The Enneagram of Personality
(Part 2)

Personality Traits and Centres of Intelligence

We can divide the Enneagram into three triads, each representing a basic underlying emotion. The Gut or Body Centre (Types 8, 9, and 1) represents instinctual responses and action. Its underlying emotion is anger. The Heart Centre (Types 2, 3, and 4) holds our emotional responses and is associated with shame. The Head Centre (Types 5, 6, and 7) is concerned with thinking and is connected to the emotion of fear.

From the table, we can see how the Enneagram Centres of Intelligence can express the emotional energies for each of the nine spaces. The descriptions of each type that follow are very generalized; there is a great deal of individual variation within each space.

The descriptions use the words type and space  interchangeably. The type numbers are spelled out with initial capitals and used as proper nouns. E.g., The statement, “When a Two [does something] …” refers to a person of Enneagram type Two.

One

Ones direct their anger inward in the form of self-criticism. In order to fix this, the One tries to make themselves perfect, so that there is nothing to criticize. The outer world is also a focus of imperfection. It needs to be fixed as well and the One sees exactly how that has to happen. When the inner or outer world refuses to cooperate, the One’s reaction is resentment. Not only do they resent the world, they resent themselves for feeling resentment.

Ones must discover that everything is perfect as it is. But, “perfect” does not mean “the best possible” or “without flaws”; to be “perfect” is to be “complete”. Everything is included, not only that which we perceive or value as “good”, but also that which we reject or deem “bad”. Everything has its place and is therefore “perfect”. When Ones can get beyond the surface level of life and understand this underlying, inherent perfection, they can let go of their resentment. The virtue of serenity can take its place in their being.

Two

Guilt is the feeling that you have done something bad; shame is the feeling that you are bad. When a Two does not wish to see the “badness” in themselves, they direct their shame outwards from themselves. Instead, they focus on everyone else’s needs, being completely unaware or unconscious of their own. They act as if they have something to give to others, but don’t need anything themselves. Claudio Naranjo calls this quality False Abundance.

This focus on fulfilling others’ needs is meant to prove that they are being of service. This signals to them that they are not a bad person. Our society cooperates with this point of view, rewarding this behaviour as evidence of selflessness and sacrifice.

In fact, Twos are often trying to bend people and situations to their own will. When the Two can let go of trying to meet the needs of other people and listen to what they themselves need, they develop a sense of humility. Humility is not self-deprecation. It is a realistic assessment of one’s own abilities and limitations. This understanding is a necessary condition for being of any real help to anyone.

Three

Threes repress the emotion of shame and express it by making everything look as good as possible. They have great imagination and work hard, even obsessively, to develop a high level of skill in whatever they apply themselves to. They do this to gain approval of those that matter to them. By hard work and achievement, they hope to earn love by excelling at something.

Since they do not believe themselves to be intrinsically worthy of love, this earned approval is too high-stakes to leave up to chance. If they have to bend the truth a bit to make things look better than they actually are, well, so be it. It’s not so much that Threes are outright liars, as that everything has a bit of spin to put them in the best possible light. When the Three realizes that they are loved simply because they exist, they don’t have to fake it anymore. They can then manifest their imaginative skill in the realm of true creativity.

Four

“All ye who pass by on the road, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow”.

When the Four directs their shame inward, they attach to their pain and don’t really want to get rid of it. If they are nothing — unworthy — at least they can be special by having it worse than anyone else. In order to maintain this specialness, it is necessary to compare their situation with everyone else’s. They need to make a point of somehow being different.

The Four space has a lot of melancholy, a lot of “if only…”, a great deal of questioning. (“Why is this happening to me?”) When Fours are unhealthy, they make no real attempt to find answers to their questions or make any meaningful change. When Fours can actually sit with the internal discomfort they feel and not try to avoid it by questioning or comparing, they can move into a feeling of equanimity. Equanimity (“equal soul”) is a balance between knowing and not knowing, being able to accept whatever their situation is. The deep knowing, or clarity, that results from this state is that everything – even themselves – is connected to the Source of all Being.

Five

Fives direct their fear inward and try to build safety by accumulating material goods, knowledge, or ideas. They are very observant of the environment. Fives think can see everything in the world, but no one can see them. This can be at the expense of awareness of their own emotions or bodily state; Fives sometimes report feeling dead from the neck down.

In the spiritual journey around the Enneagram, the Five space is, paradoxically, where we first encounter the stranger, someone we do not know from our family. Fives withdraw from this encounter because they have not learned to trust others. If they can connect with their own feelings and sensations, they are able to interact with the world appropriately. Fives can then discern whether a situation is best encountered publicly or privately. When they do so, they can learn to give and take in a relational exchange in a very enchanting way.

Six

Sixes are not aware of their fear; they believe everyone else around them is fearful, but not them. They are, however, the most fearful of all types. Deep down, Sixes believe themselves to be alone in the world, unable to cope. As they see it, in order to survive, they must be part of a pack of allies and be guided by an authority figure of some sort. This reliance on others manifests as a difficulty in making their own decisions or in being settled with any decisions they have made.

Duty, loyalty, and hard work are central to the Six space. These values are important in keeping the pack and, by extension, the individual, safe. With sufficient inner work, they can begin to trust their own inner authority. Sixes then develop the virtue of courage, allowing them to act, even though they are afraid. Their hyper-alert stance eventually softens into a relaxed alertness, which is the stance required in the state of contemplation.

Seven

Sevens direct their fear outward and tend to avoid any aspect of life that is unpleasant or painful. They have lost touch with the ability to be present to what is right in front of them. They try to recover that presence by flitting from one thing to another, hoping something, anything, will work. Sevens are gluttons, needing to try everything and not present to what they are actually experiencing. At a buffet, rather than enjoying what they are eating at that moment, they are thinking ahead to the dessert table. This behaviour can apply to many other life experiences, not just food.

The missing element is Presence. If Sevens can learn what things belong where, and with what priority, they can let go of their fear and become present to what is available right now. This leads to the virtue of sobriety. Sobriety does not mean relinquishing all the fun in life. Rather, it invites a joyful and realistic assessment of all the pleasures and pains of life and accepts them in their due season.

Eight

Eights express their anger outwardly. Although the cliché about Eights is that they are very blunt and confrontational, many Eights do not present this way. They are actually very caring and tender-hearted. When they do act out aggressively it is usually to protect a vulnerable person or animal or their own tender inner core.

Eights have great vision and energy, but do not like to be opposed when implementing their vision. They do respect someone who will stand up to them and not let themselves be trampled by the Eight.

The passion, or feeling tone, of the Eight is Lust. Modern meanings of lust usually associate it with excessive sexuality. There is also the connotation of “lust for life” — a largeness of living that takes all experiences to the maximum.

When an Eight encounters a situation where they have no power, they will respond with denial — “This is not happening!”, as if to imply, “because I say it’s not!”. The Eight must come to the realization that “there is one God, and it’s not me”. This surrender leads to the recovery of innocence, a state of openness and doing no harm. Then the Eight can truly say to God or the Universe, “Not my will, but thine”. They know that at deepest level, “My Will” is also “Thy Will”.

Nine

Nines are not aware of their anger and tend to express it passive-aggressively. They see this as the only way to get what they want; Nines don’t believe anyone really cares what they want. They are very attuned to the demands and desires of those around them. Nine can use this to bring together people on two sides of a contentious divide; they really can see things from both sides.

However, they do not really see or understand their own demands and desires. Nines can easily be pulled from one action to another by external stimuli. They might get bored with what they are doing and notice something that catches their attention. They immediately forget about what they were just doing and get absorbed in the new activity.

Nines are susceptible to distraction because they have a hard time figuring out which of several possible actions has a higher priority. They have this idea that everything has roughly equal importance because nothing is really important, including their own needs and desires. Deep down, they don’t believe that they matter. When Nines realize that not only do they matter, but that they are loved absolutely and unconditionally, they can attain a spirit of enlightenment. They will be able to contemplatively wait until they know what needs to be done in any given situation. The virtue of Nine, Right Action, will follow naturally from this knowing.

Typology is Only the Beginning

The Enneagram is a dynamic symbol and, as such, it can be used to describe any dynamic process, including the spiritual journey of personal transformation. The personality types described above are only manifestations of the Enneagram spaces. The Enneagram is a valuable tool for self-understanding and a powerful symbol, but it is only a symbol. As the Zen saying goes, “The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon”. The Enneagram points beyond itself to something greater. The real work of spiritual growth is done in study, self-observation, contemplative practice, spiritual guidance, the mutual support of contemplative seekers, and above all, the grace of God.