Enneagram Triads: 4. Psychological Geometry

Enneagram Triads: 4. Psychological Geometry

As seen so far, each enneagram triad has associated with it a particular triangle. Therefore the most obvious grouping we would notice would be the large equilateral triangles making up the 9 points. Unfortunately, the associations with this are much more difficult to discern; they are the distinctive psychology of the types and the processes they use. This is probably an area of enneagram research that has not been looked into quite deeply but enneagram authors Riso and Hudson have labeled these the object-relation groups. This focuses upon the relationship between the ‘self’ and ‘other’ and from it, what dominant feeling-state is present. I’ve also included my own observations of types, though these are not psychologically validated terms. Intensity/Polarity - Types 1, 4, 7 According to object-relations this group is classed as frustration-based, that the types within it are never able to fully find what they seek, or become disenchanted quickly. I notice a certain polarity and intensity present within each type. With Type 1, the polarity is in morality. The world is black and white, divided into perfect ideal and imperfect reality. The intensity of Type 1 comes within its own moral compass which seeks to be ethically perfect. With Type 4, intensity is found in emotion. The world is experienced through a very profound emotional filter. Things are intensely beautiful or hauntingly tragic or extremely distasteful. Polarity comes with the fact that there is no emotional neutrality with Type 4. Even something viewed as a common object will have a dreadful commonality attached to it. Type 7 has polarity within their thinking processes and this is seen through where it focuses attention. Subjects are either interesting or boring. In addition, there is no spectrum of a little interesting or slightly boring; the mind moves from one intensity to the other, accounting for the distractible nature of Type 7. Superiority/Dominance - Types 2, 5, 8 In object-relation terms, these are the rejection-based group, which sees themselves as smaller and weaker than the other build defences for this rejection from the other. This certainly matches my observation of the types striving for superiority or dominance. Type 8 displays this most obviously with a desire for control of environment and dominance of situation. They exert a energetic superiority towards the external world, using anger as a driving force to gain power over their circumstances. In contrast Type 2 strives for social superiority. By attending to the needs of others, they can place themselves in the position where others are dependent on them. Without them others would struggle. In this sense, superiority comes in the value of ‘goodness’ and kindness to others. With Type 5, the dominance is of the self. The rational mind is valued to control all other aspects of the body. Irrational emotions and impulses are dominated and processed by logical reasoning, leading to the believe the mind is superior to the body. This can account for the Type 5 behaviour of withdrawing within their head as they must attend to this emotional processing to maintain their control.

Multiplicity - Types 3, 6, 9 The final group in the object-relation theory is the attachment-based group. The types within this group are attached to a state of being, an image, a job, a feeling, whatever it is that’s stabilising their lifestyle. This attachments can often be too deeply held and can cause problems for the types. I’ve also noticed their is an inherent multiplicity present within these types, a sort of chameleon-ness. Type 3 has the obvious shifting of image present. They are able to quickly shape shift the presentation of themselves to others in order to be appealing to others and present their success. Type 9 contains multiplicity in being, changing with their environment. This type is most affected by the space it enters, filling their consciousness to merge with certain people or specific environments. Interestingly, Type 6 shows the multiplicity within personality. This is the only enneagram type that has correlations with almost every single Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Some have even alluded to the fact that within themselves there are splits within consciousness, forming an inner council of personality. Type 6 therefore alters personality to fit to that which provides the greatest security and personal safety to themselves. Unlike the other 3 posts on triads, I have not provided any advice for the types. This is an area of the enneagram that has minimal information and I can only provide observation on what I have seen and researched. Hopefully, taking into account all the information of the triads, you will be able to apply it to yourselves to identify your own ego patterns and then work towards moving beyond these defense mechanisms to a greater self development and connection towards Essence.

FunkyMBTI - Enneagram

Enneagram Themes

Enneagram 1: The Reformer

Enneagram 2: The Helper

Enneagram 3: The Achiever

Enneagram 4: The Individualist

Enneagram 5: The Investigator

Enneagram 6: The Loyalist

Enneagram 7: The Enthusiast

Enneagram 8: The Challenger

Enneagram 9: The Peacemaker

Other links

Enneagram pages

MBTI pages

Character Typing Guide

Enneagram Types (Part 2)

Here’s a description of each Enneagram type, including their core motivations, fears, desires, and typical behaviors, along with information about their wings:

Type 6 - The Loyalist: Core Motivation: Sixes seek security, guidance, and support. They strive to find safety and stability in their environment and relationships.

Core Fear: Sixes fear being abandoned, unsupported, or without guidance. They may worry about potential dangers and uncertainties.

Core Desire: Sixes desire to have security, certainty, and trust. They long for reassurance and reliable relationships.

Typical Behaviors: Sixes are loyal, responsible, and often seek guidance from authority figures or trusted individuals. They may be cautious, vigilant, and prepared for potential risks.

Wing 5 (6w5): The Defender

Fives bring an intellectual and independent dimension to Sixes. They may have a more withdrawn and observant approach to their loyalty and may seek knowledge to feel more secure.

Wing 7 (6w7): The Buddy

Sevens add an adventurous and optimistic element to Sixes. They may seek distraction from anxieties and look for exciting experiences to balance their need for security.

Type 7 - The Enthusiast: Core Motivation: Sevens seek pleasure, excitement, and new experiences. They strive to avoid pain and discomfort and seek fulfillment in the present moment.

Core Fear: Sevens fear being trapped, limited, or missing out on opportunities. They may avoid facing difficult emotions or situations.

Core Desire: Sevens desire to be happy, satisfied, and fulfilled. They long for freedom and a sense of abundance.

Typical Behaviors: Sevens are enthusiastic, spontaneous, and often have a wide range of interests. They enjoy seeking new experiences, possibilities, and tend to be optimistic.

Wing 6 (7w6): The Entertainer

Sixes bring a practical and security-oriented dimension to Sevens. They may have a more cautious approach to their enthusiasm and may seek support and guidance in their pursuits.

Wing 8 (7w8): The Realist

Eights add a bold and assertive element to Sevens. They may be more focused on power and assertiveness in their pursuit of pleasure and may have a stronger desire for control.

Type 8 - The Challenger: Core Motivation: Eights seek control, independence, and protection. They strive to avoid vulnerability and stand up for themselves and others.

Core Fear: Eights fear being controlled, manipulated, or vulnerable. They may worry about being taken advantage of or appearing weak.

Core Desire: Eights desire to be strong, self-reliant, and in control. They long for justice, fairness, and protection for themselves and those they care about.

Typical Behaviors: Eights are assertive, confident, and often take on leadership roles. They have a strong presence and tend to be direct and confrontational.

Wing 7 (8w7): The Maverick

Sevens bring an adventurous and pleasure-seeking dimension to Eights. They may have a more lighthearted and optimistic approach to their assertiveness and desire for control.

Wing 9 (8w9): The Bear

Nines add a calming and harmonizing element to Eights. They may have a more grounded and receptive approach to their assertiveness and desire for control.

Type 9 - The Peacemaker: Core Motivation: Nines seek inner and outer peace, harmony, and avoidance of conflict. They strive for comfort and a sense of unity with others.

Core Fear: Nines fear conflict, disconnection, or loss of peace. They may avoid asserting themselves or facing difficult emotions.

Core Desire: Nines desire to have inner stability, peace, and to maintain their relationships. They long for a sense of wholeness and unity.

Typical Behaviors: Nines are easygoing, agreeable, and often go along with others' preferences. They seek to maintain harmony and may merge with others' opinions.

Wing 8 (9w8): The Referee

Eights bring a stronger assertiveness and a desire for power to Nines. They may be more willing to stand up for themselves and others and may have a stronger sense of individuality.

Wing 1 (9w1): The Dreamer

Ones bring a sense of responsibility and a desire for order to Nines. They may strive for personal improvement and may have higher standards for themselves and their relationships.

Remember that individuals may vary within each type, and the wings offer additional dimensions to their core motivations. The Enneagram system is a tool for self-awareness and personal growth, helping individuals understand their patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Stay tune for Enneagram posts.

xoxo J.

Enneagram Triads: 3. Harmonic Groups

Whilst the Hornevian Groups looks at the actions of the types, the Harmonic Groups focuses on the types reactions to obstacles and difficulties in life. And the groupings are completely different to those seen in the Hornevian triads. Probably the easiest way to type someone is by identifying both their Hornevian and Harmonic group, their action and reaction to the world. In the Harmonic triads, similar to other groupings, we find three distinct ways of reacting to an obstacle. They can be classed according to the reasoning attached with each view. Remember, although these reactions are paired with certain types, people of these types may in addition also react according to their lines of integration and disintegration, depending on how developed they are. Positive Outlook - Types 2, 7, 9 The silver lining is what these types focus upon. When the going gets tough, the Positive Outlook types bring our attention to what is still going right and how the problem may not be that bad. Type 7 does this through their focus on happiness, on constantly keeping the environment upbeat. Type 2 will focus on people, calming and reassuring them in trouble. Type 9 maintains their tranquility throughout the ordeal, acting as a soothing presence for others. One problem with the Postive Outlook types is that sometimes they can easily overlook the problem, even denying its existence. The focus on happiness and positivity can be used as avoidance of problems and so it’s important for people who react like this to acknowledge that can be good sometimes to face an obstacle as it is, working through the pain and difficulty with resilience. Competency - Types 1, 3, 5 When faced with an obstacle, the Competency group look towards resolution, working as quickly and efficiently as they can. They value an unemotional approach to problem-solving, valuing cognitive efficiency as opposed to the irrationality contained within emotional reasoning. Type 1 will focus on working within their belief systems, valuing moral law and ethical fairness. Type 5 in contrast strives for an omniscient view of the problem, moving outside of the systems they are part of. Type 3 will do both but mainly wants to resolve chaos smoothly without impacting themselves or others opinions of them. Although efficiency is an effective problem-solving strategy, denying emotions can be detrimental. The advice for the Competency group is that feelings, though messy and irrational, are necessary part of reacting to problems. Dealing with them, instead of denying or repressing, not only provides cathartic experience but also increases our empathetic connection with others, bettering relationships with all people.  Emotional Realness - Types 4, 6, 8 Obstacles and problems evoke within us an emotional response, and it is the reaction that the Emotional Realness types will focus in on. They express their reactions openly and in doing so, look for emotional mirroring within others gaining knowledge of where others stand on issues. Type 8 openly expresses anger, often feeling energised by conflict. Type 4 takes a more withdrawn approach to their reaction, often in an artistic or symbolic form. Type 6 is more selective in its reaction, using the emotional release as a way of assessing people or situations. The Emotional Realness reaction is probably the least supported by the western world, which values rationality and emotional repression. This isn’t to say these types are not good. On the contrary, the Emotional Realness types are probably best at working through their emotions as well as those expressed by others. It is just a matter of not over doing it, of being aware of how venting your own frustrations can significantly impact others. After learning about the different triads present within the enneagram, what I found most interesting was the geometry. All the major triads when drawn onto the enneagram symbol, came up as similar triangles creating a symmetrical pattern. It seems to be more than a coincidence that a personality based model of humanity can produce such a mathematically sound pattern. This is why I believe the enneagram should be taken and applied not only to just personality, but also to other areas of our human existence.  

We do have some redeeming qualities

In researching the enneagram, often theorists and psychologists will look at the types from the viewpoint of the ego fixation. We can be presented with the vices of type and the shortcoming of the egos desires. In short, it’s all fairly negatively focused. But every type, whilst coping with the world in some way, also contains an inherent gift within their type as well a path they may take to have a great positive impact on the world. Type 1: Naturally, Type 1s are imbued with a strong sense of morality, a sharp eye for noticing what is right and wrong. It is this ethical strength that we have built our legal systems on. We can sometimes label Type 1s as reformers because their strength is in working for a greater good, a higher purpose. 1s have an inherent wisdom of social structure, of maintaining order to preserve humanity and so when they draw upon this, can have a great stabilizing effect on society. Type 2: Our world is filled with people who have lost themselves mentally or emotionally and Type 2s are people who are able to nurture these broken people back to health. A type often associated with the archetypal mother, encouraging the growth of people (and themselves) is a skill exemplified by 2s. They also have a natural ability to connect emotionally to people and at a very personal level often. In 2s we find compassion and support that all people need for development. Type 3: Focus and hardwork are qualities that Type 3s can produce with intense conviction. They are self-developed and highly motivated to achieve. But they also are great motivators of people. That driven energy can be channeled into a focus on others for their own self-enhancement. 3s are also the great ‘doers’ of the enneagram, and once they find a cause worth pursuing, will totally engage themselves into its manifestation. It is that 3 mentality that pushes progression in society. Type 4: This is the enneagram point of creativity and originality. Type 4s are able to absorb their experiences of the world and from it produce self-renewal, often resulting in artistic vision. It is also worth pointing out the emotional receptivity of Type 4s. They can truly be empathetic and their natural gift is in being able to receive and process emotionally energy of others. The 4s in our world provide us with deeper meaning and understanding of life. Type 5: Whilst others can be overrun by their own emotions, fear or hidden pursuits, Type 5s natural gift is reason and objectivity. They are able to view situations without being affected by them, a sort of birds-eye view. When faced with a problem, Type 5s have a natural ability to see what information is missing and where it can be found, making them good investigators. It is this type that can perceive past social norms to become engaged in the structures of the universe and humanity. Type 6: Faith is the virtue of Type 6s. Paradoxically, we also find that this is the type of great skeptics. Thus 6s contain within themselves a natural ability for evaluation. Often when entering a new situation they are able to make insightful inferences about their environment in a very short period of time, often drawing upon the subtle points of information unseen by others. Is is through 6s that we build the institutions of the world as well as finding displays of great courage. Type 7: Finding joy and happiness in life is the life goal of Type 7s. The possess a vitality and energy that is infectious to the people around them. 7s also possess innovative problem-solving capabilities. They are highly resourceful, often thinking outside the box when faced with an obstacle. They can synthesise information from different sources and express this in creative ways. Type 7s help the world appreciate the joy of life and share their happiness with the people they meet. Type 8: The energy presented by Type 8s is almost tangible, a presence they naturally use when moving through hostility. They have natural strength and the ability to assess the danger of a situation in which they enter combined with their ability to endure through hardship. Type 8s are also great leaders, very protective of the ones they love. This type can stand up for their beliefs and challenge the problems present in our society head on. Type 9: No type is as accepting and accommodating as Type 9. They are able to bring peace and acceptance to the people around them. 9s have a natural ability to merge with their surroundings, taking in and appreciating all its goodness. They can use this ability to bring together conflicting parts of their reality into balance. Only Type 9s are able to truly be present within the moment, neither looking to the past or present or through a filter of viewpoint. They are the people we turn to for mediation, for acceptance and to bring harmony into the world. Of course no type is perfect and we all have areas of ego fixation to work on. But by understanding the potential within our type, it gives us clearer direction into becoming the greatest person we can be.

Enneagram Triads: 1. Primary Centres

The relationships most obvious within the enneagram are those connected by the lines of integration and disintegration. Yet many who have studied the enneagram have found all the types can be related to each other not only by lines if connection but also by groupings in threes, known as the triads. There are 4 distinct triads which will be looked at over the course of the month and this relate to the dominant emotion of a type, the way a type acts, the way a type reacts and the psychological association of the type. (Note that triadic groupings should not be used to determine compatibility, as this is affected not only by personality type but factors outside of the enneagram. Like seriously don’t) The triadic grouping that is usually first introduced is the dominant centres of intelligence. Each centre is associated with relating to an aspect of being (self, others, environment) and although each type is influenced by all three, the groupings are formed by identifying the dominant centre, resulting in a dominant emotion being present. It in interesting to note that the way a type deals with their dominant emotion results in their type behaviour. The Instinctive Centre - Anger and Rage Also referred to as the gut centre, as its name suggests this is our point of instinctual intelligence. Instincts are concerned with relationship between a person and their environment. It is the oldest and most primitive part of human psychology, and is primarily focused on our survival and endurance in our world. This will to endure is seen within the types it rules, 8,9 and 1. All three types are subconsciously focused on not being affected by the world and on moving through, no matter what happens. However, these three types deal with the dominant emotion of the centre, anger, in very different ways. For type 8, the anger is externalised. 8s use anger as an energy source to fuel their actions, as a driving force to gain control. 1s focus more on a internalised control of their anger; it is justified to be used for justice and morality whilst the primitive desires it produces are repressed. 9s are the most out of touch with their anger, numbing it out or denying its existence. This conflict avoidant type often employs a narcotization process to put its anger to sleep. In society, anger is often viewed as a counter-productive emotion. It is associated with conflict, hostility and violence. However, the centre is directly linked to the body and to our physical energy. Anger, when utilized correctly, can be a great driving force for good within our world. Utimately, in order for the gut types to mature they must realise what affect the anger has on them and to grow past this. The Emotional Centre - Shame and Image When relating to other people, we make use of our emotional centre and our emotional intelligence, related to the heart. Emotions such as joy, sorrow and the dominant emotion of shame or guilt, can often result from interactions with people, how we treat them and are treated by them. While we are in control mostly of how we treat others, we can manipulate how others treat us through the presentation of image of self. Thus the three heart types, 2,3 and 4, all focus open the image of themselves, sometimes to the extent beyond truth. For type 2, the image focus is on others, being a helpful and caring person. Guilt is alleviated through love for people with love in return. Type 4s focus more on building image internally. Individuality begins with separation from others, leading to a focus on originality and self-awareness. Type 3 is the most image-focused, always presenting itself as self-directed and successful. 3s are also very out of touch with emotions, often feeling with the deem to be the feelings needed for a situation. Reflecting upon the heart centre brings to mind the saying ‘just be yourself’. What is the self and our identity? Evidently, its probably nothing to do with what others think of us or perceive us to be and more to do with understanding ourselves. Our true selves. For the heart types, growth comes in looking past the image they have constructed towards a more honest sense of self and authenticity of identity. The Intellectual Centre - Anxiety and Fear Perhaps the centre we are most familiar with, the head centre is directly linked to the self, our consciousness. It is concerned with evaluating all the sensory input we receive and processing it into responses for action and reaction. The brain is the organ we rely on to run the whole body system and so it is constantly preparing us for the future. The head types, 5, 6 and 7, therefore all are oriented towards looking ahead at what is to come. The three types also have a over-active minds, leading to the emotion of anxiety, which is dealt with in different ways. Type 5 takes an internal focus of dealing with anxiety by collecting knowledge and withdrawing from the world. There is a safety in being away from the world. In contrast, Type 7 takes an external approach, doing things rather than thinking. If anxiety is not felt, it does not need to be dealt with. Type 6, the central head type, is most out of touch with dealing with this anxiety, often over-thinking situations and reacting to their own projection of this anxiety. Meditation is a key practise encouraged by almost all spiritual practitioners. By focusing upon stillness, we empty our minds of its banter and just exist within the silence. This is particularly useful for the head types. Shifting attention from anticipating the future to being present within the here and now is done through working on stillness of the mind. Whilst the centres are used for the main groupings, it can be difficult at first to see how the types are grouped. The analytical type 5 is almost completely opposite to the impulsive type 7 whilst the peaceful type 9 contrasts greatly to the assertive type 8. This is because the types work at controlling their dominant emotion, some making it more obvious than others. We will see that other triads present more obvious behavioural similarities than the centres and can be more useful in typing a person.