The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

by Beatrice Chestnut

One of our deepest unconscious patterns is the false belief that we already know ourselves well enough to understand why we think, feel, and act the way we do.

We don’t always understand what we don’t understand and we are limited to the degree that we don’t recognize our limitations.

If we can recognize the Shadow cast by our personality, consciously bear the suffering we normally defend against, and accept all of who we are, we can open up endless possibilities for ourselves.

These three types, each for their own reasons, tend to put their needs and wants in the background, ignoring their practical and physical requirements for things like rest and relaxation (Eights), play and pleasure (Ones), and priorities, preferences, and opinions (Nines).

The pursuit of comfort inevitably produces discomfort

True friends stab you in the front. —Oscar Wilde

This auto-rebellion against the rules of society or established authority (like those expressed by the Type One archetype) is not free and spontaneous.

This “under-social” stance motivates rebellion against the restrictive authority of established authorities, rules and conventions.

This archetype is strong in people who believe in “taking justice into their own hands, rather than delegating to institutions.”9

because they deny their vulnerability—and don’t realize that true strength comes from being able to be vulnerable—they can overdo their forcefulness.

Eights often fail to see the negative effects they create by expressing too much power without a balanced recognition of normal human weaknesses.

Eights sometimes believe they can change the way things are simply by exerting control over them, defensively imagining that they can direct the course of events in whatever way they wish without being subject to the limitations imposed by reality.

They generally feel confident about both their vision of the way things are and their ability to make important things happen.

some Eights will say they can enjoy a good fight.

The energy of anger is gone as soon at it’s expressed, as if it’s been discharged.

they see themselves as their own authority and make or break rules as they see fit.

Eights idealize their autonomy.

Eights often don’t slow down long enough to ponder what they are doing before they do it.

Emblematic of the shadow side of the Type Eight personality, the only regret the Lustful have is being punished at all.

They express lust and aggression in the service of life and other people.

This person is “social antisocial.”

Social Eights are very sensitive to detecting situations in which people are being persecuted or exploited by others that hold more power.

In extreme cases, this Eight can tend toward megalomania.

In close relationships, they may display a lack of commitment to the partner that hides an unconscious fear of abandonment.

this individual’s main drive is for something like loyalty.

They express the idea that “the world begins to run when they arrive.”

They don’t want to lose control of anything or anyone, and they want to influence people with their words.

In line with their passionate forward movement into action, they may be particularly intolerant of weakness, dependence, and slow people.

they tend to have possessive relationships not only with lovers, but also with friends, objects, places, and situations.

As a Sexual Eight, I like to have a small group of trusted and trusting people around me. When my circle becomes too large, I become uncomfortable and withdraw.

Observe your tendency to view yourself as above all forms of authority.

all people are moved by love (every personality is a different form of defense against love, after all).

Without awareness around the move to Type Two, Eights can act out the Two habits of “giving to get” and seducing through charm and helpfulness.

certainly for some Sevens, selective recall makes it better in memory than it really was.

Sevens’ central coping strategy is to automatically reframe negatives into positives—to

As Naranjo suggests, sometimes “memory in such a case supports fantas...

Feeling good rather than bad seems to Sevens like a choice they can continually decide to make—and the thought of doing otherwise seems absurd to them.

Sevens, along with Type Eights, are among the types who most dislike being told what to do.

Using rationalization, Sevens can find good reasons for whatever they want to do, think, or feel.

Idealization allows Sevens to perceive people and experiences as being better than they are, imbuing them with superhuman or super-positive qualities;

when the Seven idealizes, they often do so to defend against feelings they might naturally have about the real person they are with. When this happens, idealization can keep them in a fantasy relationship instead of the one they are actually in.

Naranjo points out that all of the passions operate as an attempt to fill up an inner emptiness.

As “consuming rather than digesting is the focus,” Sevens’ gluttony for experience usually leads to a sense of dissatisfaction, which leads to (and is masked by) the pursuit of further stimulation.

While Sevens’ gluttony for experience arises from a desire to avoid suffering and emptiness, gluttony actually is their suffering.

Even as Sevens talk about wanting deep engagement, they also fear it: their gluttony drives them around in circles.

In trying to avoid pain by focusing on pleasure, we inevitably create more pain for ourselves.

Being anti-conventional allows you to question authority implicitly without feeling compelled to openly oppose it.

this makes Sevens the ideological forces behind revolutions rather than the activists.

Type Seven individuals are not so much engaged in an obvious struggle against authority, like Type Sixes or Type Eights, “they simply do not heed it.”25

behind their desire to not be bored is a potentially unconscious fear of having to slow down or sit still in the experience of stillness, which might cause uncomfortable feelings to arise.