep beliving so under the harshest conditions and against all oppositions. Since they usually have a large reservoir of pent up anger inside of them, when challenged beyond a certain or when witnessing something they do not approve of, they may explode.

However, if Ones lose their faith in their ability to change themselves and the world around them to make them match how they ought to be, Ones may move toward their direction of stress at Four. Average to unhealthy Fours are melancholic, dramatic and reserved. They have an air of defeat about them, as though they had lost something of great value that used to make them happy, or if they had been shipwrecked in the wrong world.

Under stress, Ones tend to take on some of these less healthy characteristics of Enneatype Four, becoming pessimistic and despairing. Ones thus begin to witness a world of irredeemable lawlessness and wrongdoing around them. Since they feel that all is lost, they may start indulging unhealthy pastimes, while at the same time feeling bad about it as they alternate between their “OCD streak” and their depressive, defeatist one.

MQS