| 1) What is the Enneagram?
2) Where did the Enneagram
come from?
3) What use is the Enneagram?
How can it help me?
4) How can I learn which
personality type I am?
5) Are written Enneagram
type tests a good way to type yourself?
6) Can you be more than
one personality type?
7) What are the Levels
of Development?
8) What are the Wings?
9) What are the Instinctual
Variants (or Subtypes)?
10) Are some types
more compatible than others?
11) Which books and
audiotapes do you recommend about the Enneagram?
12) How does your Training
and approach differ from others?
1. What is the Enneagram?
Don Riso has defined the Enneagram as "a
geometric figure that delineates the nine
basic personality types of human nature
and their complex interrelationships."
While the Enneagram suggests that there
are nine basic personality types of human
nature, there are, of course, many subtypes
and variations within the nine fundamental
categories. Nevertheless, the assertion
of Enneagram theory is that these nine adequately
map out the territory of "personality
types."
The Enneagram is also a symbol that maps
out the ways in which the nine types are
related to each other. This is the aspect
of the Enneagram most people are familiar
with because it offers them a framework
for understanding themselves and everyone
they deal with. As a psychospiritual typology,
the Enneagram helps people to recognize
and understand an overall pattern in human
behavior. External behaviors, underlying
attitudes, one's characteristic sense of
self, conscious and unconscious motivations,
emotional reactions, defense mechanisms,
object relations, what we pay attention
to, our spiritual potentials--and much more—are
all parts of a complex pattern that forms
each personality type. Therapists, business
counselors, human resource directors, and
spiritual seekers from around the world
are all finding the Enneagram to be immensely
useful for self-understanding and personal
growth. Always remember however, that the
Enneagram does not put you in a box--it
shows you the box you are in and the way
out!
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2. Where did the Enneagram
come from?
The history and transmission of the Enneagram
are mysterious and complicated affairs,
although they become clearer if we distinguish
between the Enneagram symbol and the descriptions
of the nine types which are gaining such
worldwide attention. The symbol (the circle
with the inner triangle and hexagon) is
ancient, dating back to Pythagoras or even
earlier. The concept of the nine personality
types has elements rooted in several traditional
teachings such as the Seven Deadly
Sins (beginning in the 4th century),
and the Kabbalah (beginning
in the 12th century) but the psychological
descriptions of the types, on the other
hand, are modern and are the work of modern
authors.
George Gurdjieff brought the symbol
to the West around the turn of this century,
and Oscar Ichazo was the first to
synthesize the symbol with elements of the
teachings about the types. He was the first
to identify the core qualities of each of
the nine types, and his work was expanded
on by the psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo
who also introduced the panel method
for gathering information about the types.
Naranjo's work, in turn, has been expanded
on by Don Riso and Russ Hudson who added
many new elements to the early Enneagram
system-most notably the lengthy systematic
descriptions of the nine types, as well
as the nine internal Levels of Development,
the "inner logic" of each type.
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3. What use is the Enneagram?
How can it help me?
The Enneagram can be extremely useful to
everyone as a source of self-knowledge because
it acts as a kind of "mirror"
to reveal features of our personality that
normally are invisible to us. Most of the
time, people function habitually, as if
on "automatic pilot," according
to the pattern of their basic personality
type. Usually this allows people to get
along well enough in their lives, but when
their normal routines break down or the
stresses of their lives increase too much,
their normal way of coping also tends to
break down or become dysfunctional. Seeing
clearly what our habitual patterns are—seeing
what we are doing and why we are doing it,
and at what cost to ourselves and others—holds
the key to our liberation. By knowing your
type correctly, you are able to see yourself—to
"catch yourself in the act"—as
you move throughout the day. With this increased
self-awareness, you are also able to avoid
reacting in negative and potentially dangerous
ways.
Once real balance has been restored to
the personality structure, the Enneagram
can help us to orient ourselves to the higher
spiritual and psychological qualities that
each type has in abundance. Thus, at its
highest, the Enneagram invites us to look
deeply into the mystery of our true identity.
It reveals that we are not our personality,
but something more—a spiritual being
who has lost contact with his or her true
nature. Living out of this realization shifts
completely how we see ourselves, others,
and the world, bringing liberation, freedom,
and joy.
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4. How can I learn which
personality type I am?
There are no short-cuts in this matter:
only your own self-awareness and honesty
will enable you to discover your personality
type. For some, the discovery is quick and
immediate: they are able to find their type
right away. Others, for many reasons, may
take somewhat longer.
Furthermore, no single method works equally
well for everyone. We feel, for instance,
that carefully reading a good book on the
subject can be better than going to a mediocre
workshop—so it would not be fair to
say that attending workshops is the best
way to find your type. On the other hand,
attending a good
workshop can be better than reading
a mediocre book. Nor would the best way
to find your type be by taking a short questionnaire
or by being typed by someone who purports
to be an "Enneagram expert" of
some kind. The only independently scientifically
validated Enneagram Test, the Riso-Hudson
Enneagram Type Indicator, is avaialble at
www.EnneagramIstitute.com
but we offer a quick
version of this test for people who
are just beginning to explore Enneagram
personality typing.
We recommend taking all sources of information
about the Enneagram and its types into account,
although the final responsibility for finding
your type remains firmly with you alone.
We also recommend that you actively question
all of your sources of information about
the Enneagram since there is much that is
misleading and contradictory in the field,
even in books by many of the leading Enneagram
authors. In short, no one can tell you which
type you are: only you can weigh all of
the available evidence and then draw your
own conclusions. Above all, continue to
observe yourself to see if your type determination
fits. And remember that finding your type
is not the final destination with the Enneagram,
in fact, it is only the beginning of the
journey.
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5. Are written Enneagram
type tests a good way to type yourself?
No pencil-and-paper type tests are foolproof.
Don Riso and Russ Hudson have done more
work than any other Enneagram writers to
develop a battery of type tests -- and yet,
they still caution students to use them
only as one element in the search for the
person's type. Because of the inherent limitations
of type tests (including skipping questions,
not reading words, misunderstanding concepts,
projection and misinterpretation, nervousness,
being too analytic, and so forth), it is
almost impossible to have any test that
is consistently higher than about 85% accurate
for determining basic type.
Even so, the RHETI (The Riso-Hudson Enneagram
Type Indicator, Version 2.5) has been independently
scientifically validated and is accurate
in around 80% of cases, and the new QUEST-TAS
quick questionnaires in The Wisdom of the
Enneagram are also equally accurate. (Both
are available in Offprint booklets from
The Enneagram Institute, and the QUEST-TAS
scoring form is more sophisticated in the
Offprint than in the original book.) For
both the RHETI and the QUEST-TAS, we feel
strongly that the user's correct personality
type will almost certainly be one of the
three top scores, except in the rarest of
cases. We also recommend that the results
of the RHETI and the QUEST-TAS be evaluated
by someone trained by Don Riso and Russ
Hudson if the outcome of the tests does
not seem to be correct. In any case, the
tests should be taken as only one piece
of evidence in the quest for self-discovery,
and the person should be encouraged to continue
to observe himself, to read reliable books
and to attend workshops for more insight
into his type.
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6. Can you be more than
one personality type?
While we have elements of all nine types
in us, only one of the nine types is our
basic personality type. You can think of
it as your "home base," the frame
of mind, the pattern of reactions and defenses,
that you habitually return to. It is true,
of course, that we have qualities from all
of the nine types, and that, from the point
of view of simple behavior, we can sometimes
act like any of the types. For example,
we can be aggressive, and funny, and angry,
and fearful, and hard-working. But if we
look more carefully, we will see that each
of these qualities (and many hundreds more)
can be distinguished between the nine types.
In other words, the humor of Ones is different
from the humor of Twos and Threes and Fours,
and so forth. The attitudes of all of the
types toward work are quite different, although
in one way or another, everyone works. Thus,
our internal attitudes, our affects, and
our motivations must all be taken into account—and
when this happens, we see clearly that our
habitual orientation to life forms an overall
pattern, the pattern of our basic personality
type. We also see that there is only one
"home base" that we return to
because it has worked for us in the past,
beginning in our childhood.
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7. What are the Levels
of Development?
The Levels of Development (an original discovery
of Don Riso made in 1977) specify how each
type changes as the person becomes more
or less identified with his or her personality
structure. Everyone moves "up"
and "down" the nine Levels within
their type as they become more defended
and more identified with their fixation,
or conversely, as they become more free,
open, and in touch with their true nature.
The Levels thus reveal the "internal
logic" of each type and show which
behaviors and motivations go with which
type, and why. This is highly significant
because the behaviors, attitudes, and motivations
that each type manifests shift from Level
to Level—so much so that two people
of the same type at different Levels can
seem to be different types. Little meaningful
Inner Work or practical applications of
the Enneagram can be done without taking
the Levels of Development into account.
For more information see The Wisdom of
the Enneagram, pages 75-87, the Revised
Edition of The Understanding the Enneagram,
pages 136-166, and Personality Types, throughout,
particulary pages 465-493.
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8. What are the Wings?
The Wings are another refinement offered
by the Enneagram system. They recognize
that while people are one basic type, almost
no one is a "pure" type. Everyone
is a mix of two types of the Enneagram,
and the second type in the mix is called
the Wing. However, your Wing lies on either
side of your basic type on the circumference
of the Enneagram. Thus, the layout of the
Enneagram is remarkable in that the mixtures
of type and wings that we see in real life
are precisely mirrored by the Enneagram
itself (as Oscar Ichazo first mapped it
out). For example, in real life we see that
people who are Twos have either a One-wing
or a Three-wing (and sometimes both). We
do not see Twos with a Five-wing, or Twos
with a Seven-wing, for instance.
For more information see The Wisdom of
the Enneagram, pages 69-70, and Personality
Types, pages 43-44, as well as the descriptions
of the wings in the type chapters of both
books.
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9. What are the Instinctual
Variants (or Subtypes)?
The Instinctual Variants (often erroneously
called "the subtypes") are a third
set of variations of the nine basic types
that also account for differences and variability
within the types. A major aspect of our
human equipment lies in our instinctual
"hard wiring" as biological beings,
and three major instincts are an essential
part of our human nature. We have a self-preservation
instinct (for preserving the body and its
life and functioning), a social instinct
(for getting along with others and forming
secure social bonds), and a sexual instinct
(for extending ourselves in the environment
and through the generations). As with other
elements of our personality structure, one
or more of these instincts usually becomes
imbalanced in some way and to some degree
in childhood, thus becoming a significant
arena for various related "issues"
to arise. (See Personality Types and the
individual type chapters in The Wisdom of
the Enneagram for more information about
the Instinctual Variants.) See also the
article on the Instincts on this website.
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10. Are some types
more compatible than others?
Fortunately, the Enneagram does not predict
which types "go" with which others
in any kind of cookbook fashion. Positive
or negative relationships cannot be predicted
by whether or not certain types are connected
to each other by lines on the Enneagram,
as some Enneagram teachers have taught.
Nor are types more or less compatible because
they are in the same group or Triad of the
Enneagram, or on the right or left side,
or opposite each other on the circle.
However, insight into the structure and
characteristics of each of the types does
reveal the kinds of psychological issues
that preoccupy people of each type—and
based on that kind of deeper knowledge,
some thoughtful things can be said about
what kinds of issues are likely to arise
between any two of the Enneagram types.
For instance, Eights have issues with autonomy
and independence (among many others), whereas
Twos have issues with needing validation
and seeking intimacy, (among many others).
Depending on each type's Level of healthy
functioning, a number of insightful things
could be said which would be helpful to
such a couple-the strengths and weaknesses
and likely conflicts they will have concerning
these issues.
Don Riso and Russ Hudson have outlined
the key compatibility issues between each
combination of Enneagram types in their
forthcoming book, Growing Relationships,
a large excerpt of which appears on this
website.
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11. Which books and
audiotapes do you recommend about the Enneagram?
Naturally, we recommend our best-selling
books on the Enneagram as being those that
present the most complete and accurate descriptions
of the types and the system as a whole.
They also offer a great deal of insight
and practices for using the Enneagram in
your personal life. Furthermore, we continually
revise all of our books so that they contain
the newest, most precise work about the
Enneagram system available anywhere. For
advanced students, we recommend two books
in particular, Character and Neurosis by
Claudio Naranjo and Facets of Unity (about
the Holy Ideas) by A. H. Almaas.
Our five books are The Wisdom of the Enneagram
(1999), Personality Types (1987, 1996),
Understanding the Enneagram (1990, 2000),
Discovering Your Personality Type (1992,
1995), and Enneagram Transformations (1993).
Don Riso and Russ Hudson are also still
working on their business book, Personality
Types at Work. They have also written The
Power of the Enneagram (published as a 6-cassette
audio tape set by Nightingale Conant, as
well as an abridged edition of it on 2 cassettes
by Simon & Schuster.) Please note that
all of our books and tapes contain completely
different material, and none of the books
repeats contents from any other book or
tape.
As for personal and spiritual growth books
by other authors, we have compiled a large
list of books giving perspectives related
to or complementary with the Enneagram.
Most Enneagram books have something to
offer, although perceptive readers will
discern that there are significant differences
between them. Some books actually contain
information that we feel is incomplete and
misleading. We feel strongly that Enneagram
books about relationships, business, spirituality—or
any other topic, for that matter—will
be of little use if they are based on distorted
notions of the types or of the Enneagram
as a whole. For better or worse, there is
no such thing as "the Enneagram"—and
no "oral tradition" which has
transmitted it. (See the article, "Romancing
the Enneagram" on this website about
this topic.) There are only different interpretations
of Ichazo's original insights which have
been elaborated on by different authors.
Those interested in this system are therefore
urged to read all Enneagram books (including
our own) critically, to think for themselves,
and always to judge everything by their
own experience. Sadly, we must warn–Caveat,
emptor!
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12. How does your Training
and approach differ from others?
Don and Russ offer an extremely comprehensive,
experiential Enneagram Training Program.
The Program is a synthesis of presented
materials, discussion, group exercises,
meditations, interactive type panels, spiritual
teachings and music—all aimed at giving
participants a rich, multi-modal experience
of each personality type, particularly their
own. It is important to note that Don and
Russ personally teach every session themselves
rather than rely on certifying students
or on other teaching substitutes. The Riso-Hudson
Enneagram Training Program is in three parts,
and is described in detail on this website
on the Programs and Trainings pages. Please
get more details from there, and call The
Enneagram Institute office if you have any
additional questions.
Part I of the Training is an extraordinary
mix of mental, physical, and emotional elements
that both convey the information participants
need to use the Enneagram in their lives
and provide the safety and accepting environment
to make personal breakthroughs. For each
type, Don and Russ present a meditation
and spiritual teaching, followed by a discussion
of the type's Triad issues as well as childhood
developmental patterns, the wing subtypes,
the Psychic Structure (a new, visual representation
of the inner dynamics of the type), an experiential
exercise, a trip through the Levels of Development
with examples from popular culture, an interactive
type panel, and a piece of music. The depth
and clarity of the Training makes it possible
for participants to experience the power
of the system in action. Having deep insight
and personal experiences of their type allows
participants to "Observe and Let Go"
of their old personality patterns. They
realize for themselves that they are, indeed,
not their personality but something more—a
spiritual Presence in the world. Seeing
themselves clearly in the "mirror"
of the Enneagram liberates them from the
distortions of the past so that they can
live joyously and productively in the present.
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