The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

by Beatrice Chestnut

Type Four Focus of Attention: Fours focus attention on their own feelings, the feelings of others, and interpersonal connection and disconnection. They feel a sense of deficiency about their own worth, so they seek idealized experiences of qualities they perceive as outside themselves. Patterns of Thinking and Feeling: Fours value authentic expressions of a wide range of emotion. Their thought patterns center on what is missing in a given situation and on longing for whatever they perceive as ideal and somehow unavailable. They appreciate meaningful interactions rooted in real feelings and have a keen aesthetic sensibility based on the translation of emotional experience into artistic expression, but they tend to overidentify with feelings and dwell in melancholy (or anger). Behavior Patterns: Fours can be reserved and withdrawn, or energetic and active, or both. They are emotionally intuitive, empathic, and intense. While specific behavior patterns vary according to subtype, Fours generally aren’t afraid of conflict, will work tirelessly when they feel passionately connected to something, and can see what’s missing and speak to it. Passion—Envy: Envy manifests as a painful sense of lack and a craving toward that which is felt lacking. For Fours, Envy grows out of an early sense of loss that leads to a perception that something good is outside the Four’s experience—and that this something is necessary but missing because of an inner deficiency.