Enneagram Type Eight and Enneagram Type Nine are extremely different and almost never confused, despite the fact that they form each other’s wing. Both are Body types concerned with their own independence. Eights preserve their independence by asserting themselves on others and challenging them. Nines preserve their independence by being compliant, accomodating and friendly so as to avoid causing issues that might result in uncomfortable strife.
Both Eights and Nines can be extremely dynamic people, but Nines prefer routines that comfort them and fill them with a general sense of wellbeing, balance and calm. Ultimately, Nines want to avoid unpleasant sensations of sadness, isolation and conflict, whether outer or inner. Eights, on the other hand, generally go down the path of greatest reasistance and seek to overcome it, finding pleasure in difficulty and in the challenges the world around them and other people offer them.
opposites
Socially, the two types behave in radically different ways. Average Eights immediately sense the power relations among people and disrupt them to impose themselves as the reference point, so that they may have better control over others and therefore over themselves (more healthy Eights often use this vantage position to help others, but they still often want to be the ones initiating the action).
Average Nines, by contrast, take a step back by allowing others to express themselves, often finding it hard to get their own point-of-view or agenda across, and their personal energy tends to disappear, assimilated by that of others (whereas more healthy Nines learn to cooperate with others while still mantaining a separate sense of self and of their own preferences).
Enneagram Type Seven and Enneagram Type Nine share some similarities, and can therefore be confused. Sevens are a Head type and seek to avoid anxiety and fear by being hyped about things they can enjoy. Nines are a Body type who maintain their sense or independence by being agreeable and positive to avoid causing trouble that might come back to haunt them.
Both Sevens and Nines are known to have a hard time selecting a single thing that they can be or do. Sevens thrive on pursuing variety as this allows them to continue skimming the surface of life in search of the next big thrill and avoid staying with negative emotions for too long. However, Sevens tend to have a rather strong sense of self and of their wants and needs.
Nines on the other hand have a diffuse sense of their identity and do not feel comfortable defining themselves, often sensing that they can resonate with almost anything and anyone. By avoiding taking on a sharp identity, Nines protect themselves from potential trouble by simply passively flowing through it instead of bumping against it.
variety
Both Sevens and Nines have a broadly optimistic worldview. To a Seven, the world is their oyster and they look forward to the next thing to be hyped about. They are excitable and quick, and even when in a situation that they dislike, they can learn to tolerate it in anticipation of something better to come.
Nines by contrast move at a slower pace and have a sense of placid and unassuming satisfaction about them. They do not demand much from life and do not spiral into the manic frenzy of Sevens. In fact, they are very wary of anything that might cause excessive reactions in them. Their sense of optimism takes the form of a generalized, vague it’s-fine-ness that they adopt to avoid having to take a stronger stance, which might open them up to trouble and strife with others.
Both types can be rather superficial. Sevens are superficial in the sense that they remain on the surface of the things that they get excited about and avoid settling down so as to not miss out on the next thing that excites them. Nines are superficial in the sense that they avoid deep emotional or intellectual commitments that might put them in a corner or pit them against others, and so prefer to remain flexible and deal in generalities, which may sometimes sound deep but aren’t.
Enneagram Type Six and Enneagram Type Nine are quite distinct from one another, so much so that they are each other’s arrow: Six relaxes at Nine, Nine stresses at Six. Sixes are a Head type, and their priority is to find security and certainty in an uncertain world. Nines are a Body type, whose main goal is to not have their inner sense of independence disrupted by disharmonious trends.
Both Six and Nine usually come across as friendly and likeable. Sixes want to prove to others that they are dependable and that they can be allies in facing common struggles. Nines are also broadly supportive of others, but more in the sense that they go with other people’s flow so as to not cause the kind of friction that might disrupt their inner sense of balance as independent individuals (“If I say yes to the invitation she won’t make a fuss”).
Sixes are often found evaluating the risk factors in every situation or assessing other people’s behavior to see if they can trust them, while Nines normally hold a non-descript optimistic view of people and life, and a sense that things will turn out well somehow, to the point where they may deny the existence of objective hurdles and problems. Sixes seek to predict all possible problems, while Nines often look the other way. On the other hand, average to unhealthy Sixes often end up compromising stable or positive situations in an attempt to smoke out hidden threats or enemies that exist only in their head.
Peace
A Six’s strategy for survival generally implies developing a conscience of themselves as a social being (they are the archetype of the ‘member’, whether of a party, a church, an organization, a class, a country, etc.) The Six’s idea of survival implies minimizing risk and uncertainty by handing over the final say on their life decisions to something external (a belief system, a person, a group, etc.) that is perceived as stable or trustworthy. However, once a Six has identified the idea or group they belong to, they can become rather confrontational with that idea’s or group’s enemies.
A Nine’s minimization of problems is more geared toward preserving an inner sense of peace. Swept under the rug of a general, bland “it’s all fine”-ness, external trouble can be denied the status of force that pushes against them. Similarly, in social situations Nines will tend to be agreeable and limber so as to not allow others to perceive resistance in their part that might turn into a power struggle. In other words, by denying a strong reaction, Nines seek to cause the external action to dissipate by itself.
Enneagram Type Five and Enneagram Type Nine can share some similarities, though they remain vastly different. Nines are a Body type, who seeks to maintain a sense of harmony within themselves and their surrounding by avoiding conflicts that would undermine their sense of autonomy. Fives are a Head type, who withdraw from the world to observe it from a distance and to gain skills that will ideally allow them to succeed.
Both Fives and Nines withdraw from others, but in different ways. Average Nines withdraw their energy and suppress their agenda to avoid it clashing with that of other people. Average Fives withdraw themselves, often physically, or at least emotionally, from social situations.
Nines, however, generally remain friendly and often go with other people’s flow, as long as it doesn’t threaten their inner sense of calm. Fives, on the other hand, have a strong sense of self as opposed to all other, refuse to be swept along in their flow and tend to have a supercilious and combative demeanor that most Nines would never display.
Withdrawing
Internally, Nines usually pacify themselves with happy or comforting thoughts and a positive, if vague, attitude. They tend to think in terms of generalities, which makes them very good at finding common grounds with all humanity at an almost archetypal level. Fives are internally high-strung and constantly mulling over some thought or theory, they disdain generalities and are as laser-focused on details as they are preoccupied with finding their universal significance. Furthermore, in general Nines will stop themselves from trespassing into “scary thought territory”, while Fives will usually willingly go there.
The decisive difference between Nines and Fives is in what drives the two types. Fives are driven by knowledge. At their best they are as wise as they are knowledgeable, at their worst they are obnoxious collectors of obscure trivia. Nines are motivated by peace. At their best they are deeply embracing of themselves and others, at their worst they are dollar-store mystics detached from reality.
Enneagram Type Four and Enneagram Type Nine can occasionally appear similar, but are actually quite different. Fours are a Heart type, and are primarily concerned with finding someone who will see them in their woundedness. Nines are a Body type, and are focused especially on maintaining their own independence, which they achieve by avoiding causing trouble with other people.
Broadly speaking, both types tend to have a vivid inner life, though Fours generally entertain negative emotions and often play intense, tragic, tear-jerking scenarios in their minds to evoke certain feelings. On the contrary, Nines often become lost in vague and comforting ideas that they play again and again to be reassured that all is well.
Both types tend to be withdrawn, but in vastly different ways. Nines are withdrawn in the sense that they often suppress their own energy and agenda in order to avoid it colliding with that of others. As such, they appear accomodating and self-denying, though it is common knowledge that Nines generally employ a high degree of passive resistance to sabotage other people’s attempt at heralding change into their life. Still, their way of withdrawing their energy can make them appear (even to themselves) friendly and welcoming.
Fours, on the other hand, are withdrawn because they feel they don’t belong and are too broken to be understood. They tend to long for meaningful contact but at the same time despair of finding it. Their strategy is often of attracting people who will see them as suffering. Though they are often quiet, their emotional storminess at times of distress puts off others, whom they are usually not afraid of inconveniencing if it means letting them know how the Four truly feels.
Both Fours and Nines tend to have a hard time finding their “center”. Fours often struggle with their own identity (believing that they are the only ones with such problems) and generally end up playing up certain aspects of their inner life (especially negative traits or emotions) in an attempt to conjure up a stable identity. Nines also find it hard to have a defined identity, but more in the sense that they have few clearly set boundaries toward other people’s agendas and desires. They often end up flowing along with others (as long as the others also don’t rock the boat), something Fours find almost impossible to do.
Enneagram Type Three and Enneagram Type Nine are quite different in almost all regards, so much so that they are each other’s arrow on the Enneagram symbol. Threes are a Heart type and are focused on gaining validation and approval for their merits and talents, while Nines are a Body type, concerned with independence, which they try to scure by not causing trouble with others.
Threes are highly driven, ambitious and combative, and they want to excel and to emerge above others as worthy of praise. By contrast, Nines tend to be meek, easygoing, conciliatory and ready to take a step back to allow others to shine.
More deeply, Threes have accepted a certain image of themselves which has been handed down to them by society or parental figures and they run with it until it brings them validation (or a nervous breakdown). Nines, on the other hand, often suppress their own individuality, their own priorities and their own agenda for fear of it setting them on a collision course with others. This is not to say that Nines are inert: they can lead very active lives, but they are usually undemanding and unwilling to stand out for their own sake.
Identity
Surprisingly, the two types do have one similarity. Threes often fight with the inner feeling of not truly knowing who they are, a troubling sensation that the image they submit to the world for a stamp of approval does not truly encapsulate them. Usually they try not to think too much about it, which is in part why they are so driven and motivated in accomplishing their goals, but when this feeling catches up to them it can lead them to an identity crisis.
Nines can also find it hard to pinpoint themselves, but for a different reason: they instinctively feel that to emerge as an individual with a specific identity or mission means cutting themselves off from an all-encompassing merging with a greater whole, whether this greater whole be God, a social group, married life, etc. In other words, Threes may not know who they are and fear this sensation, while Nines dread having a sharp separate identity pushed onto them.
Enneagram Type One and Enneagram Type Nine are different in many respects. Both are Body types, and are therefore concerned with issues of autonomy. Neither of them is as assertive and warrior-like as Type Eight, the other Body type, but both find different strategies to preserve their autonomy. Nines seek to maintain their autonomy by being friendly and avoiding conflict with others. Ones maintain their autonomy by justifying it rationally as a means for them to pursue an ideal of rightness or justice.
While both Nines and Ones can believe that justice is important, for Nines justice is more a matter of harmonious balance with others. They do not quibble about rules and methodologies and are more than happy to accept (or even to sugarcoat) the world’s and other people’s shortcomings. They usually do not go out of their way to convert others to their point of view and prefer to keep peace, something alien to Ones.
Both Nines and Ones have a difficult relationship with anger. Nines are the least choleric of the nine types, and often need to work hard on themselves to learn to express anger and disappointment when it is appropriate. Average Nines may even feel that the notion of anger is completely alien to them. Ones certainly feel their anger simmering inside of them, but they have a difficult time expressing it directly.
harmony
Both types can be passive-aggressive.Nines are so in an attempt to neutralize other people’s agendas that risk disturbing their peaceful flow. In this sense, they are passive saboteurs. Ones are passive-aggressive because they would like everything to be perfect and everyone to accept that they are right about what it means for everything to be perfect, but they generally find it hard to boldly force others to comply. Furthermore, they often project onto others the anger they feel at their own shortcomings.
In general, Nines believe that the world is (or could very easily become) a good place, and usually keep themselves mentally occupied with bucolic platitudes about themselves and the world. Ones are more pessimistic about the world and about human nature, as they tend to see the world as the negative of a perfect picture that requires an inordinate amount of effort to reach. Furthermore, Ones tend to be methodical and spurred on by clear objectives. Nines, on the contrary, are more placid and, while not necessarily inactive, they can content themselves with following their routine without rigid aspirations and methods.
Enneagram Type Nine, sometimes called the Mediator, belongs to the Body triad. People of this Enneatype tend to be nurturing, accepting, agreeable and flexible. They are usually very good at holding space for other people, and they often manage to find common grounds with others. They are generally driven by a desire to avoid conflict, because they fear that conflict will make others fail to see them as independent individuals. They much prefer to work together with others, sometimes giving up on their own agenda to avoid rocking the boat, but also exerting a kind of silent passive resistance against things they don’t want to do or accept.
Enneagram Type Nine
Enneatype Nine Grows: Move to Three
Nines have a tendency to ‘disappear’, but not necessarily because they are shy or because they retreat from others in a traditional sense (like a Five avoiding draining contact or a Four witholding themselves to lick their wounds). Instead, average Nines fail to emerge as individuals in the eyes of others (and even in their own eyes): they often find it hard to articulate their preferences, projects and views out of fear of clashing with the people around them.
So while Nines are usually the most sociable of the three withdrawing types (Nine, Four, Five) they still withdraw from others by not opposing them or putting their foot down. This way of remaining merged with other people’s preferences and ideas and going with their flow can cause pain to the Nine as they may feel that they are being stepped on, even though they never drew a line to begin with, which makes it hard even for well-meaning friends to respect their boundaries.
However, as they develop and relax their mechanism, Nines learn to assert themselves more clearly. They learn that there is nothing wrong with having their own agenda, aims and views, and that in fact life cannot be meaningfully lived without choosing one’s path rather than remaining stuck in an all-encompassing mystical haze. Nines thus take on some of the qualities of healthy Threes.
Threes are very assertive people, with a strong desire to emerge and embody exceptional qualities. As one of the most driven Enneatypes, Threes’ way of getting the social acceptance they seek is not to blend in, but to stand out. As they take on some of these qualities, healthy Nines learn to take action by themselves, even if it means risking conflict with others by defending their own identity, their boundaries and their vision.
Action, the virtue of Enneagram Type Nine
Enneatype Nine Under Stress: Move to Six
Average Nines generally have a rather diffuse sense of self. Their ideal of a good day is one spent in peace, though not necessarily in inaction, as Nines can be very active people. What gives them peace is the idea that everything has its neat little place, everyone is a good neighbor, pleasantries are exchanged and no one causes any trouble. As long as everything goes like this, Nines don’t feel pressured into taking uncomfortable stances and they can simply occupy themselves with comforting thoughts.
Obviously, since life rarely takes place in Hobbitville, the Nines’ ideal rarely comes true, especially because many people don’t share Nines’ worldview. Nines usually go with other people’s flow as long as it doesn’t cause them any trouble and the even surface of their life is not ruffled. When someone threatens to bring serious change into their placid routine, Nines often engage in passive sabotage until the ‘agitator’ gives up in the face of the futility of their effort.
When this typical strategy fails though, Nines can become seriously stressed out as it becomes impossible for them to sweep every problem and irregularity under the rug. This is when they reach their stress point at Six. Enneatype Six is usually the opposite of Nine’s serene peace. High-strung and catastrophizing, they seek to poke a hole into every possibility and theory in order to find the one that will give them the certainty they are looking for.
In embodying some of Six’s negative traits, unhealthy Nines often become cynical toward those trying to bring change in their life. They will often conjure up endless amounts of excuses for why whatever has been proposed is silly or doesn’t work. In extreme cases, others may even be treated as threats to the Nine’s way of life and dealt with accordingly.
Often Known As: Diplomat, Mediator, Peacemaker (note that names are as limiting as they are revealing.) Sin/Passion: Sloth Focus: on harmony Fear: of rocking the boat and creating conflict Energy Center: Body (energy is suppressed) Social Stance: Withdrawing Key Positive Traits (embodied at their best): Peaceful, Conciliatory, Friendly, Irenic, Serene, Placid, Flexible, Welcoming, Easy-going, Tolerant, Undemanding, Able to hold space for others, Facilitating others’ self-expression, Defusing, Deescalating, Kind, Tactful, Unbothered, Always capable of finding common ground Key Negative Traits (embodied at their worst): Inert, Self-forgetting, Self-suppressing, Diffuse, Vapid, Platitudinous, Bland, Soporific, Flavorless, Vanilla, Immovable, Complacent, Oversimplifying, Both self-sabotaging and passively sabotaging others, Passive-aggressive, Unable to assert themselves clearly, A secondary character in their own life Directions of Growth and Stress: to Three and Six respectively
Enneagram chart with Type Nine highlighted.
Introduction
Nines are generally easygoing, accepting, positive and agreeable. They are placid, hardy and normally unbothered by the difficulties of life, as though they wore a waterproof jacket. It is often easy for people to open up to them, and Nines usually like creating connections and cultivating harmonious relationships. In fact, harmony is probably the one word that best describes Enneagram Type Nine.
Within a group of friends, Nines are the ones that will always seem happy no matter what the others decide, and others may find that Nines are very easy to get along with, since they rarely pose challenges or raise serious problems, so much so that, on occasion, they may even stop thinking or worrying about them. This often leads to Nines slipping under the radar and not getting the recognition and attention they deserve, which may make them feel overlooked.
Whenever problems do arise, Nines often prioritize harmony and stability, so they will usually seek to solve conflicts as quickly as possible, sometimes by giving in on others’ demands or giving up their own preferences. Even in their own private life, regardless of other people, Nines normally prefer to entertain positive and uplifting thoughts rather than dwell on the negative side of things.
Nines usually give importance to togetherness and unity with others, and often have a marked mystical bent, where they seek to blur the line between themselves and the divine (or nature, if they prefer) just as they often seek to blur the line between themselves and others in a social context. They usually prefer activities that stress and strengthen cohesion and group work.
Deep inside, Nines may struggle to find a definite identity, as they perceive themselves as showcasing the traits of other people (often, their standard reaction to hearing about the Enneagram is that they see a bit of every type in themselves.) This lack of a strong profile contributes to their being taken for granted by others, which in turn feeds their insecurity.
The sleepy koala, a good symbol for Enneagram Type Nine
Core Mechanism
Peace is a very important thing for Nines. They value peace with others and peace of mind within themselves. This is obviously not a bad thing. However, the quest for peace can become inauthentic and even dangerous if it stifles conflicts and oversimplifies problems without looking them in the face. This is exactly what average to unhealthy Nines tend to do.
Nines belong to the Body triad of the Enneagram, which means that they are concerned with issues of autonomy and instinctual bodily energy. Nines usually seek to maintain their autonomy not, like Eights, by becoming confrontational toward others, but by going along with them and avoiding rocking the boat. More or less unconsciously, Nines believe that if they cause problems, they will sever their connection to other people, and this could lead to problems snowballing.
To avoid this feared outcome, Nines suppress their bodily energy, their urges, their preferences and their claims to autonomy by becoming accepting of other people’s agendas and aims. Their hope is that this will make them more valuable to others. Unfortunately, this behavior often leads to others actually undervaluing or disregarding Nines, and being disregarded is often a painful feeling for Nines (as it usually is for most people).
When they feel trampled over by people with a more decisive attitude, Nines often retaliate by exerting a kind of peaceful passive resistance, where they do not outright tell people that they feel hurt (or, if they do, they still minimize it) but this of course makes it even harder for others to understand the Nine’s boundaries and preferences.
Passion
Nine’s passion is Sloth. Sloth does *not* mean laziness. Nines may actually lead quite active lives, full of activities and diversions. Sloth must be rather understood as a spiritual ‘falling asleep’ toward oneself and one’s nature.
Note how point Nine is at the top of the Enneagram symbol. This is because, in a way, Enneagram Type Nine represents the blueprint for all other types. Regardless of who we are, the basic premise of the Enneagram is that we have fallen asleep toward the whole of reality, becoming blind to a section of it to emphasize another section (for instance, Ones, the perfectionists, fall asleep to perfection, overemphasizing faults and errors, which they learn to see everywhere.)
Nines fall asleep to reality in a slightly different manner from other types, as they fall asleep to their own falling asleep. This explains why it is not uncommon for Nines to believe they are very advanced spiritual seekers, when in fact they haven’t even started the real work.
Part of our spiritual work consists in reconnecting with the unity of all things. Nines are very good at emphasizing unity and oneness, and often feel fundamentally connected to everyone and everything. But their condition is like that of a seed that hasn’t sprouted yet but believes itself to be the flower.
Nines’ connection to everything is not that of the experienced seeker who finally returns to the great source of everything after experiencing the ups and downs of life: it is the connection of the baby in the mother’s womb before birth.
Duality is an oft-reviled concept in spiritual circles, but in reality duality is just as fundamental to existence as unity itself. In fact, the two terms are coessential: unity cannot express but through duality, and duality cannot do anything except giving voice to unity. Unity without duality is a barren white light without change and without life; duality without unity is an explosion of incoherence without stability. As such, emphasis on one to the exclusion of the other is always a form of delusion.
Nines’ sloth consists in their tendency to run away from all forms of separation, conflict and dualism, retreating into a sort of dreamy oneness, be it with God, their friends, their community, their spouse or their fantasy. Everything that threatens to tear them away from this vapid, hazy unity is ignored or downplayed.
Their slothfulness is their unconscious refusal to go through the pains of being born as separate individuals and experience both sides of life, happiness and sorrow, joy and despair, doubt and certainty, pain and pleasure. Deprived of the journey, the end result that Nines cling to can only engender shallow insights and a kind of cheap mysticism that works more as a psychological crouch than as a stimulus to growth.
Sloth, the passion of Enneagram Type Nine
Misconceptions
A rather common misconception about Type Nine is that they are the pushovers of the Enneagram. Although unhealthy to average Nines do have a hard time asserting themselves and are often accomodating to a fault, this doesn’t mean that they will just allow anyone to disrupt their flow and sweep them along.
Anyone who tries to force a Nines to do something that they don’t want to do usually experiences that everything suddenly takes five times as much energy to accomplish.Nines are excellent saboteurs of all plans that they don’t want to go along with. And they do it often without so much as lifting a finger. Going to war against a Nine is like going to war against a fog bank: you usually just end up getting lost and giving up.
It is also not true that Nines don’t have their own aims, though they may not voice them (sometimes not even to themselves). If we imagine each person as a different current in the sea, a Nine is the leaf on the surface that rides each current as long as it is needed to get where they want to be (at least, this is ideally how Nines get things done).
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Nines “use” people, at least, not more than anyone else. Nines merely seek to reconcile their own presence in the world with the presence of everyone else, and they often feel that the only way for them to do it is going along with other people as long as they need to, kind of like cosmic itch-hikers: they don’t impose their route to others, they only borrow their momentum.
The problem is that Nines can become resentful of their “drivers” when it becomes clear that they have their own aims and do not show the same tact that the Nine has displayed. Once this resentfulness builds up, Nines start their sabotaging, trying to sweep everything under a blanket of stillness where nothing gets done.
Wings
9w8: Nines with an Eight wing are an interesting combination, as Nines often have a hard time connecting to their bodily energy, while Eights definitely don’t have such issues. This subtype usually has a somewhat more forceful and practical demeanor and a slightly stronger presence. They are often very instinctual and tend to have stronger likes and dislikes. Often they mediate between people and solve conflicts by taking a more active approach, and it is not rare for them to become beacons for the community or for those that know them.
9w1: Nines with a One wing are doubly idealist. To be fair, Nine’s ideal is closer to La La Land than the well-ordered and precisely regulated world Ones aspire toward, but combined, the two tendencies give rise to a person with a strong desire for a peaceful and quiet world. There is a strong tendency to value high ideals, but without being very precise in how they would work in reality. This subtype often yearns for a world of kindness and general ‘nicety’ and they usually have an eye for when people and situations don’t live up to this idea.
(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.)
