Enneagram: Axes of Polarity - Inverse Types

[silke]

Found this interesting summary from a presentation that was titled "Cartography of the Enneagram". Explains why types 3 and 7, 1 and 5 sometimes get confused for one another - they represent different poles of four polarities so in a way one can think of them as inverses or yin-yang combinations with type 9 holding all of these polarities together.



THE AXIS OF ORDER – 1 & 5
Capacity for vision.

1
active
action
practical order
judges by efficiency
Form: external & practical order
Background: ideal, principles and values
5
receptive
contemplation
theoretical order
disqualifies for ignorance
Form/method: theory, ideas
Background/motive: life experience, relationships

Light: theoretical and practical orders together
Shadow: judges by discrediting
1 learns reflection from 5
5 learns how to be practical from 1


THE AXIS OF RELATIONS – 2 & 6
Depending on others. Metaphysical dilemma: being for or being with?

2
active
giving
takes initiative
creates dependence of others on self
6
receptive
receiving
knows how to ask
depends on others

Light: Knowing how to give and receive
Shadow: dependence
2 learns how to ask from 6
6 learns to take initiative from 2


THE AXIS OF IMAGE – 3 & 7
Both types take good care of their image socially. 7 knows how to manage image of being fine, the good that is to come. Metaphysical dilemma: externalize/internalize, achieving/enjoying.

3
active
achieve without enjoying
7
passive
enjoy without achieving

Light: achieve and enjoy that which you have, a complete work
Shadow: appearance to show that which I am not – deceit in both types creates image without knowing who I really am
3 learn to enjoy achievement, otherwise anxiety makes them want more and not be able to relax and share achievement.
7 learn to encounter their own realization and make concrete a purpose that is their own


THE AXIS OF STRENGTH – 4 & 8
Builds or destroys, intense, creative force. Metaphysical dilemma: life/death.

8
active
power
outer experience
I can
death – destroys towards the outside
life – constructs for others, contagious, attracts
4
receptive
creative strength
inner experience
I’m unique
death – self-destruction, boycott, sadness
life – creative strength, lives happy and enjoys, reaffirmation

Light: Inner strength & power
Shadow: self-centeredness
4 learns external strength and self-confidence from 8
8 learns strength as an inner experience from 4 (and to connect with sensitivity)


Type 9 is the only that that doesn't have an opposite - the polarity is built into it. For 9s, it's a matter of an inner struggle and development implies establishing a connection an to an active part.
active -- receptive
Active: clarity and decision
Passive: fog, stays in the maybe
Metaphysical dilemma: present/absent, to be aware or absent minded.
Shadow: half-heartedness
Light: being active and decisive


From Naranjo's Character & Neurosis:

1-5 polarity (p. 66, 67)
The holding back and self-control of avarice is not unlike that of the anger type, yet it is accompanied by a getting stuck through clutching at the present without openness to the emerging future.

It might be said that the avaricious is internally perfectionistic rather than critical of the outer world...

I is demanding while V seeks to minimize his own needs and claims, and is prone to be pushed around in virtue of a compulsive obedience. Though both types are characterized by a strong super-ego, they are like cops and robbers respectively, for the former identifies more with its idealized superego-congruent self, while V identifies tithe the overwhelmed and guilty sub-personality that is the object of super-egoic demands.

The polarity between pathological detachment and the attachment of holding on echoes the polarity in I between anger and an oer-civilized compulsive virtue.

4-8 polarity (p. 128)
Opposite to envy on the E, lust may said to constitute the upper pole of a sado-masochistic axis. VIII & IV are in some ways opposites, though also similar in some regards, such as the thirst for intensity. Also, just as a masochistic character is in some ways sadistic, there is a masochistic aspect in the character of lust and while a sadistic character is active, a masochistic disposition is emotional: the former reaches out without guilt towards the satisfaction of its need; the latter yearns and feels guilty about its neediness. [he also mentions most sensitive/insensitive]

The character [VIII] stands in polar opposition to each of those connected with it by the inner flow of the E; just as II is over-feminine and sensitive, VII is over-masculine and insensitive, and just as V is intra-punitive and shy, VIII is extra-punitive and bold. In each case the transition from one to the other can be understood at the same time as a defense and a transformation of psychic energy.

*****

Ones begin with an inner vision of Utopia. When details of the exterior world fall short, Ones attempt to engineer the exterior world to match their internal vision of Perfection. --- Fives begin with no preconceived notions whatsoever. Fives observe phenomena in the exterior world and then attempt to backward-engineer material phenomena to abstract principles.

Twos give support to others. --- Sixes desire consistent support and solid ground to stand on.

Threes want to make a positive impression on others. --- Sevens want to be impressed by all the wondrous things of the world - which never seem to be in the present moment - but always on some distant horizon, at the end of some beckoning rainbow.

Fours are outwardly sensitive, but have the inner resilience to endure the kinds of tragedies that would devastate others. --- Eights are bulletproof on the outside, while feeling vulnerable on the inside.

1: what will inform me?
5: i will inform you.

2: what will support me?
6: i will support you.

3: what will entertain me?
7: i will entertain you.

4: what will save me?
8: i will save you.

Nines contain within themselves all the other Types.

[mikemex]

I'm definitely 5w6. Though I can easily see how Enneagram is on top of Socionics.

5 Because I'm intellectual (Ne valuer).
6 Because I'm loyalist (Fi valuer)

[Absurd]

This, again, doesn't make any sense whatsoever. How do you people even correlate this, I mean, it's beyond me.

Heh, 5w6 self-typed people on here actually seem to be delta even though they self-type differently. What the heck?

This doesn't make any sense, just like that hand thread.

Seriously, I'm getting madder day by day posting on this forum or people posting on it are already mad and I'm just imagining things.

[squark]

5 Because I'm intellectual (Ne valuer).

I don't think you're quite as "intellectual" as you think you are.

[Absurd]

I don't think you're quite as "intellectual" as you think you are.

Well, same here, but that doesn't change the fact is it completely fruity. The things people utter on here, some of them at least. I mean I get figging nutters when talking with some people on here and beer doesn't seem to help. I'm doomed. Seriously.

[mikemex]

I don't think you're quite as "intellectual" as you think you are.

What you think is quite irrelevant. Things are true or not because they are proven that way and in a one-liner you prove nothing but your negative disposition toward me.

[Absurd]

What you think is quite irrelevant. Things are true or not because they are proven that way and in a one-liner you prove nothing but your negative disposition toward me.

Well, squark is high on subjective stuff, forget that, but do you find such self-typing alright?

Correlating E5 with Ne dominance in your case and E6 with Fi supportive/creative means that LII/ILI resting upon 5w6 is, in fact, Ne dominant and Fi creative, thus, NeFi, a humanist.

I don't get this kind of logic.

I would like it to be so, though, ahem...

[squark]

Well, same here, but that doesn't change the fact is it completely fruity. The things people utter on here, some of them at least. I mean I get figging nutters when talking with some people on here and beer doesn't seem to help. I'm doomed. Seriously.

My comment was in regard to the correlation that he made: Ne=intellectual=5. Retardedness. Of course it's "fruity;" to make a correlation of such demonstrates a lack of intellect.

[strangeling]

Hi Siuntal; you came back.

[Absurd]

My comment was in regard to the correlation that he made: Ne=intellectual=5. Retardedness. Of course it's "fruity;" to make a correlation of such demonstrates a lack of intellect.

It does. Agree. And that's what I said.

[mikemex]

Well, people here in the forum are a good answer to that question. While you see some people who has difficulties identifying their type, I believe most are well aware of what they are and what values they identify with and others seem to agree even if they dislike them. That brings a high degree of reliability. But I'd spearate Socionics from everything else. Enneagram is fun but I find it grossly inconsistent and arbitrary; it seems to me like it explains certain behaviours but is worthless as typology.

And the reason why I set Socionics apart from everything else is that it is way more scientific than what it seems at first sight. If you're to conduct an experiment you don't start by asking people questions about themselves. You take a large population from a neutral setting like a public elementary school (on the hope that types will be homogeneously distributed) and start putting them into grups, switching each one from group to group. Eventually, you'll find clear evidence of the social types (relationships) rather than individual types. This is, you'll find that conflictors or members of opposing quadras find it difficult to interact with each other, for example, and members of the same quadra get along well without any previous background. Once you have figured out those social types, it would be relatively easy to assign quadras and individual types.

[mikemex]

My comment was in regard to the correlation that he made: Ne=intellectual=5. Retardedness. Of course it's "fruity;" to make a correlation of such demonstrates a lack of intellect.

I always have such kind of discussions with Ti valuers. You don't seem to understand that, to a Fi thinker, the definition of a word is not something of an "official statement". This is, it's not what the dictionary defines it but the way people understands it. We see connections between a word, which is abstract and empty, and different concepts it is related to. And sometimes a word contains contradictory meanings.

Here what I notice is that you confuse what a person is with his performance. Intellectual simply means that he lives in the world of ideas; not neccesarily that he produces great ideas. In Socionics intellectuality is represented by intuition simply because intuition means abstraction. And among intuitives, the most intellectual are the NFs. They are defined in Socionics as "pure mental types". Hence my correlation.

So separate performance from essence. A sensor-logic can have great performance but that doesn't make him intellectual. Say, enneagram 5 correlates to your understanding of intellectuality but that means it's shit.

[Absurd]

I stand where I did before. Enneagram plus Socionics seems to be, hmm, a bit off the rocker. So, it is one or the other as far as I am concerned.