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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. 

Enneagram Triads: 2. Hornevian Groups

The second triad of the enneagram deals with the way we approach the world or how we act. Also known as stances, the triads were originally identified by Karen Horney as she classed them by the direction we move in relation to other people. We can move with people, against people or away from people. Whilst I agree with the general idea of these names, I’ve read other articles relating these types to using the three basic actions, thinking, feeling and doing, in different orders. I’ve also seen correlation to the Freudian ideas of ego, superego and id but unfortunately, as much as I love Freud and his radical theories of psychology, only weakly match the triad descriptions. Nevertheless, considering all three in conjunction with each other provide a much richer description of the Hornevian groups. The Assertive Stance - Types 3, 7, 8 This triad is seen as the ‘moving against’ stance. The types are very much focused on acting in a manner to gain what they desire. They are the types that think about what they want and then act do gain this. It’s this focus on the self that matches the Freudian association of the ego. To assert oneself is second nature. This is very obvious with type 8 as they assert themselves very often, sometimes to the point of aggression. For Type 7, the assertion is seen when they pursue new things, asserting their right to fun. Type 3 asserts itself in a more subtle sense, focusing more on their own goals. However, if one was to stand between them and these goals, they would stand up for themselves. The general advice for the Assertive Stance types is to be aware of the other people. The types can often act without thinking about how their actions are affecting people, sometimes with very negative consequences. It the simple notion of thinking before acting but also thinking about others before doing. It’s also interesting to note these types can sometimes have difficulty forming deep, meaningful relationships with people. The Compliant Stance - Types 1, 2, 6 When we talk of the types being compliant, it is a compliance to the superego. The focus is more on society and the people around them rather than themselves as seen with the assertive types. These people ‘move with’ others, focusing on feeling what is happening around them and then acting accordingly. For Type 2 this action is focused on people. The desire to help others and attend to their needs outweighs focusing on their own needs. Type 1 directs their focus to social standards. They act to maintain justice and preserve social law within their groups. Type 6 will act more towards their situation they are present within, constantly assessing its safety and working towards building a secure environment. For the Compliant Stance, sometimes its good to look inward at their own desires. Each type can be self-sacrificing in some way and so to be aware of how your own desires may not be in line with your society’s desires is important in acting in a way that can attend to both. Often, the Complaint Types can be very unaware of how their personal reasoning is heavily influenced by the communities they are involved in.

The Withdrawn Stance - Types 4, 5, 9 The Withdrawn Stance as the name suggests are those types that 'move away’ from people. Here we find the types that focus on thinking and feeling, making them highly imaginative. It is hard to see how their Freudian assocation, the Id, can be linked with these distant types however Freud himself remarked that it was 'thinkers and poets’ who were most in connection with their subconscious. Type 5 often withdraws the most physically, strongly asserting their need for privacy and withdrawing from the world. Type 4 withdraws socially, taking time to construct their own individuality separate from others. While Type 9 doesn’t necessarily physically withdraw from the world, they are guilty of zoning out with people, a mental withdrawal into an inner sanctum of being. Types of the Withdrawn Stance can all benefit from moving themselves into the world and really being present within it. Often the types can develop great skills and talents in their time by themselves but do not ever present these to the world, focusing rather on keeping it all to themselves. It is good to learn that using these skills and showing them to the world can be as rewarding as developing. The Withdrawn Stance also has a unique quirk in that they can feel a disconnect to their humanness, often feeling detached from their body and more present within their imagination and fantasy. The Hornevian Groups are much easier to identify than the Primary Centres. It is also much easier to determine a persons type by first identifying their stance. In addition, all the triads make clear something that we can overlook in typing; personalities are complex. It’s not only our Primary Centre that we have to work on but also how our stance affects us and the way we react to others. Just learning about some of the basic aspects of ourselves gives us a starting point for looking further into each of our rich complexity of being.

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.  

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.