The Nine Types

Welcome to the Nine Types. You are invited to take the Free Rheti test to help you discover your Type. Sometimes people say, “I don’t want to be identified and stereotyped by my Type, I don’t want to be put in a box of any kind.” The purpose of the Enneagram is not to put you in a box (this is an honest concern as many make the mistake of turning the Enneagram on their beloveds to label their behaviors, and do place them in a box.), but to discover the box that you are already sitting in. This particular “box of personality” has served several valuable purposes. First, it helped you survive as a child in situations that you didn’t have the maturity or skills to navigate well. Thus, you developed a personality to make sense of things, and to assist you in protecting yourself from unwanted suffering. However, what is ironic is this: the personality habits we unconsciously developed as children to protect our hearts and souls, and to turn down the pain, confusion, shame, rage, fear or guilt, became the precise mechanism that blocks our ability to deeply enjoy and appreciate our lives as adults. Unwittingly we stay stuck in a place of profound self-inhibition and self-protection, unable to savor the deep pleasure of life. The purpose of the Enneagram is to serve as a tool of inquiry to assist you in examining where and how it is that you stop yourself from being present, from being able to sense your heart, body, and soul, unable to express your innate capacity both creatively and with those you love, and in the long run, abandon what is best and finest within you. There is nothing to believe about the Enneagram. It is not a religion. Your mission, if you take the assignment, is to look and see if there is a Type that describes the deeper suffering that you perhaps tell no one about, or that even in spite of knowing what is causing your inability to become the best you are capable of, are unable to stop or control the behaviors that contribute to this repetitious suffering. Those behaviors that we wish to change but can’t often show us the outlines of the psychological prison we find ourselves in, the outline of our personality. The purpose of the Enneagram is to show an individual the psychological trap they are bound in, wanted or not, and the way out. It is a profound tool of liberation. So have fun, check out the Types, and surely if you’d like more assistance, contact us for a consultation. There are 9 different inner patterns, and each has a particular inner atmosphere that takes their attention and blocks their objectivity. The problem however if that when the type-specific-inner-atmosphere-of-soul-protection is activated, we often have the strong feeling that however we are taking in reality is the ‘right’ way. The more emotionally triggered we are, the deeper our certainty that we know the truth of the situation, which can make if very difficult to feel the need to change anything about ourselves, which is the option most appear to take. For the Type One, resentment becomes the inner atmosphere and the window out of which they view reality. For the Two, it’s pride, the strong feeling that I know what you need and I must give it to you, or face horrid feelings of abandonment. For the Type Three, it’s the inner sense that I must be the best or I have no value, and shows up as Vanity and Arrogance. For the Type Four it’s the sense that I have no significance, that I am generic with no real identity, and shows up as a dark feeling of being an outsider. For the Five it’s the sense that I have no real home, no real place in the world with few resources to protect myself. My only capacity is in acquiring knowledge to protect myself, to arm myself against a world that rejects me. For the Six it’s the sense that at any moment my world can come crashing down, an unexpected disaster can swallow me, my inner atmosphere filled with worry, doubt, and anticipating a calamity-in-the-making. For the Seven, the inner atmosphere is of fear that I will be cut off from what brings me joy, that I must be looking all the time for that experience that will fulfill and avoid suffering at all costs. For the Eight it’s the conviction that I alone must protect myself, must take on the world, must be strong and robust to avoid being hurt or betrayed. For the Nine the inner atmosphere is neutral acquired, I’m-nobody-special emotional quality that has me utilizing all of my energy to avoid conflict internally or  in the outside world, creating certainty that I experience life at a very low-key, predictable level. Each of these patterns and the intensity of them are dependent on how much stress one has endured as a little one. And to the extent that one is presence regardless of type allows one to in contact with one’s gifts and abilities, and to experience the crown jewel of unconditional friendliness towards self and others.