So much about our motivations, attitudes and behaviour is difficult, and in some cases, impossible to see. The Enneagram helps us, first, to see, and then if we are up for it, to cultivate presence with what we can see.
Ideally, everyone new to the Enneagram would identify their core type from the deep psychological patterns that the Enneagram names: the core suffering (passion) of the type; the type’s characteristic mental activity (fixation); the distorted instinctual intelligence.
However, for most of us, it is easier to identify our Enneagram type from descriptions. It is easier, for instance, for a type Nine to notice a tendency to lose energy when it comes to doing something for their own development than to identify the sensations, thoughts, and feelings that betray the state named sloth.
Thanks to the labours of long-time Enneagram teachers, we have very accurate accounts of the behaviours and traits observed in the people who share our type and subtype. And because the Enneagram is true, these descriptions are consistent with what we can observe in ourselves and others when we’re paying attention. They can bring us to tears in self-recognition.
That said, our personalities are products of more than our Enneagram types. And so not everything in a type and subtype description will seem to match up with how we see ourselves (although, see the first sentence).
The type descriptions you see on these pages are the ones I use in my coaching practice following a typing exploration. When I do that, I am asking the client to reflect and self-observe to confirm “is this, basically, the box you are in?”
When I first started integrating the Enneagram into my integral coaching practice, I experienced some conflict in doing this. A typing exploration can be very rich and meaningful; something an individual should do themselves when drawn to do so, in their own good sweet time. Typing shouldn’t be pushed on individuals by coaches.
I addressed that conflict by explaining to prospective clients – many of whom come in for support with something and with no knowledge of the Enneagram – why and how I use the system. That’s my personal way of being sure that I am not interfering in the transmission of the knowledge and wisdom of the Enneagram, whilst still acting in alignment with my deepest values. And if the Enneagram doesn’t appeal or land, there are no conclusions to be drawn by that.
Whether you are exploring on your own or with the support of a coach, counsellor or therapist, type descriptions are best viewed as the start or something (ideally an inner work journey), not the end.
Finally, it is to be remembered that the type is not what or who we are. It is “who shows up when we’re not there”, as one of my dearest teachers Russ Hudson says.