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What the sexual instinct really is about

Posted on by DrToni

Hey everyone! This may be a little controversial but I’m saying it anyways.

I watched a video a little while ago and ever since I’ve been thinking about it, pondering about it for a while. Then I came to realize that it’s actually true, from my point of view.

What we know about the sexual instinct isn’t what we really think it is. It’s not about intensity, chemistry, bonding, one-to-one relations. Everything that we read, told, heard, watched about the sexual subtype is all largely related to the social instinct. The sexual subtype is about Passion, Desires, Conviction, Beauty, Attraction, Emotionality. What’s fun and exciting.

You see the social subtype isn’t really about groups, or crowds, or community. The social subtype is focused on their own relationships rather than the community. Let me explain. The social instinct is focused on their community or the world to be exact in the sense that they understand how humans interact, how everyone is connected, intertwined. What’s expected of us, what we should do to make someone feel better, how to be a friend. How to be their for our loved ones. Social is about connecting with someone and finding the line that makes them feel as if their one with that person their talking with. Finding that one-to-one intensity that makes them feel connected. Even social lasts. Their trying to maintain their harmonious relationships. Their relational, wanting to be that best friend that everyone wants. Their loving, warm, caring. They probably ask themselves questions like

-Who am I? -Is this person problematic? -Are they using appropriate terminology when describing identities? -Am I offending anyone? -Should I post this photo? Is this the right thing to wear? -How should I say this? -How do our political views differ? -What makes me, me? -How do people see me right now? -Who’s in charge here?

And that’s just the start.

Sexual subtype…. I cannot express this enough. It’s not about one-to-one intimate relationships. It’s not about their chemistry, intensity, bonding or whatever else we’re saying. Theirs a reason why Sexual doms are considered rare. 3% of the worlds population are Sexual doms. Is this statistic right? Course not we won’t know exactly or what the exact percentage is but that’s what the creator had said.

I’ll try my best to explain the best I can. The Sexual subtype is highly self focused. Let me explain. Social subtype is focused on their interpersonal relationships. They focus on trying to maintain harmony. Self-preservation types are focused on their well being. Trying to maintain stability, around them and their environment. Sexual subtype is focused on what attracts them, what brings that electric fire that energizes them, what their passions are, what they desire, what psychologically arouses them. Sexual subtypes are trying to maintain their sense of identity.

Therefore sexual subtype is about psychological stimulation on what brings them the most attraction. What makes them feel good, attractive, alive, happy. Which is part of attraction/repulsion. People that have the Sexual subtype as a dominant or secondary type will be drawn towards things that spark up their attraction. I.e, tv shows, articles of clothing, a person, a store. Whatever they’re attracted to. They’ll be drawn to it until they get bored. Same goes with repulsion but it’s the opposite. Whatever they’re repulsed by. They won’t be drawn to it.

They’re described as intense, that they have this intensity about them. That is true but it’s not about the intensity between them and another person. No. Their intensity comes from their passion, their emotional intensity about their favourite topics. Whether that be fashion, humanity, animals. Photography. When engaged in a conversation that involves their passion. They’ll get this fiery emotional intensity about them that you won’t see about something that they don’t feel as connected to. This is because they don’t have this emotional connection to some other topic they’re involved in.

Due to the intense belief in their passions. This competitive nature comes into play here. Again it’s towards this psychological stimulation that drives this sort of competitive behaviour. It’s about this fun, electrifying feeling that they have inside. It’s not about who’s better, or let’s see if I can out beat you. It’s solely for having a fun time. There may be this idea if they may be able to win, not entirely sure.

Things that they may ask themselves

-Am I attractive enough

-How can I push this interaction to become more vulnerable and risky for them, and for me? How can I pull them under the surface with me?

-Am I into myself? Am I steeping in the carnal juice of selfhood in every moment? Does my bein iterate upon itself in eternal self-desire?

-If i would buy this… Would it make me look more desirable?

You may be confused by these questions. I too was confused at first but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. As much as Sexual doms are about having fun, psychological stimulation. They’re also about making themselves feel attractive in a way that makes them feel pleased, and attractive in their own eye. It could be in a way that’s pleasing to them. In their own flavour and or taste if they have Self-pres second or pleasing to themselves as well as to others if they have social second. They tend to always be dressed up when they leave the house, they may appear “sensual” and “pleasing” only in the face of a romantic interest. Let me repeat that again. “Sensual” and “Pleasing” in the face of a romantic interest because their attracted to that particular individual that they are attracted to. They want them, so they try their best to draw them in to their world of beauty.

In conclusion. The sexual instinct is not about chemistry between you and someone else, intensity or connection. It’s about how we feel about something that we are interested in. How does something make me feel. Am I satisfied and happy? Or am I repulsed by it and want nothing to do with it.

Everything we know about this instinct is confused with the social subtype. Social instinct is about their own interpersonal relationships that has to do with their chemistry between their friends, family and strangers. How are they connecting with them. Are they creating a strong bond. The core of the Sexual instinct is about attraction/repulsion, am I drawn to this object or disgusted by it? Passion and desire. Do I feel emotionally attached to these specific topics. Am I confident in my ideas. Conviction. Am I able to follow through with them until I achieve my goal etc.

••Edited 

This is overall true. I think people overly fixate on the idea of romantic and sexual attraction and apply it to sexual, ignoring that the bonding aspects of romance and sex are entirely social-related, and then create the idea that interpersonal relations are the sexual instinct when they’re not. Desire and repulsion is an important part of the sexual instinct. This desire-repulsion is what creates the intensity of sx relationships, and that doesn’t make it more loving than social or sp relationships (though those with sx may feel unloved if that intensity isn’t mirrored). Boundary pushing is also referenced for the sexual instinct and furthers that intense energy that’s too chaotic for many people, especially sx-blinds. Sexual can definitely be about relationships but it’s not about bonding and caring like social is. It’s more about the passion and “what can I get out of this?” But rather than practical matters like with SP, it’s about the excitement of it. Sx relationships can be intensely loving, but that loving isn’t part of the sexual instinct, just the intensity is.

So/sx in particular can end up being a mischievous type as a result of the secondary sx. That’s just an observation I’ve had.

I think also this misrepresentation may come from the fact that people don’t understand they use all instincts and the blindspot is simply the one you don’t prioritize. They think intense love = sexual but it’s actually sexual intensity utilizing the social aspect of love. People want love and connection, they wrongly chalk it up to sx, then mistype as sx dom despite definitely not being that. It’s like the issue with everyone mistyping as 4s and now 4s are horribly misrepresented because everyone is parroting wrong information.

However, I do believe sexual also has an inherent link to sexuality, hence the name. This furthers the mix up when people utilize the sexuality aspect of sexual and think they’re using sexual. No, you’re just seeking a relationship like most people do. Lack of interest in a relationship is more social blind than sx blind, but discomfort or confusion regarding sx matters is more sx blind.

Sx/sp specifically is the type most prone to that desire-repulsion imo. Since social blindness creates a lower interest in relationships, they have no interest until someone pulls them in and they become obsessed. But this seems to have become the sx stereotype for some reason.

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Origins of the Enneagram

Posted on by DrToni

The Enneagram is (Still) Having a Moment – But Where Did This Ancient System Come From?

By:

Lynn Roulo

I was 24 years old when I walked into a bookstore in Los Gatos, California and bought my first book about the Enneagram. I had never heard of the personality system, but the symbol on the cover intrigued me.

The timing could not have been better. Just months before, I learned that my live-in boyfriend was stealing money from me. The Florida vacation, the fancy dinners, and the expensive gifts were all being funded by money heisted from my own bank account.

I may have stumbled across the Enneagram by accident, but it became the best tool to help me understand what had happened. This ancient personality system is like the Rosetta Stone of human nature. It gave me a context and translation for what was otherwise mystifying behavior.

Why would a person steal from his girlfriend to take her on a vacation? The Enneagram offered an explanation.

What is the Enneagram and where does it come from?

The Enneagram is a system of human personality that helps to explain why people behave the way they do. It suggests that your experience in life is dictated largely by where your attention goes. The system is complex, but in its simplest terms, it outlines nine distinct habits of attention and how they influence behavior.

The information the Enneagram offered me was tremendously valuable, but as I learned more, I became curious about its roots. Who invented it? Where did it come from?

I quickly discovered that – it’s complicated. The origins of the Enneagram can’t be summarized in a sentence or two. To learn the history of the Enneagram, you enter a world of sacred geometry, esoteric mystery schools, ancient Greece, and Sufi wisdom.

To unravel the mystery of the Enneagram, I needed a guide, so I spoke with Enneagram educator Stephanie Davis.

Davis has been working with the system for over 30 years. She’s been certified with Helen Palmer/David Daniels, Eli Jaxon-Bear, and Tom Condon, and she’s trained with Russ Hudson and Don Riso. If you don’t recognize those names, don’t worry – it’s enough to know that they’re a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the Enneagram community.

But perhaps most intriguing, Davis was a member of one of Claudio Naranjo’s Seekers After Truth (SAT) groups. These groups were the starting point from which the Enneagram leaked out to become available to a larger audience.

Davis got right to the point. “There are many layers in understanding the Enneagram. There is the symbol as a geometric shape – a circle, a triangle, and a hexad which is derived through sacred geometry, probably dating back to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras. But that’s just the symbol. No one was using the word “Enneagram” at that time.”

“In the 1900s, the Russian philosopher Gurdieff is the first person we know of who discussed movement and flow as part of the shape. It is not clear where he got this information, but we know he traveled extensively and studied in esoteric schools in the East. The symbol of the Enneagram is described as a schematic of perpetual motion, and I think of this as the ‘process Enneagram’.”

The Enneagram symbol – a universal map for any journey

If you’re familiar with Enneagram, you probably understand it as a personality assessment, much like the Myers and Briggs personality system or the Big Five. But aside from the nine types, there’s wisdom coming from the geometry and flow within the Enneagram symbol itself.

So much wisdom, in fact, that P.D. Oespensky, a Gurdieff scholar and author of In Search of the Miraculous declared that all knowledge can be included in the Enneagram. “For the man who is able to make use of it, the Enneagram makes books and libraries entirely unnecessary,” he wrote.

Davis offers a clearer explanation. “What he meant was that the Enneagram is a process map that you can lay different topics onto, and if you get the correct placement and flow of information on the symbol, you can have complete knowledge of the body of information. It’s profound when you really think about it.”

In other words, the Enneagram is both a noun and a verb. It’s a universal methodology you can apply to almost any body of knowledge.

When Enneagram met human psychology

What happened next is fascinating. Bolivian-born spiritual teacher Oscar Ichazo was introduced to Gurdieff’s concepts, including the dynamic Enneagram, in the 1950s. He studied with a diverse group who brought their knowledge of Zen Buddhism, Kabbalah and other Eastern philosophies to the Enneagram.

Independently, Ichazo had studied Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, and may also have been influenced by early Christian teachings. His knowledge base was vast.

“It was Ichazo who decided to lay the topic of human psychology onto the process map of the Enneagram,” Davis explains. “He developed the “Enneagram of Personality” which is what most of us think of when we hear the word ‘Enneagram.’”

“However, he didn’t focus on personality profiles as much as passions, virtues, and ego development. And it is important to remember that the use of Enneagram was just a small part of what Ichazo was teaching in his Arica school in Chile.”

Putting meat on the Enneagram’s bones

From the deserts of the Far East to the hills of Chile, the roots of the Enneagram were already proving to be deep and expansive.

Our next stop is the San Francisco Bay Area, where Ichazo’s student Claudio Naranjo taught as early as the 1970s. Davis was a member of one of his subsequent SAT groups, so I was eager to hear about her experience with him.

“Those SAT groups were intense! Naranjo didn’t teach the Enneagram directly–he never said “here’s an Enneagram seminar.” He used the Enneagram as a tool for his broader teachings. He would break us into type groups a lot and use the system that way as we mined our shadow side and things like that.

Naranjo, a trained psychiatrist, learned about the Enneagram from Ichazo.

“He put meat on the bones of the framework. If Ichazo is the father of the Enneagram, Naranjo is the mother. Ichazo planted the seed and Naranjo birthed, if you will, the psychological descriptions of the nine types. Based on his own training, his influences, and his experience, he fleshed out the nine personality styles and then the 27 subtype descriptions,” Davis explains.

From here, I knew the story well, as it is part of Enneagram lore. Naranjo’s small, exclusive SAT groups from the 1970s, much like the one Stephanie was in later, were supposed to keep the information secret.

But the secret leaked out, and more and more people began learning about the Enneagram – but the paths went in a few different directions.

Different lineages, same landing place

One place the Enneagram went is to the Jesuit community. Robert Ochs, a Jesuit, learned about the Enneagram from Ichazo and Naranjo’s work. He spread the information and, by the late 1980s, the Enneagram had become entrenched within the Jesuit community.  Don Riso, a Jesuit seminarian, got the bare-bones notes and spent years in independent research and study, exploring how to apply the skeleton frame to more practical applications.

In 1987, Riso published a book, Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery. This is the first of many books he authored on the Enneagram – and the book I picked up in the Los Gatos bookstore.

A year later, in 1988, Helen Palmer, an intuition teacher studying the work of Naranjo, published The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and Others in Your Life. Palmer’s work is part of the ‘Narrative Tradition’ lineage of the Enneagram. Davis explains what that means. “Helen applied Naranjo’s concepts to the narrative style she used in her intuition training to develop a more narrative-focused Enneagram. This was based on people sharing their experience to illustrate their Enneagram type.”

Impressively, while both the Jesuit lineage and the Narrative Tradition lineage had different development paths, they landed in much the same place when it came to describing a high-level overview of the nine personality types.

Enneagram in the 21st century

In 2013, Beatrice Chestnut wrote the highly influential book The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge. This book uses the teachings of Naranjo and gives us the first published descriptions, in detail, of the 27 subtype personality profiles.

I asked Chestnut about what inspired her to write The Complete Enneagram.

“I never set out to study the subtypes, but in 2004 when Claudio Naranjo presented on the topic at the International Enneagram Conference, I was really surprised by the way he described the 27 personality profiles. He added so much more detail and information to what I had heard described before.”

“Naranjo and his associates at that conference helped me see that I was a self-preservation Type 2, which I never knew before. This was tremendously useful information – it was like I got a whole new angle into my own mind. When I learned my subtype, I went on a mission to learn everything I could about Naranjo’s approach.  I wanted everyone to have access to this subtype teaching because it helped me so much. I’m a researcher, so I pointed my analytical skills at finding and analyzing every piece of information I could find that Naranjo had said or written about the subtypes. This was the basis for my book.”

In the end, what did the Enneagram teach me about my boyfriend?

It turns out, many things. As I studied the system, I learned about wings, arrows, subtypes and more. Eventually I found the Enneagram levels of development, the high and low side of each of the nine habits of attention. During this study, I found my boyfriend.

He was likely a very unhealthy Type 3 Achiever, obsessively focused on image and playing a role. He wanted to look like the “perfect boyfriend”: someone who would buy his girlfriend a Dalmatian puppy, take her to Disney World and treat her to nice dinners. The fact he didn’t have the money to do that became part of the web of deceit that unhealthy Type 3s can build.

The Enneagram offered me a path to healing, as it has for many others. Perhaps this is why the fact there is no clear answer to where the Enneagram came from has never bothered me.

What’s more exciting is the future. As Helen Palmer wrote in the foreword to Ginger Lapid-Bogda’s book Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work, “The Enneagram is arguably the oldest human development system on the planet, and like all authentic maps of consciousness, it finds new life in the conceptual world of each succeeding generation.”

Its roots may be mysterious, but the Enneagram seems to have its moment for every generation. And that means we can look forward to many new spins on this fascinating – and ancient – personality system.

Now you know the roots of this fascinating personality system, why not try it out for yourself? Take the Enneagram test here to discover your type in minutes, and gain valuable insights for life.

Lynn Roulo is an Enneagram instructor and Kundalini Yoga teacher who teaches a unique combination of the two systems, combining the physical benefits of Kundalini Yoga with the psychological growth tools of the Enneagram. She has written two books combining the two systems. Headstart for Happiness, her first book is an introduction to the systems. The Nine Keys, her second book, focuses on the two systems in intimate relationships. Learn more about Lynn and her work here at LynnRoulo.com.

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Foundation of Enneagram – R Hudson & J Dibbs

Posted on by DrToni

Here are just a few highlights from this insightful audio session with Russ:

  • (6:30) — Meaning of Enneagram Symbol
  • (7:57) — Russ’ introduction to the Enneagram
  • (12:32) — Mystical traditions from around the world
  • (15:28) — The Law of 3
  • (16:00) — Systems of 9
  • (19:50) — Desert Fathers and ancient Egypt
  • (21:47) — Meditation and art of presence
  • (22:51) — The Passions
  • (25:20) — The synthesis of the modern Enneagram

https://youtu.be/MowhgwPPXh4

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Tritype Descriptions

Posted on by DrToni

The 27 Tritype Descriptions

INTRODUCTION:

This took me FOREVER. Ever since I’ve learned about tritypes I have lamented at the lack of cohesive resources on the subject. All the information is scattered and disorganized across many platforms and its simply frustrating to find and research. I figured I would do my civic duty to this community and compile this information. This is the 27 Tritypes put together in a cohesive and simplified manner.  

I would like to say that I only wrote about 20% of this. All I did was put the information togeather, make it fit, and add in info when it was lacking. Please let me know if you have anymore questions!

Sources: 

The 27 Tritypes is a theory by Katherine Chernick Fauvre, her website is http://www.katherinefauvre.com/tritype/ 

Most of the information came from >>THIS THREAD 

For a quick guide on enneagram i did, including tritypes, click >>HERE Please read this before asking further questions, Thank you!

The Mentor: 125, 251, 512

Gut: 1 Heart: 2  Head: 5

Mentors want to help others with the information they have acquired. They love being the stoic guidance counselor. Caring, practical, knowledgeable. They can be very controlling, and sometimes try to force advice on others, but it is often very helpful. They have high expectations for others and push them to be their best. They should try to be less judgmental of others and not over-give. Your life mission is to use your wisdom to provide the information needed to manifest ideals that help those in need. A true mentor, you are happiest when you can help others improve themselves. They could make great teachers – they are precise, ethical, thorough, intellectual, disciplined, but also altruistic and willing to help other people. They are usually moral and righteous individuals, who have high ideals and are willing to stand by a cause they believe in. Their interest in people and commitment to knowledge and improvement can turn them into crusaders for theories and systems that can make the world a better place.

The Supporter: 126, 261, 612

Gut: 1 Heart: 2 Head: 6
As a Supporter, you are discerning, caring and inquisitive. You want to be ethical, helpful and cooperative. Highly responsible, you are most comfortable when you do things by the book and know what to expect. Focused on the needs and concerns of others, you seek ways to be of service. Your life mission is to find structured ways to give, and be of assistance to others. A true helper, you are happiest when you are in a position to support others achieve their goals. You can be overly fixed in your opinion of what is right and be rigid in your expectations of yourself and others and thus come across as disapproving or militant. This type ignores their own desires. They are very loyal and act as they feel they should and often for others. They want to serve and they tend to expect others to as well. Fear of desperateness, humiliation and doubt. Tendency to seek things they will accept, approval and assurance. This is absolutely the “caring friend” archetype.

The Teacher: 127, 271, 712

Gut: 1 Heart: 2 Head: 7

As a Teacher, you are a person needing to find structured ways to play and be of service. They like to teach and to support others. It’s the classic elementary school teacher archetype that wants to find innovative but structured ways to make learning or improving enjoyable to people. The blindspot is they can become so attached to their way of doing “fun” and innovation that they can gloss over negative feelings that need to be addressed or become too rigid in their expectations thus making things not fun. You love discovering new things and sharing what you learn with others. Your mission is to help those in need of guidance, hope, and inspiration. You can also be hyper-focused on keeping things overly positive and upbeat. Your growing edge is to be willing to experience emotional pain. You can be overly identified with positive emotions and appropriate behavior. Negative emotions teach us what we are feeling and are an important aspect of any decision making process. A true teacher, you are happiest when you can use your teaching skills to make learning a creative and enjoyable experience

The Technical Expert: 135, 351, 513

Gut: 1 Heart: 3 Head: 5

The Technical expert is driven, self disciplined, success and image oriented (but the image is not one of flash. It’s ALWAYS perfect and appropriate.)…discerning, self demanding and judgmental with a focus on control. Extremely productive and hardworking, she barely gives herself a break, but when she does it’s like a huge release. It’s always planned though…Highly intelligent and focused, but can be narrow-minded at times, even though she’s capable of seeing other perspectives if she’s convinced of the “rightness” of hers she will be harsh, critical and obstinate. You are diligent, focused and knowledgeable. You want to be ethical, efficient and wise. Highly rational, you seek systems and procedures. Detail oriented, you like mathematical concepts and finding ways to breakdown and understand complex material. You are very precise and good with your hands. Your life mission is to be focused and to use your powers of observation to achieve goals. A true technical expert, you feel happiest when you use your knowledge and precision skills to create, achieve and teach.

The Taskmaster: 136, 361, 613

Gut: 1 Heart: 3 Head: 6

As a technical expert you are incredibly discerning, focused and responsible type. She said they will be the most inclined to want to live up to a successful image by societal standards and to focus on duty in order to feel valuable. She called it the “true taskmaster” that is inclined to create structure and rules that others in society can follow and to implement them. She said the blindspot is that one can be so overly focused on the rules that they can lose touch with their own values and feelings in deference to what is acceptable or societally defined. you are diligent, focused and knowledgeable. Elegant, stoic and resolute with a loyal professional veneer. Very self critical. Strong ideas about how they should act and have man guidelines that they must follow and cannot deter from. They can feel like a break from work is a sin, and sometimes only feel okay working. This is one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker of the 27 archetypes.

The System Builder: 137, 371, 713

Gut: 1 Heart: 3 Head: 7

If you are a Systems Builder, you are diligent, ambitious and innovative. You want to be ethical, efficient and upbeat. You are self-motivated and want to achieve your goals in a positive and effective way. You want to do your best and want to enjoy doing it. You focus on success and seek ways to measure it. Your life mission is to figure out what needs to be done and find a pleasant way to do it. A true perfectionist, you are happiest when you enjoy life while successfully meeting your goals. You can be so focused on what others view as appropriate, positive and successful that you miss seeing what is necessary and truly important to you. From what I’ve read, goal orientated Systems builder’s can do well in sales, whether that’s in occupations such as real estate, advertising or promotions work. This would make sense. Good with details, smooth with people. I’ve heard they “want to do good and look good doing it”. Not always a pleasure to work for when things get tough. Frustration meets Competence meets Assertiveness does not make for the most compassionate soul. This tritype can be a great, if not the best, provider and great producer.

The Researcher: 145, 451, 514

Gut: 1 Heart: 4 Head: 5

If you are a Researcher, you are diligent, intuitive, and knowledgeable. You want to be ethical, original and wise. Highly intellectual, you are focused on what you perceive is correct and above reproach. Research oriented, you seek and quote the opinions of experts to avoid being seen as ignorant. Your life mission is to study and learn as much as you can and then teach the wisdom of what you have learned to others. A true researcher, you are happiest using your investigative skills. You can be so identified with the information that you have gathered and the correct way of doing things that you feel exhausted and can appear to be a persnickety know it all. Intellectual. May be involved in philosophy. They enjoy coming to understand themselves and their world. Very capable of intellectual circumspection with a twist of the romantic and mysterious. They seem to balance out the emotional realm with the intellectual. Cerebral, intuitive and withdrawn. Much of what we know today in any area of study is thanks to this persnickety archetype.

The Philosopher: 146, 416, 614

Gut: 1 Heart: 4  Head: 6

If you are a Philosopher, you are diligent, intuitive, and inquisitive. You want to be ethical, original and certain. Morally focused, you have strong emotions and are inclined to voice your feelings and intuitions. You care deeply and want to help others improve the expectations they have of themselves. Your life mission is to find truth and help others understand what has intrinsic value. A true philosopher, you are happiest when you can use your intuition to help others find meaning. You can be so identified with what you perceive is the morally correct way of being that you can come across as overly prudish, rigid and inflexible. This type is somewhat neurotic. Perfectionistic. May push themselves beyond their physical capability. At the same time they tend to believe themselves to be better than most. Imaginative, creative and a bit melancholic. They are extreme perfectionists and can easily feel discouraged and let down by the imperfect world around. They don’t easily trust others and tend to avoid society, but at the same time they crave being loved and belonging. They also have a bit of a temper so their anger can show especially when feeling misunderstood. They tend to support the underdog and they can have a passionate, belligerent streak to them. Fussy, but incredibly insightful.

The Visionary: 147, 417, 714

Gut: 1 Heart: 4 Head: 7

The Visionary is original, intellectual and motivated to cause change. Morally focused, then tend to have big ideas and strong will to change the world around them. They tend to want to try to do something new, set a trend, or otherwise be as original as possible in their ideas. They are very intuitive and extremely creative. The blindspot is that the identification with the high ideals can create a sense of being inflexible in standards and rigid. This is the type most likely to alternate between being the life of the party and feeling inhibited and needing to be appropriate. The life mission is to bring visualize ways to create meaningful change and teach or inspire others toward higher values of excellence. They are highly opportunistic and focused on the vision, creativity and the magical. Your emotional energy goes towards seeking ideal relationships and circumstances. You want fulfilling experiences, relationships and environments. You tend to be fussy and easily frustrated and/or disenchanted with less than ideal relationships or situations. You are quite discriminating and tend to compare yourself to others. Overall, you want a sense of idealistic perfection.

The Strategist: 258, 582, 825

Gut: 8 Heart: 2 Head: 5

If you are a 258, you are caring, knowledgeable and protective. You want to be helpful, wise and straightforward. You are an intellectual ambivert both extroverted and introverted. You are caring and can easily move towards others to help, or feel over extended and feel the need to be pull away. Your life mission is to help, inform and/or protect others. A true analyst, you are happiest when you are in a position of leadership and can use your natural instinct to understand strategic principles to guide others. You can be so identified with your opinions that you can be too forward or too distant from others, which can appear intense, unpredictable and intimidating. probably the most power-hungry of all fixes. Likely to deny that they have needs themselves, deny vulnerability, deny deny deny “it’s the others who depend on me, not the other way around”, and can exert a great deal of strategic insight into most situations and become the classic ‘mastermind’ behind affairs. When less healthy they are control freaks and can’t leave others alone—they need to be the prime mover of them all, while denying all the way that they need the control. One minute they are helpful and warm, the next cold and rejecting, and then another seemingly directive and blunt. On the high side they really know what is needed to protect and guide others.

The Problem Solver: 259, 592, 925

Gut: 9 Heart: 2 Head: 5

If you are a Problem solver, you are caring, knowledgeable and accepting. You want to be helpful, wise and peaceful. You have a very shy, gentle and reserved nature that focuses on what is harmonious. You need companionship and avoid loneliness by focusing on the needs and concerns of others. Your life mission is to find the information needed to help others manage their difficulties. A true problem solver, you are happiest when you are able to be in the role of a good Samaritan and help others find solutions. You can be so focused on the helpful information you have collected that you can be too passive and miss opportunities that would allow true presence. You also have great pride in giving to others but not needing them. Your growing edge is to recognize that hesitating too long and being passive to avoid conflict does not keep the peace. true harmony comes from being in attunement with what is essential and in tending to it what is needed and when it is needed.

The Rescuer: 268, 682, 826

Gut: 8 Heart: 2 Head: 6

As a Rescuer, by nature, you want to be in charge of your world and are attracted to the noble cause. You wish to shield others from harm and challenge what is unjust. You want to know the rules to feel safe to break them. Your life mission is to track the needs of the vulnerable and take action on their behalf. A true rescuer, you are happiest when you can use your people skills and desire to protect others to help those that feel alone, desperate and are in a crisis. Your blind spot is that you can be so identified with the pride of knowing how to help others that you may give unsolicited advice or meddle in the affairs of others. You over-give to others to be well-liked, which prevents a deeper connection to your true self. Your growing edge is to recognize that always rescuing others does not mean that you will always be liked and cared for in return, and that it may prevent them from learning how to care for themselves. True protection comes from listening to higher guidance and knowing when to assist others and when to let them learn for themselves. The strongest theme I associate with the 268/682/826 is the need to rescue and protect, but not necessarily put up with problems on an extended basis. It’s a kind of in-the-moment problem solving that expects the other to deal with it and move on.

The Good Samaritan: 269, 692, 926

Gut: 9 Heart: 2 Head: 6

The Good Samaritan likes people and want to find ways to engage with them. Your sense of pride comes from getting along with others and being of assistance. You are known for your easygoing and friendly disposition. Your life mission is to identify what is problematic and needed, then find peaceful solutions for those concerned. A true trouble-shooter, you are happiest when you can help others in conflict bridge their differences. Your blind spot is that you can be so focused on being a peacemaker, tending to the needs of others and getting along with them that you can fail to voice your own truth and act in a timely manner. You are overly identified with being a ‘nice’ person. Your growing edge is to recognize that being nice does not always create peace and that being passive does not mean that you are nice. True charity comes from listening to your heart and acting in accordance with what is needed without strings attached even if it causes conflict. The Good Samaritan tritype is the gentle, supportive type. They are identified with getting along with others and not making waves. They are one of the most passive tritypes and avoid confrontation. They struggle with indecision. They are not identified with their aggression and are passive- aggressive. Of all tritypes this is the most helpful and good natured.

The Free Spirit: 278, 782, 827

Gut: 8 Heart: 2 Head: 7

The free spirit is extremely positive, upbeat and helpful. They take charge but do so with a light touch that is sensitive to the needs of others. They are often humanitarians that focus on manifesting their vision….. Excess meets gluttony and pride… When the core fears of these three types unite it can create a defense strategy that is quite compassionate but can also struggle with issues of arrogance and/or pride about what they do. You like to use your charming, sunny disposition to create an upbeat, positive, and action-packed environment. You are also very nurturing to those in your circle of care. Your life mission is to be an instrument of change, transforming difficult situations into moments of inspiration. A true free spirit, you are happiest when you are on the go and helping others to learn to act on their own behalf. Your blind spot is that you can be so focused on keeping everything positive and honest that you can be too aggressive and fail to recognize the importance of difficult emotions. You also keep busy and in motion to avoid painful feelings. Your growing edge is to recognize that you need to always be positive, upbeat, and free can limit your ability to self reflect and fully be yourself. True happiness and joy come from being present to your higher self and experiencing all of your emotions.

The Peacemaker: 279, 792, 927

Gut: 9 Heart: 2 Head: 7

If you are a 279, you are caring, innovative and accepting. You want to be helpful, upbeat and peaceful. You are very kind and tend to see the best in others, focusing on easy and comfortable ways of relating. You hate conflict and/or strife and use your sense of humor to smooth out difficulties. Your life mission is to create and promote smooth and harmonic ways to handle conflict. A true peacemaker, you are happiest when you can ease tension and help others get along with one another. You can be so identified with keeping life free of conflict and negativity that you may turn a blind eye to conflicts that need to be managed as opportunities for change. This tritype is the most identified with seeing themselves as peaceful. More than any other tritype, they need peace and positive relating to experience a sense of being… so are extremely uncomfortable with negativity in relationships.Characterized by unbridled optimism. They don’t allow anything to get them down, and they love to enjoy themselves by surrounding themselves with great company and fun atmospheres. They may be a bit unrealistic however. The peacemaker tritype which is the true ambassador of goodwill.

The Solution Master: 358, 583, 835

Gut: 8 Heart: 3 Head: 5

If you are a 358, you are ambitious, knowledgeable and protective. You want to be efficient, wise and straight-forward. Tough-minded, you are good at studying a problem and finding both original and practical solutions others miss. Highly tenacious, you work tirelessly until you find solutions and prevail against adversity. Your life mission is to use your cleverness and astute powers of observation to serve the greater good. A true problem solver, you are happiest when you can evaluate what is needed and take action to create change. You can be so focused on your goals and ideas that you become an opinionated, hardnosed thinker that are in denial of your feelings. You can feel so vulnerable that you refuse to let in the importance and wisdom of your painful emotions. You are ambitious, tenacious, opinionated, tough minded, hard nosed, foundation building, mental giant that is in denial of and minimizing of their more tender emotions. They are self-assured and goal oriented, willing to do what it takes to succeed. This is the best tritype for combating obstacles.

The Thinker: 359, 593, 935

Gut: 9 Heart: 3 Head: 5

The Thinker is intellectual and clever, you find amiable and pleasant ways to manage difficult situations and relationships. often shy, you are slow to fully trust others and need time to more fully reveal yourself. Your life mission is to use your ability to unite opposing points of view, find compromise and create workable solutions. a true advocate (also, thinker), you are happiest when you can use your skills to be helpful and judicial. Your blind spot is that you can be so reserved that your true nature remains hidden and underexpressed which can cause you to appear aloof and indifferent. to feel in control, you may use withholding and punishment. Your growing edge is to recognize that your need to pull away and be a spectator before engaging denies you the opportunity to more fully be. true wisdom comes from following your higher guidance, revealing yourself to others and participating in life. A very mediating tritype, this is the person who wants to mediate conflict amongst people in a detached way, less inclined to be fluid and artistic but is rather personable and detached. Calm, composed, professional and slightly hidden

The Justice Fighter: 368, 683, 836

Gut: 8 Heart: 3 Head: 6

Verbally adept and a good reader of people and situations, Justice Fighters have the ability to identify unjust authority, rebel against tyranny and verbally spar against it. Your life mission is to challenge what is unfair and protect the innocent. A true justice fighter, you are happiest when you can use your protective energy and debating skills in service of others or a cause. Your blind spot is that you can be so identified with challenging what you perceive as unfair that you become overbearing, confrontational, anti-authoritarian, and indifferent to the wisdom of emotional intelligence and your tender emotions. Characterized by confrontation. Immovably disagreeable. They stay firm in their direction and beliefs and won’t let anyone but themselves change that. Your growing edge is to recognize that your need to challenge and oppose can keep you from knowing who you are or what you feel. True protection comes from being in alignment with your higher self and knowing when to intervene and when to allow events to unfold. The Justice Fighter is very dynamic. This is the toughest fighter on the Enneagram. They focus on justice and are quick to react and seek the advantage in the service of justice.

The Meditator: 369, 639, 936

Gut: 9 Heart: 3 Head: 6
The mediator tritype needs to be seen, successful and at peace. Your emotional energy goes towards seeking attachments with ideas and others. You want to be bonded to people. You also want to create balance and are uncomfortable with extremes. You tend to see relationships as a part of yourself. This tritype would be most characterized by being influenced by their society. They usually embody everything that their society is. They need to adapt in order to relieve tension and stress. Overall, you are positively identified with others and may have amnesia for the more difficult or negative aspects of your relationships. This is the most common tritype, dude to its path of development. This type is a complete direction of integration (3 to 6 to 9) and therefore very fulfilled.

The Mover Shaker: 378, 738, 837

Gut: 8 Heart: 3 Head: 7

If you are the Mover shaker, you are ambitious, innovative and protective. You want to be efficient, happy and straight-forward. You are a dynamic go-getter, focused on the prize. An expansive powerhouse, you see the big picture and a positive future with the will to make it happen. Seeking success, obstacles are seen as competitive challenges. Your life mission is to see what is possible and find innovative ways to achieve your goals. A true mover and shaker, you are happiest when you are in a position of power to manifest your vision and make things happen. You need to be doing to feel alive. You can be so expeditious, assertive and results oriented that you miss your impact on others and the deeper meaning and significance of why you are doing what you are doing. Most assertive tritype. This type is very outward focused. They must keep themselves involved with the external world in order to be relieve of stress and tension. Being alone and inactive causes anxiety. With the Mover Shaker, the focus moves to the heat and the creative, vision, future ideal, what is possible and entertaining ways to succeed in a big way. They imagine, produce and manifest.

The Ambassador: 379, 739, 937

Gut: 9 Heart: 3 Head: 7

You like people and are outgoing, even if you are a bit shy. You are easygoing and seek comfort but strive for success and a feeling of personal importance. You are identified with what you do and achieve, but are soft, gentle, and kind. Your life mission is to find compassionate and effective ways to create change and bridge differences. A true ambassador of good will, you are happiest when you can help others become harmonious, build rapport, and develop their potential. Your blind spot is that you can be so focused on what is positive that you can miss the wisdom that comes from experiencing and understanding negative emotions and end up creating conflict by avoiding it. Your growing edge is to recognize that your need to keep the peace at all costs and be what others want you to be to feel successful keeps you from knowing yourself. True self-awareness comes from listening to your higher self and being fully present in the moment. This is the positive motivator, someone who wants to administer positive, practical solutions to help others to reach their goals. The Ambassador archetype. This is the person that needs to be on the go and helping others to find common ground while still reaching their personal goals and staying busy.

The Scholar: 458, 548, 845

Gut: 8 Heart: 4 Head: 5

The Scholar is the somewhat introverted, intelligent, headstrong, detached, hyper introspective problem solver with strategic thinking and emotional astuteness. This is the the most intense type. Intuitive, knowledgeable and direct. This is the type that really craves knowing what makes people tick and builds what she calls mental or internal maps that are quite astute as to what makes people do what they do. This tends to be the darkest of the tritypes. This is the “true scholar” and the life mission is to disseminate what information is found. There will be a tendency to become fixed in their worldview or ideas particularly about people and not take in new information. So while the map is quite extraordinary that they’ve painted they may miss a whole region and thus not have the full picture. This is also the most cynical and the tendency to be so overly opinionated can make people turn off to their wisdom. An intensely original archetype with a passion to explore and to find the hidden meaning in all things.

The Contemplative: 459, 549, 945

Gut: 9 Heart: 4 Head: 5

The Contemplative is described as being intuitive, knowledgeable, and accepting. You want to be original, wise and peaceful. Highly self aware and reflective, you are very shy, reserved and self conscious. You need regular quiet time to reflect on your thoughts and emotions. Easily flooded with emotion, it is difficult for you to voice your feelings and ideas to others. Your life mission is to delve deeply into the mysteries of life and share your insight with others. A true philosopher (also, contemplative), you are happiest when you can write about your discoveries and discuss them with others. Making sense of your world is a never ending quest. You can be so focused on your inner world that you can become inhibited and appear to be indifferent to others. Insecure, you become moody and expect others to initiate and come toward you. Your growing edge is to recognize that your need to pull away into the private world of your making to ponder your thoughts and feelings keeps you from engaging with others. true contemplation leads to higher knowing that we are all connected in the universal unconscious. The most withdrawn of all the types.

The Truth Teller: 468, 648, 846

Gut: 8 Heart: 4 Head: 6

The Truth-Teller is constantly calling off truth as they see it and sees it as their business to warn people of the potential downfalls and pitfalls in the emotional and mental world. It’s the type in each center that is “truth telling” and tends to be the most reactive, even hyperreactive. There’s a tendency to feel an acute sense of disappointment because their incredibly acuity at seeing the problems ahead or the potential pitfalls of any situation causes people to misunderstand their reactivity and emotionality. You are intuitive, inquisitive and direct. You want to be original, certain and straight-forward. Hot-headed, edgy. You are highly sensitive, track inconsistencies and are like the ‘canary in the coal mine’ calling off unspoken agendas, motives and emotions. You are also very intense and can at times be rebellious and emotionally reactive. Your life mission is to identify what is insincere and not what it appears to be, and alert others of potential hazards. A whistleblower, you are happiest when you are in a position to help others from being misled. You can be so focused on what can go wrong and on potential hazards that you miss how controlling you become and your impact on others and what is truly important and meaningful.

The Seeker: 469, 649, 946

Gut: 9 Heart: 4 Head: 6

If you are Seeker, you are intuitive, inquisitive and accepting. You want to be original, certain and peaceful. You are a very sensitive and can experience intense feelings of self-doubt and uncertainty. As a result you need multiple sources of confirmation. You want to be individualistic but can fear being separate from others. Your life mission is to raise the questions pertaining to the mysteries of life and share your findings with others. A true seeker, you are happiest when you feel you can answer the question of who you are. You can be so focused on your feelings, insecurities and doubts that you can feel paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong decision and of being misled or duped. The 469 is a seeker with a lot of self doubt. There is always more to learn when you are this tritype but the desire is to develop a philosophy. The Seeker deals with great anxiety, the most doubting tritype. It is also the tritype that most struggles with a constant sense of self. They can also be somewhat passive. They are intuitive, inquisitive and driven to understand as much about themselves and others as possible. These people are worriers and are afraid of being wrong or being in danger. Scans for rejection, conflict, and inclusion/exclusion. They are emotionally accommodating of others and comforting. They ponder, think, and rethink in a worrying skeptical manner.

The Messenger: 478, 748, 847

Gut: 8 Heart: 4 Head: 7

The Messenger is the passionate, cutting edge, innovative, compassionate, freedom seeking, creative, non conformist focused on implementing and manifesting their original vision. If you are the 478, you are intuitive, innovative and straight-forward. You want to be original, inspirational and self-possessed. A cutting-edge tracker of both your internal and external worlds, you are an unconventional, passionate master of solutions. Outwardly, you are confident but inwardly you are emotionally vulnerable. Your life mission is to find truth and communicate your findings. A true messenger, you are happiest when you use your creativity to find compassionate ways to understand yourself and empower others. You can be so focused on your opinions, insights and what is new and profound that your freedom seeking nature can come across as arrogant, resistant, and/or uncooperative. Moody, intense, eccentric. Intuitive and innovative. Most creative, original and nonconforming.

The Gentle Spirit: 479, 749, 947

Gut: 9 Heart: 4 Head: 7

If you are a Gentle Spirit, you are intuitive, innovative and accepting. You want to be original, positive and peaceful. You are very identified with the defense of optimism and tend to hide your more painful feelings and pessimism for fear of being rejected. Tendency to be lazy and put off important things for the sake of fun and enjoyment. Can be passive aggressive to those close to them. You see the wonder in beauty and are gentle, lyrical and idealistic in the way you relate to others. A dreamer in every sense of the word. They are artistic and creative to a fault. They love to go on flights of imagination, and dream up fantasy worlds. They may often find themselves disappointed in the real world. They are intensely conflict-avoidant, somewhat desperately. They almost always seem to have an intense “hidden pain” that they show to noone. This type often hides their true thoughts and opinions from others, instead choosing to tell others something positive, fluffy, or humorous. The type of person to go through a whole conversation without revealing a single thing about themselves, instead choosing to put the other person as at ease as possible. Gentle Spirits do not realize how healing their gentle nature can be. Your life mission is to identify what is truly meaningful in life and help people transform negative feeling into positive change.

Six Centers of Being & Knowing

Posted on by DrToni

THE THREE CENTERS OF KNOWIN

The Three Centers of Knowing are our data centers. Through them comes all the information of the world around us, and the world within us. It is important to distinguish our Knowing Centers from our Being Centers, and not be too grounded in all the data coming to us from the world. Learning to filter and use wise discernment concerning our data centers is important. Not everything coming at us reflects true reality. Many thoughts and feelings can become ingrained within us that is not true concerning us and the world. Sorting through the data is important. That is the purpose of our Being Centers. If our Knowing Centers, especially The Mind, are too dominant, they can darken and disconnect us from our deeper identity as found in our Being Centers. “I think therefore I am,” is not a good foundation for identity or truth. The rise of mental health issues is evidence enough. “I am therefore I think” is a much better statement. The more we can detangle and distinguish our Knowing Centers, from each other and from our Being Centers, the more balanced we will be. It’s important to know what is coming from where. Heart data, Mind data, and Body data are all different, telling us different things, and should be interpreted and filtered accordingly. When each of our Knowing Centers can operate within their proper space and function, we can find greater balance in our whole person. Then each of these data centers can work together to inform our Being Centers without distorting or convoluting who we are independent of all the data floating around us in the world at large. This is a great part of the spiritual journey, of detangling the Knowing Centers and bringing them back under the leading of God through our Being Centers.

 

THE MIND: The Rational Knowing Center

The function of the MIND KNOWING CENTER is problem solving. It loves to identify problems and come up with solutionss

The Mind is the most abstract center, the most disconnected from concrete reality. The Mind has the most ability to go into the past or future, to imagine and create things outside of, and often contrary to reality. We often think of our Mind as the most grounded and clear, the most able to pierce through to truth and reality. This is not always true, especially for the Mind which is the most dominant over our other five parts, and thus the most detached from the wisdom and information which can come through them. When the mind is over-dominant, our other parts can shrink and become more dormant. Even our bodies, which is the most obvious and concrete of our Three Knowing Centers can become obscured when the Mind Center is over-dominant.

 

The Mind is good at creating theories around reality. It is very creative, and able to lead to many good truths, when focused in a good way. When the mind is the most open to a wide variety of experiences through all Six Centers, it can form good ideas about reality, which can lead to good discoveries. The Mind has its own form of intuition and feelings. In connection with the other Centers, it can come to many good conclusions about the world in connection to others and God. In separation from the other centers, the Mind has the most ability to conceive of the person as a closed system. The Mind is the most dominated by the desire for control and independence.

 
 

THE HEART: The Feeling/Connection Knowing Center

 

The function of the HEART KNOWING CENTER is connection through empathy. It loves to feel with and for itself and others.

 

The Heart Center is very intuitive. It can follow deeply mystical intimations towards deeper truths which don’t make sense to the rational Mind Center. But it also needs to be connected and balanced by all our other parts. The Heart Center can chase feelings for the sake of feelings, and end up stuck in the murky world of interior darkness, lost and overwhelmed. Depression, anxiety, anger, disillusionment, and the like can create great dysfunction when the Heart Center is too dominant, and not pursuing its emotive function with measure and balance. Still, the Heart Center brings great wisdom, especially concerning community and relational connection. The Heart Center knows how to make people a priority, and takes care to give the proper space to others feelings, thoughts, and bodies.

 

From the Heart Center comes great poetry, music, art, and stories. The Heart Center brings color and flavor to our lives. The Heart Center knows how to dance, feel the moment and suck the marrow out of life. It knows how to stop and savor the goodness of life, and leads us to balance concerning our darker desires for ego-affirmation and control. The Heart Center balances the Mind’s need for dominance, and the Bodies need for protection. Without the Heart Center all can become function and survival. The Mind is very practical and purposed, the Body very bent on self-preservation. It is the Heart that makes good space for the “other,” that honors difference and balances the “me” with the “we.” A culture greatly disconnected from the Heart space is greatly divided and divisive, pitting the good of some against the good of others. The Contemplative idea of Unitive Consciousness is a predominantly Heart movement to see how everything in all creation is connected and how everything belongs. God creates no meaningless things. No wonder our reconnection back to God is primarily facilitated by the Heart Center of God, the Holy Spirit, who helps us come back to our proper connection to all things as God intents them.

 
 

THE BODY: The Physical Knowing Center

The Body Knowing Center is the most grounded in reality and the present. It loves to experience the goodness of the physical world in the moment.

Of the three Knowing Centers, the Body is the most concrete and the least permanent. It is grounded in present reality, but also by the reality of death and dying. It can be the most consumed with survival, and can thus easily feed into the Minds desire for control and dominance for the sake of self-interest and ego. But the Body Center is in the middle. Like the Heart Center, it also craves connection and community. It delights in the pleasure and joy of experiencing the world around itself, and world full of other people. The Body Center can fall to either side of the spectrum, towards the Heart’s desire for community or the Minds desire to isolate and insulate for the sake of control. Controlling for the sake of dominance is a disconnecting energy, it pits us and our needs against the needs of others. This is the energy of war and death, of conflict and survival, of tribalism over globalism. The Body Center can’t help but be grounded in its environment, but how it interacts with that environment depends on how it frames itself within it. Too much “me” and not enough “we” can ground the Body Center in a defensive and withdrawing stance. It can become fearful of a dark and threatening world, and through disconnection and self-interest can end up feeding the kind of world it fears.

Still, the Body Center can only isolate to a degree. Without leaving the world altogether, the Body Center forces us to reckon with the reality of our connectedness to the earth and other humans. It knows, intuitively so, that we are connected, and that the good of the one does not outweigh the good of the whole. Because the Mind is so abstract, when it is over-dominant, it can lead the Body into great fear and separatism. But so too can the Body and Heart help lead the Mind back out. Of the Knowing Centers, the Body can be the least attached to God and our Being Centers. It can conceptualize our personhood as extremely temporal and finite. Because the Body Center is the most fragile and in need of daily sustenance, it can become consumed with its own existence and space. The Body needs most to be reminded by our Being Centers that its actions in present, physical reality have far-reaching emotional, mental, and spiritual consequences. The Body is good at reacting in the moment to the moment, but not at balancing momentary actions with long term consequences. The Body needs a proper attachment to the other five centers in order to be well balanced and healthy.

 
 

THE THREE BEING CENTERS

 

We are grounded, or meant to be, through our Three Being Centers. The proper order of all our parts is Spirit leading Soul leading Flesh, and then Mind, Heart, Body, filtering through the Soul to the Spirit. We are meant to process and understand everything in light of our Spirit Center, because that is the part that connects our whole person to God. And it is God, through the Holy Spirit, who alone can guide and give meaning to our lives. The goal and purpose of every human being is to find their being in the being of God, spirit to Spirit. Every aspect of our spiritual journey is purposed and pointed towards reconnection to God. This happens from God, who is pure Spirit, through our Spirit, which is the pure essence of our being, as it is with God. We are first a spirit, and our spirit is the highest part of who we are. When our spirit falls into darkness and stupor, we lose the most grounding aspect of our being. When our Spirit leads the Flesh, in conjunction with the Soul which connects the two, then we are grounded in the best way. And when God’s Spirit through our Spirit helps us process, filter, and disseminate the data which comes through our Knowing Centers, then we are in our proper place and balance as a person. The Being Centers are for this purpose, to ground our identity in relationship to God, who He says we are, and how He calls us to exist in the world. We are most human when we are closest to God.

 
 

THE SOUL: The Conscious Being Center

 

The Soul Being Center is like our Mind Knowing Center, only with a higher purpose and function. The Soul is the true center of our personhood. It connects all the other parts to each other. As the Soul rises and expands, it gives us the ability to have the proper space and connection between all the parts. It is the conscious Being Center, but it’s way of “thinking” is in conjunction with God. Where the Mind Knowing Center is perfectly content to think its own things, and do its own thing, the Soul aches and longs for communion with God.

 

The Jewish idea of the soul was as a third part created when God breathed life into mortal flesh. It is the bridge, not only between our Flesh and Spirit, but between the Being and Knowing Centers. Where the Mind Center connects but tends to reject the functions of the two other data centers. the Soul naturally draws all our parts together. The more our Soul expands, the more our parts will operate with the proper spacing and balance. Where the Mind will tend to dimmish and dominate all our parts with its incessant desire for control and self-preservation, the Soul space brings the wisdom of balance. The Mind Center tends to shrink the Soul space, drawing all things out of their proper functioning and towards itself. It will mind the body and heart, and practically cut us off from the Being Centers, because they offer the guidance of a higher consciousness other than our own. The Mind is a terrible bridge. The Soul is the better bridge, because it helps distinguish and balance all our parts. When the Soul is expanded all the way out, we have the proper space to distinguish all our parts, and to view them in light of our connection to God. Then we can tell, not only what data is coming from where, but can interpret it in concert with God. The Soul rises as the Mind Center learns to be quiet. To get in touch with our soul, we must let go of our own desire for dominance in our personhood and begin to reach back towards God. The first step in that process brings us back to our Soul. But the next step brings us back to our Spirit, through our Soul.

 
 

THE SPIRIT: The God-connection Being Center

 

Spiritual reality precedes and supersedes Physical reality. This is why our Spirit is our highest part, and meant to lead all the other parts. It is the part of our Being which remains, even after our physical bodies die. Our Spirit is eternal and indestructible. The more we connect with our Spirit, the more we step into the reality of true life and thriving, of life without the sting and shadow of death. It is our physical side which pulls us into death and dying, but these are the illusions created by our disconnection from God as our life. Just as our Heart Knowing Center’s function is connection, so too our Spirit Being Center. But the Spirit leads us to a higher connection to God, and through God to all things as they should be. It is truly because of our disconnection that all the dysfunction of the world is created. When we cannot see how all things belong, and the purpose for which God created all things, we will use and abuse all things, bending them according to our small purposes and mind. When we are connected back to the mind of God, through our Spirit to God’s, then we understand all things through God’s perspective and purposes. And since God created all things according to His plan and purpose, seeing as God see’s is seeing things as they are. This is how we begin to enter into true reality, and out of the false-self living in a false reality created apart from God.

 

Thought our Spirit Center is the most ethereal and intangible, it is still our most grounding and important. The more obscure the more real. What we easily see is the small. What we struggle to grasp is the big. It’s easy to see ourselves and the immediate surroundings of our little world. It’s easy, apart from the Spirit Center, to see ourselves as the center of our lives and our world. Our Spirit helps us connect to the bigness of life and the biggest arena. When we walk with God, we see not only the largeness of the entire cosmos moving in harmony under one will, but even the smallness of our purpose and identity within the larger plan of God’s will for us. Then we can step into our small part of the one, overarching purpose God has for all humanity and all creation throughout all time. We will naturally see ourselves as too big when we see the world too small. We will easily see ourselves as a closed system, cut off from the world at large, and needing to be. We will see the world as threatening our small self. We will naturally isolation, insulation, and seek to control all things for our small purpose and will. But our Spirit Center opens us up to the true reality of all things connected by the Life and Will of God. Then we will embrace ourselves as a small part of God’s grand purposes. Then we will lose our small self and find our true self in God. All this is brought about as we learn to reconnect through our soul to our Spirit to the Spirit of God.

 
 

THE FLESH: The Will Being Center

 

The idea of The Flesh is a strongly New Testament Notion, but not unrepresented in the Old Testament. It represents our own strength and ability. The Flesh is not synonymous with our physical bodies and the physical world, but derives its energy from physical reality in separation from the Spiritual.

 

All we see in the physical is direct cause and effect. What we do matters, and who we are is what we do. Our will to move through the world dominates this reality. In this paradigm, the whole world is moving under the will of individuals. All is contention and strife, a striving and contest of wills. When we live purely out of what is seen, we are cut off from the reality of the unseen. This is The Flesh. It is our will. It is our ability to make things happen for our own benefit and thriving. It is how we survive in the physical, mechanized world where the forces of human will and nature are all bearing down upon us. These forces can crush us, but can also be harnessed for our benefit, if we are strong enough to master them. Our will in this kind of world must be strong, and stronger than the will of others. And so, we must develop and strengthen our will in order to survive and thrive. With our will we must dominate others, and the planet, or they will dominate us. This is the essence of The Flesh. But when it comes to God, our will is powerless, and only useful for the opposite of what we’ve trained it for in separation from God.

 

In the spiritual reality our will cannot dominate. It is not, nor ever can be strong enough. We cannot will our way to God, or will against the spiritual forces and principalities of darkness in the heavenly realms. God created us with a will, but not with the ability to will apart from Him. God created us to live in harmony with Him, our will subservient to His. We are meant to acquiesce to God’s will. When all our parts are in harmony and balance, The Flesh gets connected through the Soul to our Spirit, and naturally falls under the direction of God. This is the purpose for which our will was created. To will in harmony with God, God’s will leading and directing ours. We were made in God’s image, with the freedom to choose relationship. But we were never meant to choose disconnection from relationship, especially with God. Using our will to disconnect from God is using our will in the wrong way, for the wrong purpose. This puts our will in our own hands, and makes us our own god. This is why we are in conflict with all other wills in the world, including God’s, because we have accepted the false reality and purpose of our will, to do what we want for ourselves. We cannot guide ourselves to what is good with our own will, independent of God. Our will does not work independently. To fall out of the direction of God’s will is to come, not under the control of our will, but under the guidance of the will of Satan and his purpose for the world. We will be dominated by a higher will. Satan offered the independence of our will so He could dominated it, and through us the world.

 

The essence of The Flesh is simply our own will. The dysfunction of The Flesh is independence from the will of God. The proper functioning of The Flesh is our will tethered to the will of God.

Social Instinct

Posted on by DrToni

Overview of the social instinct

The newest instinctual drive in organisms, the social instinct is our relational drive. It motivates us to create relationships and care for the well-being of others. It includes our desire to positively enhance the lives of those we care for.

When this drive is active in us, we’re interested and curious about people beyond what they can be or do for us. The social drive is what helps us to assess who is and who isn’t a worthy friend, ally or partner, without losing sight of the humanity of those we are in conflict with.

The origin of the social instinct is the creation of the family unit. The social instinct is what makes us seek to represent ourselves in appearance, personal style and body language in a way that’s congruent with our social identity.

Names given to this instinct

Relations (Ichazo), Social (Naranjo), the Navigating domain (Mario Sikora).

Names given to social subtypes (Hudson’s)

Eight: Gusto and Comraderie; Nine: One Happy Family; One: the Crusader; Two: Unconscious Ambition; Three: Prestige; Four: the Outsider; Five: the Specialist; Six: Engaging Support; Seven: Missing Out.

You can read descriptions of the social subtypes below.

General characteristics of social types

Social types – general characteristics

Intensely aware that people are innately connected, rendering them sensitive to a wide range of interpersonal forces between themselves and others.

Attuned to the emotional atmosphere of their social milieu and the needs, agendas and states of others.

Motivated to develop gifts and capacities that contribute to others.

Especially capable in recognising the talents, gifts and contributions of others; better at seeing the values and gifts of others than their own.

Characteristically require a greater deal more interaction and involvement in others’ lives.

When balanced, can care for others and exhibit selflessness in another’s real need. Can become preoccupation with what others are thinking and feeling about them.

Often highly discerning and selective about who they connect with, yet willing to set aside certain prejudices in order to find common ground.

Awareness of attention towards others persists even when heartbroken or let down, and deeply cynical that anything good can come from relationships.

Find it easier to mobilise others than to find their own aim or individual path through life.

Characteristics are from John Luckovich’s book, the Instinctual Drives and the Enneagram.

Zones of the social instinct

Russ Hudson has identified three zones (or sub-domains) to the social instinct:

  1. Reading people and situations
  2. Connecting
  3. Participation

He has broken down the categories further as follows:

Zones of the social instinct

Zone 1: Reading people and situations

Reading facial expressions/body language/tone of voice/moods.

Reading between the lines.

Interest in others/attunement/tuning in.

Empathy/concern.

Adapting to cures/adjusting behaviour.

Zone 2: Connecting

Creating relationships: engaging others.

Sustaining relationships: maintaining connections and knowing when to end them.

Communication—speaking and listening.

Cooperation/reciprocity.

Play/shared enjoyment/celebration.

Zone 3: Participation

Getting involved or not: what do I participate in?

Need to contribute: something beyond my own needs.

Enrolling: getting others interested and involved in what I am passionate about.

Part of something bigger/sense of place.

Belonging and welcoming.

In most cases, you would expect social subtypes, or those for whom social is second in their instinct sequence, to give themselves high scores for these areas, and self-preservation ‘blind’ or repressed individuals to give themselves low scores.

How it looks when social is present, dominant, ‘blind’/repressed

Those of us who are dominant or repressed/blind in self-preservation experience similar challenges. See the table below.

Present, dominant, blind characteristics

Present  

Reading people: We easily pick-up cues from others and can read facial expressions and body language. We can read between the lines of what others are saying and we adapt accordingly. Helps us to navigate relationships and be good parents/caregivers. Helps us adapt and respond to what we detect in others.

Creating and maintaining connections: Work at relationships and strive for reciprocity. Helps us in our ability to engage others, and to strengthen connections when it serves our purposes or desires. We value communication.

Participation and contribution: Passionate about what we contribute to others. Participation also brings a sense of belonging: that we are welcomed and that what we are doing matters. Participation does not mean joining everything or always wanting to be around people. we could be introverts and love solitude but still have a strong drive to contribute. instinct helps us discern what we participate in, helps us realize what is not right for us.  At its best, is the drive that keeps us contributing to the human journey and creating a meaningful life for self and others.

Dominant/distorted 

Reading people: Anxieties and self-defeating behaviors, over-concern about others-fearing exclusion or being devalued. May reject our own knowing to please others.

Creating and maintaining connections: Deteriorate into codependent behaviors and anxious attempts to ingratiate ourselves with others.

Participation and contribution: Constant anxieties about belonging, creating in and out groups, and narcissistic needs to be important.

Blind

Reading people: We may stereotype its energy as exhausting small talk and aimless hanging out.

Creating and maintaining connections: We don’t see a point in connecting.

Participation and contribution: We may perceive ourselves as independent or that nothing we do matters.

Points to note:

  • Being present in the social instinct means attending to these life areas in healthy, non-neurotic, relaxed ways. It is knowing there is a need and meeting it without excess thought.
  • Being fearful about social is a pointer towards the social instinct being on overdrive.
  • Being apathetic, negative or judgmental towards others who honor this instinct may indicate a repressed relationship with this instinct.
  • Rarely are we effective across all three of the areas – even when the instinct is dominant or secondary.

Social blind characteristics

We develop our habituated stances with the instincts at least partly in response to events and situations in the early nurturing environment.

When you get a clear picture of how you relate to each instinct, often it paints a story/evokes memories of when the instinct priority may have been established.

Related to this idea is the idea that we hold deeply unconscious beliefs about the meaning of this instinct. You may unconsciously believe that by expressing social (by being too available and dispersed):

  • it will create scarcity and harm by undermining my resources. This belief is associated with self-preservation/sexual types.
  • you won’t be attractive and will be sexually overlooked. This belief is associated with sexual/self-preservation types.

Social blind types – general characteristics

Operate from a vague notion of the social architecture of interpersonal and group situations alike, so making efforts to connect or trying to participate in a social scene can seem taxing and lacking any clear benefit.

Engaging in the social sphere felt as a distinction dissolving ocean, and to open up to it would be to whitewash one’s uniqueness and focussed attention on personal interests.

There is the assumption that others will require an excessive compromise on boundaries, personal traits and identity.

Trying to keep up with what others and thinking and feeling feels like a fruitless expenditure of energy and is quickly dropped.

Often fail to put in the effort necessary to be involved in the lives of those they care for, leading to the deterioration of their relationships.

Give up on themselves as they can give up on others and assume the same in return.

Are mostly unconscious about their social fears and disappointments except in specific moments when their desire to connect arises.

Generally pretty comfortable with a good deal more isolation and non-interaction.

Underdeveloped relations style undermines aims of the other instincts.

Lack of being bound by social constraints, expectations or the need to anticipate how to remain on good social footing can be enviable to those with more social instinct.

Erase themselves and their contributions simply not seeing that they make an impact or have an impact to make.

Complete obliviousness to how benefiting others increases personal satisfaction.

Blind to how gifts, insight and understanding benefit others and fail to see how loved ones need them to show up.

Narcissism around autonomy including delusions about own self-reliance and of being self-made. Take others for granted out of a failure to recognise how much others actually do for them and accommodate their preferences.

Generally have the suspicion and cynicism around interpersonal gatherings, with a distaste for “everyone gets along with one another” idealism, underneath which is hidden heartbreak and assumption that others don’t value their presence.

Characteristics are from John Luckovich’s book, the Instinctual Drives and the Enneagram.

Development of social

There isn’t a single human that doesn’t need to attend on or develop social at some point in their lives. That includes social dominant people.

Developmental opportunities are more likely than not for dominants and blinds. For social types, there may be an issue that is caused by the passion of your type in one of the self-preservation zones. For social blinds, there may be multiple issues caused by neglect in the social zones.

Actualised social instinct

Russ Hudson describes this as true service in the world. John Lucovich describes it thus: “the immediacy of the awake social instinct brings us into true relationships, where we not only experience nourishment in contributing our values and care, we also feel a larger presence that we are inextricably a part of.”

Instinct and type combinations

A note about contradictions with type

For certain types, the social focus appears to contradict the passion of the Enneagram type. Building on the work of her teacher Claudio Naranjo, Beatrice Chestnut calls this situation ‘countertype’.

At the end of the day, however, the instincts and the passions are a measure of two different things. Also, there can be unexpected aspects or traits with all the 27 instinct/type combinations.

The best application of the theory of countertype is just to bear in mind that it can be difficult for certain self-preservation subtypes to identify their core type from the prevalent descriptions. Otherwise, paying too much attention to any contradictions (or allowing for too many) isn’t helpful.

The subtype pattern

Beatrice Chestnut and Uranio Paes have identified some key interventions to do to that counteract or work with the preoccupations of the social subtypes. They are not exhaustive.

Social subtype deconstructors (from CP Enneagram Academy, Providing Effective Enneagram Solutions Workshop)

Type Eight

Hold yourself back from taking action to protect or support others

Allow yourself to be protected and cared for by others while not doing anything for them

Don’t react when you feel betrayed or insulted by an ally or a friend

Type Nine

Allow yourself to feel sadness and loneliness

Consciously experience being left out or forgotten by others

Focus on yourself as an individual – do things only for yourself

Be inside a group without doing anything

Do more for self and less for others

Verbalise needs in the group

Type One

Be publicly imperfect

Do things the wrong way

Do things according to other people’s right ways

Allow yourself to be taught by others

Type Twos

Make yourself unimportant or anonymous

Show incompetence and fragility

Be out of control

Give over control to others

Confess to manipulation

Type Three

Do things that will make you unpopular in an obvious way

Emphasise your weakness in public

Experience ostracism

Act shy

Be led by others whilst remaining passive

Play a game you will lose at

Do something you will fail at

Type Four

Don’t complain about anything

Be very well and happy

Visualise everything going well

Talk about all the good things happening in your life

Own and emphasis all of your positive qualities

Type Five

Look stupid/arrogant

Ask stupid questions in public

Say ‘I don’t know’ even when you know

Admit to all the things you really don’t know

Speak about superficial things

Talk about personal things to people outside of your special group

Type Six

Be irresponsible and lazy

Trust your instinct and impulses more than your intellect

Confront authority recklessly

Maintain uncertainty about social issues

Break the rules of your chosen authority

Type Seven

Be more selfish

Focus more on yourself than others or groups

Make yourself unavailable for others

Ask for help and for more things for self

Allow yourself to feel pain and discomfort without escaping or making it better

How the passion manifests for social types

To read the three versions of a single type, you can do that on the type-specific pages.

Note that when we move along our connection points, we ‘keep the same instinct’ (and instinctual stacking). So if you hold questions about your type, read the social versions of the connection points as well. As a reminder:

  • If you are a type Eight, that is types Two and Five
  • For type Nines, that is types Three and Six
  • If you are a type One, that is types Seven and Four
  • For type Twos, that is types Four and Eight
  • If you are a type Three, that is types Six and Nine
  • For type Fours, that is type One and Two
  • If you are a type Five, that is types Eight and Seven
  • For type Sixes, that is types Nine and Three
  • If you are a type Seven, that is types Five and One

How the passion shows up up in social types

Type Eight: Looks for the experience of essential power through relationships and having a strong influence.

Type Nine: Seeking to experience essential harmony through their relationships and their contributions to others.

Type One: Looks to essential integrity in relationships, causes and vocation.

Type Two: Seeks to experience essential love in their relationships, vocation and sense of belonging.

Type Three: Looks to experience essential value in their relationships and vocation, particularly with those people with whom they experience belonging.

Type Four: Seeks to experience essential depth in their relationships, creative offerings and social roles.

Type Five: Looks to experience essential insight in and through their relationships, interests and contributions.

Type Six: Wants to experience essential truth in their relationships, contributions and causes.

Type Seven: Wants to experience essential freedom through their relationships and vocation.