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Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Enneagram Type Eight – A Quick Introduction

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Often Known As: Boss, Warrior, Challenger
Sin/Passion: Lust
Focus: on the power and strength needed to preserve their independence
Fear: of weakness and being submitted
Energy Center: Body (energy is asserted)
Social Stance: Assertive
Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Assertive, Strong, Powerful, Willful, Protective, Fatherly, No-nonsense, Decisive, Honest, Truthful, Magnanimous, Big-hearted, Inexhaustible, Fierce, Courageous, Heroic, Able to fight for what’s right, Has a good bullshittometer, Endlessly patient with friends and proteges
Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Cruel with enemies, Unforgiving, Aggressive, Overbearing, Vicious, Lustful, Unable to resist own urges, Uncompromising, Intimidating, Impulsive, Foolhardy, Hooked up on intense experiences, An elephant in a china shop, Obtuse, Unwilling to make subtle distinctions even when needed, Unable to unclench
Directions of Growth and Stress: to Two and Five respectively

Enneagram chart with Type Eight highlighted

Introduction

An Enneagram Type Eight is usually hard to miss. Not seldom they are physically imposing–not necessarily because they are big or tall (the Enneagram has nothing to do with body type) but because of the kind of energy they emanate.

Eights enter a room and most people in there feel that they need to deal with them, one way or another. They exude power, they know they exude power, and they know you know they exude power. And they like it. Eights are not necessarily arrogant, but they are unwilling to let anyone trample over them, and will often take the opportunity to make it known at the merest slight they receive (sometimes even if no slight was intended).

Being on a Type Eight’s good side not only makes things easier, but it’s also a wonderful experience. They shower the people they like with all kinds of attention. It is like living between a cushion and a very, very soft place. Eights love pampering their friends, family and protégés just as much as they hate anyone that threatens them (either in reality or in the Eight’s imagination).

In fact, they have particularly developed protective instincts toward their loved ones, and average to healthy Eights often take the initiative whenever they feel anyone is being treated unfairly, especially if the Eight believes the person is too weak to defend themselves.

Fairness, truthfulness and honesty are the values that Eights usually cherish the most. They don’t have a cerebral definition of these qualities, but rather an instinctive understanding of it. Eights often feel that they had to toughen up early in life to avoid being treated unfairly or dishonestly, and their sense of justice will often come from their experience rather than from abstract principles.

In a way, they believe that they must still protect the tender side of their personality (figuratively, the small Eight child that still lives inside of them) and this they accomplish by making it known that they are a force to be reckoned with and that they are the one who are in control. This, of course, is where many problems start.

The powerful bear, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Eight

Core Mechanism

Eights belong to the Body triad, and they are the type that most directly and emphatically expresses their bodily energy. Out of all the nine types, Eights are the one with the most willpower, stamina and endurance.

In general, an Eight’s more or less subconscious drive is for independence, like all Body types. Eights achieve independence by either submitting others and being in control of the situation or by preventing others from submitting them. They have a strong sense of who is in charge of any situation, and they often look for ways to make those people know that they (the Eight) are not to be messed with.

An Eight’s greatest fear is of appearing weak, either in front of themselves or, even worse, in front of others. They have a sneaking suspicion that there is a weak point in them that they need to protect, often coming from some childhood event that left a mark. To compensate, they often act overconfident and cocky, and it is not unheard of that they will actively look for a fight, either physical or psychological.

Well-adjusted Eights are capable of using their endless drive in productive and fair ways, and their general sense of justice makes them often heroic. Less well-adjusted Eights can just as easily turn into overbearing villains that force their ways onto others.

Underneath it all, Eights are keenly aware of their vulnerability and deficiencies, and much of their subsequent behavior depends on how they deal with it. If they accept it as a core part of themselves, they can grow and allow others to grow with them, while if they deny it or hide it, it often leads them toward misery for themselves and others.

Passion

Type Eight’s passion is Lust. Lust must not be confined to sexual needs, although Eights may indeed have a strong sex drive. The word “lust” derives from a Proto-Indo-European root which means “to be wanton, unruly“. This is a good description for the Enneagram conception of lust.

Lust is a powerful inclination toward someone or something. The accent here is on “powerful”. Eights have a strong bodily energy, and crave using it to establish themselves and their dominion over anything or anyone outside of themselves. In a way, Eights love the idea of meeting resistance, and they actually respect those that are capable of offering it. By meeting resistance, Eights can overcome it to assert themselves.

When left unbridled, lust can become a source of problems for Eights, as it is a magnet for confrontations, but also because it tends to give them the idea that they simply need to reach for whatever they want and it will be theirs, regardless of what others think and do. This leads to the typical problem of Eights being wanton and having no self-restraint.

The lack of self-restraint of an Eight is different from that of, say, a Seven, as the latter seeks variety and fears confinement, while Eights seek intensity, even if just in one or two fields.

Unfortunately, the lustful attitude of an unhealthy to average Eight can lead to people becoming extremely resentful of them for behaving like the villains of a martial arts movie. As Eights already feel the need to protect themselves by being assertive, when they pick up on people’s less than friendly attitude they can be led to ramping up their aggression, which is obviously a recipe for disaster.

Lust, the passion of Enneagram Type Eight

Misconceptions

It is not uncommon for people to describe Type Eight as the “bad” type. Even when explicit value judgments are absent, Type Eight descriptions tend to be less than flattering. Not that I think the Enneagram should flatter anyone, but we should certainly acknowledge that there is a place for every type.

The reality is that the aggressive mediocrity that rules our spayed and neutered world today is quite allergic to the kind of warrior-like values that Eights tend to embody. Eights are not inoffensive, they are not conciliatory and they don’t give a flying fig about not hurting other people’s emotions. They are, in the best sense of the word, predators, and predators go for the jugular.

This is not to say that Eights must be protected from criticism, either. First of all, they don’t need protection, and second of all, like every type they can become entangled in their own mechanism, with negative consequences for themselves and others.

What is true is that being in front of an average Eight *is* confronting, for two reasons: because Eights’ way of asserting themselves is of confronting others directly, and because people are generally used to exactly the kind of tea-and-cookies social niceties that Eights rarely provide. As with any type, there is plenty of room for others to learn something from Eights.

Wings

8w7: Eights with a Seven wing are generally hard to miss when you come across them. The in-your-face quality of Type Eight is magnified. They tend to be extremely quick-witted, though they are also generally pachydermic in their way of dealing with subtle issues. They rarely complain about anything and are possessed of incredible endurance and willpower.

8w9: Eights with a Nine wing are the archetype of the lioness protecting her cubs. There is a more conciliatory aspect to this subtype, and a tendency to use their power to hold together and protect the important bonds in the Eight’s life (this can be for better or worse). Usually, this subtype is more tranquil and laid back, although it still cultivates its sense of condifence that, in case of need, it can break a bone or two.

(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Enneagram Type Seven – A Quick Introduction

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Often Known As: Epicurean, Enthusiast, Entertainer, Joker (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.)
Sin/Passion: Gluttony
Focus: on options to experience pleasure
Fear: of suffering and being left without options
Energy Center: Head (energy is transformed)
Social Stance: Assertive
Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Positive, Fun, Friendly, Active, Good planner, Anticipating, Excited and exciting, Energetic, Colorful, Playful, Spontaneous, Casting a wide net, Smart (and often street-smart), Multifaceted, Practical, Quick-witted, An enjoyer of life, Entertaining, A magnet for people and for odd, whimsical adventures
Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Shallow, Manic, Falling for every silly novelty, Excusing away own lack of restraint, Scattered, Wasteful, Materialistic, Impatient, Delusional in assessing own abilities, Hyperactive, Making rash decisions that come back to bite them, Sense that if they stop one second something “wrong” or “bad” may surface within them
Growth and Stress Directions: to Five and One respectively

Enneagram chart with Type Seven highlighted

Introduction

Everyone has someone in their life who always seems to be in the right place for something odd, fun or remarkable to happen to them. Even when they relate their experience as if it were a nuisance, these people manage to put a funny spin on it, turning it into the subject of a story that everyone can laugh at. These people may be Sevens on the Enneagram.

Sevens are always seemingly upbeat and positive. Possessing an endless reservoir of energy and as wide an array of interests toward which to funnel this energy, they appear to go through life in search of the next exciting thing.

Sevens don’t necessarily look for the spotlight, but still they often shine in group settings, where they grab people’s attention with their colorful personality and their ability to connect over their many interests. In fact, Sevens tend to cultivate a variety of hobbies and personal interests, often achieving more than other people in a shorter period of time.

A Seven is not someone who “one day” would like to go see that concert. A Seven is the person who’s already scouring the internet for tickets and accomodation solutions, even if they’ve promised themselves they would wait a couple of months before spending that much money again.

Sevens love making new experiences and hate feeling held back or limited in their options. They live for the thrill and they are often found planning the next one. When the experience is over, they may be a little sad, but low moods rarely last very long with Sevens. They always find a way to cheer up and move on to the next thing. This may sometimes cause trouble as it leaves negative feelings unelaborated and may end up in rash decisions.

The colorful parrot, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Seven

Core Mechanism

On the Enneagram, Sevens belong to the Head triad. This may seem strange, as they do not give off intellectual vibes (note that ‘intellectual’ does not necessarily mean ‘intelligent’). Sevens appear very much to be doers. And yet, Sevens are also great planners. Just as Fives seek to anticipate the world as a whole and Sixes seek to anticipate what might cause them pain or fear, Sevens seek to anticipate pleasure. This is how they use their head.

In Sevens, the urge for safety that characterizes all Head types is transformed into an active quest for enjoyment. Sevens fear pain and sorrow. Thus, they fill their lives with what philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal called ‘divertissements’, that is, distractions. Although Sevens appear hardy and resilient, they actually have a low tolerance for inner pain or existential dread. Therefore, their lust for adventure is actually a flight from these conditions.

This is behind Sevens’ tendency to “skim” through life, fueled by their fear of missing out and being stuck with the present. Not that the present is inherently bad for them. They can appreciate it. But they appreciate it in so far as it is one of the many things they can and will enjoy. When it becomes the sole thing, then Sevens’ attention, being confined within the narrow space of existing conditions, turns toward the more negative side of their life, which is what they want to avoid.

And yet, the more they force variety and diversity into their life, the more this variety becomes shallow. Since Sevens are often anything but stupid, they perceive this, and they are prompted to flee even further into more meaningless variety.

Passion

Gluttony is the passion of Enneagram Type Seven. As with all types, we must read the term ‘gluttony’ figuratively. The gluttony of Type Seven manifests in their general tendency to seek variety and always new experiences to ‘consume’, and always being afraid of remaning stuck with the thing you have and missing out on the world out there.

Sevens want to fill their life with experiences. The idea of staying put is very much alien to them, because as soon as their life begins feeling stale or samey, a sense of wrongness begins to surface, and the negative feelings that they seek distraction from become loud.

Interestingly, Sevens usually fear being in a situation of lack, want or dearth. They tend to have a sensual, materialistic streak. However, their gluttony can jeopardize their sense of security if left unbridled, as the person may end up overspending, overeating, overdoing, developing addictions, etc.

Healthy Sevens are generally capable of exerting some self-restraint when needed, but unhealthy ones feel that lack of variety and change makes the world close in on them. This can cause them to drop the toy they are playing with as soon as they eye the next shiny trinket. It is not uncommon, for instance, for Sevens to try to initially compromise with themselves: “I’ll get the new thing I want when the paycheck comes” only to be unable to help themselves and just going in the red. This is just an example, of course, but it paints an accurate picture.

Gluttony, the passion of Enneagram Type Seven

Misconceptions

A common misconception about Sevens is that they cannot make commitments and are unreliable friends. This is not true. Though Sevens may have a number of acquaintances and fair-weather friends with whom they do not care to take things very far, they are extremely loyal to the people they consider important in their life.

As with people, so with activities. It is true that Sevens may often be unwilling to persevere in things (some hobbies, for instance) once the rush wears off unless they have managed to organize their life around it, but there is almost always a handful of activities to which a Seven devotes themselves wholeheartedly.

Another typical misconception is that Sevens are always extroverted. Extroversion is not something that the Enneagram can measure. Although there may be a statistical correlation between introversion with certain types and extroversion with certain other types, there is never a causal connection.

Sevens move toward people not necessarily because they are extroverted (though they may be) but because their behavior leads to them interacting with people, even when it is not the main goal.

Finally, I’ve come across descriptions, especially on socials, that state that Sevens are never depressed. As depression is a mental condition, it can develop in anyone with a mind, and has no connection with one’s Enneagram type.

Wings

7w6: Sevens with a Six wing often have a more noticeable anxious note. Excellent planners, their quest for entertainment often ends up involving other people, as this subtype tends to be in high demand among potential friends and acquaintances. Friendly and upbeat, they often appear approachable. Compared to the other wing, 7w6 may sometimes be held back by fear from going after what they want, though often they end up going after it anyway and worry later.

7w8: Sevens with an Eight wing have a stronger presence, and can have the eightish air of someone you don’t want to mess with. Compared to the other wing, they are more likely to jump eagerly into situations without forethought, and will often quickly go get what they want. These Sevens often have a decidedly sensual bent, and want to surround themselves with all the means of satisfying their desires.

(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Enneagram Type Six – A Quick Introduction

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Often Known As: Doubter, Skeptic, Loyalist, Underdog (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.)
Sin/Passion: Fear
Focus: on security
Fear: of not finding any stable protection
Energy Center: Head (energy is suppressed)
Social Stance: Compliant
Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Dependable, Friendly, Supportive, Dutiful, Mild, Reasonable, Gregarious, Courageous, Cooperative, Group-conscious, Good partner, A buddy, With good hunches, Encouraging, Loyal, Funny, Hardy, Good at foreseeing problems
Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Fearful, Critical, Cynical, Cowardly, Mindless, Ideological, Catastrophizing, Alternating between following blindly and rebelling blindly, between conformism and mutiny, A deer in the headlights, Given to unwarranted fight or flight behavior
Growth and Stress Directions: to Nine and Three respectively

Enneagram chart with Type Six highlighted.

Introduction

In a way, Type Six represents Joe Citizen. Supportive, generally friendly, Sixes are usually mild-mannered and dependable with others. They tend to form strong and stable bonds and they are normally there for the people they have bonded with. Often capable of a great spirit of sacrifice in the name of fairness and friendship, they are always willing to fight for the underdog and try to be good neighbors with their fellow humans.

They often have incredible hunches that almost invariably turn out to be true. This is nothing supernatural. It is the consequence of a life spent trying to anticipate and prevent uncertainties and dangers. When a Six tells you that something is off about someone or something, they are probably right.

Sixes value loyalty–loyalty to ideas and to people. It is rare for them to question the motives of people they trust, and they usually go well out of their way to justify friends and associates. There is little they dislike more than untrustworthy people and traitors. They also occasionally display an obdurate unwillingless to trust others and have trouble with authority figures (unless they blindly trust them).

Sixes often have a good sense of humor, but also a cynical streak. Occasionally they make skeptical remarks that feel unwarranted or exaggerated, and they are seldom satisfied with the level of proof required by others in order to feel confident in a situation: Sixes need more.

The defenseless lamb, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Six

Core Mechanism

It is incredibly hard to pin down Type Six in a single description. In a way, it is the most complex type. Sixes can and often do showcase opposite tendencies at different times, or even at the same time, and sometimes it is hard to see what links them to other Sixes. From a behavioral standpoint, Sixes are probably the most heterogeneous Enneagram type.

Sixes often swing between extremes of obedience and rebellion, mindless acceptance and rejection, aggression and passivity, fight and flight, faith and skepticism. The reason is that they lack any inner sense of certainty about life.

In the introduction I said that Sixes are always willing to fight for the underdog. This is because Sixes often feel like they are underdogs. Their worldview is one of great uncertainty. In a way, Sixes feel like they have been cast into the world with no protection–a world full of wolves that are waiting to attack.

Sixes are a Head type, but unlike the major head type, Fives, who trust only their own mind and relish in endless doubt and uncertainty, Sixes don’t trust themselves to have something figured out for good, but they do want to figure it out for good. Their mental processes are forever undermining their choices and their sense of certainty: “What if this happens? What if that happens? What is the worst that could happen?”

To compensate for their lack of inner guidance, Sixes seek a source of guidance outside of themselves (something Fives would never do). Once this source of guidance (which may be a person, a political ideology, a religion, an institution, etc.) is selected, the Six is unlikely to question them, and will become a brave little soldier fighting for the cause. Sixes also tend to find strength in number and in networking with other people they deem dependable, often on the assumption that they are all potential victims of this uncertain world and so they can help each other.

As soon as the cracks start showing in whatever source of certainty the Six has selected (after all, nothing and no one is perfect one hundred percent of the times) Sixes may try to overlook them by becoming more mindless, but if the cracks become impossible to ignore, Sixes turn on their “protectors” becoming the stereotype of the torch-bearing villagers. Once the rebellion is over, Sixes look for another anchor, and the cycle starts over.

Passion

The passion of Enneagram Type Six is Fear. To understand this we must take a step back and recognize that fear is, in a way, the foundation of every form of life. As soon as an organism exists, it seeks to perpetuate itself and to avoid what damages it, which it fears.

Sixes embody this idea in a visceral and almost archetypal way. Their primary concern is with their safety (and that of the people they care about, of course). Their fear stems from the fact that they cannot find anything around them that they can one hundred percent rely upon.

This leads them to their famous trait of catastrophizing about everything under the sun. Paradoxically, Sixes do this because it calms them, as it allows them to come up with endless Plans B (and C, and D) in case something goes south.

Unfortunately, their fear interferes with this focus on certainties, as eventually they’ll manage to poke a hole even in their fifth, sixth and seventh wheel, leading to a breakdown of their view of reality as it is, and not in a positive sense.

Fear is the constant companion of a Six’s life. It manifests as an ocean of variables when they don’t know what or whom to trust; when they have found this solid rock, fear manifests as a mute, nagging sensation that all is not well, that something is escaping them and will bite them in the ass one day.

In relation to the passion of fear, we distinguish two possible reactions on the Six’s part: the phobic reaction, which consists in running away from fear, and the contraphobic reaction, which consists in ramming through fear (if you’ve seen a herbivore attack a predator in a fearful frenzy, you’ve seen a contraphobic Six). Most Sixes fall somewhere between the two extremes, but some crystallize on one end or the other of the spectrum.

Fear, the passion of Enneagram Type Six

Misconceptions

A common misconception about Sixes is that, because they tend to undermine people’s credibility when they do not fully trust them, they are personally out to get them. Although it can be difficult to deal with a Six in these circumstances, their cynicism and snide remarks are not to be taken personally (which does not make them acceptable, of course).

Sixes are constantly looking for an anchor, something in the world that they can rely on, something that won’t change or be found faulty. As is often the case with psychological mechanisms, other people are simply casualities in our war with ourselves. Knowing this can help you in defusing difficult situations.

Another common misconception is that, because Hitler was supposedly a contraphobic Six, then every contraphobic Six is Hitler or a potential serial killer. I’ve heard this from a number of supposed authorities on the Enneagram. In an age where all it takes to be called Hitler is to mildly disagree with someone with funny hair, it should perhaps be pointed out that, since most Sixes have contraphobic tendencies buried more or less deep within them, and since Six is probably the most common type, it would be silly to say that more than one ninth of the population is made up of deranged dictators, but maybe this is a conversation for a more sane age.

Under normal circumstances, a contraphobic Six is simply someone who has a tendency to react to fear by moving toward and against it (it’s the “fight” part of “fight or flight”). This is not in itself a negative thing. It is just yet another survival strategy.

Wings

6w5: Sixes with a Five wing have definite intellectual, even scientific bent. They are very systematic in their survey of all possibilities, variables and factors, and they are likewise very systematic in their attempt at finding the solution to all of them. They often come up with ponderous defenses of the ideas that give them certainty, which tend to be somewhat more conventional than the ideas a pure Type Five might be interested in, but less than what a pure Six would find comforting.

6w7: Sixes with a Seven wing are very friendly and very entertaining. They often have a sharp sense of humor and a tendency to like and to be liked by others. The Six’s strategy to make friends with everyone so as not to end up eaten by wolves finds application, in part, through the Seven-ish drive toward enjoying time with others and networking. Less intellectual and more practical in their orientation, they fare well in social contexts, especially in group efforts.

(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Enneagram Type Five – A Quick Introduction

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Often Known As: Observer, Thinker, Investigator, Philosopher (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.)
Sin/Passion: Avarice
Focus: on competence and knowledge
Fear: of being incompetent
Energy Center: Head (energy is asserted)
Social Stance: Withdrawing
Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Analytical, Objective, Unsentimental, Penetrating, Philosophical, Deep, Focused, Unswayed by mass opinion, Independent, Offbeat, Whimsical, Original, Humorous in presenting own observations, Good at making distinctions and connecting disparate subjects and details
Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Remote, Unavailable, Preoccupied, Sardonic, Socially inept, Self-isolating, Secretive, Unwilling to share, Impractical, Hyperfixated on trivia, Relishing in proving others wrong, Argumentative, Rational but unreasonable, Hair-splitting, Nihilistic, Destructive, Emotionally constipated
Growth and Stress Directions: to Eight and Seven respectively

Enneagram chart with Type Five highlighted

Introduction

Fives are the unmistakable intellectuals of the Enneagram. Cool-headed, detached and curious, they rarely speak on what they aren’t sure about, and they usually find it hard to connect with people on an emotional level.

A Five’s expertise is often precious for those that need a pointer, although Fives may not always be willing to share it, as they tend to be very selective with their social contacts. In fact, they almost seem to have a tendency to disappear in interpersonal contexts. If they show up at all at social events, you will likely find them in a corner or outside, absorbed in their own inner discourse.

Fives are often innovative in their way of thinking, not necessarily because they are contrarians (this is often more the case with other types) but because they don’t let conventional prejudices taint their reasoning, which means that they will uphold any view that they find rational, regardless of its popularity or the controversies surrounding it, and even regardless of their personal preference.

Offbeat and eccentric in their interests, Fives would love to live in a world where people put their emotional reaction to things aside and simply use their heads. Fives find it very easy to do, as this is precisely part of their survival strategy: feelings just cloud reality, so better keep them to yourself and take an objective look at things.

They have a tendency to live in their head, with the consequence that they look ill at ease with their physical existence, where they often appear clumsy like fish out of water. They easily feel intruded upon by others and consequently develop very strong boundaries, keeping any but their closest friends at arm’s length.

The hiding tortoise, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Five

Core Mechanism

Fives are a Head type, and they rely on their considerable intellectual power to get by. They process the world in terms of information, facts, logical relations and concepts. They grow their notions organically rather, like unfolding crystals, developing them coherently without regard with their own personal feelings and preferences.

Out of all the types, Fives are the most likely to follow premises to their logical conclusions without batting an eye if they don’t like the conclusions. Sometimes, due to their mental prowess, Fives reach conclusions almost intuitively, embracing large quantities of rational passages in the blink of an eye. Their thinking process is rarely linear. The speed of their rational mind is a counterpart to their awkwardness on the physical plane.

Fives’ reliance on their mind is primarily a defense against the uncertainty of the world. Fives feel small and powerless compared to the vast unpredictable universe around them. They seek to remedy their sense of impotence by accumulating knowledge, often in very specialistic and abstruse fields, which become their anchor in times of turbulence.

As they accumulate knowledge, they retreat from the world, often developing frugal habits. Ideally, they feel that one day they will know enough to be able to join the world as competent individuals who are capable of performing normally. Unfortunately, for many Fives such time never comes.

The world becomes a distraction from their absorption in more and more abstruse layers of thought. Human interaction is often dialed down to a minimum and everything, even well-meaning attempts at socializing, is perceived as an intrusion, a waste of energy and/or time.

While healthy Fives are often capable of surprising and deep insights and manage to integrate themselves, less healthy individuals paint themselves into a corner where the only thing they can do is digging further into the same arcane topics and their distance from their fellow humans widens, incommunicability grows, others are seen as idiots who simply do not understand the subtlety of their vision, the world becomes more unpredictable and dangerous, and this cycle continues.

Passion

Avarice is the passion of Enneagram Type Five. As with many types, this is to be taken figuratively. Fives are rarely attached to money or material possessions, and they tend rather to become minimalists and to learn to do without whatever is not a bare necessity.

This is partly because they feel that having too many needs will put them in danger of being dependent on others or on outside factors they feel unable to control, and it will therefore increase their chances of not meeting those needs, so they learn to go without the unessential.

Avarice, as far as Type Five is concerned, is referred mainly to their tendency to withhold themselves from the world and from others. Fives have a keen awareness of how much energy they feel they can spend on any given day, and they administer it very sparingly. It is as if their fuel gauge were constantly in the red, and contact with other people were extremely draining.

Therefore, they go without the human contact they cannot avoid, and when they do accept contact this is usually an unspoken sign of great appreciation for the person: it means the person is so in tune with the Five that the Five does not consider them a hinderance to their energetic survival.

Fives are elusive to most people: even when they are there with you, you cannot really tell what they are thinking or feeling. This is because the act of opening up is energetically costly for them, as it implies an act of trust, and Fives are usually only capable of trusting themselves, even though ideally they long for people to open up with.

Avarice, the passion of Enneagram Type Five

Misconceptions

There is a tendency on other people’s part to think that Fives don’t have feelings, mostly because Fives don’t show them. Unless they suffer from specific mental illnesses (which any type can suffer from) this is not true.

Fives do have an often rather intense emotional life and are often incredibly sensitive, but because they don’t know how to deal with it, they learn to put these feelings into brackets, sometimes resorting to thinking them rather than feeling them.

They normally see their feelings as something that has no bearing on the world, on how things really are, and on some level feel they must not visit their emotional issues on others (of course, they expect the same in return.) However, unhealthy Fives can become so detached from their concrete life that they fail to locate anything within themselves except arid mental abstractions.

Deep down, Fives would love to find someone with whom they can open up about their emotions, but depending on how entangled they are in their mechanism, this can take quite a while, because they are not used to giving importance to subjective reactions.

Furthermore, Fives tend to feel very easily rejected by others, in part because they expect people will find their personal presence as intolerable and intrusive as Fives usually find the personal presence of others. Therefore, anything except the most ideal response to a Five’s intimate feelings is interpreted by them as proof that they should have kept those feelings to themselves and that they are silly anyway.

Wings

5w4: Fives with a Four wing tend to have a melancholic and poetic streak to them. Their ceaseless intellectual activity is both personal and universal and often has an autobiographical slant (think Nietzsche). More rhapsodic and less systematic than other Fives, they usually dislike canned notions and beaten paths and have a certain aesthetic appreciation of the truth. Deeply individualistic and somewhat aristocratic in their demeanor, they often come into conflict with the prevailing ideas of what is acceptable and become easily disdainful of them.

5w6: Fives with a Six wing are usually more clearly intellectual and somewhat more conventional in their reasoning style and possibly their interests. Nervous and high-strung, they are good at systematically formulating and probing hypotheses. They are more clearly detached from their feelings and their explorations have less to do with their own life and more to do with life in itself (think Darwin). Out of the two variants, Fives with a Six wing tend to fare better in academic and scientific settings, although this is more due to the Six wing than the Five type, as Fives in themselves are not especially academically minded (Fives often don’t give a rat’s behind about academic conventions)

(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Enneagram Type Four – A Quick Introduction

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Often Known As: Individualist, Romantic, Melancholic, Artist (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.)
Sin/Passion: Envy
Focus: on what’s missing and what they are missing
Fear: that they’ll never be someone because they lack what it takes
Energy Center: Heart (energy is transformed)
Social Stance: Withdrawing
Key Positive Traits (Embodied at their best): Quiet, Reflective, Sensitive, Intimate, Poetic, Compassionate, Authentic, Original, Bittersweet, A lover of beauty, Expressive, Elegant, Imaginative, A connoisseur of emotions and states of being, Individualistic, True to self, Complex, Deep, Empathetic
Key Negative Traits (Embodied at their worst): Envious, Spiteful, Ill-wishing, Moody, Exaggerating, Egotistical, Unstable, Negative, Mopey, Pining, Despairing, Finding solace in others’ suffering, Given to Schadenfreude and to pouring salt in others’ wounds, Melodramatic, Fastidious, The only one who knows what suffering means
Growth and Stress Directions: to One and Two respectively

Enneagram chart with Type Four highlighted

Introduction

It is hard to introduce Enneagram Type Four by presenting general traits, as Fours are a varied lot. Perhaps the most common thing you’ll see in a Four is their look of deep suffering, as though they have just come out of the shock of receiving some terrible news, or as if they are longing for the breath of fresh air that is going to anchor them to life. They often give off the image of someone who has lost something or someone important and is waiting for rescue.

Melancholy is a word that gets thrown around a lot with Fours, and for good reason. Fours are the most willing to delve into negative feelings. If a situation is not at least bittersweet, then it is shallow and unreal. For Fours, discovering themselves and their own complexity and seeing the tragic and poetic aspect of life is the same thing. They are often capable of great empathy with others’ suffering exactly for this reason.

Often attracted by beauty and by ideas of balance, equipoise and elegance, Fours tend to have an aesthetic approach to life, being disdainful of anything that they perceive as ordinary. In personal relationships they prefer deep, special bonds where they feel profoundly seen and understood, but they also tend to feel incredibly hurt when someone misunderstands them, which with Fours is a very easy thing to do, as they themselves often can’t put into words what they are about, peferring individual instances of self-expression to general definitions.

The melancholic cat, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Four

Core Mechanism

Fours are deeply focused on their sense of being defective in one way or another. “Something’s missing…” is their inner catchphrase. They feel that they alone have been singled out by life, fate or the universe to be a catalyst of misfortune.

The main area where they feel their deficiency is their inner self. Everyone else, life at large in fact, seems to “have it together” while Fours often struggle with their identity and their own path. Often, Fours scour their past in search of the incidents that have left them scarred or wounded as a way of tracing their current situation back to a mythical source, from which they can finally find their true path.

Initially this may be done in an attempt to heal, but it quickly turns into an exaggeration of the wound’s importance, to the point where Fours become identified with whatever negative experiences they have gone through–or, sometimes, even with whatever positive experience they manage to interpret negatively.

Because they are so unsure about themselves and their place, Fours tend to see the world as a negative place from which they wish to be rescued. They tend to hold out for a deep, meaningful connection with someone special who will see their specialness. In fact, even in their everyday life, Fours tend to romanticize the relationships they have, which of course creates the potential for disappointment.

Another way Fours cope with their condition, in addition to needing deep relationships, is to fantasize about better futures, alternative presents and lost pasts. This does not help them get out of their predicament, but in fact feeds their mechanism of feeling lost, which in turn makes them long more.

Passion

Four’s passion is Envy. Even etymologically, the word “envy” is connected with the sense of sight, as the latin word invidia means “the act of staring in an ill-wishing manner.” Envy is structually connected with what we see in others that we feel we lack or have been unfairly deprived of. It’s a gnawing sensation that the good things that happen to others are more undeserved than one’s current unhappiness.

Fours are deeply envious of others, but sometimes they don’t even know what it is that they are envying (often they don’t even realize they are envious). There may be obvious targets, but usually, behind it all, what Fours envy in others is a certain quality of “being-there-just-so”, the sense that others perfectly fit within the great scheme of things, while Fours have been deprived of this and have been somehow doomed to unhappiness.

Shakespeare’s Jago is the perfect embodiment of this idea, as he feels himself lost, uses this feeling to fuel his envy of Othello, which in turn reinforces his feeling of being doomed. Jago sees the ease, authenticity and naturalness of Othello’s behavior and overinterprets it, seeing all kinds of meaning behind it. In the same way, a Four sees the ease, authenticity and naturalness displayed by other people and comes to the conclusion that the cosmic mechanism is stacked against them and they can never achieve this ease.

Ultimately, a Four’s envy is broadly directed at what makes other people “normal”, and this may seem weird at first, as Fours tend to take pride in what makes them abnormal. But keep in mind that this emphasis on being unique is really a coping mechanism for the sense of desolation that Fours experience from not finding their identity and therefore a place for such identity (you can’t find a place for something if you don’t know what it is).

Envy, the passion of Enneagram Type Four

Misconceptions

A typical misconception is that Fours are all artists and that all artists are Fours. This is patently untrue. While it is true that Fours have a certain aesthetic approach to life, this can manifest in so many ways that reducing it to becoming artists would be silly. Just like being depressed doesn’t make you a Four, neither does being an artist.

In reality, a Four’s interests will depend on their background, education and personal outlook, among other factors. Furthermore, any type can yield great artists, though the art they produce can and often is influenced by their type.

Another misconception has surfaced in recent years, mostly due to the popularization of the Enneagram over the internet, and that’s the idea that Fours tend to suck the air out of a room as soon as they come in. This stereotype did not exist in the older literature, and has only come about due to the romanticization of this type in certain corners of the internet.

As a matter of fact, Four is among the types that are least likely to do something like this. It is much more likely that a Four will sulk in a corner looking mysterious and hoping to attract the attention of someone, so that they’ll finally be approached and asked if anything is wrong. While Fours can throw hissy fits, it is usually when they feel that they are being misunderstood or not seen for who they feel they are, or when they believe their feelings are being slighted.

Being somewhat like Baudelaire’s albatross, Fours may even resent the ease with which more outgoing and carefree people win over others and create meaningful connections.

Wings

4w3: Fours with a Three wing are usually somewhat more upbeat and image-conscious. They are the Dorian Gray’s of the Enneagram, with an intuitively aesthetic understanding of life, relationships and most other fields. Usually more outgoing than the other wing, their sense of uniqueness is a bit more conventional and dictated in part by considerations about social worth. Often impeccable in presentation and a tad more sensual.

4w5: usually, Fours who have a Five wing tend to have an intellectual, cerebral streak. They also tend to withdraw with greater determination from others and are usually interested in exploring themselves, their experience and their feelings from a more systematic angle. They are often philosophical and love thinking of themselves as deep. They dislike following as much as leading. However, they still retain the need for deep, meaningful and authentic relationships, although they can become despairing of ever finding any.

(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Enneagram Type Three – A Quick Introduction

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Often Known As: Achiever, Doer, Competitor, Performer (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.)
Sin/Passion: Deceit
Focus: on what’s valuable or praiseworthy
Fear: of not embodying what’s valuable or praiseworthy
Energy Center: Heart (energy is suppressed)
Social Stance: Assertive
Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Energetic, Practical, Admirable, Driven, Well-presenting, Competent, Performing, Adaptable, Competitive, Attention-grabbing, Excelling, Hard-working, Busy, Organized, Has it together
Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Inauthentic, Vain, Pleasing, Performative, Ruthless in competition, Obsessed with the prize at the end, Phony, Shallow, Shapeshifting, Attention-seeking, Self-aggrandizing, A facade with nothing behind
Growth and Stress Direction: to Six and Nine respectively

Enneagram chart with Type Three highlighted

Introduction

Everyone knows them. They are the well-adjusted cool kids, the popular ones with the winning smile, the employees of the month, those who are probably going to snatch the promotion from under your nose. Some people simply give off an aura of success, and Threes are those kind of people.

Hard-working, endlessly adaptable and capable of presenting themselves in the best light possible, Threes are often role models for many of us. They embody the ideal of the self-made man or woman who has it together and is going places in life. If they have a talent (and they usually have more than one) Threes are those who tirelessly cultivate it until it makes them shine.

Threes are also very good at picking up on social cues, which gives them the ability to integrate into a variety of environments and be always perceived as just the right person in the right place. And they like this, because admiration and validation is very important to them. You will rarely find them in contexts where there is little chance for them to earn praise.

Inwardly, Threes feel a constant drive to outdo themselves, and they are indefatigable in this. However, in the process they may sacrifice their authenticity, and they may even feel that they have lost themselves by adhering to their character too much. Sometimes this may lead to a real identity crisis, as they realize that the image that they have submitted to others for validation either doesn’t satisfy them or doesn’t match their inner reality.

the haughty peacock, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Three (the chamelon would have been another choice)

Core Mechanism

Threes’ focus tends to be on their image. They are an inherently social type, which doesn’t automatically mean that they are extroverted–they may be, but as far their Enneagram type is concerned, all this means is just that they derive their sense of worth from the social framework in which they move and act.

In this sense, Threes are one of the types that represent humanity at large, since obviously everyone’s sense of being valuable derives, at least in part, from social acceptance. However, the mechanism of a type Three centers exactly around this point, while that of other types tends to focus elsewhere.

Somehow, Threes have absorbed the message that their performance is more important than their authentic self. This can derive from a variety of personal, family and social backgrounds, but in general Threes find their validation as people comes only from either playing a part or pleasing others by achieving certain results, regardless of how this relates to the Three’s feelings.

The obvious message that the little Three got from this is that their feelings don’t count: presentation counts, doing counts, status counts, excelling counts. This realization, deeply absorbed and integrated into their worldview, sets Threes on their path of achieving whatever they believe is going to give them the validation that they intimately feel they won’t receive just by being themselves.

For some Threes, their true feelings are something that they “put away” for when they will have time to sort through them, that is, after they have done what they are supposed to do to achieve what they think they must achieve. Unfortunately, this moment rarely comes, as something more important always pops up.

Sin/Passion

The passion of Enneagram Type Three is Deceit. Sometimes it is called Vanity, Delusion or Falsehood. Deceit is not really a passion as much as one of the fundamental forces that drive human nature. We are creatures of dissimulation, for better or for worse (and there are indeed good sides to this.) It represents the fundamental act of creating a self-image and submitting it to others for approval.

This is done because a self-image is always a relatively arbitrary selection of personal traits that we decide we embody or ought to embody. Because of its arbitrary nature, a self-image is nothing unless it gains interpersonal acceptance so as to become stable. It is not unlike roleplaying, except we actually believe this.

Threes’ self-deception comes from overidentifying with this image and seeking always more validation for it. This leads others to sometimes perceive Threes as salesmen or saleswomen trying to sell them something–this something is actually nothing material, it’s this image. In this sense, Threes tend to try to drag others into their roleplay, which can lead from self-deception to deception of other people.

While healthy Threes can learn to laugh at themselves and their excessive attention to social standards, average to unhealthy Threes are perennially engaged in a sales pitch to sell themselves, or rather their successful self-image, trying to get the validation that they feel they lack. If this validation doesn’t come, the experience can be very hurtful for the Three, who will usually either double down or, if the cause is lost, they will seek other avenues.

Deceit, the passion of Enneagram Type Three

Misconceptions

Among the key negative traits I listed “a facade with nothing behind.” This was harsh, and it is not *really* true: structually, Threes do not differ from any of the other types. However, because of their emphasis on achieving, it is not uncommon for people to believe that Threes are actually rather empty once you peel off the veneer of success.

This would be really unfair. As long as the person does not suffer from some dark triad pathology, there is a real human being under the mask. Unfortunately, this is hard even for Threes to understand, as somehow they have absorbed the message that their performance is what truly matters about them.

It is not uncommon, in their path of self-discovery, for Threes to feel that, once they discard what they do to conform to certain standards, there isn’t much that they feel their being gravitates around, because they are not used to looking for it.

This leads us to another misconception: that of the Three as a machine without feelings, solely concentrated on achieving the end-result. Just like Fives, Threes tend to be seen as unsentimental, but unlike Fives, who are downright uncomfortable showing their emotional depth, Threes do show feelings when there are social cues that tell them it’s the appropriate time to show the appropriate feelings. It’s part of the performance.

This, in turn, can lead some to seeing Threes as inauthentic. But this doesn’t mean that Threes don’t have true feelings underneath the crust of socially acceptable feelings. It’s just that these feelings have been suppressed because devalued or scorned during the formative years.

Wings

3w2 Threes with a Two wing tend to have a sweeter, more pleasing demeanor. Their interpersonal qualities are usually cranked up, and their focus in obtaining validation has often more to do with fields that allow for helping others or that allow the person to feel useful and needed. They can have a stronger sense of community and of what holds the community together, but they are driven to excel within it. If 2w3 is the mom who organizes the neighborhood’s pie contest, 3w2 is the stereotype of the mom winning the award.

3w4 Threes with a Four wings usually stand out from the rest and are driven to stand out from the rest more decisively. Themes of uniqueness tend to surface, although it is still a somewhat stereotyped kind of uniqueness, the socially accepted kind. Furthermore, they tend to project a glamorous image and to have a rather refined taste. They are, in a way, the archetype of the hollywood star doing something outlandish at a screening or on the red carpet to get the first page.

(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Enneagram Type Two – A Quick Introduction

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Often Known As: Helper, Caregiver, Lover (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.)
Sin/Passion: Pride
Focus: On other people’s needs
Fear: Of not being needed and/or loved
Energy Center: Heart (energy is asserted)
Social Stance: Compliant
Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Warm, Helpful, Loving, Empathetic, Personable, Giving, Accepting, Nurturing, Emotional, Capable of sacrificing themselves for others, Altruistic, Positive
Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Manipulative, Codependent, Flattering, Possessive, Subtly tyrannical, Taking up space in others’ lives to find meaning, Clingy, Denying own needs, hopes and aims, Sense of being unworthy of love
Growth and Stress Direction: to Four and Eight respectively

Enneagram chart with Type Two highlighted.

Introduction

Twos are usually immediately recognizable for their marked interpersonal qualities. Sweet, caring and warm-hearted, Twos tend to take up the role of the good friend, the older sibling or the good parent in people’s lives. There is a wonderful softness to their way of dealing with others, which makes them appear more inviting and attractive.

Twos are the type of people who show up with that one thing you once mentioned in passing that you liked and never thought about it again. The Two, however, did think about it again, as they often keep their ear on the ground for signals of the other’s wishes, so that they may help them.

Twos take other people’s needs and problems very seriously, and treat them almost as a personal mission. If someone is ready to deprive themselves of something to make another happy, that’s Enneagram Type Two. Often, it seems as though possibilities suddenly become endless with the help of a Two, as they are capable not only of seeing the bright side of things, but also of acknowledging other people’s talents, possibilities and unrecognized options.

In general, Twos are capable of making other people flourish and they themselves flourish when taking care of others. However, with their focus on others’ needs, Twos can become too involved in others’ lives and may forget to take care of themselves, and occasionally this may lead to unspoken resentment toward others–unspoken, that is, until the other disappoints them.

The sweet puppy, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Two

Core Mechanism

Twos are deeply focused on other people’s needs, aims, and aspirations, and may even seem to deny their own in order to help others meet theirs. Out of all the Enneagram Types, Type Two is the one that comes the closest to the archetype of the mother or of the caregiver. They tend to make others feel embraced and seen, and are capable of consoling and helping them see the bright side of everything. In a way, Twos almost seem to exist solely to be in the other’s life.

And this is where problems start, because even though healthy Twos can be truly selfless, average Twos most certainly aren’t. Twos need to be needed, and this stems from their subconscious belief that they are, in themselves, unworthy of love, acknowledgment or consideration, or of having their own needs met.

In this sense, an average Two sees taking care of others as a required detour toward themselves and their own needs. This can lead to various forms of projection. For instance, in the past my husband, a Two, sometimes asked me if I needed to pee or if I was hungry, when what he truly meant was “I need to pee” or, “I’m hungry.” Because they have learned to put other people’s needs before theirs, Twos only feel justified in meeting their own needs by helping others. More dangerously, sometimes Twos manipulate others into believing they want what the Two wants.

Another notious consequence of the Two mechanism is that, in besieging the other with attentions, Twos usually attach quite a number of strings to their favors. In their attempt to meet the other’s needs and even to anticipate them, Twos often stretch themselves thin. What they want in return is not necessarily anything material, but it usually involves a constant and clear acknowledgment of the Two’s central importance in the person’s life. When something goes south (“I didn’t even ask for that”) Twos can feel slighted. They then engage in recriminatory behavior and in making the other feel unworthy of their care.

Sin/Passion

Type Two’s passion is Pride. At first this may sound strange, as Twos can sometimes appear, if not bashful, at least meek, and they usually have a tendency to put others on a pedestal or in the limelight, rather than themselves. However, this only appears to be the case at a superficial level of consideration.

Although healthy Twos really are meek, humble and loving, the core of an average Two’s psychological structure is the tendency to inflate their ego to negate the autonomy of outside reality and of other people. All Heart types struggle with their self-image. Twos want their self-image validated in some form by others, which in turn implies the dreadful possibility of not being acknowledged or recognized.

The mere possibility of this happening is intolerable for a Two, as not having their self-image validated can be akin to not being truly there, and therefore of dying, at least metaphorically. This is truly an existential threat, as once their image of themselves is shattered, Twos must face their aloneness and neediness, that is, their helplessness in front of reality.

To avoid this, proud Twos ‘inflate’ themselves to take up space in other people’s lives, meeting their needs and seeking to become their ‘all’, with the tacit aim of feeling important, loved, acknowledged, validated. They usually do this with sweetness, but also by manipulating others as the need arises, and trying to forge deep, symbiotic bonds. Pride is this inflation of the ego, in the attempt to substitute reality with it, so that there is no risk of disillusion. When the other seeks freedom from the Two’s clutches, the Two reacts by tearing down the other as unworthy of the Two’s attention. Here the pride becomes, from metaphorical, very real.

Pride, the passion of Enneagram Type Two

Misconceptions

One of the main misconceptions I see repeated on Type Two is that they always want to be with other people. Sometimes I even come across descriptions of Twos as party people. A Two may or may not be a party person, but this has little to do with the type mechanism itself.

The reality is that Twos simply are unable to be alone, but this doesn’t automatically mean they want to be with others. Twos’ awareness tends to concentrate on the point where their life intersect the lives of others. Even when they are alone in a room, they are rarely truly by themselves.

Many tasks that Twos perform while alone they often subconsciously justify in front of themselves as good for others. Even cultivating a personal hobby is twisted as a form of service toward others so that the Two can justify enjoying it. In fact, sometimes even the mere act of resting may be seen as ‘taking a breather so later I can take care of useful things better.’

Again, this says nothing about a Two’s willingless to be with people–let alone with many people. It simply shows that a Two, regadless of how introverted or extroverted they are, tends to justify their actions in terms of the needs of other people rather than their own. This is all part of the process whereby a Two decides their own reality, manipulating themselves into believing or doing something.

Wings

2w1 – Twos with a One wing tend to have a tidy, neat, organized streak. More driven by rules and ideals and a bit less by norms, they often put their great organizational skills and unending drive for improvement in the service of their self-image as helpers of others, usually seen as needy and incapable of taking care of themselves and their surroundings. This is true for any Two, but the One wing accentuates the aspect of seeing oneself as the one who can do things right, especially for the good of others.

2w3 – Twos with a Three wing have a more marked tendency toward keeping up appearances. They tend to be more driven by societal norms and notions of ‘nicety.’ Their image among their peers is usually quite important to them, and they often try to do as much as possible to improve it and polish it. The creation of interpersonal bonds is taken on with the additional aim of being seen in one’s best qualities. They are basically the stereotype of the mom organizing the neighborhood’s contest for best apple pie.

(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Enneagram Type One – A Quick Introduction

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Often Known As: Perfectionist, Reformer, Idealist, Judge, Critic (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.)
Sin/Passion: Anger
Focus: What is right or good
Fear: Of being wrong, imperfect or at fault
Energy Center: Body (energy is transformed)
Social Stance: Compliant
Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Just, Fair, Idealistic, Perfectionistic, Consistent, Principled, Tidy, Moral, Orderly, Disciplined, Sober, Rational, Impartial, Objective, Organized, Straightforward, Driven by rules and ideals rather than by personal profit
Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Critical, Judgmental, Angry, Moralistic, Authoritarian, Uncompromising, “On the right side of history”, Castrating, Controlling, Unbending, Nitpicky, Soapboxing, Self-Righteous
Growth and Stress Direction: to Seven and Four respectively

Enneagram chart with Type One highlighted.

Introduction

Type One is the person that walks toward you and you suddenly become aware that you have your zipper down. They have an incredibly keen eye for what needs to be done to improve the situation and to do things right. Nor do they stand by the wayside, but often get involved personally.

This ability that Ones have to see what ought to be done means that they are also keenly aware of what is wrong in every situation, that is, they immediately see when, where and how the standard is not being met. A healthy One is definitely someone whose advice you want to listen to, as they often have incredible foresight in predicting the consequences of letting small imperfections snowball into bigger and bigger ones.

Ones are usually fair in an impersonal and impartial sort of way. If anything, when they highlight your faults, they tend to do it out of love. They often cannot conceive how someone could be driven by anything except what’s right (either morally or technically), because they themselves seek to identify what they want with what is right.

However, Ones are famous in the Enneagram community for being the ones with the loudest and harshest inner critic. Their every action tends toward conformity with what the critic says. Whenever an action has been carried out (by them or by someone next to them) the inner critic’s sentence immediately highlights what has been done wrong and what could have been done better.

Although Ones can at times appear to be very mental or rational in their behavior, they have very strong beliefs that they rarely question, since these form the basis for their action in the world, and therefore removing them would remove One’s justification for acting. And Ones are, despite all, people of action.

The Critical Owl, a good symbol for Enneagram Type One

Core Mechanism

Ones see the world as a place to reform or straighten out. Out of all the types, Ones most clearly embody the archetype of the reformer or the activist (although Sixes also fulfill this latter role, in another sense.) Ones give themselves ideals to follow and toward which to direct their great energy.

This happens because, on some level, Ones do not feel that they can just be in the world, but need to justify their own existence by complying with some higher standard. With Ones it is rarely “I want this” but rather “It ought to be this way”. They often seek to sublimate their subjective will by checking it against higher laws. The more Ones seek to sublimate themselves to match an ideal or to transform themselves and reality, the more they move the goalpost of what they consider to be perfect, or even just okay.

The world, and their own life, becomes by definition “not okay”, and while in average Ones this can be a stimulus to improve things, in more difficult cases it can lead to situations where the more Ones seek to perfect life, the more they become aware of every imperfection, leading them down spirals of self-hatred, puritanism and intolerance.

Sin/Passion

Type One’s passion is anger. All Body types (Eight, Nine and One) center around the issue of autonomy and self-assertion. Their basic energy is essentially choleric in the traditional sense. However, Ones are incapable of asserting themselves directly and immediately.

Instead, they seek to justify their self-assertion as autonomous beings by complying with standards, rules, morals, etc. Their unspoken contract with themselves is “I have a right to be here if I do my best to perfect myself or the world around me.”

Anger stems from their sense of impotence in making themselves and the world around them match the vision of them that would justify their existence. Ones see the difference between what is and what ought to be, and choler builds up in them. In other words, the normal flow of choleric energy that forms part of everyone’s bodily existence finds itself flowing through the strictures of One’s inner critic, turning from natural assertive drive into wrath–at themselves and at the world.

Ones are often very controlled in their behavior, exactly because their bodily energy is deviated in its course by normative structures, yet they often do not seem very relaxed. Their being in control of themselves usually betrays signs of an inner tension, an unresolved struggle for peace. Their anger often transpires as frustration toward life, themselves and others, depending on their particular life patterns and individual condition.

Anger, the Passion of Enneagram Type One

Misconceptions

The biggest misconception about Type One is that they delight in criticizing others. In fact, delight may be the last thing a One feels when being critical of what other people do. There is never anything personal in an average One’s criticism (this doesn’t necessarily make it ok, though.)

Although sometimes they may relish in being the ones who “told you so”, by and large Ones abide by standards and seek to enforce them, and often simply don’t see how others may either have different standards or not be dedicated to enforcing them. Usually, when a One criticizes you, it’s not the person that speaks: it’s the rule. By extension, Ones often believe they are helping you by criticizing you.

Furthermore, Ones’ attention to what you do and how you do it is often an indirect reflection of their own inner discourse toward themselves. Usually, their criticism of others and their criticism of themselves coincide. See it like this: in speaking on behalf of the standard or rule, Ones seek to become embodiments of it, and become aware of their own inability to ever bridge the gap between ideal and reality. In this process, they also become aware of your inability to do so, but often they fail to realize that this may not be your problem.

Wings

1w9 – Ones with a Nine wing tend to have a more laid-back demeanor, although One’s inner tension is still quite noticeable. They are often more accomodating on the surface, but their strictness usually manages to transpire anyway, especially in passive-aggressive ways (passive-aggressive behavior being something that Ones share with Nines, in different forms.) Also, the ideals they serve tend to be more all-encompassing and broad.

1w2 – Ones with a Two wing have a more marked interpersonal quality. They are usually highly involved in other people’s lives, on whose behalf and (supposed) best interest they act. Their actions, which are usually carried out in service of an ideal, can have an additional, albeit shallower, layer of motivation in pleasing others. Also, their activism tends to be based on solving concrete problems in their immediate surroundings.

(note that wings can have some minor descriptive power in terms of superficial behavior, but they are irrelevant in terms of what motivates the person. Many people have no noticeable wing, while few show signs of both.)

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

How to Discover Your Type (Enneagram Plain and Simple)

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Discovering one’s Enneagram type can be easy or hard, depending on a veriety of factors. There are some who hear about their type and immediately know it’s them. If this is not you, read on.

I would love to be able to say that if you cultivate enough self-reflection you will know your type as soon as you stumble on a (good) description of it. This is not necessarily so.

It also depends on the quality of the self-reflection. Most people have some kind of inner discourse going on. But inner discourse is not self-reflection. A Six, for instance, has a very intense inner discourse surrounding all their sources of uncertainty. They are aware of these sources of worry, but they are not aware of their being aware of this mechanism. The same is true of all types.

Until we have become used to seeing our mechanism from an observational vantage point,* the type’s mechanism is to us like water to a fish: we are so deeply immersed in it that we don’t notice it. In fact, we may even think this is the last thing we’d do. If I had a buck for every Two who told me they’ve never been proud or for every Four who told me they’ve never been envious… Well, buying a house would be much easier.

One reason discovering one’s type can be hard is also that the core of the type is one of the nine passions, all of which are, to a degree, stigmatized, frowned upon or even swept under the rug. We train ourselves to think that, because we are good or right or ok, we cannot feel such feelings, and so we delude ourselves into believing we don’t. Usually, once the illusion is rent, we discover that our mechanism has always been in front of our nose and our passion has been in the driver’s seat of our life all along.

So? What do I do to discover my type?

Well, a good grounding in Enneagram theory is more or less a must, unless you let an expert type you. Even then, it would be advisable to educate yourself a bit so you can make your own self-discovery. You don’t need to read hundreds of books. One or two good ones, or even the information you find here or on other websites, is often more than enough to get you started. Usually, this will be already enough to discard at least one or two types (although, especially at the beginning, it pays to suspend judgment).

Once you know a bit about the core of each type, learn to take a step back from your life and observe it. Look at your reaction to things, people, happenings, memories, etc. Look at what motivates you. Don’t hurry. Your type is not running away from you. You can take all the time you need. Also look back at how you were in the past, both distant and recent. Journaling is a good option, if you are so inclined.

Even the way you react toward the Enneagram can be telling of your type. Though this is not a hard rule, often your mechanism will make you see the Enneagram in a certain light. For instance, a Four may see the Enneagram as a straightjacket, or, if they like it, as a magical symbol; a Five as a nice system to explore; Sevens will often (again, not always) dislike being confined to one type; Nines will feel they are a bit of everything and we are all the same; Eights may see the Enneagram as a useless trinket, etc.

Again, this is not always the case, and usually it is something that is only noticeable in hindsight. Still, it is an opportunity to practice self-observation. But this type of self-observation is not the only useful one.

An exercise in meditation

Meditation is a good way to find out your Enneagram type

One of the characteristics of our mechanism is that it always steers our attention toward certain things as opposed to other things. A great exercise would be to do some meditation and become aware of where your attention is constantly being lured.

Sit comfortably in a straight-backed chair. Take a couple of deep breaths and free your mind from all thoughts for a second. Then start breathing slowly, inhaling and exhaling as it feels comfortable. Let your attention concentrate on the process of breathing and its rising and falling rythm. Try to keep your attention on it.

Done? Well, no. Because as soon as you settle into this meditation, your mind is going to start wandering. No matter where it goes, bring it back to your breathing. However, sooner or later you are going to start noticing a pattern. All that distracts you tends to show a certain consistency. That’s because what distracts you is your type’s mechanism. Here is a (non exhaustive) list of what tends to catch the attention of each type.

TypeAttention
OneThings to perfect, to complete, things that are not as they should, that need straightening or correcting, sense of being wrong, of not doing what you’re supposed to be doing
TwoThings to do for others, how to improve yourself to be of better service or be liked more, how doing something you want to do will result in good for others, how others owe you for your help
ThreeThings to do, checklists, projects that will reflect well on your person, either in front of yourself or of other people, finding out what’s ‘wrong’ with you in this Enneagram thing so you can jump the obstacle and get to the prize
FourWhat’s missing, what is lacking or you are lacking, what other people have that you don’t, the happiness that you are missing, how unlucky you are, how beautiful life would be elsewhere, elsewhen, or how it used to be, or it might be
FiveImpersonal concepts, focused mental explorations, mental sculptures and constructs, convoluted inner discourses, how much energy you have or lack and how you are managing it or how you are being robbed of it
SixThings that worry you, the worst that might happen, can you trust that person, thing, idea, etc. are you doing this right? maybe you should double-check, or maybe that dude has it wrong, maybe you need to contact someone who knows better than you
SevenPlans, ideas, things you look forward to, Things you can’t wait to be doing, how many things you have to do but then something cool happens, diversions, or conversely, things you keep trying not to think about but they keep nagging you, prompting you to to look for a bright side
EightWhether you are strong enough or if you need to do something, whether you are pursuing the thing you want with all your might, whether you are wasting your time on something that doesn’t strengthen your position or “fill” you, sense of deflating unless you hurl your energy at a concrete obstacle or against someone or something, need to overcome someone or something, intense desire to go get what you want
NinePeace, pleasant but somewhat vague ideas, sense of wonder, sense of retreating from your individuality into an inner space where you are one with everyone or everything, ideas that make you feel at peace with yourself, with others or with the world, but also sometimes the sense of being invisible and disregarded by others
Where the attention of each type goes

Do not hurry. Don’t expect this exercise to bear fruit after one try.

Are Online Tests Accurate?

Ehhhhh… No. Most tests you’ll find online (or offline) will at most allow you to rule out one or two types, something which you probably already know. The problem with tests is twofold: on one hand, they engage only the most superficial side of our psyche, the one most likely to host the image of ourselves we want to believe we embody but which doesn’t necessarily correspond to our more deeply seated psychological mechanism; on the other hand, they tend to ask about very superficial things that can be easily misinterpreted, either willfully or subconsciously.

For the most part, tests are just there to massage our ego (“look! I think I am X, and this bunch of pixels on the screen agrees!”) If you don’t know enough about the Enneagram, they can lock you into the wrong box for a long time, while if you know enough they are futile. I am no one to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. If you feel like taking a test, go ahead. Just remember that your own assessment is the last word, and that if you are still undecided between two or three types it’s ok to work with all of them for a while until you understand which one you are. Suspending judgment is better than committing too soon.

The best course of action is to educate yourself on Enneagram theory, learn to develop your inner observer, meditate a bit. There are also therapists who incorporate the Enneagram in their practice. If they are skilled, one sitting will be enough to at least narrow down the possibilities to a couple of types.

Can you be more than one type?

It is common for us to resonate with more than one type. For the longest time I was undecided between Four and Five (to this day I sometimes feel I’m the only representative of type Twenty.) And even before, all I knew was that I wasn’t a Two or a Six. Everything else was on the table.

This is normal. In fact, it is also fine to appreciate the parts of us that gravitate toward other types. However, this doesn’t mean that we can be more than one type. We come into being as individuals by losing touch with one side of reality. That side determines our type. At our core, our motivations will stem from it. Not from the other types. Not from wings. Not from tri-types. Self-reflection on our core type is enough for a lifetime of discovery. Everything else becomes a distraction.

* people sometimes ask whether Fives, who are detached and are often known as observers, have it easier in finding out their type. The answer is no. There is a difference between detaching from reality and detaching from your mechanism of detaching from reality. Fives are like every other type.

MQS

Enneagram, Spirituality and Psychology

Focus, Fear and Conditional Self-Acceptance (Enneagram Plain and Simple)

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Developing a personality means excluding something of the whole from one’s self-image. We cannot have a distinct sense of self without contracting our identity from ‘everything all the time’ to ‘some things some of the time’.

This partiality becomes the reason why we seek some things while avoiding other things. If we weren’t partial to pleasure rather than pain we wouldn’t look before crossing the street. If we weren’t partial to recognition we wouldn’t seek it, while avoiding shame, and so on. If the world were populated by enlightened sages, we would never have left our caves and we’d still be dying of the flu.

Each Enneagram type has its own mechanism, which revolves around a specific passion, as discussed previously. This mechanism drives us to the accomplishment of certain things, focus on certain aspects of ourselves and of reality, but it also, complementarily, leads us to fear certain other things. These two aspects are two faces of the same coin: one cannot strive for something without fearing the opposite outcome.

Therefore, each of us tends to justify their existence and their efforts by subconsciously adhering to propositions like “I am only ok if…” or “Everything will be alright if I…” We shall call this proposition the “contract with ourselves and with reality.” These are ways we use to subconsciously attempt to manipulate ourselves, reality, and others, dictating the conditions that allow us to accept ourselves. In other words, we accept ourselves on the condition that we fulfill the drive that is implicit in our mechanism. This, of course, colors the way we relate to other people, as we tend to project these subconscious issues outside of ourselves. Usually, this fear is counterbalanced by an opposite longing that we feel, in our lucid moments, to abandon the mechanism and simply be: “So what if I’m….” If the mechanism is a night of debauchery and drunkenness, this is the moment where sobriety kicks in.

The Nine Fears

TYPE ONE
One’s focus: Ones are highly self-critical, with a strong conscience. They tend to mediate their right to autonomy by measuring it in terms of how much they adhere to a certain ideal of how they should behave. Their focus is consequently on standards. They are keenly aware of the difference between their life as it is and their life as it ought to be in order for the ideals that move them to be fulilled. It becomes almost a mathematical subtraction: What ought to be – What I’m not doing to fulfill it = myselfmyself currently.
One’s fear: their basic fear is to be wrong, or rather, to act wrongly or badly. Note that a One’s idea of good or bad is not solely moral but also technical. In a One’s perspective, morality (what we ought to do) and procedural issues (how to carry it out) are deeply intertwined, and it is not always easy to disentangle them.
One’s contract with themselves and with reality: “I am only ok if I act rightly, all will be alright if I do the right thing.”
One’s projection toward others: it is widely reported that merely being in the presence of a One is enough to feel like something is wrong with our life. Ones who are not conscious of their mechanism tend to exude their sense of being in the wrong toward others.
One’s longing: to cut themselves some slack and have some respite form the inner critic. “So what if I’m not perfect?”

TYPE TWO
Two’s focus: Twos are deeply interpersonal. As a matter of fact, they basically live at the intersection between themselves and others. Their primary focus is on other people’s needs, and how they may anticipate those needs and take care of them.
Two’s fear: a Two’s basic fear is of being surrounded by a world that doesn’t take them into consideration, doesn’t validate them and that doesn’t love them with all their needs.
Two’s contract with themselves and with reality: “I am only ok when I put others ahead of myself , all will be alright if I meet others’ needs.”
Two’s projection toward others: Twos have a marked tendency to infantilize others, seeking unconsciously to deprive them of their autonomy, so that they will come to recognize that they need the Two. It is not uncommon to feel helpless and incapable of taking care of oneself in the presence of a Two. It is also not uncommon to develop a dirty conscience for nothing, especially for exerting one’s autonomy without the help of the Two. This is the same dirty conscience that Twos have when they think about themselves and their own needs without taking others into consideration.
Two’s longing: to be appreciated and loved for how they are, even if they are not needed. “So what if I think of myself?”

TYPE THREE
Three’s focus: Threes are showmen. They are constantly driven to excel in enterprises that will gain them validation and ammiration. Because they overidentify with their actions, rather than with their being, they tend to act within conventionally accepted fields so as to maximize the likelihood of being met with approval. Therefore, their focus is on what’s valuable.
Three’s fear: Obviously, their great fear lies in not being considered worthy or valuable. They fear that the activities they seek to impress others and win accolades with will be found lacking or, even worse, that they will be called out as fake or phony in some manner.
Three’s contract with themselves and with reality: obviously, this is “I am only ok if I earn respect, all will be alright if what I do gains recognition.”
Three’s projection toward others: being by nature very competitive, Threes easily hurt other people’s feelings, sometimes unwittingly, sometimes very wittingly. In their presence it is easy to feel like one doesn’t have their life together and isn’t worthy of respect, recognition or approval.
Three’s longing: to simply let go of the pretense, quit the charade and show their true selves honestly. “So what if I’m not some admirable hero?”

TYPE FOUR
Four’s focus: Fours see themselves as defective, as if everyone else has an undefinable something that makes their lives ok, while Fours lack it. This is what they focus on. Therefore, they perceive the normal instability of their personality as something dramatic, and they wish to be rid of this suffering by fashioning an identity for themselves.
Four’s fear: Four’s nemesis is their sense that they don’t have a stable identity to which they can point to to tell themselves they are significant. They fear the idea that they might be just another collection of whirring atoms catching dust while waiting for the inevitable. Because they attribute great importance to this unique identity, they fear that they won’t be loved unless they have it. if there is a word they flee from, it’s “ordinary.”
Four’s contract with themselves and with reality: “I am only ok if I am unique and have a deeply meaningful existence, all will be alright if I differentiate myself from others by finding my own self and expressing it.”
Four’s projection toward others: because Fours fear the possibility of being just another human being, they tend to project this fear toward others, making them feel coarse, ordinary, and that whatever suffering they experience, the Four has suffered more and is more justified in lamenting (or is more admirable for not lamenting)
Four’s longing: when in their own mechanism, Fours tend to spend a lot of time longing, but deep inside, the real longing is to be loved even if they are ordinary. “So what if I’m just another living thing?”

TYPE FIVE
Five’s focus: Fives are incredibly cerebral, which is a strategy they use to avoid the uncertainty they have about their own ability to live ‘in the world’ together with the rest of humanity. They feel they first need to retreat to stock up on resources, knowledge, time, competence, etc. Their focus is on competence and on resources, broadly construed.
Five’s fear: Five’s basic fear is of being incompetent, of lacking the skills required to succeed in life or even just to make a contribution to society. They tend to procrastinate on engaging the world until such time as they’ll be fully prepared. Inside, a sometimes unconscious, sometimes loud voice taunts them, “You are so dumb.”
Five’s contract with themselves and with reality: as a consequence, their contract with themselves is “I am only ok if I know exactly what I’m doing, all will be alright if I gain enough competence.” This usually leads Fives toward futile overspecialization, and to avoiding all situations where the particular branch of knowledge they are mastering won’t be of use.
Five’s projection toward others: Five’s emphasis on knowledge, competence and rationality tends to find expression in a sarcastic attitude toward others, who consequently often feel unjustifiably dumb or irrational when in a Five’s presence.
Five’s longing: to stop fiddling with empty concepts and join the world with simplicity. “So what if I’m not all-knowing?”

TYPE SIX
Six’s focus: Sixes can’t for the life of them stop questioning whatever it is that is giving them security, which they usually find outside of themselves. Obviously, their focus is on security, which keeps them poking holes in anything where a hole may be poked in hopes of finding something stable they can depend on.
Six’s fear: it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Six’s fear is fear itself. However, because they are working overtime to find something or someone that will allay the fear, their greatest fear is of not finding it, and that they will be left to their own devices, weak and small in a large, threatening world teeming with wolves.
Six’s contract with themselves and with reality: this reads, “I am only ok if I know something is beyond doubt, all will be alright if I find someone or something to trust without reservations”
Six’s projection toward others: Sixes are masters in destroying other people’s certainties. If the Six you have to do with is a hypochondriac, you’ll soon be one as well. Sixes, by the way, have the sense that they are being completely rational in worrying so much, so in instilling their fears into others they often feel that they are educating them or making them understand their situation, sometimes with the aim of showing them that they are similar, they are both (potential) victims, and should become allies. Either way, Sixes project their fears onto their peers.
Six’s longing: to simply turn off the ceaseless questioning and just accept reality and trust others to be decent human beings. “So what if I don’t know what tomorrow will bring?”

TYPE SEVEN
Seven’s focus: Sevens are excitable and quick-witted, focusing usually only on the positive side, and feeling that negativity would drag them down overmuch if they allowed their mind to dwell on it. Therefore, their focus is on planning diversions and pleasurable activities.
Seven’s fear: normally, Sevens are terrorized by the idea of experiencing want or pain or fear itself. That’s what sets them on their journey of pleasure-seeking. There is a sense that, unless they keep stuffing the hole in their soul full of pleasure, the gaping wound is going to start hurting.
Seven’s contract with themselves and with reality: “I am only ok if I stay positive, all will be alright if I plan something new to move toward.”
Seven’s projection toward others: as they tend to avoid less than positive feelings and states of mind, Sevens can be put off by others’ willingless to explore such issues when they arise in their own life. Yet, in a Seven’s presence one often feels that it’s not the time to be a Debbie Downer. Sevens can make others feel that they are being too negative or are taking life too seriously. They accomplish this both actively, by minimizing and joking about people when they open up, and more subconsciously by the way they carry themselves to drown everyone around them in mirth.
Seven’s longing: to stop the obsessive planning and consuming of life and acknowledge the deep wounds they carry. “So what if not everything is fine and I take care of my darker side?”

TYPE EIGHT
Eight’s focus: Eights go out into the world and conquer it for themselves. Each Eight is like a warring nation, constantly looking to increase their wins, minimize their losses and defend their borders. They feel the need to be strong and look for ways to prove it. Their focus is on power, on who has it, who lacks it, and how to exert it.
Eight’s fear: predictably, an Eight’s greatest fear is for their soft, weak side to come to light and be exploited or used against them. This prompts them to always keep their guard up and not sit on their hands: attack is the best defense.
Eight’s contract with themselves and with reality: this would be, “I am only ok if I am strong and unconquered, all will be alright if I make it clear I’m not to be underestimated.”
Eight’s projection toward others: anyone who’s seen a couple of Eights brawling in the streets knows the feeling of helplessness and weakness that comes from the experience. Eights tend to make other people feel the weakness that they want to hide from themselves.
Eight’s longing: to let their guard down and call a truce with life. “So what if I’m not a perfect fortress?”

TYPE NINE
Nine’s focus: Nines are diffuse and conciliatory. Being a body type, they are concerned with autonomy, but they achieve this by not creating struggles or problems or going against the flow. Their primary focus is therefore on peace and peacekeeping. As a former boss of mine, a Nine, once said, “how many problems have been avoided by people doing nothing!” (He said it while running his business into the ground out of inaction)
Nine’s fear: Nine’s fear is that, by rocking the boat, they will lose contact with others and not be acknowledged or ‘seen’ as a consequence. They fear that if they asserted themselves conflict would inevitably ensue.
Nine’s contract with themselves and with reality: “I am only ok if I remain passive, all will be alright if I just keep peace.”
Nine’s projection toward others: the narcotic properties of many Nines are almost legendary. In a Nine’s presence, other people often find that they have to struggle twice as much as they are used to in order to achieve their aims. This is partly due to Nine’s passive sabotage, partly due to Nine’s desire for pure, unadulterated, unmoving harmony that they tend to project outwards. They are not rocking the boat, and nobody should. Because Nines have trouble finding themselves, others can lose their sense of self in their presence.
Nine’s longing: to be seen as individuals with their aims even if they assert themselves. “So what if I do my own thing?”