The Enneagram system suggests that there are nine basic personality types of human nature, and subtypes and variations within the fundamental categories
In a thousand ways, writes author/performer T.J. Dawe, our culture directs us to be this and not that. Signals come in all forms, from all directions. And implicit in these edicts is the belief that our personalities are bendable as pipe cleaner, that we can choose to be someone radically different from who we’re inclined to be and mould ourselves into that new shape by sheer force of will. But what if that’s not true?
TJ was initially proud of individuality, skeptical of type
When he first encountered the Enneagram, a venerable system for understanding personality differences, TJ Dawe was skeptical. TJ says he was proud of his individuality, and associated “anything of this kind with newspaper horoscopes.” But he launched his own investigation, using the book The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Riso and Hudson, and he’s been involved with the Enneagram ever since.
A part of me reared up with these exact protests reading my profile, and yet the book described my inner landscape in such vivid and complete detail – putting things into words I’d barely articulated to myself – that I knew it had something to teach me. Listen, said another part of me. Finally, here’s that thing you’ve craved all your life: someone who understands you. — TJ Dawe, Why You Should Know Your Enneagram Personality Type
Nine basic types, with associated qualities and challenges
There are nine basic types within the Enneagram system, but exploration of type doesn’t stop there. Each type has aspects associated with it, such as characteristic role, ego fixation, holy idea, basic fear, basic desire, temptation, vice/passion, virtue, stress and security. There’s lots to learn. Here’s a chart with information about the nine types, from Wikipedia:
The Enneagram Institute provides an example, with great detail, of type 8, “the powerful, dominating type,” that is self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational. But just as you might expect, each type has its “hidden side”: “eights present a tough, independent image to the world, but under their bravado and layers of armor, there is vulnerability and fear. Eights are affected by the reactions of those closest to them far more than they want to let on.”
Looking at the hidden side
TJ Dawe points out the great value inherent in examining one’s type in full:
Seeing your bad habits laid out in black and white by someone who’s never heard of you is an opportunity to stop identifying with them. You can see your automatic reactions as “default settings,” which can be risen above. You start to catch yourself when those instincts lead you toward the same unsatisfying corner you always seem to find yourself in. And you can learn to dialogue with those habitual reactions, choosing whether or not to let them stay in the driver’s seat in every situation.
The Enneagram Institute points out that most of us originally discover the Enneagram as a typology — it draws meaningful distinctions about the nine different ways that people approach their lives and relationship. But there’s more…much more. “More profoundly, the Enneagram is a map of wholeness, a way of recognizing and investigating different dimensions of our inner experience. Quite literally, all nine of the Enneagram types operate within each of us.”
TJ describes personal development within the Enneagram like this: A highly evolved person can manifest the characteristics of any type at all, dipping into those abilities in order to deal with a scenario appropriately and effectively, and by choice. And not because our culture has hectored us out of being who we are. And not because we feel ashamed of our natural inclinations. But because we’ve come to know ourselves, to face our compulsions and assumptions, and we’ve taken on the frightening, enlivening and ultimately liberating challenge of transcending them.
We speak with T.J. Dawe.
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TJ Dawe was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. In the 90s he earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Victoria. He toured the Canadian Fringe Circuit while still a student, and did his first solo show shortly thereafter. He’s been writing, performing and touring ever since. Directing and dramaturging came into the picture somewhere along the way. Later came podcasting and blogging.
