Point Six: The Devil's Advocate

The preoccupations of Point Six include:

• Procrastination of action. Thinking replaces doing.
• Issues with work and incompletion.
• Amnesia with respect to success and pleasure.
• Authority problems: either submitting to, or rebelling against, authority.
• Suspiciousness of the motives of others, especially authorities.
• Identification with underdog causes.
• Loyalty and duty to the cause, to the underdog, and to the strong leader.
• Fear of direct anger. Attribution of own anger to others.
• Skepticism and doubt.
• Paying attention by scanning the environment to look for clues that might explain the inner sense of threat.
• An intuitive style that depends upon a powerful imagination and single-pointed attention, both of which are natural to the fearful mind.

Helen Palmer

The Enneagram:
Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life
Harper & Row, 1988, 392 pages