I've been doing some introductory research on The Enneagram. Apparently, it's a 9- pointed diagram, with each point representing a personality type. I am a Four. I haven't sorted everything out yet, but it seemed pretty accurate. here's a description:
"Point Four - The Romantic
Worldview: Something essential is missing from life. I'll be complete if I can just find it.
Unconscious Drive: Envy
Gift: Uniqueness and Emotional Intensity.
Fours have a singular ability to be present with life's more intense situations: grief, death, depression. Through their understanding of dark nights of the soul, they accompany others on the journey. Romantics model that you will eventually get through the difficult times, and illuminate the riches to be found in the depths. Fours brings originality and creativity to any enterprise. Often blessed with a strong sense of the dramatic and/or aesthetic, they prefer to make a unique contribution in life.
Dark side of the gift: Romantics crave emotional intensity and connection. Their highs and lows can be perceived as "too much" for the other types. A tendency toward dramatic presentation and affect can alienate other people. The Fours' attraction to melancholy and the "darker" emotions can seem like wallowing to the rest of us. At its worst, melancholy can slide into depression. Insistence on exhibiting their uniqueness or difference can be counterproductive to their own goals and offputting to others.
Internal terrain:
A Four feels that something is missing in his/her life. Other people have it and the Romantic envies them. The Four longs for the missing element that will make them whole. There is a bittersweet flavor to Four's longing and melancholy. They crave a deep connection where they will be met emotionally. Authenticity is found in intense feeling states. If Four can't find what will complete them, at least they will have intensity. Ordinariness is akin to a sort of death. Love and survival depend on being true to one's inner emotional terrain."
Source: http://www.9points.com/enneagram/types.htm#4
Image source: http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/teaching/490_psl/images_mb/myers_briggs_enneagram.jpg
Hopefully, I'll be able to explore this a bit further. Maybe I'll post more about this as I get further along.
Also, if it matters at all: I'm a ENFP on the Myers-Briggs.
1 comment:
I was of the first class which had the psychological batteries administered. We were battered well and thoroughly ;<
The problem with the MBTI and other such tools isn't that they exist, but how they are used. They are DEscriptive, not PREscriptive.
I've taken the Enneagram, found it mildly interesting, but ultimately too complex and vague to be of much personal use. I was also a bit off put by its subtle but frequent assumption of the validity oft the Freudian model if id-ego-superego, fixations, etc. I've long found other models/schools of psychology more apt.
Dabbling in psychology is like dabbling in neurosurgery, yet people do so with abandon. Then they use inventories such as the MBTI and the Enneagram to lend validity / confirmation to their conclusions.
I've studied enough (a lot more most who come from our theological background and come through our system) psychology to have helped myself with some issues, and to know to ZIP IT and refer someone to a qualified professional beyond that! :>
Post a Comment