Type 9 With a 1 Wing

Let's talk about the Enneagram shall we?

First of all, when you search the leading sites regarding the Enneagram (ie. enneagraminstitutue; enneagram.net, etc), you may find that this personality theory, based from hundreds to thousands of years of spiritual oral tradition, is all about fluffing up your traits. When a lot of people look into these things they want to know the good things about themselves, and so naturally websites will focus on the pros and only lightly touch on the cons. This is not what the Enneagram is truly based upon.

So for example, a label is often associated with each personality type. I am a type 9 and most websites label this type as "Peacemaker." However, the essence of the Enneagram is based upon how we have trained ourselves to survive, labeled as compulsions. Our personality is a "sin," where sin is defined as anything that is a hindrance to our true selves. So instead of being labeled as a peacemaker, I should be labeled by my compulsion: Avoidance of Conflict. I desire for everything and everyone to be in a state of harmony but to do that I have adapted an avoidance of conflict. I am not saying that there aren't positive traits to each type, but the base of the Enneagram is to discover our true selves and reach a sense of spiritual enlightenment, so to say. In order to do this we have to whap down the fluff and get to the real, gritty core.

http://www.enneagramwork.com/welcome.html -This sites provides ways for others to relate with personality types.

http://www.enneagram.net/types.html -A good sites for more detailed descriptions of each type.

http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp#.UpgJCoXbJr0 -Short, 36 question test. I like that this site gives traits at different levels of personal health.

My roommate has a book that details the history of the Enneagram and moves through the types on a very deeper basis. It's pretty good. Pretty much 17 times more helpful than the websites I've looked at in pursuing "a journey of self discovery." Fluff will only melt away in your hands, and in the end is just a temporary happy filling. Vices are tangibly harder, and you can have exhilarating battles against them. Coming on top stronger and better. I am currently reading the Hobbit and have had attempted an outlook on life very similar to the adventures of Bilbo and the dwarves.

Being a type 9 makes me intensely empathetic, and I am very happy to be associated with many of the nice traits that can come from obtaining a mentally and physically healthy type 9 personality. But there are truer discoveries to be made when taking the less appealing traits and chewing on them for a while. My dilemma is that I cannot stop putting others before myself and my own needs (as Type 9 graciously points out), but in order to begin the road to self discovery this is exactly what I need to do.

I encourage everyone to take a look at their own personality types via the free short test in the link above. And share with people in your lives. If we could understand that we are all not the same (we all coping in various ways), then we would be able to get along with each other and effectively communicate better.

The world would be a better place. It just would.