The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

by Beatrice Chestnut

The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is compos sui [master of himself] if he have it not. An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence. —William James, Principles of Psychology

Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In the space there is the power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. —Victor Frankl

In order to change behavior to achieve personal growth, we must develop one capacity: We must develop the ability to create the mental and emotional space inside ourselves to observe and understand what we are doing and think about why we do it.

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. I will argue that, in fact, we don’t; and that thinking we do know who we are is part of the problem.

This misalignment between our ingrained habits and our yearning to live authentically and spontaneously becomes a source for all kinds of suffering, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness. The early coping strategies we don’t need anymore become unseen prisons that constrain how we think, feel, and act in ways that feel so familiar and integral that we forget we have the capacity to choose other options.

As in Western psychology, the Enneagram views the personality as a “false self” that develops to allow your (vulnerable and young) “true self” to adapt, fit in, and survive among other humans. This perspective holds that personality is a “defensive” or a “compensatory” self whose coping strategies developed to help us fulfill our needs and reduce our anxieties.

Just as light illuminating an object also casts an area of darkness, said Carl Jung, the conscious brightness in how you see yourself creates a “Shadow” aspect of personality that goes unseen, like a blind spot.1 Attributes you think of as “bad”—feelings of anger, jealousy, hatred, and inferiority—get relegated to your shadow and become unconscious.

The Shadow represents everything we refuse to acknowledge about ourselves that nonetheless impacts the way we behave. Being blind to parts of ourselves means that there is often a difference between the person we think we are—or the person we would like to see ourselves as—and who we really are as we walk through the world.

The Enneagram describes personality types in terms of conscious patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving along with their repressed Shadow aspects. As a result, it is an excellent tool for doing the hardest part of consciousness work: realizing, owning, and accepting your blind spots.

Our human (egoic) tendency is to want to feel good (and to avoid feeling bad) about ourselves. But without a way of recognizing, accepting, and addressing all of who we are, including the Shadow side and difficult parts of our experience, our personal growth stops and we remain asleep to our potential.

Each Enneagram personality type is associated with one of nine “passions,” which point to the central emotional-motivational issue for each type.

The passions are emotional (and often unconscious) drivers based on an implicit view about what you need to survive and how you can get it. Because the passions are motivated by a sense of lack, they create a basic dilemma or trap around which the personality is organized while striving to meet a basic need that never gets fulfilled.

Understanding the role of the passions is crucial to grasping the Enneagram, because they motivate action out of a hunger for something and yet obstruct us from finding real fulfillment t...

Type Nine Focus of Attention: Nines focus attention on others, on what is going on in the environment, and on avoiding conflict and achieving harmony. Nines typically tune into what other people want, but do not have a clear sense of their own agendas. Patterns of Thinking and Feeling: Nines focus on getting along with others without “rocking the boat” and creating conflict. They’re emotionally steady and do not feel many highs or lows. Though they are anger types, Nines usually don’t feel their anger very often—they (unconsciously) dissociate from it as a way to avoid conflict or separation from others—so it tends to leak out in repressed forms, such as stubbornness or passive-aggressive behavior, or escape in big bursts every once in a while. Behavior Patterns: Nines like to “go with the flow,” and they automatically accommodate the agendas of others as a way of unconsciously avoiding expressing (or even registering) any preferences that could lead to conflict, though they may passively resist later when hints of latent desires surface. They dislike feeling controlled, but like structure and clear lines of authority. They make good mediators because they have an easy ability to see all sides of an issue and naturally find the common ground in conflicting points of view. Passion—Laziness: Laziness refers to an inaction of the psyche, a refusal to see, a resistance to change, and an aversion to effort, especially with regard to being aware of their own inner feelings, sens...

Type Five Focus of Attention: Fives believe knowledge is power, so they like to observe what’s going on around them without getting too involved, especially emotionally. They focus on accumulating information about subjects that interest them and managing their time and energy, which they perceive as scarce, by avoiding entanglements with others. Patterns of Thinking and Feeling: Fives live in their heads and habitually detach from their emotions. They are sensitive to emotional demands being placed on them. They typically have a narrow range of feeling and almost never show their emotions in public. Behavior Patterns: Fives are reserved and introverted, need a lot of time alone, and avoid interactions with people who (they fear) might deplete them. They are very analytical and objective, and they tend to spend a lot of time pursuing their intellectual interests. Passion—Avarice: Avarice is a holding back and holding in—the hoarding of time, space, and resources out of fear of impending impoverishment. It’s not so much greediness as retentiveness, a “drive to hold on to what [they] already have rather than [a] drive to acquire more.”

Nines Self-Preservation Nine: “Appetite” Instead of feeling an ongoing connection to their feelings, desires, and power, Self-Preservation Nines focus on merging with physical comforts and routine activities, such as eating, sleeping, reading, or doing crossword puzzles. SP Nines are practical, concrete people who focus on everyday things rather than abstractions. Social Nine: “Participation” (countertype) Social Nines fuse with groups. They act out laziness when connecting with their own inner life by working hard to be a part of the different groups in their lives. Fun-loving, sociable, and congenial characters, Social Nines can be workaholics, prioritizing the group’s needs above their own. This high level of activity makes them the countertype of the three Nine subtypes. Sexual Nine: “Fusion” Sexual Nines express the passion of laziness by merging with the important people in their lives. Sexual Nines unconsciously take on the attitudes, opinions, and feelings of others, because it can feel too hard to stand on their own. These Nines tend to be kind, gentle, shy characters who are not very assertive.

Fives Self-Preservation Five: “Castle” The Self-Preservation Five expresses avarice through a focus on boundaries—a need to be “encastled” in a sanctuary where they feel protected from intrusion and have control over their boundaries. SP Fives have a passion for being able to hide behind walls and know that they have everything they need to survive within those walls. They are the least expressive of the three Fives and they try to limit their needs and wants so that they can avoid being dependent on others. Social Five: “Totem” The Social Five expresses avarice through a need for “super-ideals,” relating to others with common interests through knowledge and shared values (rather than emotional connection). In this Five, avarice is connected to knowledge. Needs for people and for the sustenance that relationships provide get channeled into a thirst for information. “Totem” refers to a passion for high ideals, the need to idealize experts and seek knowledge connected to whatever ultimate values this Five adheres to. Social Fives engage in a search for the ultimate meaning to avoid experiencing life as meaningless. Sexual Five: “Confidence” (countertype) Sexual Fives express avarice through a search for ideal exemplars of absolute love. This is a Five with a romantic streak. The name reflects their need to find a partner who fulfills an ideal of trust. The most emotionally sensitive of the Fives, they suffer more, resemble Type Four more, and have more overt desires. They ha...

The first step along this journey of inner growth is about self-observation as the path to dis-identifying from your personality.

Self-observation is about creating space. When you can observe your personality’s patterns in action, you make room inside yourself to see what you think, feel, and do from more of a distance, with more objectivity. This allows you to witness your key habitual patterns as they are happening.

The second step along this growth path is to look more deeply into what you are doing through self-inquiry and self-reflection.

Self-inquiry is about understanding both the root causes and the consequences of the patterns you observe.

The third task connected with this model is self-development.

Self-development involves actively working to achieve change. Through observing and understanding your personality’s key patterns, you have the power to overcome your defensive habits and do things differently. Having awareness about your central patterns, their sources, and their consequences makes it possible to make new choices because you are no longer caught up in unconscious, automatic actions and reactions.

The word “Enneagram” means “drawing of nine,” and the Enneagram symbol is a nine-pointed star inscribed in a circle. Though its exact origins remain unknown, the symbol is thought to be thousands of years old.

It is made up of three symbolic forms: the circle (symbolizing “the law of one” or “unity”), the inner triangle (symbolizing “the Law of Three” or “trinity”), and the “hexad” (symbolizing “the Law of Seven,” or the steps in a process as manifest in the octave of the musical scale).

The symbol is thus structured, fundamentally, by the combination of the Law of Three and the Law of Seven inscrib...

The circle symbolizes eternity, the Law of Three represents creation, and the Law of Seven suggests...

Together these symbols communicate the idea that we live in a universe that is perpetually developing and that there is an essential unity behind the multipli...

The circle that encloses the Enneagram diagram, then, represents unity, wholeness, and the natural order of the universe.

The idea that “all is one,” or that there is an underlying unity to all things, even when we can’t perceive it, is conveyed by the fact that when any number is multiplied or divided by one (unity), it remains itself: “Unity always preserves the identity of all it encounters.”

The Law of One as represented by the circle was a metaphor for the cosmic creation process beginning from a dimensionless center (the point or source) an...

What is inside the circle connotes the finite nature of the Personality, and all that lies outside the circle is “the infinite” that lies beyond the comprehension of the conditioned Personality.

The Law of Three states that three forces—an active force, a passive force, and a neutralizing (or reconciling) force—must enter into every kind of creation. A mundane example is that of a sailboat: the boat is the passive force, the wind is the active force, and the sail is the neutralizing or reconciling force. Physicists call this trinity of forces “action, reaction, and resultant.”

The universal significance of the Law of Three can be seen in the many “trinities” at the center of the world’s major spiritual teachings. There are many examples of threefold gods in ancient mythologies and existing religions.

The Hindus have Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer; in Christianity, the “Trinity” is the three “persons” of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and all that they represent. The Buddha taught that we get trapped in the endless cycles of life and death by creating karma based on the three poisons: ignorance or delusion, craving, and aversion.

These parallel the three core points of the enneagram – with unconsciousness or ignorance being the key theme represented by the Nine point, aversion being the underlying move of the Six point, and cr...

We find many forms of “threefoldness” in the world as well: the stages of life of birth, life, and death; the three dimensions of space (length, width, and height) and time (past, pre...

The Law of Three represents something created purposely or intentionally, while the Law of Seven describes a cyclical process of transformation.

Ancient mathematicians considered the number seven to be symbolic of transformation.

The Law of Seven can be seen at work in the ancient Greek philosophers’ belief that the only constant in the universe is change. Heraclitus famously said that all things are subject to an endless process ...

The movement along the arrow lines of the Enneagram indicates specific steps in a cycle of transformation.

This flow of the cycle of transformation, symbolized by the lines of the “hexad” piece of the symbol, charts a process of change that can be likened to the organic unfolding of natural processes as expressed in the idea of “The Way” or the Tao as described in the Tao Te Ching, the main text of Taoism.

Personality, then, as represented by the Enneagram, can be seen as a form of getting stuck or “fixated” at one point along this natural path of change—a defensive mechanism through which we protect ourselv...

The Enneagram’s circle of nine points can be seen as a boundary between the finite or the mundane nature of human life (as experienced by the Personality) and the infinite that lies beyond human consciousness—the larger reality of the universe that is beyond human comprehension when we are fixated in the Personality’s limited viewpoint.

The Enneagram represents a model of wholeness: each of the points of the Enneagram not only describes individual personalities but also characterizes certain archetypal elements that are universal.

Growth, then, as revealed by the perennial philosophy and the Enneagram map, is a process of observing ourselves, suffering through our fears and disowned Shadow aspects, and working to manifest our higher potentials.

TYPE NINE REPRESENTS THE ARCHETYPE of the person who seeks to harmonize with the external environment as a way of staying comfortable and peaceful, even though this means a loss of contact with their internal environment. Akin to the meaning behind both “fusion” and “union,” this archetype’s drive is to maintain a sense of calm and connectedness through merging with the outside and diminished awareness of the inside.

Type Nines are the prototype for that tendency in all of us to tune out our own inner knowing as a way of “going with the flow” and “not rocking the boat.”

The Nine archetype represents the model for wanting to stay comfortable, resist change, and do what’s easiest, even if that means not asserting yourself or falling asleep to your own priorities as a way of getting along with others.

Nines thus represent the prototype for all the personality types of the universal human tendency to go on automatic and remain asleep to ourselves.