The Enneagram in Evolutionary Circles

by Jerome Freedman, Ph. D.

Introduction

The enneagram is a nine-sided diagram that describes nine personality types and their mental and emotional fixations of attention and preoccupations. It divides our personalities into separate emotional classifications for the purposes of understanding our behavior better and pointing out the strong points of our character to help us evolve on our path. By understanding our enneagram point, we are able to recognize when we are acting out of personality concerns which make us tense, uptight, and full of stress. When we behave in this manner, we feel uncomfortable, yet it is usually out of habit. The breaking of these habitual attentional patterns requires considerable effort, resolve, desire, and focus on our inner processes. It is not always easy to do, but there are exercises and attentional practices that can make a difference.

In a group setting such as an evolutionary circle, caring, co-creative people can help us see into our process by being aware of the effects that our personality type has on life situations. It is helpful during the Inner Work of the evolutionary circle process, especially during spiritual check in (step 4), shadow work/confession (step 5), and reclaiming our full potential (step 6). In addition, the higher aspects of the points as well as their essential qualities can help us understand our higher possible outcomes and perhaps clarify our spiritual goals.

What is so valuable in this work is that our enneagram point gives us insight into our habitual ways of reacting to our environment, and provides a check list of concerns that allow us to focus in on what causes our breakdowns, and gives us answers to the question, "Where was I off the mark?" Know the enneagram point of each person in our circle fosters caring and compassion for the problems that other members of our circle are facing. In this way, we can speak from the heart, recognize our challenges, and make commitments for personal work.

Personal Example

Please allow me to give you an example from my personal life. First, some background is needed. I first came in contact with the enneagram in 1970, shortly after it's introduction as a psycho-spiritual typing system by Oscar Ichaso through a friend of mine who knew someone that attended the first Arica training in Arica, Chile in 1970. Later, in 1974, I took a class with Claudio Naranjo, a Chilean psychiatrist, who embellished the system with much of it's psychological interpretation and the root of most of the current enneagram teachers. When I showed up to the first class, Claudio typed my with the statement, "Well, here we have a doubter!" Naturally, my first reaction was to doubt his statement, but it later became very clear the self-doubt was indeed my chief feature.

Between 1974 and 1988, I dabbled in the enneagram, and then discovered Helen Palmer's first book, The Enneagram, published by Harper and Row. After six years of constant study, I have become a Certified Teacher of the Enneagram in the Oral Tradition with Helen Palmer. Just about a year ago, I joined a small advanced study group with three other certified teachers. Our group continues to meet bi-weekly and we are all making great strides. The similarity between the model we spontaneously adopted for our group and the template for evolutionary circles as described in the guide was more than coincidental! However, with the addition of the enneagram, we have been able to offer suggestions and see right through the workings of the false personality right down into the major life issues that we deal with.

About six months ago, I was going through a period of extreme self-doubt, which is characteristic of my enneagram point. During that period, I was having a lot of difficulty relating to my spouse. Part of it was a lack of personal power that I felt, and part of it was old habitual behavior patterns that she and I have been repeating for many years. When I expressed my concern to the group, I was given three different modes of behavior that could try to resolve the conflicts I was feeling. Basically, each mode was representative of how a person of a given type can see the interactions between two people, regardless of the types of the observers. In other words, the group provided me with guidance based on extensive knowledge of the enneagram which facilitated my working out my problems.

The Enneagram

It is not my purpose to present a detailed description of all of the personality types in this paper. Instead, I want to provide a brief description of each point together with appropriate diagrams that help to explain the relationships between the points. Then I will refer you to my favorite resources including books and workshops that are available on the subject.

The diagram to the left was adapted from Helen Palmer's second book, The Enneagram in Love and Work, Harper San Francisco, 1995, page 9. It shows the shape of the enneagram as well as labeling all of the points with their personality types.

Point 1 is the perfectionist. A person of this type is always looking for perfection in his/herself and others. They desire things to be just right, and in insisting upon perfection they make excellent managers and project leaders. When things don't go their way, they tend to react by feeling resentment towards others. Their primary passion is anger, and their chief feature is the continual striving for their idea of how things should be.

Point 2 is the giver. A person of this type is looking for love and approval by helping others with the hidden agenda that they will be recognized for all the good they are doing and responded with the love that they crave. Evolved twos can be genuine care takers without regards to their own needs. They take pride in all that they do for people, which is their primary passion. The chief feature of the two is the desire to win love and approval by making themselves indispensable to others.

Point 3 is the performer. A person of this type is result-oriented and pushes him/herself to accomplish tasks and reap the benefits of the good life. Threes are good chameleons, which works both ways to cause them to deceive themselves and others. They make good leaders and accomplish a lot for the benefit of their image. Their primary passion is (self-)deception, and their chief feature is making things happen that make them look good.

Point 4 is the romantic. A person of this type is primarily concerned with the intensity of life, especially in relationships. They consider themselves to be very special and are attracted to the sensual and artistic. They can be very supportive in helping friends through painful situations. The primary passion for a four is an attraction to melancholy and the chief feature of a four is his or her preoccupation with longing for things to be other than they are.

Point 5 is the observer. A person of this type is concerned with privacy and time alone. Indeed, fives tend to observe their experiences and then retreat into the safety their own space and analyze what they feel. As a result of this preoccupation, they can be fairly talented at envisioning the "big picture" and running major organizations from the back room. Their primary passion is avarice in terms of their time and possessions, and their chief feature is withdrawal from experience.

Point 6 is the trooper. A person of this type is dynamically involved in many activities, all of which require proper reassurance from those around them. Troopers can be very loyal to the causes they support, so long as their self-doubt and trust issue are handled properly. Their primary passion is fear of everything, for which they keep a constant vigilance. The chief feature of a trooper is doubt that causes them to question everything in their lives over and over again.

Point 7 is the epicure. A person of this type is constantly on the lookout for fun and pleasure, and is always searching out positive possible alternatives. They like the good thing in live and strive to stay optimistic. Bad results are often reframed into positive outcomes. Their primary passion is gluttony for the good life. Their chief feature is avoiding pain at all costs with lots of pleasant activities.

Point 8 is the boss. People of this type are dominated by the desire to control and be in charge. They tend to over-do everything in their lives, and as a result, the can often push peoples buttons. They like excess and all areas of life wealth, power, sex, food, drugs, and the like. On the positive side, the make excellent leaders and foster trust in other people to follow them. Their primary passion is lust for all things in life, not just sex! Their chief feature of the eight is its need to dominate and control situations.

Point 9 is the mediator. A person of this type can see all points of view but doesn't have one of his/her own. As a result, a nine will spend a lot of time doing meaningless tasks are spread out watching TV until all hours of the day or night. Indolence is their primary passion, which makes them indecisive and unwatchful of their own needs. Their chief feature is their self-forgetting nature.

Template of Enneagram Preoccupations

Now we come to the template of enneagram preoccupations. In this section I present a list of concerns for each personality type. You may see some of these traits in yourself or someone you are deeply connected with. They certainly will help you discover in what areas your current breakdowns lie in. I am indebted to Torrey Waag, who compiled this list and presented it at our enneagram training.

Point 1: The Perfectionist

• 7 Criticality, for and from others
• Self criticism strong, top dog
• Judges against standards of right and wrong using own standards, not others
• Correct, responsible
• Comparisons, self to others
• Good boy, good girl
• Procrastinates to be right
• Trap door
• Independence
• Virtue is its own reward
• Anger for a righteous cause

Point 2: The Giver

• People and relationships
• Others needs before own
• Merges selectively
• Alters to please
• Pride, I can meet your needs
• Changes to be loved
• Helps others for affection
• Different with different friends
• Difficulty with receiving gifts
• Could sell out for approval
• Moves towards other people
• Attention is on the other
• Freedom, one person isn't enough

Point 3: The Performer

• Achievement
• Task
• Polyphasic thinking
• Image from task well done
• Leisure time is task oriented
• Winning
• Image can be real or fantasy
• Supermom
• Will step on others for the task
• Appearances important
• Vanity and deceit with feelings
• Living for the eyes of others

Point 4: The Romantic

• Feeling of loss
• Depression, melancholy
• Envy, others have it
• Longing
• Intensity of feelings
• Attraction to melancholy
• Good around others when others depressed
• Deep emotionality
• Authenticity
• Either depressed or active
• Often fashion oriented
• Feeling of being special

Point 5: The Observer

• Strong privacy needs
• Reduction of needs
• Feels other people are intrusive
• Hates small talk, cocktail parties
• Secret life
• Compartmentalization
• Magical thinking, ward off
• Prepare for what you do
• Greedy about knowledge, self
• Thoughts are precious
• Sense of being invisible
• Scans for intrusions
• Feels feelings when alone
• Detaches, detachment
• Precise words, language
• Often calm when others are not
• Fear of feeling, relationships

Point 6: The Trooper

• Doubt and fear
• Authority issues
• Scanning for danger
• Harm and danger
• Checking people out, bullshit detectors
• Procrastinate because afraid, paralysis
• How do you do with success -doubt
• Projection
• Underdog causes
• Phobic and counterphobic
• Loyalty, duty, self-sacrifice
• May find trustworthy protector
• Looking to future, sees the worst

Point 7: The Epicure

• Multiple options
• Reframing
• Fascination
• Process
• Lots of projects
• Experience verses success
• Happy, optimistic
• Overbooked
• Life is an adventure
• World goal
• Superior/inferior
• Rationalization
• Escape pain

Point 8: The Boss

• Control issues, I am in control
• I am competent
• Anger, do you get pissed easily
• Getting back, vengeance
• Confrontation, wants others to oppose
• If he's angry, I can trust
• Go for power and source of power
• Truth important, not agreement
• Fighting the battles of others
• It's hostile out there
• Breaking rules
• Lust, capacity to take in a lot
• Excess

Point 9: The Mediator

• Merges with the wishes of others, indiscriminate
• Others opinions are more important than his own
• Energy often comes from others
• Can see all sides of issue
• Control by passive means
• Stays on track
• Anger reflected by stubbornness, containment of anger
• Can say no
• Likes structure, peace and tranquility, not decisions
• Essential/inessential
• Accumulation/inertia
• Motivation for merger, Passive/Active
• What if someone tells you to do something for your own good
• Co-processing mind

Reclaiming Your Full Potential

The enneagram is a dynamic system. It makes predictions about how we behave under stress and in secure life situations, which is beyond the scope of this paper. However, the enneagram also speaks to our essense - that part of ourselves that exists beyond or in spite of our personalities. We are each born with these essential qualities, but the seem to get lost in our necessity to survive in the real world. I want to mention briefly what are the higher aspects of each of the points. The following table lists what Oscar Ichaso calls the "Holy Ideas of the Higher Mental Center," and the "Virtues of the Higher Emotional Center." In addition, I have listed what each type might value most. The ideas expressed in the table may allow us to access our own vision of our full potential self, as an emerging universal human.