Overview of the self-preservation instinct
Less easy to confuse than the other two instincts, the priorities and preoccupations expressing the self-preservation instinct revolve around the physical and emotional wellbeing of ‘me and my world’.
This instinct has us pay attention to all things earthly, practical and sensual: health, money, home, family, lifestyle. Sustainability is a big theme, as the material and emotional quality of life, and how to optimise it.
Self-preservation continually monitors and gauges our immediate physical state. It is the drive that motivates us to test and express our physical capacities and aggression, rest and relax.
Names given to this instinct
Conservation (Ichazo), self-preservation (Naranjo), the preserving domain (Mario Sikora).
Names given to self-preservation types (Hudson’s)
Eight: the Survivor; Nine: the Comfort Seeker; One: Self-Control; Two: Entitlement and Rewards; Three: Security; Four: Sensualist; Five: Solitude; Six: Affection; Seven: Getting Mine.
General characteristics of self-preservation types
Self-preservation types – general characteristics
Tend to seek experiences that contribute to a healthy and full life. Their attention naturally lands on what encourages and sustains growth and what allows themselves and others to thrive.
The most focussed on the body’s direct feedback and state, and can easily become preoccupied with it. When healthy, they are skilled in balancing activation with relaxation, value and make time for themselves, and give themselves permission to just be.
Value personal autonomy and self-reliance. Self-preservation types typically have carved out living and working situations where they won’t have to rely on other people to meet their basic needs.
Sensitive to levels of comfort, sensual pleasure, and the emotional associations and impact of food, environments and material things.
Live the struggle in the polarity between indulgence versus abstinence.
Value consistency and stability, but commonly have an athletic or adventurous streak. Self-preservation types often have an outlet that provides a consistent way of engaging the body’s aliveness directly that enhances physical capacity and health.
Enjoy challenging and testing aliveness through acts of endurance.
Usually have a strong capacity for working and for putting effort in a focussed direction. Ambition is a major theme, although it means different things for each type.
One of their great challenges is finding a creative direction to apply their drive. Self-preservation types can struggle to find a meaningful focus for their tenacity.
Characteristics are from John Luckovich’s book, the Instinctual Drives and the Enneagram.
Zones of the self-preservation instinct
Russ Hudson has identified three zones (or sub-domains) to the self-preservation instinct:
- Self-care and wellbeing
- Maintenance and resources
- Domesticity and home
He has broken the categories down further as below.
Zones of the Self-preservation Instinct
Zone 1: Self-care and wellbeing
Diet
Exercise
Sleep/rest
Relaxation (time in solitude, walk in nature, meditation, yoga, etc.)
Adequate stimulation (reading, listening to music, healthy sex life, watching documentaries, etc.)
Zone 2: Maintenance and resources
Money/finances
Time-management (self-management, time to self, time with others, being on time, etc.)
Practical application and skills (being able to address practical needs, fix things, manage life, etc.)
Work habits/persistence (the ability to follow through, finish tasks, discipline, habits around practical ventures, ways you are handy, etc.)
Energy management ((how we use our energy, deal with stress, balance silence with activity, etc.)
Zone 3: Domesticity and home
Comfort/domesticity
Safety/security
Structure supports life/base of operations (home management, home as a solid launchpad).
Beauty and holding (comfortable and inviting living/workspace, feeling held by your home, etc.)
Recharging/restoration (home as a place to restore).
How it looks when self-preservation 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
Self-care and health: Listening to body awareness. Genuine self-care. Getting real nutrition and exercise.
Practicality/Resources: Practical streak. Sense of persistence and going for long-range goals Work to maintain the foundations of life
Domesticity and home: Grounded, stable domestic life. Prefer to be at home than to travel or go out. Develops skills for making the home comfortable and practical, sometimes even beautiful.
Dominant (distorted)
Self-care and health: Overeats or starves. No exercise or over exercise.
Practicality and resources: Constant worry about resources and a grasping approach to life, never feel relaxed or sufficiently secure.
Domesticity and home: Talent for domestic order can become a pattern of lethargy and becoming stuck in ruts. Fears of stepping outside of familiar tracks.
Repressed or ‘blind’
Self-care and health: Avoiding medical and dental check ups. Having haphazard relationships with exercise, rest and diet.
Practicality and resources: Lack focus on resources, hoping others will handle this part of life. Overall, our life lacks structure and regularity. We do things more randomly and our schedule tends to be more changeable.
Domesticity and home: Avoid focus on domesticity. Our home may be more of a ‘crash pad’. May fear getting trapped by domestic life, seeing it as drudgery and heaviness.
Points to note:
- Being present in the self-preservation 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 neurotically over-concerned or fearful about self-preservation is a pointer towards the self-preservation 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.
Self-preservation 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 self-preservation (by being too stable and self-sufficient), you:
- won’t be attractive and will be sexually overlooked. This belief is associated with sexual/social types; or
- will alienate others and be ostracized/abandoned. This belief is associated with social/sexual types.
Self-preservation blind types – general characteristics
Struggle to undertake sustained efforts that are supportive and beneficial for their own wellbeing. Because self-preservation blind types place so much attention on relationships.
Something about working on their own self-interest can feel selfish and boring, and it can be hard for them to anticipate the benefits. They may rationalise this as selflessness when it’s actually about not wanting to take energy away from their usual instinctual agendas.
Can struggle to muster the force for moving themselves in an independent direction unless there is significant sexual or social interest. They might fail to cultivate self-reliance in a number of areas. They typically might struggle with creating foundations and sustainable pathways towards aims and goals.
May fear that time spent cultivating their foundations and supporting their wellbeing only takes away time and energy from social and sexual pursuits. They fear will make them boring and unavailable for connection.
Resist individuation.
Unconsciously outsource facets of care for their wellbeing onto loved ones, friends and acquaintances. They can therefore become a burden on others. Unaware of the full scope of what is outsourced, they tend to underestimate the toll it takes on others and can feel entitled to others’ support.
Attempts others make to help the self-preservation blind person may actually evoke a feeling of deficiency. This may reinforce a tendency to want to seek out novel connections whilst downplaying the ones they already have as intimates have an ‘inside look’.
Often in the position of waiting for others to initiate new directions and endeavours that lead to growth or sustainable changes.
Often don’t give the task at hand the necessary complete attention for it to unlock, nor do they trust in their own resourcefulness.
They can lack discernment around relationships. There is a lack of input of the self-preservation’s eye to whether a specific connection might be a divergence from one’s own path, a waste of time, or dangerous.
Can stay locked into relationships that seem to support the self-preservation needs they don’t feel prepared to address themselves. Their time tends to be given away to other people rather than treated as something precious.
Can easily become scattered and depleted of energy because they are typically poor at cultivating habits that are restorative or authentically restful.
Frequently mistake ignoring the body as a form of physical resilience and strength, blind to the cost.
Pattern of living can be a consequence of the interpersonal circumstances they find themselves in rather than by intention.
Susceptible to fostering grandiose fantasies about themselves due to a lack of groundedness. They grow from learning to tolerate loneliness by attending to present state.
Characteristics are from John Luckovich’s book, the Instinctual Drives and the Enneagram.
Development of self-preservation
There isn’t a single human that doesn’t need to attend on or develop self-preservation at some point in their lives. That includes self-preservation dominant people.
Developmental opportunities are more likely than not for dominants and blinds. For self-preservation types, there may be an issue that is caused by the passion of your type in one of the self-preservation zones. For self-preservation blinds, there may be multiple issues caused by neglect in the self-preservation zones.
Actualised self-preservation instinct
The awake self-preservation instinct helps us to live and to create the external conditions that allow unconditional presence to thrive within us.
According to Russ Hudson, the ultimate ‘purpose’ of the self-preservation instinct from the spiritual perspective is to create a lifestyle that supports the wellbeing of the soul, a platform for the flowering of who we are.
Instinct and type combinations
A note about contradictions with type
For certain types, the self-preservation 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 self-preservation subtypes. They are not exhaustive.
Self-preservation subtype deconstructors (from CP Enneagram Academy, resource from the Workshop ‘Providing Practical Enneagram Solutions’)
Type Eight
Go without basic resources; while in a state of need, do not take action; depend more on others; expose yourself as needy; share vulnerable feelings without defending in any way
Type Nine
Be uncomfortable; break out of routines; do things to show off; eliminate individual activities and physical comforts; own and assert power; and express anger directly.
Type One
Be disorganised and irresponsible; be easy on yourself; make light of the inner critic; pamper yourself; go against the rules; be inappropriate.
Type Two
Let others go first (in the food line); mimic self as child in an exaggerated way; figure things out for yourself; take on difficult challenges to step into power; do things to show you are an adult
Type Three
Purposely go slow or don’t do thing; be lazy; don’t take any action towards goals; be financially reckless and waste money on non-essentials; allow others to do things for you; communicate vulnerability; show off – let people know you want to impress them.
Type Four
Be weak and fragile; take it easy on yourself; take things lightly; ask for help; communicate your feelings to others; don’t do anything or go into action – just rest.
Type Five
Invite invasion; share a lot of personal information with others; spend more time physically close to people; spend money on non essentials; invite people over to your place regularly; ask people to surprise you and share their deep emotions with you.
Type Six
Engage in conflict and confrontation; express aggression and confront people with your strong opinions; show certainty and self-confidence; show yourself to be strong, powerful and authoritative; piss off a protector
Type Seven
Make do with less; be more minimalistic; negotiate for less benefits for yourself; prioritise the interests of others; show more dedication in support of others; feel discomfort and pain; and take the less pleasurable option.
How the passion manifests for self-preservation 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 self-preservation 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 in self-preservation types
Type Eight: Seek essential power through lifestyle and resources. Results in Lust.
Type Nine: Seek essential harmony through lifestyle and interests. Results in Sloth.
Type One: Seek to experience essential integrity through lifestyle and wellbeing. Results in Resentment.
Type Two: Look to experience essential love through attending to wellbeing, comfort and health of others. Results in Pride.
Type Three: Strive to experience essential value in their accomplishments, lifestyle and careers. Results in Vanity.
Type Four: Seek to experience essential depth through their lifestyle, creativity and self-expression. Results in Envy.
Type Five: Seeking essential quality of insight through lifestyles and interests. Results in Avarice.
Type Six: Seek to experience essential truth in their lifestyle, path of personal growth and resources. Results in Angst.
Type Seven: Seek to experience essential freedom through experiences and sensual pleasure. Results in Gluttony.
