Studying the Enneagram can help us to explore our relationship with the three instincts. If you’re on a self-development path, it’s difficult to overstate the value of doing this.
The instincts (or instinctual drives ) were included in the teachings of the developer of the Enneagram of types, Oscar Ichazo. Claudio Naranjo made significant expansions to the theory, and other teachers have since developed Naranjos’ work and added their own dimensions.
We now know probably as much as we’ve ever known about the instincts, and a lot is probably yet to be discovered.
The instincts are a typology unto themselves. Just like we have a dominant Enneagram type, we have a dominant instinct type. In other words, we are either a Self-preservation type, a Sexual type or a Social type. A person’s dominant instinct can be so strong that it characterises their personality more than their Enneagram type does.
The three instincts*
*As taught by Enneagram author and teacher, Russ Hudson.
Self-preservation instinct: Caring for the wellbeing of the body/mind; ensuring resources; creating and keeping a home.
Sexual instinct: Narrowing our focus towards what’s attractive and attracting what will evolve and transform us; exploring our edges; fusing and merging.
Social instinct: Reading and responding to people; sustaining life-enhancing connections; and participating/contributing in meaningful ways.
Practically speaking, the instincts amount to bundles of focusses, priorities, values and needs. Although we have to parse them out for the purposes of talking about them, experientially the instincts do not arise separately.
Why are instincts important for self-development?
We unconsciously use our instincts in a set sequence, regardless of what a situation calls for. Without becoming conscious of this, we continue to be automatic in how we use instinctual energy and intelligence. This creates repetitive challenges in our lives.
The instincts show us how we are the most mechanical. Being able to observe our mechanicalness and ultimately withdraw energy from the things that habitually capture our attention results in development.
Another key point is that the dominant instinct influences how the Passion of our Enneagram type manifests. And so generating consciousness of our instinctual drives supports working with the Passion.
What is Subtype?
Subtype is the description for where dominant instinct meets core Enneagram type. For instance, one of the 27 Subtypes is ‘Self-preservation 9’.
Subtypes were first identified by Ichazo, as he sought to show how instinctual drives present in each Enneagram type, and the effects of one of the drives being pronounced. He began the work of identifying behaviours and characteristics of those people of each type with a different instinct “at the helm”. This work was developed by Naranjo and later, Beatrice Chestnut.
Naranjo’s view was that the Subtype acts as an “auxiliary Passion”, particularising our suffering. It “highlights a mental preoccupation in which the energies of the physical body and the emotional energies of the Passions are joined”, said another influential Enneagram teacher, Helen Palmer. Palmer once described them as “crucial pivots in the transformation of the nine Passions into their higher opposites”.
Identifying Subtype
Our Subtype influences the way that our type patterns manifest to such a degree that we can be unrecognizable from prevalent descriptions (which usually describe one of the Enneagram Subtypes). It is difficult to be confident that we have typed ourselves correctly unless we have also identified our Subtype.
Although the descriptions of the Subtypes (and there are at least four popular versions) will always be limited, they can be very helpful when seeking to identify your instinct priority.
We often have strengths/capacities in the areas of our dominant instincts. However, it is equally common for the dominant instinct to be our main area of challenge. In that way, being dominant and ‘blind’/’repressed’ in an instinct can look similar.
Instinct ‘Stack’ or ‘Sequence’
We use all three instincts in a preferred, stacking order every day, all day to be grounded in physical reality. Traditionally, the names given to each position in the sequence is the dominant (1), secondary (2) and blind/repressed instinct (3).
Once we know our Subtype, it becomes easier to identify the rest of our instinctual stacking. To do that, we need to explore our relationship with the other two instincts.
The blind instinct is the one we routinely neglect, overlook, or avoid. If you are of a decent age, your life will be the proof of it. It is the same with the dominant instinct, which our lives will “pay homage to” (Russ Hudson).
For each Enneagram type, there are six potential instinct stackings. This creates 54 ‘types’. It helps account for the differences you see in beings of the same type and Subtype.
What does it mean to do instincts development?
The idea is that the instinctual drives need to be in balance in order for us to feel well (a psychological perspective) and harness the energy needed to move toward transformation (a spiritual one).
When in balance, these instincts drive us in an intelligent way. We might bring the sexual instinct forward when needing to bring a creative project to fruition, the social instinct might arise when we are seeking work, and the self-preservation instinct informs us when we need to get through a punishing working week.
How do we develop them?
According to A.H.Almaas, there are two aspects to the work on developing the instincts: (1) liberating them from our conditioning and (2) aligning them with the spiritual drive (his concept). This work happens across a lifetime.
From within the Enneagram community, there are several theories regarding how to work with imbalanced instincts.
1. Taming the dominant instinct (like a dog on a leash).
2. Integrating the blind (or repressed) instinct, taught as “the secret to contentment and satisfaction in the dominant instinct”.
3. Using the second instinct – which is, in theory, the most ‘free’ – to create balance.
4. A specific awareness practice around the Subtype pattern – the focus created by the Subtype. That is a little different from taming the dominant instinct, as it has an emotional element to it.
It is likely that all of these will be relevant to us at some point. The priority will depend on the person and their current experience.
One thing we can say is that development in the instincts is where we might encounter the most resistance from our personalities.
Deeper dive into each instinct
See the self-preservation instinct, the sexual instinct, the social instinct.