ENNEATYPE IX: INDOLENCE

Indolence or psychological laziness is also spiritual
inertia, and EIX entails not only a not wanting to know,
an “ostrich policy,” but also overstability, a resistance to
change. This is, in general, a person who is overadapted
to the desires of others, overly complacent, and with
scant initiative. His or her inner state resembles going
around half asleep, half dead to life. This is a dispassion-
ate, phlegmatic character, though the switching off of
his or her personal desires frequently coincides with a
jovial, gregarious disposition. In human relations, how-
ever, this is an overly self-sacrificing person, overly
resigned, passive, conformist; generally a simple person,
“without problems”—apart from his or her excessive
intolerance of troubles and excessive difficulty when it
comes to saying “no,” which often makes these people a
target for exploitation.

It would appear that there is less to say about EIX than
the other characters in view of the great simplification of
their psychological life. Their tendency to forget their own
needs due to excessive complacence apparently coincides
with the Christian ideal, and not bothering anyone does
not have a clear place in the current diagnostic categories
of aberrant personalities. One of the defense mechanisms
that characterizes this type (which Freud called “altruistic
self-postponement”) has even been considered less patho-
logical than others in virtue of its social function. But the
advantage of EIX (just like the disadvantage of Enneatypes
IV and V, at the other pole of the Enneagram) is more
apparent than real, since these people’s automatic, com-
pulsive altruism does not make them ethically better than
others. Actually, it might be said that destructiveness is
less visible in this character.

In his description of the “dim man,” Theophrastus
calls our attention to a cognitive laziness that is charac-
teristic of Enneatype IX, with intellectual, as well as spiri-
tual, befuddlement: “Dimness might be defined as a
slowness of the mind with respect to words and actions.”
Some of the examples that he includes in his descrip-
tion refer to absent-mindedness; others reflect not only
the lack of attention, but also the lack of intellectual
interest. “If he goes to the theater, he falls asleep and
when the play is over, everyone leaves and he remains
alone in the theater.” This behavior of the “dim man” in
particular may also be interpreted as a lack of cultural
sophistication, which is the consequence of intellectual
laziness and concreteness that leads to another character
that Theophrastus calls “rusticity.”

Though he defines “rusticity” as ignorance, lacking
in manners, his portrait suggests something very close to
a closed mentality. He emphasizes the narrowness of
interests, an excess of concreteness, and the limiting of
life in favor of functionality. He also alludes implicitly
not just to a simple lack of refinement, but to despiritu-
alization:

He wears shoes that are bigger than his feet and speaks
in a loud, booming voice. He distrusts friends and rela-
tives and entrusts his most important secrets to his ser-
vants ... He neither stops nor makes inquiries in the
street for any other reason; but, however, he stands and
stares when he sees an ox, an ass, or a billy goat.
Among the Italian masks, Enneatype IX is to be rec-
ognized in that of Gianduia. Carla Poesio explains in her
book as follows:

Nowadays there exists a kind of chocolate bar called
gianduiotto in honor of Gianduia, an old mask from
Piamonte, and they are called so after the Giandujott,

92

the children of Gianduia. It is difficult to find a boy
who is gayer, healthier, more pleased with his lot.
Maybe because they are peasants. His mother
Giacometta and his father Gianduia have given rise to
a very large family. It is difficult to know how many
Giandujott there are.

He likes to visit the different inns of the city and his
humor and gaiety entertains those present. He is not
handsome but is pleasant. Plump and tanned, with a
slightly naïve expression, it is always easy to make fun
of him.
Excerpt from:

The Enneagram of Society: Healing the Soul to Heal the World
by Claudio Naranjo