#enneagram explained

Right now, as we understand the Enneagram, it is a circle with numbers 1-9 going clockwise, ending with 9 at the highest point on the circle. Then we’ve got those pesky lines of stress (Disintegration) and relaxation (Integration) and they go all kinds of which ways!

Quid pro quo:

Let the numbers talk to you-

Go back to that graph and study it with those numbers in mind.

Do you see any patterns? No?

Figure 1. The Enneagram with Lines of Integration - indicated by green arrows and Lines of Desintegration - indicated by purple arrows. By reading the lines in relation to their numbers and each other, a few laws can be discerned about the inner workings of a person and of all people in a basic sense. When relaxed, 1s sprout into 7s, 2s jump to 4s, 3s grow into 6s, 4s turn into better 1s (we’ll address this quirk in a later paragraph), 5s become powerful 8s, 6s mature into 9s, 7s turn into… better 5s*, 8s… turn into way better 2s*, and 9s become the best ever 3s that they can be. And the Lines of Desintegration… same thing but the opposite… there will be a more comprehensive cheat sheet further down the line, I promise.

Okay, now, 3-D glasses on!

Remember how we learned that people have 3 major facades- the shadow, the center, and the ego? (You may have also noticed that the 9 Personalities are also broken up into 3 centers, which all have exactly 3 Types. …Are you thinking about patterns yet?) Okay, good. Hold on to that little golden seed of knowledge for a while- let it shimmer in the back of your mind and chew this over:

We all have 9 major Personality Types, every person is born with a higher disposition towards one of these Types which is their core personality and purest sense of self the conscious mind can process. However, it is very possible and also rather easy to gain access to all 9 Personality Types. People who have mastered their ability to “flow” between the 9 Personality Types and use each one for it’s express advantages in all aspects of their life are often more successful, have stronger relationships, are healthier for longer periods of time, and are probably in very good mental health in regards to emotion processing and behavioral regulation.

Now if we take that old comprehensive chart and put some clothes on it, we know that each of the 9 Personality traits has at lease two additional, separate facades to it: The Shadow Personality and the Ego Personality which reside somewhere on the Spectrum of High or Low Functioning (Shadow generally falling lower and Ego generally falling higher on the Spectrum than the predominant Personality Type.

**However, some Personality Types can be strongly related to more than just 3 titles and therefor we’ve added a few extra titles (because they are just too specific and important to the understanding of the Pillar** of the Enneagram.

Base | Shadow / Centre / Ego | Elite

1 Reformer | Judge or Critic / Reformer / Perfectionist | Perfectionist

2 Helper | Manipulator / Helper / Giver or Caretaker | Nurturer

3 Achiever | Status-Seeker / Achiever / Performer or Motivator

4 Individualist | Artist / Romantic / Individualist |

5 Investigator | Thinker / Observer / Investigator |

6 Loyalist | Questioner / Skeptic / | Loyalist***

7 Enthusiast | Epicure / Generalist / Enthusiast | Visionary

8 Challenger | Challenger / Maverick / Leader |  Boss

9 Peacemaker | Peacemaker / Harmonizer or Connector / Mediator | Diplomat

Figure 1. Basically a really dense chart but due to the a heaviness of the topic, this is still the most efficient way to communicate the material. So each Personality Type has a rudimentary version of itself (think of how toddlers behave, sporadic and chaotic but guided by some sense of self-awareness and emotional alertness) and then, perhaps 2 or 3 distinct, higher levels of functioning- a shadow and an ego, a yin and a yang, or a shadow, centre, and ego.

Okay, so get this:

You’re born with a core personality and subconscious sense of self, you grow a few years you learn some rudimentary actions and behaviors- walking, eating, drinking, sleeping, talking… Then you learn some social ques right around the same time your personality is settling into it’s forever position at about age 6.

In my 5 years experience in childcare, my opinion is that: At age 6 or 7, kids tend to do best with one friend, but by age 8 or 9 they can begin working well in small groups of three or four. I want to go ahead and bridge the gap by saying, perhaps children at 6 or 7, are just beginning to settle into their core personality - therefor finding a place at the centre of their major Personality Type (OR at the highest point of their Shadow Personality, OR at the lowest point of their Ego Personality).

An ancient Greco-Roman culture que was that if a warrior was telling a great tale of one of his glorious battles and told a part that was particularly mystical or fantastical (we might say incredulous or blatantly untrue) and somebody sneezed while they were saying it- then that meant it must be true! So I hope somebody sneezed when I said that last part about children’s Sub Types.