Enneagram: EIGHT
I) IN
GENERAL
If you an EIGHT, you are gifted in many ways. In particular, you are:
O Resourceful O
Earthy O
Self‑Confident
O Energetic O
Direct O
Fearless
O Just O
Powerful O
Passionate
However, like
everyone else, you have your flaws. For example, you can be:
O Aggressive O
Domineering O
Insensitive
O Possessive O
Confrontational O
Controlling
O Intimidating O
Vindictive O
Punitive
As a Leader you
strive so hard to control and experience life to the full that your passion
becomes overwhelming. But you are so oblivious to your list that you deny how
controlling and destructive it is.
II)
SUBTYPES
You take all
the necessary steps, no matter how risky, to make sure you will survive. If
this means putting razor-wire on the walls, stocking up refrigerators with
provisions, or checking out where to get at a wide variety of essential
supplies with the least amount of effort, you will do so. You will not allow
yourself to be deprived of the necessities of life.
Nor will you
rely on others for your security. You are naturally independent and self‑contained.
You will do what it takes to protect your property, your loved ones, and
yourself. You feel safe when everything you need is within your grasp, when you
can observe what's going on and can control events. You do not want to be
beholden to anyone, and prefer not to borrow or to be in another's debt.
You are a
passionate, high‑energy, take‑charge kind of person who must live
life to the full and be in control of the situation. Your relationships are
intense and generally with people who can stand their ground and hold their own
in an argument. Indeed, arguments serve to bring you closer to your partners
and friends, because you see "fighting" as a way of getting at the
truth and testing the mettle of the people you care about.
You need to
feel central to people's lives, to be consulted on issues that involve you, and
to have people open up to you when difficulties arise.
When your
possessiveness is satisfied and your involvement in people's lives allows you
to be sure of their loyalty, you can surrender control and allow yourself to
become vulnerable and childlike.
What matters most to you is the loyalty of good friends. These will have been thoroughly tested for their honesty, integrity, and calmness under fire. You know where you stand with such friends and stick by them, often at great personal cost. You are very protective of friends, but encourage them to become self‑reliant like yourself. Your friendships can last a lifetime.
When there is
real trust there is a freedom to be yourself, to let off steam, and to allow
feelings of vulnerability to surface.
Your stamina
and zest for life are manifested in long and deep conversations and in your ability
to party all night, expecting others to keep up with you. However, when mutual
trust is betrayed, you cut people dead and may even seek to get your own back.
WINGS 7 & 9
As you grew up
you began to realize that your thick-skinned insensitivity, your belligerent
behavior, and bullying approach were a turn‑off. After all, most people
prefer to be treated as equals rather than overwhelmed into submission. So you
began to rely on the personality style nearest to you to give your own style
some balance. You may, for example, have spotted that intimidation is among the
list of your characteristic flaws. But gentleness is one of the strengths of
your Nine Wing. When you learn to incorporate your wing‑strength into
your own personality style, you begin to soar.
Seven Wing: When you access the strengths of your Seven
Wing you have a gut/head combination. The Seven influence allows you to get in
touch with your inner child, to lighten up and become more relaxed and
lighthearted with people. You become more creative and imaginative.
Additionally, you are not as fiercely competitive or as prone to throw your
weight around. There is a danger, though, that your appetite for food and
consumables may become more voracious.
Nine Wing: When you access the strengths of your Nine
Wing you have a gut combination, and this will help you in a different way.
With it your natural passionate involvement in life is tempered by a laid‑back
self‑forgetfulness. You are not as intense and learn to use your energy
economically. You become more accepting of half‑measures, snore sensitive
to other people's feelings, and learn to "go with the flow." You
will, however, need to be careful lest you rely too heavily on drink or other
anesthetizing agents, or become cynically dismissive of people's pain.
Proper balance
is achieved by accessing the strengths of both your wings and taking care to
avoid their characteristic weaknesses. When you do so, you learn to let go of
your compulsive Leader viewpoint and begin to experience the advantages of
other points of view.
ARROWS 5 & 2
The Arrow
Theory of the Enneagram can be very helpful when you are feeling either
stressed or secure.
As a Leader you
are motivated by your need to be in control. You are stressed when faced with
your own weakness or having to reveal your vulnerable inner child to others.
Almost as soon
as the pressure begins to build up, you gradually tend to slide to the lower
end of your own personality style. When this happens your natural tendency to
excess is activated, so you may become more aggressive, ride roughshod over
people, and seek to manipulate and control situations even more blatantly. You
believe that "when the going gets tough, the tough get going," and
that you have to "do unto others before they do unto you."
As your stress
increases you find yourself all too easily adopting the negative
characteristics of your Five-stress point. However, this need not be an
inevitable progression. You can, instead, get in touch with the positive side.
Five: (Stress
Point)
‑ You become less active and involved in life.
‑ You express your feelings less and less.
‑ You develop a "loner" mentality
‑ You arrogantly
dismiss the feelings of others.
+ You calm down and think before acting.
+ You distance your feelings and become more objective.
When you are
secure you are generally more in touch with the higher side of your personality
style. As an Eight this encourages you to open up to others and let them see
your own vulnerability without expecting them to take advantage of you when
they see your weakness. You are prepared to accept help and acts of kindness
without looking for the hidden strings attached. You empower others so that
they can stand up for themselves, confident that they will not turn against
you. You show consideration and respect for other people's rights rather than
walk all over them.
All of this
feeds into the positive strengths of your Two security point. But, here too
there can be some negatives. Dealing with the pluses and minuses helps us grow.
Two: (Security Point)
+ You are more accepting of the needs of others.
+ Yon learn to reveal your vulnerable "inner child."
+ You become more caring and less aggressive.
+ You appreciate the real strength of gentleness.
-
You demand
too much of others.
-
You react
angrily when people are not appreciative.
V)
HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS
1)
A problem
shared is a problem halved.
2)
Keep your
powder dry!
3)
Honor and
befriend your tender feelings.
4)
Others
have feelings too.
5)
Cooperation
is better than confrontation.
6)
H ere I am as one who serves. (Luke
22:27)
VI)
THE EIGHTH PORTRAIT OF JESUS: PASSIONATE LOVE
What characterises this
eight portrait is the passionate love of Jesus for us. He calls us to be his
beloved in whom he delights just as he is the beloved one in whom his Father
delights. His passionate love makes Jesus willing to share all he has and is
with us. His magnanimity is seen in his passion for the truth. this revelation
of his love leads us to a new sense of justice by a6ich we re‑evaluate
everything in the light of his passionate love. Seeing ourselves in this
awesome light gives us the energy clove others in the practical way Jesus loves
us. The passionate love of Jesus, especially as it is expressed in his death,
exercises an immense attractiveness for us and draws us to him and to each
other in a most generative way.
The people who
give us a glimpse of this portrait are those who fall in love with us. They
love us passionately so that we become the object of their attention, of their
delight and of their ardent concern. Their love is characterised by its intensity, by the way it involves their
whole person and focuses all their attention on those they love. The intensity
of their love inspires them with a magnanimity of spirit. This finds expression
in the way they think, feel and act, in their passion for the truth and for
justice and in the energy they put into acting in a way that is consistent with
what they consider to be true and just.
Their passion
for truth is manifest in their integrity and honesty. The truth they challenge
us to accept is not just an intellectual one but a truth found in relationships
in which, by their acceptance and affirmation, they put us in touch with our
true selves. Their passion for justice can be seen in the way that those they
love become the centre of their concern. They evaluate everything in the light
of their love for those people. Their passionate love also urges them to act
consistently with what they hold to be true and worthwhile.
There is a
generative side to those who make this portrait real for us. They enliven us in
the way that they accept our limitations and affirm our goodness, challenging
us to be true to ourselves in realising all our potential. The ultimate aim of
those who love us passionately is to restore to their rightful place our
relationships with God, with ourselves, with others and with all of creation.
VII) How The Features Of This Portrait Are
Related In Enneagram Terms
A) Falling in love is experienced as an intense and pervasive desire to be with
the beloved. At the heart of falling in love is a
Passionate
love which has the
power to focus our full attention and to get our whole person intensely
involved with those we love in this way. This passionate love is,
Magnanimous in that it transforms the way we think, feel and evaluate what is worthwhile and it enables us to act in a way that is consistent with the truth as we see it.
B) Magnanimity has a passion for truth, justice and authentic living:
Holy Truth is experienced as a passion for being authentic, for being true to the light and to our basic relationships;
Justice evaluates everything in the light of the truth
which reveals to us what is really worthwhile and what thus becomes the centre
of our concern. This leads us to adopt
A
lifestyle that is
consistent with what we believe to be true and just and is distinguished by its
child‑like simplicity, honesty and candour, by the virtue of 'holy
innocence'.
C) Truth,
justice and authentic action are
generative and transforming.
This passionate pursuit of truth, justice and of a lifestyle consistent with these is immensely generative and it transforms our lives by re‑establishing our relationships with ourselves, with significant people, with others and with all of creation.