In the early 1900s, the Enneagram was created to depict the human mind. It was developed by more contemporary philosophers and initially employed nine interrelated personality categories to understand people.
Even though the most popular Enneagram is currently understood to be a personality type, it is more accurate to consider it a dynamic system.To put it briefly, it draws on various sources, including traditional wisdom from long ago and contemporary psychology, to assist people in understanding their principles and particular coping mechanisms.
It can assist you in comprehending your character, strengths, and life issues, but it can also help you look at how you relate to yourself, other people, and the rest of the world. Since no personality type is fundamentally masculine or feminine, the descriptions of each kind are universal and applicable to both men and women. Your personality type comprises a variety of good, average, and unhealthy features. Therefore only some aspects of the explanation of the primary type will always apply to you.
Since numbers are neutral and convey the full spectrum of attitudes and actions associated with each type without explicitly stating anything good or bad, the Enneagram employs numbers to represent each class. In contrast to the labels used in psychiatry, numbers offer a neutral, concise approach to convey a lot about just a person without being derogatory.
No kind is fundamentally superior to or inferior to another. Although each personality type has its advantages and disadvantages, some may be viewed as more acceptable than others in a given society or community. Furthermore, you could not enjoy being a specific type for various reasons. However, as we learn more about every kind, you’ll realize that each has distinct liabilities in addition to particular assets. Therefore, instead of trying to emulate the qualities of another type, the aim is to achieve your best self.
The numbers of the Enneagram
To better comprehend our values and motives, we might reinterpret every one of the Enneagram types.
(1) Reformer: The character symbolizes the inborn ability of humans to reform.
(2) Helper: The character symbolizes the inborn ability of humans to provide for one another.
(3) Achiever: The character symbolizes the intrinsic ability of humans to achieve.
(4) Individualist: The character symbolizes the natural ability of humans to be unique.
(5) Investigator: The character symbolizes the intrinsic curiosity of people.
(6) Loyalist: The character depicts the loyalty that is intrinsic in all people.
(7) Enthusiast: The character depicts people’s intrinsic ability for excitement.
(8) Challenger: The character stands for the natural propensity for disruption in humans.
(9) Peacemaker: The character symbolizes the natural capacity for peace inside all people.
How is the Enneagram useful ?
Symbols in the Enneagram framework stand in for the “big picture” view of a person’s entire identity.
Instinct, intuition, and intelligence are three separate yet related components, according to Lubbe, who spoke to Healthline. These are, respectively, the gut center, heart center, and head center.
The trio of centers can also represent a person’s physique, soul, and mind.
People frequently try to comprehend the Enneagram quickly, just as they do with the other well-liked self-reflective techniques. However, because Enneagram is complicated, mastering its numbers can be challenging.
However, the complexity of the Enneagram becomes more apparent if you make it less about one particular number and more about the attributes found in all nine digits.
Instead of focusing on a particular type and restricting actions, the Enneagram explores nature and values.
The Enneagram’s “capacity to concisely and effectively express what inspires one and also why you connect the world in a particularly distinctive way of being,” on the other hand, is what makes it the most helpful tool.
The Enneagram is an excellent tool to add to their arsenal while working on increased self-awareness of their personality type. It is beneficial to understand your personality type’s primary motivations.
End note
The Enneagram has proven more helpful in assisting individuals in understanding not just their personality types but also the mental hiding places that people enter during stressful or traumatic times, as well as the coping techniques they employ and the reasons behind them.
However, the Enneagram could also assist people in identifying their strengths and possibilities for improvement.In that aspect, the Enneagram can assist us in understanding why certain things set us off and why everyone reacts differently to various dynamics or emotions.
It provides us with an option and aids in identifying our stress-related reaction behaviors. We can see trends, exercise self-compassion, and make deliberate decisions we won’t regret so that we don’t have to be in a state of flight or fight constantly.In the end, the Enneagram is a system and tool created for thorough comprehension and integration and the benefit of overall healing.
It is not intended to be a social tool used against people. It is not intended to be a relationship tool we use against one another or ourselves, nor is it intended to be a justification for neglecting our duty to develop into healthy individuals.