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1’s have the daunting task of saving the world (that’s what it feels like to them) – so the focus is global or on humanity – they also come from the lower dan tien, and that’s what I get with you, AA… ofcourse you may have your heart open and enveloping the world and that’s why there is often a ‘globalness’ to your ‘tone of voice’.
It’s also interesting to notice that religions (or ‘mystery schools’) can follow the enneagram perspective too. Taoism (Lao Tzu style) is completely a 9… Sufism is very 4ish… Judaism is a 2… the earthy, pagan religions are very 8… etc.
It’s interesting to notice the *feel* of each of the religions and you start noticing that feeling with people…
each of the 9 types can be expressed as certain qualities of energy and you notice it in nearly everything, from trees to company logos. It’s easiest to start by getting the feel for 9, 3 and 6… these, as Jason said are the neutral numbers in each category (but have their own yin, yang qualities) – 3 rises, 6 falls and 9 is in the middle…
In terms of self reflection it’s usefull to find out the healthy and unhealthy tendencies in your type…
9’s have a way of getting lost in other people’s agendas (we’re so neutral we can put ourselves in anyone’s shoes and see the world from their perspective… everyone’s except for our own that is!!) There is also a great dislike for ‘problems’ or disharmony, about which we get very angry and never show it (unless with people we love – then we get stubborn and annoying). We easily get taken advantage of. Getting angry feels like the end of the world – quite literraly – so sometimes we burst out with accumulated rage but at that moment we’re completely disassociated and not in our bodies – somewhere very far away.
4’s have a way of getting into dramas – all kinds – and feeding off the emotions circulating there. I find that female 4’s get completely lost in the storms of their emotions and cant get centered. There is often a sense of superiority hiding in the background of a 4 – the funny thing is the superiority is based mostly on wounds and difficulties that they’ve ‘overcome’ (or suffered from a 1’s point of view). A lot of goths are 4’s.
7’s are fun – they’re the crazy ones – always doing something exciting, but never finding satisfaction in the present – whatever they’re doing now, they have already planned the next exciting thing to do. I have a couple of 7 friends – they wear me out, but also inject a bit of energy into my stillness…
anyway enough for now – I was just inspired to share – remember I say 4’s and 7’s etc it seems like a very tight, rigid way of looking at the huge diversity of people – it’s the energy driving the person that the enneagram is concerned with – everyone really is different – but most of us still have two hands one head two legs (even if the variation in what the legs, hands, heads are like is huge). This helps us relate to people easier – we can take people’s differences less personal…
My wife is 5′ tall, wears a size 5 dress and shoe, and says that her favorite number is 5 (which is good for me!). All of these fives may have predisposed me to like the idea of 5 elements (4 just seems so…square).
AA — how about this as a good Daoist clock! Unfortunately it has 8 levels, otherwise every minute would have its own hexagram!
I like the religions thing. I do think that as a Jew Judaism isn’t a 2 only, althought the Jewish mum is a 2! Judaism has 1 qualities in its legalistic approach and 5 qualities in kabbalah.
I totally get lost in storms of emotion, esp. when I was a kid. I love to be overwhelmed. And I definitely have the superiority thing, it’s like an elitism thing or a perfectionism, and you’re right the wounding thing is about having seen emotional truths others miss. j
I completely agree about there being a big breakdown once you go below the highest level of generalities… it’s the same in Taoism – in the highest generalities it’s about neutrality (9) – then you get into taoist practices – feng shui, alchemy, martial arts etc and you’re in the world of the 5s.
In a very general way I find Judaism to be 2 – there is a very close, family like bond – you never forget you’re a Jew – who in London knows what religion he or she is (unless they’re Jewish ofcourse!)? “errrr church of england I guess…”
My name (Harutyun) is Armenian – I was born and lived there untill I was about 10. There is a very similar feel to the Armenian culture – 2ishness combined with this sense of woundedness (we had our own genocide), so I can get the feel of it… we have similar mother too 😉
I’m a 5, because as you’ve noticed I spent way too much time
in my head, and am always looking for logical reason for
everything. I give a lot of validity to intuition and
learning important tales that only the heart can provide,
but I usually subsequently look for reasons based in
scientific facts to back up/support the information I’ve learned.
With an analytical mind, I’m always trying to figure the world
out. Sometimes I can be emotionally detached, and not
sensitive to emotional ups and downs that others experience,
in part because I tend to bury certain things deep within,
and that’s why I am 5.I’m a 1, because as you’ve noticed I spent way too much time
trying to (almost obsessively) eliminate personal flaws, and
view the goal in eliminating personal flaws as a lofty one
in which by doing so, it creates personal improvement and
brings you to a better place. I am also vehemently stubborn
and often cling to certain ideas when I have decided in
advance that “I’m right” (whatever that means), and will
defend said ideas with tenacity (sometimes leading to
heated arguments)–which can tend to make me intimidating
and appear more hostile than I feel I am myself. That’s why
I’m a 1.Secondary to these main personality types, I have random
qualities ascribed to 4’s, 8’s, and 9’s.I’m also about as diametrically opposite to 6’s as
one can get, and have very little in common with 7’s.Smiles to you,
StevenOh well it all sounds right to me.
One type I never understood was sixes. I even know some sixes and I still don’t get ’em. j
You dont get 6s? – I bet they get you!
the gift of the 6’s is their level of awareness (on what they focus on) – they’re the most energetically sensitive people around! This sensitivity can also be their downfall – they tend to notice immediately what’s ‘wrong’. You also have phobic 6s and counterphobic 6s – the difference is how they relate to what’s ‘wrong’ and perhaps ‘dangerous’ – the phobic ones retreat, the counterphobic ones run at it blindly… you know the ‘adrenaline junkies’? – most of them are 6s (and some 7s). 6s have a way of seeing authenticity in a person – I used to have a 6 type girlfriend, and she would feel so comfortable with me because I could hold everything in spaciousness, but arround other people she would seem really nervous, would easily dislike people (because of their inauthenticity), whereas I usually like people no matter what…
5’s – well I tend to like them for some reason – two of my closest friends are 5s – your gift is being able to see information and immediately pick out what’s important and relevant. So no matter what information you’re given you can work it out very quickly – this is something no other number can do to the extent you can. Steven I don’t get 1 from you – the perfectionism you talk about is also quite a 5 characteristic.
The thing about 1s is that they see things from a social perspective – they are the ‘moral’ ones – you know the vegetarians that think everyone else has to be vegetarian?. Their gift is to pick out what is vital for the group – they have access to this group consciousness to the extent that no one else has…
Some very interesting essays: http://www.enneagram-instrument.org/ennbody.htm
and see how that work evolved over 10 years here: http://www.newequations.com/
9’s 8’s and 1’s are all meant to be belly based, and the others are either heart or head based… these guy experientially found something different (I believe they’re looking at different anatomy – the core channel, the spine and the chakras) – the belly, heart and head are about sensory systems (gut reactions, heart connections, seeing with clarity) – they’ve found something more energetic – anyway, check it out, it’s an interesting work.
… what I don’t get is the why. I mean these things are deep seated but what I don’t see that I have managed to see in all the other types is that inner flow that runs the 6. I even am good at seeing who is a 6 now – I had the sudden recognition watching an interview with Jimmy Connors a couple of years back – ‘Hey, he’s a 6!’. But at the same time sixes all seem so different from each other, my best 6 friend is about as unlike Jimmy Connors as you can imagine… with all the other types, of course they’re all incredibly disparate too, but I can see the underlying thing that connects them as well. Six is the only one I can’t really ‘feel’ yet.
I only mention it because it always seemed like a good exercise to me to try and identify really strongly with each type, to broaden one’s outlook as you mentioned. I think it might help me if one day I meet a 6 who knows s/he’s a 6 and has seen how ‘6-ness’ comes to be at first hand, but until then I’ll maybe look through some of those two guys’ stuff you brought up.
BTW I was thinking about magical uses for the ‘gram and I suddenly remembered the name Eric Yudelove. Wasn’t he into that, does anyone remember him from the days when he was here, before my time? I haven’t read his book… I do remember someone saying he went a little crazy or something though so maybe not to worry! j
j
It’s also quite hard to notice 9s – very often misrepresented because we tend to take on the personality of whatever we’re near (so haveing a 4 girlfriend at the moment has me connecting with people intimately) – my internet persona is very 5ish (that’s the most appropriate type to be on the internet)
6’s are hard to connect with – that’s another reason *you* dont have a feel for 6ness – you have to be very trusted to be let in to a 6’s world. But there is this perceptive melancholy about them – different to a 4 because it’s not so emotional or expressive – but it’s usually very funny – 6’s can be really funny – self depricating humour is quite 6ish, and also the type of humour that focuses on something small and normally unnoticed. Woody Allen?! Also have you seen Curb Your Enthusiasm? – Larry David (I think) is a 6 – but not the character in the show – I mean the Larry David who created the show – it’s a very particular 6ish comedy that he does, and it’s so entertaining because it’s based on a kind of perceptiveness that most of the rest of us don’t have.
By the way – regarding Yudelove – he has a book called ‘Tao and the Tree of Life’ – quite interesting – he goes quite indepth with the comparison of Bardon’s 4 elements and the Taoist 5 elements – I think you asked a question about that a while ago, no?
what made him go crazy?
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