| Authentic Enneagram | |
| Instinctual Subtypes fitting me Type One Worry and Anxiety/tenseness As a Perfectionist you believe that your very survival depends upon getting things right. Life is about shoulds, not about wants and desires. You are perennially worried and/or anxious/tense about not making mistakes or doing the wrong thing. You don't believe the world is either generous or forgiving, so ultimately you worry alone. You resent the unfairness of life, but so what. You still have to avoid the annihilating punishment from the inner critic, the thought and desire policeman. You attempt to assert control and impose order over the natural world in matters of self-survival. It can look like you would rather be right than happy. But that isn't the choice with anxiety and worry. Rightness is an imperative despite desire and longing. The best that you can hope for is relief and those times of sanctioned pleasure. At your worst, this worry can become very limiting and accompanied by much inner tension and little pleasure. Type Two. Privilege As a Giver, you assure your survival indirectly through earning privilege by meeting the needs of others in your life, especially important others. Being personable and nurturing and supportive of others helps create a sense of entitlement in you. You deserve to have your needs met, "I've given so much; it is my turn to have my thirst quenched." You deserve a special seat, nice clothes, attention, and to go first. You can get upset, emotional, when "they" haven't honored you or given you preferential treatment. In this way you protect your position as a selfless Giver while assuring that your own needs get met. At your worst, however, you can become preoccupied with and demanding of what you believe you need for personal survival -- being taken care of, put first, attended to. Type Four. Reckless/dauntless How can recklessness and dauntlessness serve survival? For the Romantic, to be ordinary, mundane, regular is like death. You must be a somebody-something. So to survive you play the edge, walk the cliff, throw caution to the winds, jump into new situations. In short, in some important way you become recklessness and dauntlessness. You may even neglect basic survival needs. In this way you feel enlivened and special; it gives meaning and intensity to life. There is a reckless urgency to obtain those ultimate and uniquely elite experiences that make you feel alive and quell longing. Even the ordinary events get a jazzed up spin, a dramatic flare. Perhaps you create a mini crisis with big feelings by threatening rejection or breaking the ordinary rules. Envy gets both temporarily dissolved and defied, "Not me, I won't succumb." At your worst, self-absorption in recklessness paradoxically can lead to disastrous outcomes accompanied by re-emergence of a sense of inner lack and depression. Type Five. Home/castle What better place to protect your boundaries of privacy and person than in the privacy of your own space. You do this through the sanctuary of your own mind or your special place. In your private place you can keep others out, guarding their access to you. In your own space--in your mind, your room, your home or castle -- you can preserve your time and energy, acquire more knowledge, build a storehouse of necessary subsistence items, assure your survival. As an Observer, you keep your precious independence by needing very little and hoarding what you feel is needed. There is a pleasure in doing with less. Possession and luxuries often are spurned, but because there may "never be enough" to assure independence, you may cling to whatever you believe assures your independence -- money, books, energy, collections, food stores, even traveling from place to place with your backpack. No one owns you, nor do you own anyone. Thus your sufficiency, so you believe, is obtained through assuring boundaries and the sanctuary of your place and person. In your worst, you can become so retracted that paradoxically you end up lonely and lacking nurturance. |
Type Six. Warmth/affection It is self-preserving to disarm others with warmth and affection. If you act kindly with thoughtfulness and deferral, others will not be angry with you or harm you. This may lead to avoiding risks and staying within well-known boundaries. All of this abates the fear. With warmth and affection comes friendship. You get others to like you by pleasing them, by supporting them, and by aligning with them. When others like you and you please them, you feel safe, secure. Your survival feels assured. At your worst, you give away your authority and power paradoxically making you more vulnerable. Type Seven. Like minded defenders/family As an Epicure, you feel secure and that self-preservation is assured when you identify with others of like mind and ideals. That these others share your life view may exist mainly in your imagination, as possibilities, or they may be family, friends and associates who in fact fit into some part of your dream. Through these like minded defenders you never will be trapped or limited in a boring or painful life. These are the other deserving people with whom you can bond together and who mirror your ideals and dreams. They are like family to you, although often not your biological family. You share pleasures such as dining out or planning interesting meals, plans and projects, and values with them. As trusted fellow travelers, you brainstorm together and sustain a part of each other's vision of a positive future. In the physical domain, you find treats or pleasureful activities that sustain your sense of freedom and survival. At your worst, your claims on others to support your point of view or material desires can be highly demanding and thoughtless. Type Nine. Appetite When energy flows into appetites, it feels self-preserving. Comfort is sought through interests and little things. You don't realize the appetite or craving is a substitute, it feels compelling. It draws your energy, soothes you, especially when there is time for your personal needs. You like a practical structure and daily rhythm that support your life. These survival substitutes feel vital and comforting, and a temporary replacement for love. You do errands, chores, veg out. Or you get engrossed in you're your routines, favorite fiction, hobby, collections, TV. Having lost touch with the inner you, you reconnect through these substitutes. The real needs are neglected; sloth is preserved; discomfort temporarily abates. At your worst, you become preoccupied (stubbornly involved) with a myriad of inessentials -- small talk, ruminations about what to wear, all the errands, etc. -- which results in real priorities going by the board. The Enneagram is a powerful and dynamic personality system that describes nine distinct and fundamentally different patterns of thinking feeling, and acting. The word ennea is Greek for nine and gram means a figure or something drawn. Hence, the Enneagram is a diagram or star with nine points representing the nine personality patterns. Each of these nine patterns is based on an explicit set of perceptual filters that determine our worldview. Underneath each of the nine patterns is a basic proposition or belief about what you need in life for survival and satisfaction. As you discover your personality type and the underlying basic proposition, you will also discover what motivates you, your coping strategy, and keys to personal development. Read the brief descriptions of the nine types that follow then click on any of the numbers on the Enneagram diagram below if you wish to start the Tour of the Types. Go to my Social Instinctual Subtypes |