enneablog

Try thinking about the thoughts and beliefs that come up about yourself or the world when you are in a time of fear/worry/anxiety.

This type of reflection will help you see what your initial impulses are, even if you don’t act on them. And even if you don’t want anyone to know. Do you want to flee? Do you want to come up with plans? Do you try to distract yourself? Do you feel an impulse to have a plan A, B, C, and D? Or perhaps you want to think things through and need more time, etc. Your answers will tell you something about yourself.

Hello, if you’d like to be typed by me, I rarely do this anymore. It’s often only if I’m in the mood or not busy. We used to have an active server that still exists on discord. It’s called Integration, but sadly there’s not much activity. Feel free to join though. But I can’t guarantee that anyone will be able to type you.

There are several other servers on discord that have people willing to type others. You can google “Disboard” with the keyword “typology” and a few servers will come up!

I could see someone being slightly less “reactive triad” than other descriptions display 4′s as, perhaps yes.

I would highly recommend looking into some of triads if you do not feel the descriptions line up for you. The triads are the basis for our motivations. Since they are based on actual studying done by psychologists throughout the years.

Contra flow instinctual stackings explained further:

 Yes, the commonly known “flow” of the instincts is sp>so>sx.

However, what I probably didn’t make clear in my original post about the contra flow stackings, is that I came up with my own reasoning as to why there is a “gap.” There is a “gap” in the “flow” because the natural progression of human evolution was most likely sp>sx>so (explanation of this premise is heavily detailed in the prior contra flow post.) Therefore, it makes sense as to how come the contra flow stackings have a “gap.”

The “gap” I’m referring to here is the “jump” between how the evolution of our brain and species works.

For example: given the premise that human’s evolutional order was = sp>sx>so, then an so/sx stacking would have no gap in their sx- instinct supporting their so-instinct (our second instinct supports our first, and is more readily relied on.)

However, following the same evolutional premise, an sx/so would have a “gap,” a”hole,” or a “jump” between their so-instinct supporting their sx-instinct.

The evolutional progression requires that you have sx before so. They are essentially playing “catch up” to the rest of the people who are syn flow stackings. Oftentimes people who have contraflow stackings have a feeling of “needing to catch up” very clearly. Sometimes not. Sometimes they feel the “gap” between themselves and others. This is where the “against the grain” descriptions originate from.

In this series of misunderstood type descriptions, I will attempt to communicate my opinion on why type descriptions, in general, are not sufficient enough to type one’s self in Enneagram.

I will be jumping from type to type and to various descriptions with little structure initially. This is because these posts are very much based off of inspiration. Eventually there will be more structured posts in this series. 

If you would like to request a description breakdown similar to the one below, on a different type…feel free to request one and include the link to the description of your choice. Disclaimer: I cannot guarantee that I will complete all of your request but I will attempt to.

  I will begin with Enneagram Institute’s type 4 description.

 The following are the 1st and 3rd paragraph of their description:

“We have named this type The Individualist because Fours maintain their identity by seeing themselves as fundamentally different from others. Fours feel that they are unlike other human beings, and consequently, that no one can understand them or love them adequately.”

To be frank, sometimes the “core fears” of each type is not an accurate portrayal for people to begin typing themselves. Yes, I do agree that each type has a core fear. And the fears are listed relatively as best as they can be. The emphasis is on the word “relatively” here though, and they are not to be taken literally.

If you look at this first sentence, it’s attempting to describe the 4s core fears of not having an identity and not being significant. What these sentences are implying, are that type 4s are motivated by their fear of not having an identity and the fear of not being significant. So to communicate this more literally for you, the enneagram can be broken down in a much more structured manner when you look at the motivations of a type. 

Sounds like you could do with some more reading and investigation into yourself and the types. 😉 I would recommend just starting to read up on short paragraphs about each type at first. When the descriptions start to get lengthy, then you know that the author is getting too specific. If you’re just beginning, then pick an easy website such as the enneagram institute or enneablog spot.

Here is an overview of how it fits together: 1. Enneagram is just telling you that there are 9 types of common fears that people have. What happens to us as children, and what’s in our nature to respond to circumstances as children, leads us to become “fixated” on one of these 9 fears.

2. Those fixations can have what’s called a “wing.” Which is just what “direction” or what “influence” someone’s fixation will have. For example a 4 core with a wing of 5 (which is denoted as 4w5) would be a 4 core having a fear of not having an identify or significance...being influenced by a 5 wing of intellectual isolation in thought. As compared to a 4w3, which would be a 4 core influenced by the 3 wing of striving and differentiating. The wings of 5 and 3 in this instance, give the 4 core a “flavor.” So as an analogy, the core type is your main dish, and the wings is whether you have “salt n pepper” vs “oregano” as a seasoning on the dish. :P 

Hello, thank you for the appreciation. It’s nice to see that people can gather enjoyment from this. 

I have noticed that people with the same flow perhaps relate muchmore with each other in specific areas of life. I’m not sure about matching upin intimate relationships, or even just friends. However, I do think that thestackings can provide a source of common ground for people. 

For example people who are into survivalist living (ie: Prepperslol) or perhaps even minimalist living, they might share this common interestbecause they have either sp first or sp second, however that doesn’t reallyexclude sp-lasts from these common interests. I have definitely known somesp-lasts that are concerned or love these activities as well. 

Yes, I was joking in an ironical way of poking at an extremelycommon stereotype that I don’t subscribe to. In that response the stereotype isthat people with Fi PolR would supposedly not be “great” at relationshipsor emotions, or not be “strong” in those areas of life. The opposite is usually the case for 4s but of course not always. Some 4s canhave an extremely empathetic outlook and demeanor, and be very in touch withhow they feel or how others feel. The 4s stereotype is extreme in this manneras well.  

This question is a very prominent one in the typologycommunity. However, the description provided does not contain enoughinformation for me to get an accurate typing of your gut fix. If you believethat your gut fix is last, this can make the process even more difficult. Youwill need to ask yourself how you experience the anger. As in, what does itphysically feel like inside your body? What are your initial impulses? (whetheryou act on them or not) What is the first and second thought that goes throughyour head? What kind of circumstances ignite your anger? etc…

Even the answers to these questions might not be enough todetermine your gut fix. It takes quite a lot of self-reflection in the very initialmoments that you become angry to be able to determine this. So just keep inmind that the Enneagram is a journey.

But there are a thousand things which prevent a man from awakening, which keep him in the power of his dreams.

In order to act consciously with the intention of awakening, it is necessary to know the nature of the forces which keep man in a state of sleep.

— G. I. GURDJIEFF

The Disintegration Triads

For all types: “The failure of the child’s early holding environment leads to the absence of basic trust, a fundamental distrust of reality.” 1

Original Content:

New Triad: The Frayed (6, 2, 7) 

6 arises from 9′s disintegration

2 arises from 4′s disintegration

7 arises from 5′s disintegration

What is the unifying link between these types?:

Withdrawn Triad’s Disintegration - Energy is overextended and will manifest as a person outwardly “spinning out” or “fraying” (like a rope)

Disintegrated 9′s - The 9′s normal reaction to their unconscious, existential fear of separation (caused by their childhood combined with their nature) is to: “smooth the whole thing over and act as though everything is fine, living one’s life in a mechanical way...” 1 

This is different than their disintegration where they: second guess themselves, doubt others, and are likely to assume the outcome of the future (or others’ intentions) in order to avoid what might wreck them.

As you can see when a 9 is going in and out of disintegration, their energy is “spinning out” and “fraying out” in many different directions. This fraying of their energy is a representation of them trying to moderate their ego. It starts as a rope and is solidly held together. However, over time their energy is spread thin, which can lead to a less solid “hold” on themselves. They start to overly question themselves, which leads to a weaker ego that grows more insecure. When our egos are insecure they scan for reinforcement externally. This is how the 9 becomes “frayed” like a 6, scanning for external feedback from the world to reinforce their ego back to a healthy state.

This transition from the average 9′s “mechanical - going through the motions-” to “the 9′s attention being directed outside of themselves—toward work or relationships or the myriad of other details that go into our lives” 1  is the manifestation of the rise to their disintegration. Essentially their energy manifests as overextended and spinning out (fraying, spreading themselves too thin, etc.) as an attempt to maintain disorganized peace toward externalities.

The reason that people have a hard typing their instincts in general is because they either “hear something from someone” or read some literature that puts emphasis on one instinct slot over another (such as the first instinct.)For example, when I discuss instincts with people they are often surprised when I tell them that they most likely use their second instinct “more than their first,” especially when in a social group for the first time. The literature on instincts doesn’t expand on this aspect much. What’s stated is that we use our second instinct when we first meet someone where we’re not sure that our first instinct will be accepted. 

I think what people are missing is that the roles that each instinct slot plays is just as important as learning the instinct’s “energy.”